Hers some old, pretty race cars… Can you imagine racing that boat on the left? Bob…
Local racer, and only female to have ever won a TBARA feature race, Wendy Mathis.
I used to watch her Dad, Jerry Mathis, race in NY when I was just a kid.
She liked the idea of using Dad’s car #80, but refused to use his Orange colored paint that he had on his Pinto Modified. Thanks again to Jerry for being one of the first entrants into last years Reunion, and hope to see him back this year.
Famous family… new generation.
Most people have heard of Jody Ridley out of Chatswoth, GA. You may have even heard of Biddle Ridley, his brother. But this one is nephew Aaron Ridley, a true stand-on-the-gasser himself. I’ve seen him run a few times now, and he is always hard on the throttle.
5 Flags regular, and winner of one of the Blizzard races up there, Grant Enfinger.
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As you can see from the condition of this mini stock, Don Heckman learned his characteristic smooth driving style at an early age.
Here he carries the stick at Florida City back in the year of 1900 and 67.
Single-time Nacar Cup winner (Darlington), Lake Speed. He went straight from Karts to Nascar (an example of what Mr. Dunn had been saying). This guy didn’t get much credit from fans, but he got the attention of a few high-profile Nascar owners to drive for them. Among them, Bud Moore, Hoss Ellington, Melling Racing, RahMoc, and Cale Yarborough. It’s quite an honor to hear from any of those guys, let alone ALL of them!
PA driver Bud Middaugh with his “Top Hat” 1961 Chevy… Middaugh won a big 200 lap LM race at New Smyrna with this car in 1968…
Ohio’s Bud Middaugh with his “Top Hat” 1961 Chevy… He won a 200 lap LM race at New Smyrna with this car in 1968…
Good ol’ Hal Perry from Mims… Won a track LM championship at Speedworld during the Clyde Hart 52 weeks of racing a year era just by showing up each week…
Buddy Baker
#86 - Neil Castles in 1963
#87 - Buck Baker in 1953
#88 - Major Melton in 1963
#89 - Buddy Baker in 1959
#86 - Neil Castles in 1963
#87 - Buck Baker in 1953
#88 - Major Melton at Rambi Raceway GN race in 1963
#89 - Buddy Baker in 1959
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Robby Gordon - 1991 Daytona 500.
From Junie Donlavey - Back in 1991 while testing at Daytona, Gordon turned a few laps and was practically yawning when he came back to the pits. "He said, ‘Man, this ain’t nothing. You can drive these things and read a book coming down the backstretch,’ " remembers Donlavey. That irritated Donlavey and a few crew members, so when preparing a second car that day for Gordon, Donlavey had his mechanic install the carburetor without the speed-sapping restrictor plate. He wanted the cocky young driver to feel what it was like to really have to drive around this once-hairy track. “When he went down pit road . . . man, you couldn’t believe it,” says Donlavey. First lap: 205 mph; second lap: 207. “He made one lap like he was on a half-mile dirt track, because you know, it wasn’t set up to run no 200 miles an hour,” says Donlavey. “But he never backed her down.” “It got a little sideways; it was fun,” says Gordon. NASCAR wasn’t amused. Donlavey was fined $5,000 for allowing a car on the track without a plate. During the next day’s test session, Gordon had turned numerous laps before the typical boredom of single-car testing got the best of him. "He comes by me and says, ‘Have we got an extra $5,000?’ " Junie Donlavey, the first NASCAR car owner to put Robby Gordon in a Winston Cup car back in 1991 has nothing bad to say about the polarizing driver. “I tell you, I always really liked Robby,” says Donlavey. But then again, doesn’t Junie like everybody? “Not if they’re not good people,” says Donlavey.
Although this is Dick Trickle in this shot, this was really Mike Alexanders ride. Mike was a Nashville area racer who dominated the local tracks, moved to the All-American Series and won there. He climbed into the Busch series and pulled off a few wins and was assigned to the Miller Beer ride teaming with Bobby Allison.
Mike had a bad wreck at the Snowball Derby in 1988, and his head injuries were worse than first thought. During 1989 Daytona testing in the Cup car, he found that his brain would shut off and quickly back on, like a circuit breaker. He said it would take a second or 2 to realize he was driving a racecar, at 200 MPH, and had to re-gather his composure. Knowing he was a risk to himself and everyone else out there, he retired from the ride and began rehab.
Dick Trickle took over the ride, and went on to become the oldest Rookie of the Year in Nascar history in 1989… but it really WAS Mike Alexanders ride!
The incomparable PA hot shoe Blackie Watt… He ran old Fords in the NASCAR GN for awhile… His only win was in the Daytona 500 non-qualifiers race in 1966…
