Thrill Shows, Chitwoods et al - Joie Chitwood, Jr. 1970 TV Interview
General
Oops! A correction to my post - Bill Holland was banned in 1951, not 1950. So he was doing his thrill shows while also racing the 1950 Indy Car season.
Forum Activity for @robert-mitchell
General
Oops! A correction to my post - Bill Holland was banned in 1951, not 1950. So he was doing his thrill shows while also racing the 1950 Indy Car season.
Thrill Shows, Chitwoods et al - Joie Chitwood, Jr. 1970 TV Interview
General
Excellent post! I went to see the Joie Chitwood showat the old Dixie Classic Fairgrounds Speedway in Winston-Salem during the fair back in 1972 and loved it.
Another of the auto daredevil shows not mentioned yet was Bill Holland's Thrill Show. Bill was the Indianapolis 500 champ in 1949, but was banned from the curcuit in 1950 for an unauthorized race appearance. He organized his own thrill show with Ford Motor Companyand took it on the road that year with his last date being at Peace Haven Speedway on October 1, 1950. The following year he was reinstated and when back to Indy Car racing.
Saturday Night at Bowman Gray
General
I found this poem in a 1953 Bowman Gray program that reminded me of this photo -
Saturday Night at Bowman Gray
General
Randy, go to the other post of your photo where you have a couple of replies.
Who Knew NASCAR Once Had A Midget Car Division?
Stock Car Racing History
Thanks everyone for your replies, and my apologies for not responding back sooner! I've been in the middle of moving.
Dennis - thanks for digging around for more info. That was one of the only sites I found too.
Tim - you're funny! So many drivers look larger than life on TV but nearly qualify as midgets in real life. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon come to mind.
Billy Biscoe - I don't know why your post was deleted but I'm glad Pkl quoted it so I could read it. Thanks for the great info, and please post some photos of the midget car.
N.B. - I would love to see the program with the midget racing so please post it when you can.
Who Knew NASCAR Once Had A Midget Car Division?
Stock Car Racing History
I knew of the Indy Car style "Speedway" division in 1952-53but until now had never heard of the Midget Car division. There aren't many details of the NASCAR Midgets I could find online, but I came acrossa list of season champions someone posted on another forum -
1953 Nick Fornoro Sr
1954 Chuck Arnold
1955 Fred Meeker
1956 Fred Meeker
1957 Jim Whitman
1958 Johnny Coy
1959 Jim Whitman
1960 Bernie Wilhelmi
1961 Ed McVay
These articles are about a race at Greensboro Fairgrounds on June 8, 1956. Unfortunately it ended in tragedy -
updated by @robert-mitchell: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Curtis Turner
Stock Car Racing History
Dave, great stories, thanks! I'm dying to know who the dumbest driver was. Could you drop a hint?
Cody, thanks for checking it out. I'd say most of my favorites are old drivers because they did so much withso little, and it took a lot of guts to race all out with almost no safety gear. That's hardcore.
I stand corrected about a Wikipedia page on Curtis Turner. Kudos to whoever put it up.
Curtis Turner
Stock Car Racing History
No other driver intrigues me more than Curtis Turner. It seems the stories of his antics and driving prowess never end. Even most ofthe greatracersof his time without hesitation point to him as the most talented driver theyever raced against. Yet, not alot of race fans of today even know who he is. There isn't even a Wikipedia page about him.
I can't go through the old newspapers without finding his name in just about everyracing article. The great Frank Spencer of the W-S Journal wrote about him quite a few times, and here is one of my favorites from July 30, 1949 - 
And here is the race results from that samenight at Bowman Gray Stadium in '49-
updated by @robert-mitchell: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM