Spartan Speedway History

goinincircles22 · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 191 Location: lansing

I remember Gene Fulture going off the back strech, thats when he got his nickname "The Flying Hillbilly". Another time in 1971 i think, Glenn Caswell was going down the front strech, lost the right front tire and flew over turn one, I could hear him squaling from the pits.
John

rebspeedway · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

BEAUTIFUL car! Ford made a darn good looking '57 too, didn't they? I wish I had a replica of that one! Thanks a million for showing it.

Mark

martyb · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 67 Location: Rives Jct., Mi

Back in 1968, Jim Aldrich performed quite a feat, not just for a 20 year old, but for any driver. He won 3 features in a 24 hour period. He won Saturday night at Spartan, then beat all the hotdogs at Jackson on Sunday afternoon, and then won at Kalamazoo Sunday night!! Speaking of Sunday afternoons at Jackson, they were as good as any invite for regular admission prices. These early season races would pull the top drivers out of Ohio and Indiana, the Detroit area, the Flint area and the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo area. There were not too many positions open in the feature for the local drivers.
How many remember the tiger striped car refered to "El Tigre" that ran at Spartan and Jackson? I believe Gene Page was the driver.
Another hard wreck that I remember was in 1967 involving Jerry Miller and Don Irish. Miller was known to lean down on cars in the turns and on this particular night he was on the outside of Irish on the last lap of the pursuit doing his thing. Well, Don took him up to the wall and sandwiched Miller between him and the wall. After the wreck, Millers car was V-shaped and totaled. It took 2 wreckers to load the car onto his carrying truck. Irish pulled the fender off of his car and raced in the feature that night. No one was hurt and to the best of my knowledge, there were no fights. Marty Blume

rebspeedway · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

Man, that was an awesome story! From the posts I'm reading, it appears there are a lot of you "old-timers" out there! We can't let these young folks forget about those days, or those heroes of yesteryear! Keep 'em coming!

Mark

Mod88 · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 44 Location: Mason

I do remember a tiger stripped car. Wasn't it number 63?? I can't remember if it was Gene Page or Leroy Mix that drove it..
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Bill

sweeper · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 80

Bill are you inflicted with CRS? Very Happy

sweeper

rebspeedway · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

Bill, I'd love to see a picture of that car. Anyone got one? There's one up here like that, that runs in the Street Stock event, painted up like a tiger.
S'pose I should tell y'all about the track I go to up here in Vermont. It's called Thunder Road, in Barre, Vermont. It's a quarter mile high-banked paved oval, and le'me tell you, those late models rock the town during every main event. Look it up on line. Beautiful setting. The promoter, Tom Curley and THE Ken Squire, of NASCAR journalism fame, own the track. They pull in 5000-8000 folks every Thursday night. Street Stocks will average 30 cars in their main, with just as many or more, in the mini-stock division mains. Late models, 25-30.
If any of you are every vacationing in the area, send me a PM. I'll meet up with you. There's this great hill, called "Bud Hill," where folks sit on the grass, with their coolers full of brew. (I hang out there a good bit.) Perfect view, no matter where you sit.

Mark

Dennis ONeil · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 426 Location: Eaton Rapids

Gene Page was the regular driver of the Tiger car, it was a Ford Fairlane. Leroy Mix was an Oldmobile fanatic and drove one for several seasons.
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Thanks
Dennis ONeil
www.oneilsauto.com

"A MIND IS LIKE A PARACHUTE.............WORKS BETTER WHEN OPEN"

martyb · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 67 Location: Rives Jct., Mi

There were several laong distance races held at Jackson. In 1961, the first "Northern 200" was held for supermodifieds. Originally Harry Jones was thought to be the winner but rechecking the scoring sheets, Johnny Logan was declared the winner. His trophy for that race was on display at the Jackson reunion 2 years ago. The following year in the second "Northern 200", Oscar Faye was the winner. Then in 1966, there was a 250 lap race for the super stocks. All the top drivers were there. Homer Newland wasn't the fastest, but stayed out of trouble and was able to stay on the track and won the biggest race of his career. The whole front page of the MARC Times Racing News was dedicated to this race. Over the years the Tri-State Invitational 100 lapper was held for the super mods and later the super stocks near the end of the season. Also when the Marc Times Invites were popular, Jackson was also host to one of them each year. The 100 lappers were not held at Jackson after being bought by the Spartan Group in 1970. It was truely a shame as they always drew all the top names in the tri state area. In the supermodifed years some of the names that were regulars were Good, Ward, both Johncocks, Sessions, Jones, Logan, Heeney, Seelman, Conley, Landon, and Bennett just to name a few. The super stock invites would draw the likes of Howe, Fair, The Senneker Brothers, Carnes, Sorg, Myers, Maier, Ruttman, Harden, Riley, Sweet, Mitchell, Miller, Bere, and more. The bottom line was, if you were anything at all, you ran at Jackson!!! Back in the day of the dirt track, The Beale brothers (Rollie and Al) were regulars as well. I'm a little to young to remeber the dirt but i would have been awsome to watch, first on the high banked half and then later on the 3/8 with the high banks on one end and flat on the other. Many of the old time drivers said that the track was ruined when it was paved.
I'm sure Bill Lackey has some tails about the Jackson Track with him and Lindhal. Thanks Marty Blume

rebspeedway · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

Folks, I was looking through a models page last night that had a Joy Fair 1970ish Ford Maverick, yellow, with a black #1. Do any of you remember that car? I'd love to paint that one in action!

Let's hear it!
Mark

martyb · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 67 Location: Rives Jct., Mi

That Maverick that you are talking about was the car Joy Fair had in 1974 or75. The uunique thing about the car was that it was a four door. Joe ruttman drove it for a while that year when Joy was injured. I saw that car run at one of the Hartford year end "Graduation" races. It was his normal "school bus yellow" with a black #1 on the side. As with most of Fair's cars, it flat flew. Thanks Marty Blume

rebspeedway · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

The model online is like a canary yellow. Are you certain it was school bus yellow? I want to paint it correctly. Four doors is definitely unique!

Thanks a bunch!

sorrowtim · Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Haslett

I would realy love to see some of the old Mark Times. These articles would be like gold to me. Also, is ther a place wher some of these racecars are on diplay? Or maybe someone knows an old racer who has kept a couple of his rides over the years? Or maybe someone just knows where there are some of these old relics sitting and rotting away? Nastyboi
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nastyboi

governor72 · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 213 Location: Charlotte

Nastyboi,

Have you ever gone onto www.retrorockets.org

There is plenty of info for you to look thru.

The, Governor / Dan Logan

sorrowtim · Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Haslett

Thank you very much Dan. Great site. By the way, I am a big fan of yours too brutha. One of the best mod drivers ive seen! thanks again, Nastyboi
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nastyboi