Tommy Porter of Savannah, Ga. was a regular at Myrtle Beach Speedway every Saturday night for a number of years. He was always among the leaders at the tri-oval speedway.
@paul-woody16 years ago
Thanks Dargan. nothing better than sixties and seventies LMS racing
@bobby-williamson16 years ago
Tommy Porter was another one of those tough Savannah drivers, like Sam Sommers, that would frequent the beach, back in the day. Ain't the woods and the the lack of a retaining wall cool?
@dargan-watts16 years ago
One of the funniest things happened off the tack and near the woods on Thanksgiving Day in either 1971 or '72. A Hobby driver ran off the track and flipped before he got to the pine trees. I was announcing that day and could see everything happening. The driver was O. K. and crawled out of his car and hitched a ride to the pits with another driver who had stopped to check on him. In the meantime, the medics were getting themselves together to take a ride in the ambulance to recover the driver who they thought was still in the car and possibly injured. At that time, the track only had two workable speakers and I shouting as loud as I could that the driver was out of the car and was O. K. All three or maybe four medics arrived at the stalled car and jumped out expecting to find and injured driver still sitting in the car. They seemed amazed that there was no driver in the car, so they ran into the woods and were looking into the tops of the trees expecting to see the driver hanging on a limb after being thrown out of the car. The fans in the stands were able to hear me and knew what was going on and they had become histerical. Finally someone got into the pace car and drove around the track to where the medics were still running around looking for the driver, and that person told them that the driver had bummed a ride back to the pits and everything was fine. That had to be the coldest race I have ever worked and the press box/scorer's stand/announcers stand was atop the stands and had no glass in the windows and no closeable door. Sam Sommers won the Late Model Sportsman race after being several laps down, with the help of a fellow driver from Savannah who would deliberately spin to bring out a caution every time Sommers would make his way ahead of the leader, allowing him to fall in at the end of the line on each caution. If I'm not mistaken the other driver was docked several laps after the race.
@larry-drawdy16 years ago
Hey Dargan, Tommy is from savannah ga, not augusta. I've known him all of my life.
@larry-drawdy16 years ago
Does anyone have a photo of my dad (Larry Drawdy) winning the hobby race at myrtle beach upside down with Mike Owens' car on top of his? This picture was a full page photo in the Stock Car Racing Magazine at the time.
@jack-walker16 years ago From Stock Car Racing Mag. Nov. 1975 Jack
@buddy-whittington12 years ago
i was there that nite rescue running wild ! and for the mike owens over top wreck! ... also can say i saw tommy porter burn the tires all the way down both straights lap after lap .he really had some HP.
Thanks Dargan. nothing better than sixties and seventies LMS racing
Tommy Porter was another one of those tough Savannah drivers, like Sam Sommers, that would frequent the beach, back in the day. Ain't the woods and the the lack of a retaining wall cool?
One of the funniest things happened off the tack and near the woods on Thanksgiving Day in either 1971 or '72. A Hobby driver ran off the track and flipped before he got to the pine trees. I was announcing that day and could see everything happening. The driver was O. K. and crawled out of his car and hitched a ride to the pits with another driver who had stopped to check on him. In the meantime, the medics were getting themselves together to take a ride in the ambulance to recover the driver who they thought was still in the car and possibly injured. At that time, the track only had two workable speakers and I shouting as loud as I could that the driver was out of the car and was O. K. All three or maybe four medics arrived at the stalled car and jumped out expecting to find and injured driver still sitting in the car. They seemed amazed that there was no driver in the car, so they ran into the woods and were looking into the tops of the trees expecting to see the driver hanging on a limb after being thrown out of the car. The fans in the stands were able to hear me and knew what was going on and they had become histerical. Finally someone got into the pace car and drove around the track to where the medics were still running around looking for the driver, and that person told them that the driver had bummed a ride back to the pits and everything was fine. That had to be the coldest race I have ever worked and the press box/scorer's stand/announcers stand was atop the stands and had no glass in the windows and no closeable door. Sam Sommers won the Late Model Sportsman race after being several laps down, with the help of a fellow driver from Savannah who would deliberately spin to bring out a caution every time Sommers would make his way ahead of the leader, allowing him to fall in at the end of the line on each caution. If I'm not mistaken the other driver was docked several laps after the race.
Hey Dargan, Tommy is from savannah ga, not augusta. I've known him all of my life.
Does anyone have a photo of my dad (Larry Drawdy) winning the hobby race at myrtle beach upside down with Mike Owens' car on top of his? This picture was a full page photo in the Stock Car Racing Magazine at the time.
i was there that nite rescue running wild ! and for the mike owens over top wreck! ... also can say i saw tommy porter burn the tires all the way down both straights lap after lap .he really had some HP.