What were we thinking !
In the late 40s and early 50s in order to race as much as possible we drove at any "outlaw" track we could. You didn't have to be 21 years old, your car didn't have to have its doors secured shut, seat belts were barely optional, in fact my friend Harold Whaley sat on a milk crate in his old junker.
Jim do you ever wonder why more drivers were not injured or worse back in that era due to the lack of safety equipment ? Do you remember seeing a fork cut from a wood tree branch that was used to hold the transmission shifter in gear pressed against the nash ? If you looked in the trunk of the old coupes the rear firewall sheet metal would be a Coke or Pepsi sign.
I can remember when we would reverse the fuel pump into the gas tank and seal the tank this gave us a steady flow of fuel to the carb. It also made one hell of an explosion at times.There was no such thing as a tire inner liner . Going into the sharp(I'll tell that story at another time) curves at Raleigh over 100 MPH and pop a right front tire. Think about it.
remember when exhaust pipe benders came about? Well there was a guy back home that put a beautiful set of bars in a coupe,even had extra bars in both doors for some reason,but he gas welded them in and boy they looked good. he took a good lick in the right side thankfully and every thing just caved in but no welds broke, that started the inspection crew to taking a hammer and whacking your bars to check their thickness. man what we did to get to go fast and turn left every time i read one of the short quote from back in the day i remember something else more of them memories
These stories are priceless, fellas! Keep 'em coming.Jeff
man you'all are sturring up some deep dust with these storys---its been a long time since i have tought about some of these times with my father--------GOD those were wonderful,i just wish he was here to tell me some that i cant-----i would set here politely and try to put it all in words for all to enjoy,or not---but only the ones of us that grew up and in racing can set on the porch or in the swing,lean --- back,close our eyes and relieve the good times---todays racers are to busy selling their products to enjoy the sport as we did,,---swing gently,rock slowly,and smile----------------------memories
and i got to add this,i left a door open -------im not retired,just readjusting my life so i can have fun in my second childhood going fast and above all turning left-----------memiries