Francis, it was run what you brung and hope you brung enough, wasn't it?
I had an old crystal radio I had built as a youngster. It wouldn't get WLS in the daylight hours, but as soon as soon as the sun went down, it would blow the headphone right off my head. Remember when "Uncle Lar" Lujack, "Little Tommy" Edwards and John Records Landecker were household names? I can remember trying to tune DX AM stations and really liking how clear stations would get at night. I can't remember the station's call, but there was a station in New Orleans (900-1,000 miles from here) we could listen to when the weather conditions were right.
GAB, I remember being at U.S. 30, watching the Blue Max burning to the ground. Doggoned if I can remember when it was, but I think Tharp was still driving the car at the time, so it would have been pre-1975. Here's a photo of a car U.S. 30 fans will doubtless remember -
Run Tuff Eliminator, baybee!
How about Captain Jack McClure's hydrogen peroxide rocket go-kart?
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Ladies and gentlemen, this thing sat 1.5" off the ground and ran as quick as 6.22. :wow: I never could figure out if McClure was just crazy or if he hauled his junk in a lot bigger wheelbarrow than the rest of us, but it had to be one or the other.
Bill, with all the tracks being located so close to one another, the track managers were always trying gimmicks to bring out the crowds. We used to have a divisional race up at Union Grove each year and it was like a zoo. Broadway Bob Metzler would come up with some gimmick or another, open up the beer garden as early as possible and then expect us to tow cars through the pits to the staging lanes.
Broadway in one of his more notorious photos -
It gets complicated, but Competition Eliminator cars run are run off a class index, which determines starting line handicaps. Years ago, if you ran 0.61 seconds under your handicap in qualifying, they would take a hundredth off your handicap, come Monday morning. So we always had to be cautious when qualifying, because we didn't want to lose index at all, but particularly not on a qualifying pass.
We were at the Grove for a points meet and there was a really bad bump in the right hand lane, down about 1,100 feet. I was worried about losing index, so I had Brian lifting at about 1,000, so we wouldn't run too quick. We ended up qualifying on the pole, coasting the last 300-350 feet. It worked out well, because when cars where hitting the bump under power, it would unload the tires and then you had a car that was trying to swap ends as it was suddenly spinning the tires. All at speed. It was pretty grim. Brian just kept working the tree and lifting and we kept going rounds. We were fast and kept getting lane choice, so we just kept taking the right lane. I always liked trying to get the car fast in the right lane, because putting doorslammers in the left lane meant the driver would have to look around the hood scoop, to see the Tree. At this race, they were also pretty cocky, thinking they were going to drill us because of our "poor" lane choice. :wolf: People were coming to me, asking how we were managing to maneuver the bump without the car getting crazy. I couldn't admit to them that Brian was shutting the car off before he got to the bump. :shrug:
