senor honda

1943
1943 stock car Brasil 50 gallons of fuel in the trunk! Top 4 cars are fords.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4KJa3qzdF4

senor honda

1944

senor honda

1945

senor honda

1946
A Talk with JACK SMITH - by Eddie Samples
I looked at NASCAR's list of top 50 drivers of all time, but I did not see the name of Jack Smith. The list was chock full of good racers but very absent of one of the best. I called Jack at his transmission shop in Spartanburg, S.C. and asked to stop by to see him. I wanted to know exactly what I was missing that NASCAR apparently was not.

Jack was born in Illinois but moved to Georgia when he was two. His first race was at Thomaston, Georgia in 1946. He explained, "I used to watch those guys before the war out at Lakewood and knew I could do that. When I got old enough I entered a race in Thomaston. I qualified second to defending national champion Roy Hall but after the race started I spun out a whole bunch so I knew I had some learning ahead of me."

When I asked Jack to name the best driver in the stable of Raymond Parks, (Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, Bill France, Bob and Fonty Flock, Red Byron, and Norman Wrigley), he replied, "It would be hard to pick becuse they had such good equipment with Red Vogt working on the cars. A lot of drivers would have won under those circumstances, but I'd say Bob Flock was the best of the group."

Smith's favorite track was the Daytona superspeedway. "It was a smooth track. Of course I had a good win there in 1960 for the Firecracker race. I led my share of the first 500 in 1959 but had ignition problems. When asked about his worst accident, he said, "Well, I guess the one that gave me the biggest problem was at Darlington in '50 when Curtis Turner and I tangled and I ended upside down with an arm full of stitches. Bad thing about that was up until 1975 I was still having problems with that arm and doctors were still taking broken glass out of it. They put over a hundred stitches in it in '50 and had to keep opening it up to pull more glass out for the next quarter of a century, but I think they finally got it all."

And finally, the reason I dropped by his office: What about the NASCAR Top 50 list? Why aren't you on it? "That's a good question," he laughed. "The credentials are there (21 Winston Cup wins, Most Popular Driver in 1958, Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame and on and on), but I can't tell you."

(reproduced with permission from Pioneer Pages, the official newsletter of the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association)
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1946
RUSS TRUELOVE
After graduation from high school in 1942 Russ Truelove, a native of Waterbury, CT, joined the US Navy and the crew of the USS Sherwood DD 520 in the Aleutian and Northern Kruli Islands in the Pacific. He was discharged in 1946 and began racing in New England and the along the east coast in a 1947 Crager. Savin Rock, Plainville, Danbury, Stafford Springs, and Rhinebeck were home to Russ until he joined NASCAR in 1953.

In 1956 Russ qualified fifth at Daytona (128.205 mph) and made a bit of history. While down shifting down from 130 mph for the North Turn, the right tire dug in, and the car flipped six times. Photos of the crash made the March 19th issue of Life magazine.

"I walked away, but spent the night in the hospital. My bell was pretty well rung," says Russ. "I consider myself very lucky to have survived. You don't think about a whole lot but hanging on. You see sand and sky. It all happens so fast," Russ explains. But, he still wonders how Ralph Moody managed to duplicate his gymnastics and still finish the race.

After the race, Russ got a new car body from the factory, but when he blew an engine in 1957, he quit racing. "It was just too expensive for independent drivers," he explains. Russ had two top ten finishes during his Grand National career.

Russ' racing career was revived in 1989 when his wife presented him with a four-cylinder Spec Racer kit car for Christmas, and he was off and running with the Sports Car Club of America. He finally stopped racing when he was hit from behind and knocked into a wall. "The medical people told me to keep out of racing, and I decided to listen to them," he said.


Russ still lives in Waterbury and has served as a director of The Living Legends of Auto Racing, Inc. These days he spends a large part of his time scheduling public appearances for our members. Russ can usually be found posing for photographs with his restored 1956 Mercury and signing autographs for old and new fans at Living Legends events.

senor honda

1947

senor honda

1948: NASCAR was born
History of NASCAR WINSTON CUP 1948-1987
This is a good history......full length movie...well done.
When Winston cigarettes could no longer be advertised on TV, they changed the name of the Winston Cup
and changed history....some people acquired this movie by smoking a lot of cigarettes.... lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGXHngH2qTU
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ETHEL FLOCK MOBLEY
Ethel, named after the gasoline her father used in his taxi, was the youngest daughter in the Flock family. Closer in age to her brothers than to her sisters, she shared the interests of Bob, Fonty, and Tim.

