17 replies to this topic

[Jim Brown]

I didn't get to see the race and was curious if anyone might remember back that far.

[TSR]

Please do tell more.

[Ron Hershman]

It was in Texas

[Raymond 'Speedy' Gonzalez]

If I remember correctly, Jack Garcia was TQ and John Cukras won the race. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[Keith Tanaka]

Hey guys, here's the Model Car Journal issue #16 which covered the Hemisfair race in '68.

Recently, John Cukras (co-publisher of MCJ along with Mike Morrissey) handed me all sixteen issues of MCJ. He wants to have it scanned and put on DVD.
I will post on Slotblog when the DVD becomes available. A big thank you to John for preserving MCJ and allowing it to become available again.




















Keith

[Jim Brown]

I really appreciate that issue of the magazine. Julio Castilio was the track owner according to the
magazine.
Thanks Keith

[TNTTires]

I raced in that race, had a unfortunate incident. One thing that stood out to me was Jack Garcia drove with a Dynamic Controller in his Left Hand and a Micro Switch in his Right which was his Brake. It was a thing of beauty to watch him drive with perfect timing.
Don't remember the Body Painter's 1st Name, Bob maybe, but last Name was Kovacs and he would paint you a Body and Hand Letter and Number it while you waited.
Most popular body was a Dynamic Lola and we ran 1/2" Spoiler and sometimes Trim Tabs in the front.
I ran a Steube Green "C" Can with a Steube 20T 25 Brian Warmack built my Roller. Bob Cozine was in my Consy.
Went Dinner with John Anderson and discussed our Race Results or lack there of.
Watched the fastest Corner Marshall I had ever seen Terry Schmitt.
I was invited to Bill Steube's Motel Room to pick out a New Motor. He had a Machinist Tool Box full of Arms, each little drawer had a different wind. It was amazing.
42 years and I still remember many of the details.
The Next Year most of Racers came to Dallas to the Southwest Invitational at North Lake Speedway owned by Joe Sullivan. Mike Steube won that and John Cukras was 2nd.

[Steve Deiters]

I seem to remember or maybe it was slot racing lore, but that was the first big race that was won with a Parma controller and Cukrus set the standard for controllers with the win that exists to this day. At the time there was an ongoing debate as to finger or thumb/Russkit based pistol grip controller or a plunger type of unit-typically Cox, MRC or Towerstat although by this time the Towerstat "toaster" was fading into the mist quickly. And the rest as they say is history.

[TSR]

Don't remember the Body Painter's 1st Name, Bob maybe, but last Name was Kovacs and he would paint you a Body and Hand Letter and Number it while you waited.

That was Bryan "Bob" Kovacs, the West Coast most famous painter for pro-racers. He is still around and is quite a character.

[Keith Tanaka]

One thing that stood out to me was Jack Garcia drove with a Dynamic Controller in his Left Hand and a Micro Switch in his Right which was his Brake. It was a thing of beauty to watch him drive with perfect timing.
Don't remember the Body Painter's 1st Name, Bob maybe, but last Name was Kovacs and he would paint you a Body and Hand Letter and Number it while you waited.
Most popular body was a Dynamic Lola and we ran 1/2" Spoiler and sometimes Trim Tabs in the front.

Jerry Cowan (pictured in report) also used the same controller setup (MRC in the right hand and micro switch brake in the left hand). Bob Kovacs bodies were used by all of the semi and main event racers. Interesting that the Dynamic Lotus 40 was used by Cukras and Schmid. We're using the same body for D3 Jail Door racing today!

Keith

[Old pink can guy]

great news thank's John my dream is going to come true. Keith would it be possible to make a seprate section slid e show with just the chassis so the builders can use as reference? Can't wait to see the end result. sign me up please!

[Jim Brown]

Please do tell more.

The reason i did not see the race was because my partner Richard Bennet and I were disqualified for having bodies not available to the general
public.Richard bumped Mike Stuebe to the semi in qualifying and Bill Sr. protested Richards and my cars.We spent two weeks getting cars
right on the San Antonio track and the cars out ran .We ran on hot power in Houston so power was no issue. Larry Wilhien tried to climb up
in the booth when they announced our disqualifications.He called David Shires all kind of names to no avail.We drove back to Houston and
all were disgusted with the results at Hemispere.

