213 replies to this topic

[Dr. Gamma]

Can't be complete without photos of Mr. Norm's Grand Spalding Dodge.


Back in the day



Sadly this is what it looks like today. I'm told that inside looks like it did the day it was closed with paper work on desks..........



You should have seen this place back in the heydays of the 70's!!! The parts department had crates of 426 Hemi motors stacked 3 or 4 high. They were the LARGEST Mopar performance parts department in the U.S.A. They had everything in house to go fast!!! They had a goldmine there. It was 2 brothers, Norm, and Lenny Kraus. Norm was the figurehead, and Lenny was the brains of the operations. Too bad the bottom fell out of the Musclecar market, and when Chrysler sued them for MAJOR warranty fraud in the late 70's or early 80's that caused them to lose their franchise. That was the end of the heydays of Mr. Norm's. Its too bad to see what has happened to the old Mr. Norm's buildings in these pictures.
I wish I was there when Lenny Kraus drove off with a briefcase of cash on the trunk of his car back then!!! Mr. Norm's is in the Hunboldt Park area of Chicago. Thats bigtime gangbanger territory. Some little gangbanger got the surprize of his life when he found that briefcase. Across the street was where all their old sales records were kept. They had a huge room up there that was nothing but file cabinets full of sales deals!!! Also on the 2nd floor back in the mid 80's were two of the old Mr. Norm's Funny cars. One was a 68 or 69 Charger, and the other was a 70 or so Challenger. Both were candy red, if I remember right. And had just sat there for years by the amount of dust on them. Couple of the slicks were flat, but they were complete nothing missing from them. We lifted the body on one of them, and I got a picture of myself sitting in one of them. Wonder who ever got to buy them, and for how much???

[Vay Jonynas]

Very sad about Mr. Norm's. Here's a pic of one of the Funny Cars though:

[Bob Chaney]

The Revells? Sounds like a job for eight-track!



I found a pic of the album in case anyone is masochistic enough to comb yard sales to unearth one.

I have it on CD .. would you like a copy ??

[Bob Chaney]

All taken in 1972 at Texas World Speedway..

.. so that's a Matador



Marty Robbins' pitstop / yellow filter



and the run to the flag!

[Vay Jonynas]

All taken in 1972 at Texas World Speedway..

I don't believe those pics can be from 1972 because those are 1973-74 Dodge Chargers pictured.



That's a fabulous pic though!

[Vay Jonynas]

Here are some more shots of the K & K Insurance Dodge driven by Dave Marcis in 1975-76:

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[Bob Chaney]

I don't believe those pics can be from 1972 because those are 1973-74 Dodge Chargers pictured.



That's a fabulous pic though!

Must have been the single race run in '73 then, as there was no racing there in '74

[Vay Jonynas]

Richard Petty Enterprises and the K & K Insurance team continued to employ that body style for their NASCAR stockers right through the 1976 season so it could also have been a race in 1975 or 1976.

[Bob Chaney]

Richard Petty Enterprises and the K & K Insurance team continued to employ that body style for their NASCAR stockers right through the 1976 season so it could also have been a race in 1975 or 1976.

.. TWS did not host NASCAR events in those years, and even if they had I was no longer in College Station to attend. I am certain the originals were referenced with 1972, but I am not sure. Your call as to year model of the vehicles lets it slip to 1973 but that would have to be it.

Thanks Vay

[GTPJoe]

How's bout these??











Enjoy!!

[Vay Jonynas]

What?! All these pics and none of Don Garlits! Time to rectify that I'd say.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[Vay Jonynas]

I have it on CD .. would you like a copy ??

No thank you! I'm one of those audiophiles still wedded to vinyl.

[Vay Jonynas]

I like the Carling sponsored cars that Junior Johnson's team fielded in 1974. The #11 Carling Black Label Chevy was driven by Cale Yarborough while the #52 Carling Red Cap Ale Chevy was driven by Canadian Earl Ross who won NASCAR's Rookie of the Year title that year.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 

[Vay Jonynas]

Here are some pics of the legendary Parnelli Jones at the Indianapolis 500. The top pic is the car with which he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1963. The gold car is the rear engined Lotus-Ford with which he finished second at Indy in 1965. The last two pics are of the Andy Granatelli STP four wheel drive turbine powered car with which Parnelli qualified first and then completely dominated the Indy race in 1967 until a bearing broke and denied him the victory.

Attached Images

• 
• 
• 
• 

[ShootinSparks]

One of the scariest sights I have ever seen was this evil thing flying around Road Atlanta. I do not know how it stayed on the track at the speeds it was going.

Attached Images

• 

[Vay Jonynas]

Lovely car! I love those UOP Shadows.

[Rotorranch]

I always liked this Shadow!





Rotor

[Bob Chaney]

One of the scariest sights I have ever seen was this evil thing flying around Road Atlanta. I do not know how it stayed on the track at the speeds it was going.

Firmly tethered to terra firma by boat anchor Follmer.

[Steve Deiters]

I saw the original Shadow with the big wing at Laguna Seca a couple of years ago. It always overheats in a couple of laps just like it did way back when. If you look inside the cockpit it is more than cramped. How should I phrase it... your "manly regions" are right up against a bulkhead or the steering box, not to mention that basically from your waist up you are out of the car and your legs are at odd angles to use the pedals and the steering wheel location is very weird. Very scary.

