I was thinking about Loretta Lynn singing "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man" - but I guess that's a little different than the point this former racer is making.
This story appeared in this week's Martinsville paper and I guess a bunch of you folks here may have run into the subject and the car at Daytona in February.
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| Pendleton, Stoltz recall beach racing | ||
Friday, April 5, 2013 By DOUG POWELL - Bulletin Sports Writer When asked about how auto racing of the 1940s and 1950s differs from today, Lynwood Pendleton answers, emphatically. Racers now couldnt drive a car that they had back in those days, Pendleton said. They couldnt handle one. Theyre just not man enough to do it.The Collinsville native answers this way because, in his eyes, auto racing has almost changed into a completely different sport. Back then you had to man handle a car, Pendleton said. Now theyve got power-steering, cooling suits, and everything. Its just altogether a different sport. Its much easier than it was back then. Back then was when Pendleton fell in love with the sport as a young man in the 1940s when racing was just beginning to find its niche in the world. Now, the 71-year-old looks back with fond memories. The first big race I ever went to was in 1955, Pendleton said. I went to Darlington, S.C. It was my first race and I just have been interested in them ever since. Pendleton, who is retired now, makes his way to the Living Legends of Auto Racing (LLOAR) event in Daytona Beach, Fla. every year, for the past 12 years, with the same Ford. The car is a 1937 Ford belongs to Brice Spider Stultz and its is the only surviving car from the beach races of the 1950s. The LLOAR event hosts people from all over the country and its a place where people can show off old cars, exchange racing memories, and much more. I just enjoy seeing the old cars and the old race cars and getting to meet and talk to the drivers, Pendleton said. The people that you meet over the years, you want to go back and see them kind of like a big family. One of the features of LLOAR is the beach parade, which Pendleton takes part in. They went great. They have a beach parade where they line them (the cars) up and parade them up and down the beach, Pendleton said. We went into north turn, we started off in (the highway), the original route they used to run and went into south turn and come up the beach, ...the original run they used to run years ago. Pendleton takes the Ford with him to the parade every year a Ford that doesnt belong to him, but to a good friend. Its a Ford that has a tremendous amount of history, yet sits in a garage at Collinsville Motor Imports just like any other vehicle. Also spending a good deal of time in that garage is the 84-year-old Stultz, who works at Motor Imports a spot very similar to the one where he and Pendleton first met. He used to work at the Mitchell Motors over in Martinsville and thats how I got to know him many years ago, Pendleton said, and then he opened up the motorcycle shop in Collinsville and I got to know him a little better. We got well-acquainted, and he asked me if I would be interested in taking one of his cars down which tickled me to death and Ive been taking them ever since. The races are exactly what they sound like races on a beach. It was part of how auto racing started (well after, of course, the sports early history with moonshine runners during Prohibition) and the beach races were a challenge that few drivers have ever seen. Stultz had experience racing, but when he hit the beach races it was a whole new ball game. In those years, Stultz said, running 100 miles an hour, say for an hour and a half, averaging 100 miles an hour, was really something. Staying at 100 miles an hour really shook me up. Often times, the race car was also the car the driver drove to the track. Back then, you drove it to the track and that was the car you owned, Pendleton said. You raced it, and if you made it through the race, you loaded up and drove back home. Factor in that making it through the race was also challenging. Unlike today, there was no pit crew to help the driver out. It was just him and maybe a friend or two to help out, according to Pendleton. It was what you brought and what you worked on yourself and what you built and tried, Pendleton said. To outrun somebody else, it was your doing. Pendleton said that personalized aspect of racing made it more enjoyable and exciting than what it is today. It was more fun back then, Pendleton said. There were so many drivers in it that just had a lot of fun doing what they done. Stultz, who started the 1955 beach race in 83rd place, climbed all the way up to 12th before what looked like a wreck ended his day. Stultz made it clear it was not however. I got in soft sand and ran over the edge of the bank, Stultz said. It looked like I may have wrecked, but I didnt. We had talked my brother and my mechanic the night before. (They said) dont get in that soft sand ... you cant get out of it. Stultz did land in the soft sand on the last lap and was eventually passed by many cars to conclude the race. The late Alfred Bruce Speedy Thompson of Monroe, N.C. went on to win the race. Stultz became interested in motorcycles after the sportsman race in 1955 and decided to part ways with the Ford by selling it. I was young, Stultz said. 19, 20 years old, I just had notions that I could get rid of that durn thing. The first guy that came by and made me offer, I sold it to him. However, the attachment to the car was too strong for Stultz, and several years later he received a phone call from a friend who had purchased it in a junkyard in Danville. He offered the car back to Stultz and Stultz took it without hesitation and restored it back to its glory days. Stultz wont make the mistake again of letting the car get out of his sight. He likes to keep it at his place and show it to people, Pendleton said. Theres a lot of people that come by and want to see it and hes got a lot of pictures and a lot of history and he can explain it to them and show them the car right there at his place. Pendleton and Stultz enjoy sharing the car with each other as well as sharing the cars rich history with anyone who asks. The car will always have a special place in Stultzs heart. I like my old car, Stultz said. It looks good and everybody brags on it and I do too. Its just fun to have. Race fans not attending the Martinsville races this weekend can attend the Curtis Turner Museum annual parade on Saturday in Roanoke where the 1937 Ford will be driven around for all in attendance. |
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM