[QUOTE=Frasson118;26237]Sweet stuff there Jim. Don’t know where you get these from, but Damn, I’m impressed!
Thanks for helping keeping this thread alive.
You too Dave, and everyone else who has contributed… this has been FUN!!![/QUOTE]
[SIZE=“4”]No prob Jerry.
Yeah I love this stuff. Especially the older stuff. I wish I could devote more time to it but making a living keeps interfering if ya know what I mean. (I hate it when work stuff gets in the way of fun stuff!)
The funny part is I never even checked this thread out until it was at least one full cycle, or maybe even two cycles into the number sequence. My work was keeping me on the road a lot at the time and I was only able to check in here once a week or so.
Yeah lets keep er’ going as much as possible, maybe we’ll set a record if there is a category for such things.
Has anybody checked the Guinness Book?? :ernaehrung004: [/SIZE]
Looking through the “Florida Racing Memories” site, there’s TONS of cars with oddball numbers; just can’t copy and post the pics here. Teddy LaFleur’s “X” comes to mind; Jimmy Crowe in the “ONE” Nova at Palm Beach; the BeanPickers and Sonny Kocsis both ran the zer0; hell, Fenton was even an oddball with that “FOUR” of his…LOL…Bryan Wescott ran a “THREE” in St. Pete’s “Outlaw” (Thunder Car) division. Hell, even our car was #XII and #III for a few years out on the west coast at Inverness and St. Pete. We were also scored as the #12D for YEARS at Tampa, St. Pete, and Bradenton because Bontrager was the #12R, and I think there was one other #12 out there.
How many years did anyone go to Tampa and St. pete for Governor’s Cup weekend (the Florida 200 and Gulf Coast Classic 100) and see a LOT of “re-numbered” cars? Speedy Reeves in that one pic posted earlier is renumbered as #121 (his regular number was 21). Paul Conners towed up from Palm Beach and renumbered his car as the 33C; Gene Tharpe already had his #33 National Guard Nova. Not sure where, when, or why, but as long as I can remember, Griffin had #7G on the side of his cars for YEARS. And speaking of Howe, he also had a “Brand-X” Javelin, and along with the “60ne” car, he had a team car, the “6o1ng” (“Going”) car that Maeir drove as well.
Here’s our #III car at St. Pete for the Gulf Coast Classic in 1985. When we ran Inverness, we’d slap a yellow duct-tape “X” over the first “I” to make it #XII. We used the III at St. Pete so Bryan could keep his points :). Then we ran (and won) a Florida Pro race at Bradenton with Junior Purcell in the #112. This, for some reason, was pretty unpopular win for some reason (maybe the crowd didn’t like Junior? I don’t know, never got the full story…). Gertsner then drove for us at Lakeland Int’l’s quarter-mile in the #121.
On a side note: hey, Westerman…feel free to use these if you want for the Florida Stock Car History Web site. Man, I got TONS of pics I need to go through and get to you.
My dad’s started out with the number 1 on his car, but there was already drivers using the number 1, Curtis Letchworth, Mike Brinson, Aaron Coller etc… So he changed it to F1. Why “F” I don’t know, he always gave me different answers, "Fast 1, Fantastic 1, Flat-out 1 etc… That’s my dad for you! lol
Dirt Late Models are a great source for odd-ball car numbers.
This one is Mike Balzano. The “E” in the number was derived from his Grandfather, who owned “Eddie’s Auto Parts”. The business is still in the family, but I believe Eddie has passed on.
A real nice looking ride for Mississippi’s Jerry Inmon. Early in his career, he was accused of “driving like a bulldozer”. The largest Caterpillar Bulldozer at the time was a model D-7. Jerry used the number, and it took him all the way to the Hall Of Fame.
I don’t know his stats, but I’m sure he is well over 500 wins in his career.
[SIZE=“4”]So?are we pulling away from the triple digits guys??
OK, I give you the #2 1979 Monte Carlo owned by Rod Osterland and driven by one of the greatest stock car drivers of all time.
This is a re-creation of the Monte Carlo driven by Dale Sr. when he switched from the #2 Blue & Yellow Buick to this fat-fendered Monte Carlo for the short track and intermediate track races in that year. Dale?s very first victory in the series came the second time he ever drove this car which was at the Southeastern 500 at Bristol.
