[Mopar93]

Feel free to share your memories of NASCAR racing from your younger days. Anyone who can remember anything from the early NASCAR, when it was more about racing and less about big money marketing, post your memories here. I'm going to post some of my own memories.

Please excuse the quality of the photos I'm going to post. I only had a cheap Kodak Instamatic camera and the photos have yellowed, curled up, and deteriorated since then. But I sure am glad I've still got them.

I followed NASCAR very much as a teenager. Of course, back then, we were lucky to get an edited taping of the previous week's race on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Even then, it only happened if it was a significant race.

I bought a lot of magazines and read them from cover to cover. I probably checked out all the racing oriented books from the school library. I read them all.

Then I found out there was a new superspeedway being built that was only about 50 miles away from home. I couldn't hardly wait for it to open. I was only 15 in June of 1969 when Michigan International Speedway ran it's first NASCAR race. I bought a ticket in advance at the Paramount Newscenter in downtown Lansing. I think it was $15 for a grandstand seat down low near the start-finish line. I had my ticket, now I had to get to the track. I bought a bus ticket that would take me within a couple miles of the front gates. I could walk the rest of the way.

I was in seventh heaven. I wandered around everywhere at that track. I wanted to be as close to the drivers and cars as I could, but I couldn't get into the garage area.

After the race, my Mom and Dad came down and picked me up. It was getting dark. I think I was the only person standing in the parking lot out front when they got there.





This was the first time I ever saw Richard Petty in person.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

I had a lot of heroes in NASCAR. One of them was James Hylton. He drove a Dodge early on, but for a short time, he drove a Ford. Traitor!

Disclaimer: You'll notice I figured out how to sneak into the garage area!





This is a great picture of James Hylton. After getting his autograph, I asked him if I could get a picture of him standing next to his car. Of course! These guys were great back then.

Quite often, some of the teams would come with two cars. No, that was not a backup car that James brought. The second car was his short track car. They were headed straight to another track for the next race, rather than going home first.





In 2007, James Hylton raced in one of the two qualifying races at Daytona with the hopes of competing yet again in the Daytona 500 at the age of 72.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

There were several contingency sponsors who travelled the NASCAR circuit. One of them was Grey-Rock, a manufacturer of brake shoes and brake parts.

So, why would I take a photo of the trailer they brought to the track?





Well, they were having problems getting the brakes to work on the trailer!

I just couldn't resist the opportunity to shoot the moment. They didn't appreciate it.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Bobby Isaac drove one of the factory-backed Mopars, the #71 K&K Insurance Dodge. Today, K&K Insurance, based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana is the company who carries the racing insurance for us at Spartan and Springport.





Bobby Isaac thought he could slip out of the garage area in his street clothes after the race and leave without being noticed. Nothing doing! I spotted him and got his autograph. Of course, many others standing outside of the garage area noticed and he was then busy for awhile.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Dave Marcis thought he could slip his way out of the garage area as well. But I knew what these guys looked like, they couldn't get past me.





There he is coming out of the garage area. You can see the security guard standing there. I would notice that every now and then a group of 3, 4, or 5 people would walk up to the gate and the person leading them in would show some sort of pass and the guard would let them all in. Well, it didn't take too much ingenuity on my part to just kind of mingle in behind one of these groups. The security guard wasn't too bright. In the garage area I would go!

I think this next shot of Dave Marcis was in 1971 when a friend of mine went with me. This allowed me to get myself in a few photos, still with the same cheap camera, though.





Dave Marcis was another one of my heroes. I dreamed of being just like Dave Marcis. Some years later, I became bald on top... just like Dave Marcis. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Here's a true racer in every respect. Wendell Scott. He never got the recognition he truly deserved.





I always admired Wendell Scott. He had it made. He was competing in a sport others could only dream about. He worked hard to get where he was and deserved every bit of the glorious results. He proved to me that if you really wanted to do this, you could.

Where have all these great racers gone today.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Bobby Allison drove one of the factory-backed Mopars. He drove the #22 Dodge. I guess I showed favoritism to anyone who drove a Dodge or Plymouth. Sorry, but that's just the way I am.





Bobby was a real professional and always had a slight smile, it seemed. It was no problem getting his autograph.

I couldn't hardly stand myself being so close to these amazing cars. Just check this out:





Can you imagine owning something like that today?

Here it is ready to leave the track.





And of course, Allison's team was also headed to the next race, a short track race.