[tonyp]

I love Johns car. One of his inlines that he cut the back off and made into an anglewinder. He was unbeatable during that period.

[Lee Jet]

Hi all,

Several car loads of SOCal slotheads went to that Hemisphere race, including Keith T, Roger U, as well as the ones mentioned in Mike Morrissey's report.
As he said, it was a VERY big deal, with all the best racers attending.

Two things pop to mind:
First, John C took maybe 5 practice laps & put his car away, knowing it was capable of winning it all, IMO.
Second, I was surprised he did not qualify higher, as he blew us off in the Semi main.

My race ended on the floor[!] after launching off the bank!
Did my repairs, went to big Tucson race on way home, got TQ, went to sleep under track, was awakened just in time for first heat of Main! YAWN!
Slo-mo driver! Last I think, then worked my way back up to maybe 4th.
Mike Stuebe, or maybe Bryan, won it. Not sure...Does anyone recall?
Keith was there, as well as Roger and think Gary Gilbert[?]

Help here, Keith!

Tell your version of this historic trip, please...
I don't care if you tell about our wild jet drive across TX either[passing on
both sides of semis, lights flashin', horns honking, all at 100mph or so...]
NO TICKETS as I recall!

Ciao,
Leeper

[Keith Tanaka]

Keith was there, as well as Roger and think Gary Gilbert[?]

Help here, Keith!

Tell your version of this historic trip, please...
I don't care if you tell about our wild jet drive across TX either[passing on
both sides of semis, lights flashin', horns honking, all at 100mph or so...]
NO TICKETS as I recall!

Ciao,
Leeper

Lee, you, Roger, Gary Gilmore and myself went together to the Hemisfair race. Gary drove his parents car. I guess he didn't trust us driving that car since he drove all the way (1200 miles) to San Antonio. We stopped in Phoenix on the way. It was midnight and I remember the outside temp was 90 degrees.
Unfortunately, I don't remember much of anything about that race other than Cukras winning it. I do remember the wild ride to Tucson on the way back home. I don't remember that Tucson race though.
It was night time and we (I don't remember who was driving) were going fast trying to keep up with Cukras and Steube (or they were trying to keep up with us). I do remember going off the highway thru one of those rest stops but not stopping and going way too fast thru there. Also, we drove without our headlights for awhile. Using our turn signals (the opposite way, right signal for left lane change, left signal for right lane change). Also going between two big trucks with barely enough room to squeeze through. We were young, crazy and not to smart in those days!

Keith

[TSR]

I love John's car. One of his inlines that he cut the back off and made into an anglewinder.

Tony,
I am not sure that this is one, looks to me like a dedicated anglewinder. Because of the date of the race, I believe that he was by then, no longer cutting inlines. I could be wrong on that and will ask John.
We have a few of his early AW chassis at the museum that came from the Bruce Paschal stash, and this is one is from an earlier time in 1968 and is already a dedicated AW:

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

When I was in San Antonio in 81-3, there was an original blue king on Goliad where I raced a lot. Soon after I was racing there there was an after race "bench race" that revolved around this race. I had allowed how much I liked John and so on. But the locals THEN were still talking about this race, and you guys.

Now, getting to know people like Lee just makes it all the more clear that I missed out and shoulda' gone.

Fate

[loudspeaker]

Hi, Ah yes, the Hemisphere Race! I remember it like yesterday. I think Mike's article is pretty descriptive. I just could not understand why my cars kept chattering, although at this point I believe it was because I didn't fasten down the end of the can opposite the pinion, sigh. Might have saved me a lot of aggravation but then there never would have been a Puzzle Pan. Well, Julio was a terrific host. I recall being taken outside of town to a classic old roadhouse where they were playing the real blues. I remember being offered a taste treat which I believe was called menudo (?). I remember none of us went to see the World's Fair, which was a shame. And I remember Julio helping us after the race to change the engine in John Street's 56 Chevy Wagon in preparation for the summer pilgrimage to California which John, Bob Emott, Chris Vitucci and myself embarked upon a week late because of engine problems. And I remember the first night of driving west during an incredible downpour when I almost dozed off while driving to find ourselves in the wrong lane with a semi bearing down. Luckily, I swerved back into our lane although the wagon fishtailed like crazy in the wet until things settled down. And then there was our jaunt across the border and our summer in a rental apartment in Long Beach. Yes, 1968, a very good year. Sandy