66 replies to this topic

[Steve Deiters]

Sorry, no color.  It was the early '70s and the publications needed B&W photos.

[Noose]

The size of Tony P.

[Rick]

The participants were all kids, LOL.

 

Our entire industry, as we have it today, was built by kids...

[Bob Kurkowski]

"One glaring difference"  Hmmm... there is way more then one. Probably the most defining was innovation.

 

There were many others, some listed below:

 

No stickers on those guys' motors.

 

No chassis poured from a bag here.

 

Racer cut and modified bodies, i.e straw snorkels, chassis parts exposed.

 

No lines on the floor to stand behind so you could get in a comfortable driving position and see around other racers' stomachs.

 

'Spec' was the mark a bug left on your windshield.

 

And the beat goes on...

 

Bob K.

[TSR]

True to say that for that race,

-all the chassis were hand built by the racers using them, and very few were bought.

-all the motors were hand built by at least 10 different motor builders from parts that had to be machined, ground, twisted to submission in one form or another.

-few of the tires were purchased over the counter, most racers mounted and ground their own donuts.

-most racers painted their own bodies.

-most racers built their own controllers from Parma parts, while a few used pre-built Gorski or Cotton specialty controllers.

-most racers did not have a penny to rub against another and most wore funny clothes.

Those were the days...

[Bob Kurkowski]

P.

Was in attendence but lost some details.

Were the motor can O.D.s being ground or were the cans being run still of the stock diameter at this race ?

K.

[TSR]

This was 1971 and I am not sure if Joel was already turning down his Champion C-cans or not. It is likely that he did... The Left Coast guys were using the then-new Mura C-cans with Bob Green or other arms, and Mike Steube was using his dad's cut-down D-size cans using the Arco mags with no shims. No need to turn those down but they were a pain to get race ready, no buss bars yet, alignment was approximate, bronze bushings used by all, no ball bearings yet, and for several years.

I can't remember what car I raced but it was likely a chassis loaned to me by Lee Gilbert. Possibly the same car with which I won the amateur main at the Nutley Nats earlier in 1971. At the Springfield race, I ate it in some dark consy, I was still too green to do any good (like making the main!) in unfamiliar territory...

[tonyp]

A lot of us ate it. Lol....

[S.O. Watt]

A lot of us ate it. Lol....

Somebodys (always) got to eat it!

[Bob Kurkowski]

Me 3.
K.

[NY Nick]

Far out man, 1971.

Should  have raced slotcars.

[Steve Deiters]

 

Photo of the main.-

L to R:  unknown, Mitch Keil, Millard Lykins (Ohio Tri-State Racer), Joel Montague, PDL, "K" racer (?)

[Steve Deiters]

 

Photo of the Main #2- 

 

L to R: PDL, Terry Schmid(?), Lee Gilbert,  unknown, Steve Bogut, Dave Simerka, Rick Boltizar, Mike Steube (partial)

[Steve Deiters]

 

I'm pretty sure, but not 100%, that this is the starting field for the main.

[Steve Deiters]

Are you sure it's a main pic? I do not believe that the "K" racer was in it... I need to check the race report.

 

 

He was in the group shot of the main racers outside the raceway.  See earlier post. For the life of me I can't remember who that is.  Any ideas PDL or anyone else?  I seem to remember there was a "ringer" racer in the main who I had never heard of before.  It was an era where some guy would come from out of the blue and the next thing you knew they were in the main.  Great racing.......

[Steve Deiters]

What was the name of the track? Does it live on anywhere else? 

I may have raced against some of those guys at Mini Motor Speedway in Beavercreek, OH.

It was known as Paul's Raceway and was owned by Paul Duckett.  Despite comments to the contrary the track did not close the very next day.  It was open for another year or so.  The reports of it being in a rundown part of downtown were however accurate....very much so.

 

Paul was active in the original Tri-State Series in the midwest.  He was a pretty good racer and I seem to remeber that he won a few Tri-States.  Paul was a policeman on the Springfield Police Dept. and achieved the rank of detective.  A subsequent search  seems to indicate that he passed away in October of 2011 at the age of 63.

[TSR]

The "K" racer is Eddie Majcher from, I believe, Florida. He was driving a Carbonell chassis with a Pooch arm in a Pooch-Champion C-can, and his car had a Kirby Ferrari 612 body. He drove well to make the main and finished in 5th in that very bizarre race.
A real hero in that race was Mike Steube who had terrible problems with his car in qualifying because of the silly amount of glue used on the track (I got bogged the same!). He won THREE consies AND the semi, but his motor was quite tired in the main and he finished 4th there.

[Steve Deiters]

The "K" racer is Eddie Majcher from, I believe, Florida.....

At the end of the day it was a very diverse field.   Two guys from the Virgina/Maryland/DC area (Montague, Cotton, & Keil), New Jersey (Boltizar), California (Steube and Gilbert), Florida (Majcher), and Steve Bogut who was from the east coast somewhere, but I don't remember exactly.  He joined the Air Force shortly thereafter and was from almost everywhere from that point forward!

[Bill from NH]

I always thought Steve Bogut was from the west coast. When he raced for Joel, I believe he was in the Navy, stationed in the DC area.

[S.O. Watt]

Bogut was originally an LA racer. He went into the Air Force in Dec '69 and raced the east coast events for about 3 years while stationed in Dover, Delaware. After returning from overseas and being free again, he hung with the Camen Gang for awhile longer in the east. He was one of the Orange County, Ca. racers that teamed up with me, prior to joining Checkpoint, in Our Gang Racing back in the day

[Steve Deiters]

I always thought Steve Bogut was from the west coast. When he raced for Joel, I believe he was in the Navy, stationed in the DC area.

You may be right. It certianly needs some clarification

[tonyp]

Steve was west coast. When he got out of military he moved east to work for Joel..

[Mike Patterson]

Steve,

 

Thank you for starting this thread. This is some of the best stuff I've read lately. The pictures are GREAT!!!

[brucefl]

Does anybody have photos of the Glen oaks raceway,if so please post,I'm in need reminiscent.

[tonyp]

Sad there are so few photographs of east coast tracks.