Vic Elford and George Follmer earned their pay driving that one which I think they both did only once!

[ShootinSparks]

Okay, so we have some Shadow fans. Any of you guys ever hear of the 1974 UOP SHADOW GRUDGE RACE?

I ran across this on the net a few years ago... I would've loved to have been there:

The Can-Am series of the 1970s was very competitive. This series included some of the fastest race cars ever built. The drivers were no slouches either! Names like Revson, Hulme, Donohue, Holbert, Oliver, Follmer, etc. bring back many memories. This story will focus on two of these drivers: Jackie Oliver and George Follmer.

If my memory is right it was October 1974. That year Jackie Oliver won the Can-Am championship in a UOP Shadow. His teammate in a second UOP Shadow was George Follmer. Follmer had won the championship in 1972(in a Porsche 917-10). These were two good drivers!

During '74 Follmer had finished second to Oliver in more than one race. In the later part of that season Follmer was really getting upset as the Shadow team boss ordered him race after race not to win and let Oliver take the victory for points toward the series title. I forget what race it was but Follmer took a win against the team owner's wishes! This didn't go over very good with Follmer's boss. Oliver wasn't happy with Follmer either. The press got ahold of this and the rivalry became public knowledge. For the rest of the season, this was like a dark cloud over the Shadow team.

Well to make a long story short, Oliver took the series title that year. After the season Follmer told many sources, had he wanted to, he could have beat Oliver in just about any race they ran that year if it hadn't been for team orders. In fact, Follmer challenged Oliver to a race in which any type of car be used as long as they (the cars) were equal. Well the owner of the Shadow team seeing this as a great PR opportunity agreed to the use of three of his Shadow Can-Am cars in a grudge race between Oliver and Follmer. The third car would be driven by a neutral person not connected to the Shadow team. Just some extra competition for these two rivial drivers. It was decided this match would be run at Watkins Glen during the October Grand Prix weekend.

The third driver was UOP team driver Jean Pierre Jarier. Anyway, this was a 15 lap race and once it got underway, Follmer was a man possessed. He drove his heart out. Shortly into this race the third driver had had enough and dropped out. He wanted out of the way of these two guys and no part of this action! It didn't take Follmer long before he was out of sight of Oliver. It wasn't even a contest! By the time the checkered flag fell, Follmer had left Oliver WAY behind. He may have been close to lapping Oliver if I remember right. I do know one thing for sure; Follmer beat the champ real bad, HANDS DOWN! It was great. The crowd loved it. A underdog winning! It was the loudest applause I've ever heard for a race at the Glen. George Follmer showed the world that day HE was the BEST driver on that Shadow team. I never remember seeing Follmer in a Shadow after that weekend. Can't say as I blame him. [/color]

Can you imagine a race such as this today? No way. It wouldn't be allowed these days! Too bad. I can think of some real interesting matches...F1 vs Cart, NASCAR vs Trans-Am, etc. I know we have IROC but it's just not the same as two rivals going at it tooth and nail!

This duel happened when racing was racing and most of the time the better man won. Money was a factor back then but not nearly as much as it is today. Talent still counts but that green stuff is even more important now. And that's the big difference between then and now. I don't care who was on that track with George Follmer during that race, be it today's or yesteryear's drivers, I'm thoroughly convinced NO ONE could have beat him that October 1974 weekend!

THE UOP SHADOW GRUDGE RACE

[Rotorranch]

I saw the original Shadow with the big wing at Laguna Seca a couple of years ago. It always overheats in a couple of laps just like it did way back when. If you look inside the cockpit it is more than cramped. How should I phrase it... your "manly regions" are right up against a bulkhead or the steering box, not to mention that basically from your waist up you are out of the car and your legs are at odd angles to use the pedals and the steering wheel location is very weird. Very scary.

Vic Elford and George Follmer earned their pay driving that one which I think they both did only once!

I read a quote somewhere by a driver (Lothar Motschenbacher?) who said "It doesn't take big cajones to drive this car... they wouldn't fit".

Rotor

[Jacob Shiplet]

T-Mac. Race with him online from time to time. Super nice guy and a great dirt racer.

[Vay Jonynas]

Okay, so we have some Shadow fans. Any of you guys ever hear of the 1974 UOP SHADOW GRUDGE RACE?

I ran across this on the net a few years ago... I would've loved to have been there.

Good stuff! That's the way it should be done.

Cale Yarborough won 83 NASCAR Grand National races and four championships including three in a row from 1976-1978. He never drove a better looking car than this 1976 Chevelle Laguna though:

[Joe Mig]

A few friends and I host this Hot Rod BBQ once a year on the streets of South Queens.



Mostly street cars with a few track cars. I have lots of pictures from over the years so I'll just post a few.











It get's kind of crazy and we love it.



Yes, we do feed the local law-enforcement to keep them off our backs.

[Brian]

This was the BEST battle I've ever seen in any style of racing: The 1976 125 Nationals
Go to second page.

I saw this live from the tower at Mid-Ohio Motocross Park, Lexington, OH, in 1976. I'll never forget it. To this day, I believe the watercooled motor had the advantage in the 1976 125cc Nationals.