Got to thinking about this the other day. What’s the most unusual car “number” you’ve ever seen race here in Florida, or any place for that matter? Back when cars and drivers all had personalities, and not this media-hyped vanilla we get today…I’m talking about using letters for car numbers, using symbols, three-digit numbers…all kinds of stuff.
Some I can think of right off-hand from here in Florida:
Fenton had the FOUR over on the west coast.
Jimmy Crowe, I believe, ran the ONE at Palm Beach and Hialeah.
Orville Seeright (maybe?) ran the “$” in the Hobby cars at Palm Beach.
Pete Willoughby had the #151.
Balough, of course, ran the #112 for years.
Over at St. Pete, there was a “Brand X” Thunder Car/Figure Eight car; Ed Howe ran that same “number” up north on a green Javelin.
The Meyers all had the #A1 through A5, and the A11 of Elmer Sieffert.
We ran the #III (Roman numeral 3) and #XII (Roman numeral 12) for a few years at Inverness and St. Pete on our cars.
Bud Johnson ran the “8-Ball” in the early to mid-'70s.
Does Donnie Williams still run the #111 Sportsman?
The closest thing I can think of that’s running today at local tracks would be Rogers’ #11 (that uses horse-head silhouettes).
Some out-of-state cars:
Wasn’t Don McTavish driving a car “numbered” “J”?
Rene Charland had the “Sixty-Nine” Barracuda-bodied Modified.
These days, it seems like the track “rules” won’t allow such “outlandish” type car numbers. I think I could identify more with a car or driver if they had something that stood out from the rest of the pack.
Jimmy I can’t remember his name but I knew him well. He ran th triple nickle. #555 all over sw Fl. I keep coming up with Tim but I am not sure. I got him on national television in the late 80’s. Him and another car got together coming down the back shoot and came into the wall right in front of my tower at Desoto with fire and sparks flying all around my camera. That was a neat shot. That was when, I think, Dave despain did a weekly show on TBN in Atlanta and we sold them tape from time to time. Bob…
At New Smyrna a few years ago, there was a Sportsman (Steve Miller?) who was probably number “0”, but it was written on the side of the car as “O No!” He had a picture of the Tazmanian Devil too, so I bet he had lots of young fans.
The first “lettered car” I remember was a super-modified from the Tampa area that would occaisionally come to Jax. Speedway Park in the early '60s. It was the Flying X and I think Pancho Alverez, or Buzz Barton drove it.
Mike Duvall had the Fl1ntstone Flyer
Ronnie Quarno ran a car at Eau Gallie - Oh Gee
George “Crash” Tidd ran an X9 at Orlando with a picture of the TV cartoon character Top Cat on it…
The “Light Bulb” cars at Golden Gate - the 2-5 and 5-2…
There have been a buncha 8-Balls - two that come to mind are Frank Fyfe over in Tampa and John “Belive It Or Not” Ripley at OSW and NSS…
Bobby Fields had the 444 and there was another car at Desoto, the 555
Bobby Brack and Sonny Kocsis both ran Zero…
Hot Rod LaMance ran h0t r0d…
Two Bomber cars at Winter Haven - the 33 1/3 and 55 1/5…
THIS IS FUN JOGGING THE OLD BRAIN!!
The Triple Nickel, #555 ran all over sw Fl. I keep coming up with Tim but I am not sure.
That would’ve been Tim Corcoran. Those were some beautiful cars; I know the first year I can remember seeing him, he ran a Buick Regal, then the following year or two he had like a wedge-style Ford Thunderbird.
The zer0 - Yep, Bobby Brack and Randy Tissot, I can remember in the Bean-Pickers car down in south Florida; and then Kocsis over on the west coast.
One car I definitely forgot - and it’s even a Super Late Model running today: the #407 of Jason Vail. It definitely stands out as far as the number goes.
Here’s another one: the #80x of Tim Miller.
I can remember Duvall bringing his dirt Late Model down here to run the Governor’s Cup at the 'Gate in the Fl1ntstone Flyer. I’d only ever seen that car in Stock Car Racing magazine and in National Speed Sport News, so that was kinda cool
Who was it that drove the “10 Pins” down south? Bill Flingos?
Bobby Brack drove a #157 for a coupla years down that way; it was a dark/light bkue and white, a bit different than his traditional maroon and black.
Kenny Vaughn had the #127 for years on the west coast and down at Hialeah.
So, again, back to my question: do track rules of today specifically prohibit such outlandish “numbers”? If they do…why is that? I would think that fans - especially younger ones - could identify more with a car/driver with “character” and “personality” - which brings me to Rex’s post about using this kind of stuff.
J-mac, I really don’t think any track is going to make a big deal about odd numbers. A harmless exception was Citrus a month or so ago. I took my # 85X car, but there was already another #85, AND they don’t recognize “X”'s. The track told me to add a one, so I ended up with the goofy number 185X that night.
