my friends call me Zappy
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1974 is long ago Tony
Question for Don Schumacher (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mooseman
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Nitrohelper
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I was there with a top fuel car in 1964 , match raced the Guzler for a Drag News Mr Eliminator position...
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There is a a nursery (for plants) on the property now....the ashpalt for the dragstrip is still there
Bill
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The nursery has been out of business for several years. I noticed Inland is offering it for sale.
Now this is kind of a long winded story but I worked for Gary Skiles when I graduated from HS at Hornsby's in Yorkville. Gary was the store manager and was best friends with Lindell Miller who was a chief engineer for Caterpillar. They started out in Run Tuf eliminator and graduated to Super Stock. After a couple of years with a 68 Camaro, they hooked up with some guys out of West Chicago that raced with Denny King before he moved to California.
Anyway, they began construction on a 76 Camaro, IHRA legal Pro Stock with all of the good stuff like a Lee Edward's motor, Lenco, VFN fiberglass, and a Chicago built chassis very similar to a Hardy chassis. Then came marital problems for Gary. Lindell moved to Grenoble, France to work on track type tractors so the whole deal fell apart.
Gary was born with a serious heart defect. He ran Rt.66 for a couple of years but died on New Year's Eve about 10 years ago in his wife's arms from congenital heart failure. He was really a decent guy and lots of fun. He used to have me do goofy stuff like measuring the height of Zobel's windshield to see if it was raked. I suppose Zobel was .3 faster at the time so who cares.
BTW, the first 9 second run for a Pro Stock at Oswego was Denny Offerman against some hired in Pro Stocks out of Ohio. The clock didn't register Denny's time so Bob (Doss) blurted out 9.99! Maybe he did but we'll never know.
Now this is kind of a long winded story but I worked for Gary Skiles when I graduated from HS at Hornsby's in Yorkville. Gary was the store manager and was best friends with Lindell Miller who was a chief engineer for Caterpillar. They started out in Run Tuf eliminator and graduated to Super Stock. After a couple of years with a 68 Camaro, they hooked up with some guys out of West Chicago that raced with Denny King before he moved to California.
Anyway, they began construction on a 76 Camaro, IHRA legal Pro Stock with all of the good stuff like a Lee Edward's motor, Lenco, VFN fiberglass, and a Chicago built chassis very similar to a Hardy chassis. Then came marital problems for Gary. Lindell moved to Grenoble, France to work on track type tractors so the whole deal fell apart.
Gary was born with a serious heart defect. He ran Rt.66 for a couple of years but died on New Year's Eve about 10 years ago in his wife's arms from congenital heart failure. He was really a decent guy and lots of fun. He used to have me do goofy stuff like measuring the height of Zobel's windshield to see if it was raked. I suppose Zobel was .3 faster at the time so who cares.
BTW, the first 9 second run for a Pro Stock at Oswego was Denny Offerman against some hired in Pro Stocks out of Ohio. The clock didn't register Denny's time so Bob (Doss) blurted out 9.99! Maybe he did but we'll never know.
Very cool. Won't happen but I have this notion to to do a pan-US-road trip just for visiting these old ghost tracks. Oswego dragstrip as seen on -> Google Maps
Regards
PiPPi
http://HarleyDrags.com
Mooseman
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Thanks for bumping my thread, it has been a long work in progress but definitly a good thread.
Bill
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Yes, the long straight line is the drag strip. Just to the right is another road that goes to a cell tower. That was the entrance to the pits. The green rectangle between was the pits. The photo is a couple of years old.
Larry
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Yep , for us older guys those old slow azzed cars were just as much fun and more than likely more fun than todays Super Show !
Those guys ran those Match Races at every Cow Patch Race Track that would pay them to race.
Don mentioned racing in Denver on the way to California ! That race likely paid for fuel and food for the trip out west !
Often they would book at two or three tracks a week !
I'm lucky to smell Nitro A couple times a year now days.
I remember Qualifying at the AHRA nationals at Green Valley starting at 10 AM and going till the sun was peeking out the next morning !
Fuel and F C counts for 32 car fields could number hundreds .
You could defanely get a good dose of racing in the old days thanks to guys like Don !
Those guys ran those Match Races at every Cow Patch Race Track that would pay them to race.
Don mentioned racing in Denver on the way to California ! That race likely paid for fuel and food for the trip out west !
Often they would book at two or three tracks a week !
I'm lucky to smell Nitro A couple times a year now days.
I remember Qualifying at the AHRA nationals at Green Valley starting at 10 AM and going till the sun was peeking out the next morning !
Fuel and F C counts for 32 car fields could number hundreds .
You could defanely get a good dose of racing in the old days thanks to guys like Don !
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Percboy
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Bill
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This is another Oswego story from back in the early 70's.
Larry Christopherson drove one of Dick Harrell's funny cars and was doing a match race at Oswego. Anyway, he had an engine explosion and burned his ass, ending up in Copley Hospital at Aurora.
We were really young guys at the time and my neighbor fell out of a tree, tearing his leg up pretty bad on the way down so he ended up in the hospital, too. His room mate was Larry who had to lay on his stomach because his butt was burned but he was really cool about it. We ended up with Dick Harrell model cars and some other goodies.
Larry Christopherson drove one of Dick Harrell's funny cars and was doing a match race at Oswego. Anyway, he had an engine explosion and burned his ass, ending up in Copley Hospital at Aurora.
We were really young guys at the time and my neighbor fell out of a tree, tearing his leg up pretty bad on the way down so he ended up in the hospital, too. His room mate was Larry who had to lay on his stomach because his butt was burned but he was really cool about it. We ended up with Dick Harrell model cars and some other goodies.
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