I realy enjoy seeing pictures of late models from the 70's and 80's that was some of the best racing i have ever seen.
I used to go to Langley Speedway and the old Richmond Fairgrounds. I started going to Langley in 1961 when it was still dirt and they raced the old modified coupes.
Yearn for the old days, this all changed when big money came on the scene.
Joe, Have a look at my friend Bill's website. Plenty of cars from the early coupe days up to the 80's. Even managed to get some of our cars on there. sigh,... I too long for the good days.
Alex
Joseph, we have a number of members from around the Richmond and Hampton area with a number of LMS photos from Virginia tracks. Ray Lamm, Jack Carter, Richard Gouldman, Ricky Poole and NB Arnold all have lots of Virginia track photos if you go to their photo pages on their Member page.
Woddy Delbridge of Richmond (Henrico County) has a number of 70s-80s LMS photos taken at Virginia tracks at this link:
http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=02gxesgastkzr
Alex,I was looking at your friends site all of those coupes brought back memories. I lived in new England as a young boy and went to races at Seakonk and the old Norwood Arena.
I would rather watch the old coupes than get a free ticket to Daytona. It was a wonder more drivers did not get killed, some of those cars were not put together that well.
My dad and his brother raced in Penn. at Pottstown and the old Municipal Stadium in Philly they used drive shafts for the roll cage in the car. My uncle raced with a T shirt slacks and a pair of wingtips with a cigar hanging out of his mouth.
Funny you mention old driveshafts. I ended up with the old yellow X1 of Chester T Woods and after destroying the front end, we cut the cage out to use in another car. It was all driveshafts. And this was considered a nascar late model at the time. Racing at Bear Ridge, there were some cars I helped out on that had cages made of exhaust tubing, and one, that I flat refused to be involved with that was built out of painted pvc plastic pipe. Fortunately, that car was found out before it ever hit the track.
I guess we're all proof that God loves a fool.
Thanks for the link some great photos.
Joe, here's a link to pics of the wife's race cars... enjoy. Man, hard to believe we've been around this stuff for so long.
http://s991.photobucket.com/albums/af36/zion-dyi/Als%20race%20cars/wifes%20race%20cars/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ16
Joseph,
To me, the Late ModelSportsmanin that era was the best racing of any time and place. The drivers were real and thecompetitionwas fierce. My favorite by far.
Was a crew member in NASCAR Limited Sportsman and LMS from 73-81, at Beltsville md. and Manasas Va. both tracks unfortunately closed , Manasas within the last month, BEST racing I ever saw, lot of great memories! Yea big money screwed this over.
Agree 100% with you Jeff, BUT u already know that don't you?
paul and jeff, you know my thoughts on LMS. greatest racing ever. Asheville, Hickory and Harris. and my two main guys jack and bob
Thanks for the link
There were so many great drivers and cars then. The cars didn't look like they came off an assembly line. When I would see the lineups at Langley you knew you were in for a show not the nose to tail racing you see today.
A pretty good 2010 Al Pearce writeup on the history of Langley at this link:
http://langley-speedway.com/history.html
Great article. I remember 1 season they had so few cars in the late model devision that they even let Al Grinnin bring his dirt car and the field was 8 cars that night. That was probably about the time Joe Carver came on the scene.
Yes, I did, Paul!