It was great being around NASCAR during this time period.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Here's someone driving the truck that is pulling the trailer carrying the #17 Holman & Moody Ford out of the track after the race. Yeah, I know it's a Ford, but I recognized the guy driving the truck.

He thought he could slip out of the garage area in a different way by driving the truck. Guess again. I flagged him down and got the autograph of one of NASCAR's greats, David Pearson. Of course, he became tied up for a few more minutes from some other people as well.





Some years later, my wife and I are standing in line waiting to get signed in for an ARCA race and we're talking to the man who is waiting in line behind us. We carried on a nice conversation for about 15 minutes just like the guy was a neighbor next door. After we got signed in and headed into the garage area, I asked my wife, "Guess who that was?"

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Ford and Chrysler were real heavy into NASCAR and the competition was fierce. In 1970, Petty Engineering was fielding two cars, one for Richard and one for Pete Hamilton. They chose well with Hamilton.

Here's the car on it's way back to North Carolina after starting on the pole and finishing second in the 1970 Motor State 400 at Michigan.





Pete Hamilton signed an autograph for me in this photo.





As you can guess, a friend of mine went with me to this race. I showed him how to get into the garage area.

-Maurice

[Gusey Racing]

Maurice,

I was wondering if you ever met or have any stories about Little Bud Moore?

I seen an interview with him on an old speedvision show with Johnny Hayes. He seemed like quite the character. I think he raced a Dodge too.


The only stories I have involve Arca Races at Berlin. Meeting James Hylton and getting an autograph at Berlin. Then a few years later getting Red Farmers autograph.

I also got to meet Dick Passwater at MIS. He raced on the beaches at Daytona. At the time his car was going to be put on display at the R.E. Olds museum. Don't know if it's still there or not.

[Ed]

Like Maurice I too spent bunch of time at MIS. My mother and father worked secerity there. I have misplaced many of my photos but I do have stories. I remember when they brought in the IROC cars. The transported them on and open semi car hauler. 14 cars in all. the "local" mechanics at the track would change the seats when the car got there for the driver who was driving that car. depending on the starting draw or how ever they did it back then. It was cool to look and sit in every seat the back of the seats where labeled with the drivers last names. The most memerable was the "earnhardt" seat it was like laying down in the car. and "Martin" was like sitting in a high chair.
Another time I think it was around 84ish the sunday raced got rained out so they ran two races on monday the nascar and the arca? But anyhow I remember a local guy named Ed Cooper run right through the end of pit road wall, yes right throughthe wall. It was reallly scary but to a kid cool. the race was red flagged for quit a while. And that was when you could stand down by the fence and watch.
I have a lot of autographs also. My mother worked the pit gate for the drivers and as they came through she explained that I was a huge race fan and that she was going to give me the autograph book for Christmas. So every driver that passed through wrote in the book and personalized it with stuff like merry christmas and such. That is my most prized racing swag.

[Mopar93]

Here's pit road before the race in 1971 showing the '71 Road Runner driven by Richard Petty. That's Richard in the boots to the right.





If you look two rows ahead, you'll see the #21 Wood Brother's '69 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler driven by Cale Yarborough. The Fords and Mercurys still used their '69 bodies on the superspeedways due to their aerodynamics.

However, NASCAR put a restriction on the Dodges and Plymouths. They could no longer run the '69 Charger Daytona or the '70 Superbird with the 426 engine. They were limited to 305 cubic inches.





Dick Brooks was the only one who showed up with a winged car. Driving the #32 with the 305 engine was a real crowd pleaser as he tried desperately to take the lead a couple of times during the race. You could tell he was pushing it hard as smoke would roll off the tires in turn 1.

-Maurice

[Mopar93]

Here's Buddy Baker signing an autograph for me while leaning on the decklid of the #11 Petty Engineering Dodge that he drove that year in 1971.





This next one is a shot of Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach.





And then there's Roy Tyner. At a time when everybody was driving either a Ford, Mercury, Dodge, or Plymouth, and it was very rare to see a Chevy, Roy drove the only Pontiac in NASCAR. He even used a Pontiac engine, a 421. It was a NASCAR rule, he couldn't use a Chevy engine.





Fred Lorenzen was trying to make a comeback after literally dominating the sport in the early sixties. I was able to catch a shot of him here.





-Maurice

[Mopar93]

This is one of my most cherished photos.





That's me sitting on the guardrail dreaming of what it would be like to be able to race with these guys.

-Maurice