In 1948 Bob built New Atlanta Speedway just outside Jonesboro. To attract larger crowds, he invited Ethel, Sara Christian, and Sara�s sister, Mildred Williams, to race at the new track. Ethel drove Fonty's modified car and raced in more than 100 races.

With a few exceptions Ethel limited her racing to the Atlanta area. One of those exceptions was the July 10, 1949 race at Daytona. She drove a 49 Cadillac to an 11th place finish in a field of 26 -- ahead of Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Marshall Teague, Buck Baker, and her brothers, Bob and Fonty. "She particularly loved racing with and beating her brothers," said Tim.

senor honda

1949
The 1949 race moved to a new 4.3-mile course, and France increase the race from 150 miles to 200 miles to allow the drivers to open up on the straighaways. Eighty-seven cars filed for qualifying, and 75 competed in the race -- the largest field in the history of American automobile racing. Ed Samples had the fastest time with Fonty Flock, and Red Byron just a few seconds slower.

Fonty led the first two laps before Byron took command. Then local hero Marshall Teague made his move. Teague, who had installed an extra fuel tank in the back seat of his '39 Ford, carried 36 gallons of fuel. He made only one quick pit stop for oil and led the race until the 36th lap when he briefly lost the lead to Ed Samples. Samples broke a rod with two laps remaining, and Teague won his first Daytona victory.

July

The mid-season race saw a switch from pre-war cars to newer models. Red Byron and Raymond Parks entered a 1949 Oldsmobile 88, but the fans were intrigued by the entry of three woman -- Sara Christian, Louise Smith, and Ethel Flock Mobley. Byron won the race with Tim Flock taking second place. Frank "Rebel"Mundy came in third. Ethel finished 11th, and Sara finished 18th. Louise came in 20th.

After the race Byron and Vogt compared the new cars to the modifieds. "These strictly stock cars are a lot slower,"remarked Byron. "The modifieds will do 115 mph down the road. These strictly stocks can do 92, maybe 93,"agreed Vogt. As noted by racing historian Greg Fielden, "It was a surprisingly disappointing beginning to what would be the heralded Winston Cup Series."
[Editor's note: Adding an extra fuel tank was not against the rules, but it was innovative.]
by Eddie Samples
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SARA CHRISTIAN
Women also raced in the good old days. In 1949, her rookie season, Sara Christian of Atlanta competed in the first NASCAR strictly stock (now Winston Cup) race at Charlotte Speedway. She qualified 13th for the 200-lap race -- one place above Sam Rice, a pre-war winner of the Daytona beach race. She drove a '49 Oldsmobile, prepared by her husband Frank, to a 13th place finish in a field of 33.

In September 1949 Sara started 21st in a field of 44 at Langhorne, PA. She finished sixth and Curtis Turner invited her to join him in victory lane.

Sara ran six of the eight strictly stock races in 1949 and finished 13th in the point standings. Her best finish was fifth in the October race at Heidelberg, PA. It is the only top five NASCAR finish for a woman. Sara also had two top ten finishes and was named Woman Driver of the
Year in 1949.
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MARIE MILLER
LLOAR Director Marie Miller was born in Plainview, Long Island. She worked for Liberty Aircraft in Farmingdale, Gruman Corporation in Bethpage, New York before starting a new part-time job: stock car racing.

Marie went to school for two weeks to learn how to drive a race car. Initially her promoters rented cars for Marie from the male drivers at $50.00 per race.

When she finally got her own car, Marie drove in the heats and in the semi-finals. Women were not allowed to race in the finals. That was reserved for the men.

"I raced for 12 wonderful years, and racing allowed me to meet many people that I would not have otherwise met," says Marie.

