How About Something Different, Dirt Track Oval on a Saturday Night :)

[weimedog]

Bunch of local folks running their cars instead of saws...

 

[Bill G]

I grew up around racing and spent every Saturday night at a 1/2 mile dirt track. I raced a bit my self on a 1/4 mile. I was headed to run on the one and only paved track in Iowa but broke down and never made it.

 

[Bill G]

My first track time was racing 3 wheelers at a local 1/4 mile car track. What a rough track that was. I was 11 at the time.

 

[Bill G]

My first track time was racing 3 wheelers at a local 1/4 mile car track. What a rough track that was. I was 11 at the time.

That track is now a housing addition. It was a weird track in that it was "backwards" The start/finish/flag man was on the back stretch. I have some wacky stories about that place and the owner

 

[PithFreak]

My first track time was racing 3 wheelers at a local 1/4 mile car track. What a rough track that was. I was 11 at the time.

250r? Tri z?

I was more of a utility ATC fella myself. The big red 250

 

[Bill G]

250r? Tri z?

I was more of a utility ATC fella myself. The big red 250

My brother had a 250R with a DG head and a 200X. I ran in the 125CC class and the custom made Tri Z 125's were nasty coming off the banking down on me as I entered the dogleg. I had the first Big Red which was a 200 made in 1982. They had no reverse but had a 10 speed (5x2). There was an aftermarket kit that would add reverse but eliminate the low range. I traded it in 1985 for a new Fourtrax 250 with was the updated version of the first 4 wheeler Honda made in 1984 which was a "Big Red" 200 four wheeler. I still own the 1985 Fourtrax. I also have what most have never seen and that is a 1986 Polaris Scrambler 250 3 wheeler. There were about 1600 made before the government shut down 3 wheeler production.

 

[Bill G]

This story was told at my fathers funeral. I was born at about 5PM on a Saturday night. Once I was out of mamma and alive he took off to the track to make the first heat race. That is 100% the truth.

 

[Bill G]

I have tons of racing stories and I want to put a website together of all the pictures I can find of our local racing but folks are reluctant to share original pics in fear of losing them. You must remember these folks are 80 plus years old. The fine gentleman I bough my open wheel from has boxes and boxes of pictures. He, his dad and uncle were heavily involved in racing. They owned the local Dodge dealership during the muscle car era. Later they went into the Stihl business. My father never drove for them as my brother and I arrived putting that on hold

 

[PithFreak]

My brother had a 250R with a DG head and a 200X. I ran in the 125CC class and the custom made Tri Z 125's were nasty coming off the banking down on me as I entered the dogleg. I had the first Big Red which was a 200 made in 1982. They had no reverse but had a 10 speed (5x2). There was an aftermarket kit that would add reverse but eliminate the low range. I traded it in 1985 for a new Fourtrax 250 with was the updated version of the first 4 wheeler Honda made in 1984 which was a "Big Red" 200 four wheeler. I still own the 1985 Fourtrax. I also have what most have never seen and that is a 1986 Polaris Scrambler 250 3 wheeler. There were about 1600 made before the government shut down 3 wheeler production.

I have the first big red made, 200e 82, silver decals on tank for that year only. It’s in mint condition too.only thing I had to take the forks off a 200m(hydraulic instead of spring loaded) and put them on it. I have a 86 250es aswell(not mint, beat up, but runs)

 

[Bill G]

I have the first big red made, 200e 82, silver decals on tank for that year only. It’s in mint condition too.only thing I had to take the forks off a 200m(hydraulic instead of spring loaded) and put them on it. I have a 86 250es aswell(not mint, beat up, but runs)

Yes as I said I had a 82 Big Red 200e. It was $1500 cash out the door no tax for farmers. We bought new machines every year starting in 1981. The 82 was replaced with a 85 Fourtrax 250 which was the first model with the handlebar mounted reverse switch. I still have that machine.

 

[Dave Hadden]

I watched my first dirt track race in 1955 at Quesnel, on the long weekend of July 1st. As a 10 year old it was great entertainment for me watching all the old Jalopies roar around with any number of spin-outs and several roll-overs too.
The next year my Dad crewed for a young kid from Surrey who drove at Digney Speedway in South Burnaby, a little 1/4 mile paved oval. I was 11 and Jimmy, the driver, was only 14 but did quite well racing. The car was a 1937 Ford coupe and I can recall clearly Dad welding a short length of chain between the body and the frame on the left side to help stop it from leaning over too much in the corners.

Later I watched the stockers and modifieds run at Haney and then Langley, before I moved to Vancouver Island in 1962.
In 1965 I was in the Navy and attending Comm School at HMCS Naden so I watched lots of racing at Western Speedway, which was the class act track back then and ran everything. It also was paved and this is its last year of operation after a long career.
In 1966 I helped crew when I could on a 1950 Ford stock-car that we ran on the old dirt track up Macauley Road, south of Campbell River about 15 miles.
I drove my first race in that car on that track, but didn't fare too well as it was a "Mechanics race" so we drew for starting position.
I drew #20.
Need I say more? LOL
In 1967 I helped a bit with my buddies A Modified that ran in the Canadian American Modified Racing Association (CAMRA) that ran on pavement at Grandview Bowl, near Nanaimo, Western Speedway outside Victoria, and Langley Speedway, east of Vancouver. It was called the Tri-City Series and we finished 10th. overall.
Here's that car with driver Stan Cork, now R.I.P. and Ron Leigh standing. Tom Turner took the photo.

Broke the Halibrand quick change in a bit of a shunt which ended that era as none of us had enough money to buy a new one.

In 1971 I owned and drove a modified stock car on our local paved track, which was fun but frustrating sometimes too.
Here's that car and me in '71. I was 26.

One of my crew, Tom Turner, started his own business a couple of years later and became a self-made millionaire, more or less and now owns one of the quickest winged sprint cars here in the PNW (paved track car) and is currently leading the Northwest Sprint Tour standings with two races left. Not bad for a new car and rookie driver.
Here's that car.

The driver is the son of Scott Aumen, now retired driver of another winged sprint car my buddy Tom and two other local guys owned for a decade, more or less. Won five Daffodil Cups, a few Strawberry Cups, the inaugural Salt Lake City 200 back a few years ago, plus was series champion four times and held several track records.
All of these were on pavement except where noted otherwise and I really wish they had all been dirt tracks because I love sprint cars on dirt more than any other type of racing.

Thanks for starting this thread.




Take care.