Of all those '30's coupes in the early years of NASCAR ('48-'58), which brand was the King...the one to beat...the one to have? What motor was the most powerful? What were the advantages and disadvantages to each brand?
I love the '30's coupes, but I don't know much about them. If you could go back to 1948 and built a modified or sportsman race team, what car would you pick? Who would you hire to drive?
Good eye, N.B. Thanks for pointing that out. I looked up the results for that race and it turns out a young driver named Kenneth Bowman went through the fence and rolled down a hill into a creekin that wreck. Got hurt pretty badly.
Following through on this old post - Mystery solved. My speculation was correct, it's North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1947 - September 14, to be exact.
And a couple of cool old ads from the magazine -
Red Vogt's Garage -
Yeah, it's pretty obvious. If we could just prove what track it really is. It's terrible that people didn't label so many of these great old photos, but it sure is fun doing the detective work on them.
Randy, if you're near a computer when you see Mike, show him these photos. It would be great to find out what year and even what race it was. Also, ask him about that #24 car North Wilkesboro owned. I know Buddy Shuman drove it, but I've also seen Tim Flock driving it. Who else drove it, and what years were it it in action?
The man at the restaurant was adamant the photos were Peace Haven and wasn't too happy about me saying I didn't think they were. I certainly didn't want to make him mad, I just wanted to give proper credit to the track that they were from because they are awesome photos. It doesn't really matter in the end as long as people enjoy looking at them at the restaurant.
Here is some comparisonsof Peace Haven to these photos.
The backstretch showing Ed Samples in the #90 and Buddy Shuman in the #24-
At Peace Haven, April 10, 1950showing Alton Haddock in the #32 and Buddy Shuman in the #86. Note the difference in the fence, and the amount of trees on the outside -
Peace Haven had advertisment billboards on the fence in the middle of the backstretch and a tree covered hill on the other side-
The grandstand with Ralph Hemricdriving the P-38 from what I believe to be 1947-
The grandstand wasn't as deep at Peace Haven, and you could see the board fence at the top -
This shot shows Ralph Hemric again in the P-38 owned by Jake Daviswith Henry Weavil driving the J.S. Pope #17, both from Winston-Salem. Again, no similarities in the fence or landscape to Peace Haven but very reminiscent to North Wilkesboro in the late '40s-
I believe the #3 passing the overturned car might be Pap White of High Point. This looks like they're coming out of turn 2 and into the backstretch. Note the wood rail at the base of the fence that Peace Haven didn't have-
Turns 1 & 2 at Peace Haven showing the thick woodson the outside of the fence surrounding the track-
It's been a while since I made this post, and since then I've become more convinced that these photos are from North Wilkesboro in 1947. The large open grandstand, and the details of the fence seem to match up well with other early photos I've come across of North Wilkesboro. Also, the #P-38 Ralph Hemric car and the #17 J.S. Pope car driven by Henry Weavil were prominent cars in the area that year.