Although bulky and not very aerodynamic, the bulging fenders on these late 70?s Monte Carlos allowed for some serious rubbing on the short tracks before getting into the tire and causing a problem.
Not much in the way of creature comforts in the cockpit of this car. Check out the original bucket seat, floor pad and Hurst Shifter. Of course power steering was still a ways off too.
Long before the days of down-tube cages, this was a typical set-up. Larry Olson signals the push truck to fire up his TQ at Florida City, October, 1971.
Remember when mini stocks didn’t look like liittle late models? Here is a winning Renault that was built and driven across the south by Miami resident Dana Barlow.
[SIZE=“4”]Here is the #3 Late Model with yours truly at the helm after a win at Sunshine Speedway. This car was owned by my good friend Bryan Wescott. Bryan used to help us alot as a kid on the FOUR Late Model in the Chevelle days before he grew up and built his own car. I used to help Bryan from time to time at the beginning to get his car dialed-in.
Tragically, Bryan passed away needlessly from the effects of a heat stroke while working at his job operating a wrecker on a sweltering hot day in Tampa in August, 2001. Bryan made a positive impression on everyone he met, including me, and I miss him deeply.
Here are a few shots of the FOUR Chevelle that captures Bryan when he was on the team.
Sunshine Speedway after a feature win.
From left to right standing:
Bryan Wescott
Dick Graham (An engineer at Honeywell at the time and the only Yankee we let work on the car.)
Pop Fenton (Yellow Jumpsuit)
Allen Seeds, Flagman
Mwaa
Jim Grey, Program Director
Kneeling from left to right:
Ward Blazier, Sr. (responsible for the power at the time)
Harlan Faircloth (my Nephew)
Kenny Faircloth (Brother-in-Law & owner of the FOUR)
Sunshine Speedway, running a plug-check preparing for the Gulf Coast 100.
Bryan is standing at the driver?s door watching James Nelson of Nelson Brothers Racing check the plugs.
Kenny Faircloth (the owner) appears on the left in the brown uniform looking at the black car across the way.
[SIZE=“4”]Here is the #4 that started it all (at least for me anyway).
This is the 57? Chevy Late Model owned by my B-in-L Kenny Faircloth that was affectionally named Ol? Midnite. This was the first car I ever made a hot lap in.
Here is a shot of the car in the pits at GG while the fenders were still straight and the lettering was legible.
Here we are at Gold Coast Speedway, Ft. Pierce, Fl in 1967 after Kenny won a 100-lapper there.
I am on the left; Kenny is in the middle and Kenny?s cousin Stevie is on the right.
Unfortunately after a lengthy stop in Okeechobee on the way home that night indulging in too much fried catfish and Budwieser, your?s truly fell asleep and ran off the road in Bradenton at 3:00 AM totaling the truck and damaging the racecar. Wiping out the iron wasn?t nearly as bad as the injuries suffered by Stevie.
He was sitting in the middle between us asleep with the trophy between his legs and the winged figure on top against his neck when I ran off the road at full speed. The trophy cut a major artery in his neck. I?ll never forget when the truck finally stopped, the windshield was open and partially laying on the hood. I got out immediately (in a stupor) and went around front to survey the damage and I couldn?t figure out where the warm transmission fluid was coming from still hitting me in the face with the engine off. Here it was Stevie?s blood spurting through the hole in the windshield from his neck with every heartbeat.
Fortunately I was able to flag someone down pretty fast a get help. As it turned out Stevie was OK and left the hospital before I did.
This is shot of Ol? Midnite at home after the wreck. That 50’ Ford in the background up on jackstands was a sleeper I had built as a Sophomore in High School. I put a Buick engine in that beast with dual quads (note the traction bars hanging down) and that thing would fly. The problem was that I adapted the engine to the original Ford 3-speed transmission (thanks JC Whitney) and it kept grenading on me, hence the car up on stands in this shot.
Ed Negre was a long time “Independent” In Nascar. Never a top runner, and never enough money to really go after things, he still showed up for a bunch of races along the way.
In this picture, Ed is tangling with the late Jay “Friday” Hassler, who was featured by Westerman on another page of this thread.
