RR member, Jimmy Sullivan took these photos of Rags Carter at Florida's Hialeah Speedway:
The photo below of Rags Carter is on a slot car racing site:
And the photos below of Rags Carter are from the site Florida Racing Memories:
Side note... Rags was driving a PLYMOUTH at West Palm.
Tim, I am always fascinated in your retrospectives of the early NASCAR GN races with drivers whose names I haven't heard before.
Today, the first name I looked up was 6th place finisher Rags Carter , born in Miami Springs, but raised in Georgia. A frequent weekly competitor at West Palm Beach and other south Florida tracks, Carter headed norrth in 1963 and carved quite a name for himself in northeastern modified racing. He did so well, that he is enshrined in the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
His writeup is below. Thanks, Legend, for introducing me to another stellar driver:
Born in Miami Springs, Florida, and raised in Bostwick, Georgia, Alan Rags Carter (December 2, 1928 May 23, 1993) was a top-flight driver who came to the Northeast in 1963 and used his talents to be one of the regions best dirt-track Modified stock-car racers.
Carter who got the nickname Rags as a kid began racing in the late 1940s at the old Broward Speedway near Miami and was a frequent winner in Joe Gutheries No. 3 coupe at all of the old South Florida tracks Opa Locka Speedway, the Palm Beach Fairgrounds dirt & asphalt half-mile, the one-third-mile asphalt Medley Speedway in Miami, the one-third-mile asphalt Hialeah Speedway and the quarter-mile asphalt Hollywood Speedway.
He also raced on Floridas country-fair circuit in Track Roadsters Ford Model A & B offerings of the late 1920s and early 1930s powered by full-race flathead V-8 engines and was rather accomplished in the Florida Supermodifieds which were cut-down coupes of the early 1930s powered by overhead-valve V-8 engines. He was so successful with his Modified 1936 Chevrolet coupe that his Florida Dairies Special sponsor told him that it would pay him to run second so that the fans would not be so upset for his winning all of the time.
As a traveling racer, Carter took his family with him and when he came to the North he settled in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, as his home base. Quickly getting some top rides, Carter spent some time in Lucky Jordans legendary No. 2 1936 Chevrolet coupe and he won the 1969 Modified championship at the old half-mile dirt Nazareth (Pa.) Raceway in Dick Meals metallic blue No. 44 1936 Chevrolet coupe. He continued his winning ways into the 1970s in fellow EMPA Hall of Fame member Tony Ferraiuolos renowned purple and white No. 73 1936 Chevrolet coupe and in the maroon and white No. 4 Jr. 1936 Chevrolet coupe and Gremlin entries owned by Ray Everett.
Yet, Carter is probably best remembered for his time (1964-1966) in the white Ford-powered coupes and flatback sedans with a big red No. 1 fielded by Harold Cope of Easton, Pennsylvania. Cope favored 1937 Fords for his race cars and they were powered by 312-cubic-inch Y-block Thunderbird engines until 1964 when a 427-cubic-inch Ford engine was installed.
The old half-mile dirt Nazareth (Pa.) Raceway was one of Carters favorite tracks and with the cut-down version of the No. 1 coupe he won the 1965 and 1966 Modified titles. He also showed how much he liked the layout on August 6, 1966, when he won a 50-lap feature in the Cope No. 1 by lapping all but seven of the races 28 cars.Iin April 1976 he won the fourth running of the tracks old Spirit of 76 headline-making 76-lapper in the Everett No. 4 Jr.
In all, Carter won 45 Nazareth Modified races between 1964 and 1980. He was also a six-time feature winner at the old half-mile dirt Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds. Carter won 33 main events between 1964 and 1979 at the five-eights-mile Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York; including the 1964 Eastern States 100 which ran at that distance from 1962-1967 until it was increased to 200 laps.
Alan Rags Carter who raced into the 1980s also set an exceptional record in the Meals No. 44 at the old 1-1/8-mile dirt Nazareth (Pa.) National Speedway as he won four-consecutive races there over a two-year period.
His first victory came on September 28, 1968, when he won the Modified portion of a triple-header show that included Sprint Cars and Midgets, and he backed that effort up in October with a 100-lap All-Star Racing League victory. Then, in 1969, he won both ends of an early-season Twin 50s program and this quartet of Modified triumphs stood as the longest string of victories at NNS until the track closed some two years later.
You Lords of the Ring are too much!!!
Chase, I'm glad you were able top point Debbie in the right direction. You know you're getting to be a graybeard when 1993 becomes "Vintage" lol!
Debbie.. I see that you reside in Garland, Texas. That's where I lived when I managed auto racing programs for Southland Corp. / 7-Eleven in Dallas from 1984-1986.
I wonder if Chase and Tim Leeming - "The Legend" pichked up on your address. Once they associate Garland with The King, they may be asking you to visit the hat factory in Garland!
http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/the-king-s-cowboy-hats
After watching the very brief excerpt below of Smokey Yunick commenting on Bill France, Jr. - one can oly imagaine what he'd have to say could he be interviewed about the current state of NASCAR and its leadership:
Magazine cover showing the title clinching 1964 Bill Stroppe Mercury that Parnelli Jones used to clinch the USAC Stock Car Championship at Hanford, California on November 29, 1964:
The memorial below to the race's namesake, Billy Vukovich, stands at the convention center in nearby Fresno, California:
The plaque reads as follows:
Bully Vukovich Memorial
This monument is dedicated May 30, 1956 by the citizens of Fresno to the memory of Fresno's own Billy Vukovich who met his death while leading the Indianapolis 500 mile race May 30, 1955.
Billy Vukovich who lived all his life in Fresno won almost every major automobile racing championship in the United States. Among his racing accomplishments are the following:
1954 Indianapolis 500 Winner
1953 Indianapolis 500 Winner
1950 National midget race champion
1947 Pacific Coast Midget Champion
1946 Pacific Coast Midget Champion
The citizens of Fresno are proud of Billy Vukovich. We are proud of his accomplishments his courage, his sportsmanship and his will to win. It is particularly fitting that we, the citizens of Fresno, erect and dedicate this memorial in honor of him who was a true champion.
Hanford Motor Speedway in California, which had originally been named Marchbanks Speedway after its builder, was the first superspeedway west of the Mississippi. The complex of several tracks was surrounded by the 1.4 mile paved triangular track (which in an aerial view might be mistaken for Pocono) where Rex White and Joe Weatherly had raced in 1960.
On November 29, 1964, the track in the middle of nowhere hosted the final race of the 1964 USAC stock car season. I don't really have any details except for the news clipping telling of AJ Foyt winning the Billy Vukovich Memorial Race in his 1964 Hemi Dodge and Parnelli Jones taking the USAC stock car points title.
In a sobering reminder of the staggering loss of drivers during the 1964 season, the race results state that the car originally scheduled for Bobby Marshman was driven by Marvin Porter. Marshman had been severly injured during an Indy car test at Phoenix the day previous to the stock car race named after another deceased driver and died from his injuries in December.
Though not too clear, the History of Marchbanks Speedway site has several color photos posted of the event. They include a starting lineup shot, a look at the turn banking, a spin by John Ward and Bill Myers, a crash by Lloyd Ruby and a shot of AJ in victory lane.
Reminiscent of the inaugural Charlotte Motor Speedway race, a number of cars appear to have dirt screens mounted in front of their grills.
Results from Ultimate Racing History