Marie serves on the board of the Living Legends and makes her home in Port Orange, Florida.

senor honda

1950

[h=1]From The Archives: Darlington’s first Southern 500[/h] Friday, September 2, 2016 at 10:37 by GODWIN KELLY


Nine years before the first Daytona 500 was held, there was NASCAR’s first superspeedway race, the 1950 Southern 500, held at Darlington Raceway – which will host the 67th annual running of the historic event on Sunday.
Johnny Mantz poses with his trophies after winning the first Southern 500 NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Raceway. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)

The track then was a 1.25-mile paved oval that was egg-shaped, the layout resulting from avoidance of a minnow pond during construction. Johnny Mantz won that race in a car owned by NASCAR founder and president Bill France Sr. The track now measures 1.366-miles long.
The ISC Archives & Research Center in Daytona Beach unearthed several classic photos from that legendary event. In one, Bill Sr. and several Darlington employees appear to be plotting some promotional strategies. The two other photos show the Southern 500 pace lap and Mantz in Victory Lane.
Each week this blog will highlight items from the ISC Archives and Research Center.
Fans may visit the ISC Archives and Research Center as part of a Daytona International Speedway “VIP Tour” that provides race fans an opportunity for an intimate, exclusive look behind-the-scenes at the “World Center of Racing.”
DARLINGTON, SC — September 4, 1950: The pace lap for the first Southern 500 NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Raceway. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives)

In addition to the ISC Archives and Research Center visit – where fans can see artifacts, past champion trophies, historic images and more – the VIP Tour provides an insider’s look at areas such as the Drivers’ Meeting Room, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garages, tech inspection and the Daytona 500 Club President’s Row.
Fans can have their photo taken at Daytona’s famed Gatorade Victory Lane and enjoy a birds-eye view of the entire 2.5-mile track from the new Daytona Rising Stadium. The tour concludes with access to the Coca-Cola Theatre and a close-up look at Denny Hamlin’s Daytona 500 winning car.
In addition, VIP Tour guests also get a visit to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which has moved to DIS from Novi, Michigan. The MSHFA is located in the DIS Ticket and Tours Building.
Admission to the VIP Tour is $52 per person and advanced reservations are encouraged as availability is limited. Reservations can be made in person at the Daytona International Speedway Ticket Office or by calling 877-306-7223.
DARLINGTON, SC — 1950: Bill France, Sr. (3rd from left) and other track employees work on preparation for the first Southern 500 NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Raceway. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives)

senor honda

1951
1951 Motor City 250, Detroit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbFTGHLhgNc
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Detroit, a 250-mile NASCAR Grand National race is held at the Michigan State Fairgrounds on August 12, 1951.

senor honda

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1952 Daytona International
1952 Daytona Beach Races.....after the intros of other races
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67EUZi675no

1952 Motor City 250
Tim Flock won, guy with mustache, dark shorts, Pure on his shirt is Fonty Flock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0NjfgkenoI

1952 100 lap Beach and Road course Modifieds and Sportsman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNzgKdxOMio
1952 Jimmie Lewallen driving #47

Hammered00
Am fortunate to have known Jimmie Lewallen. He and Jack Smith look smooth as silk throwing those cars into the turns at 110 mph. That's not easily accomplished. Last saw Jimmie race at Caraway,NC when it was still dirt in the late '60's. He was a nice guy and one of my heroes from back then and still is!
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NASCAR Speedway division rules
SPEEDWAY DIVISION (1952)
ENGINE

Block: American-made passenger car or approved truck
Displacement: No limit
Bore: within limits of blocks used
Camshaft: any type allowed
Crankshaft: stock crank and stroke for series and model engine
Intake manifold: any type, limit 2 carbs
Carburetors: any type, air cleaner optional
Cylinder head: must be stock, catalogued. Compression ratio may be altered.
Ignition: must be battery distributor type
Pistons: must be engine manufacturer's stock
Exhaust manifold: any type manifold header
Water pump: Impellers may be altered
Valve lifters: any type Spark plugs: any type
Generator: stock or none
Starter: any type starting devices, either integral or separate unit;
no pushing or towing allowed.
Radiator: Any size core or expansion tanks. Radiator must not alter body shape of car.


[HR][/HR] SPECSs


DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: minimum of 96 inches
Tread: minimum of 53 inches
Weight- important: total dry weight of complete car must not be less than 6 pounds per cubic inch of engine displacement.
Premium pump gasoline must be used

• Special type racing frame, no stock allowed
• One or two man Indianapolis racing body type only
• Racing type wheels only (Rudge, wire or magnesium)
• Stock or special steering but subject to appeal
• 4 brakes any type but must lock wheels

[HR][/HR] NASCAR sponsored the Speedway Division for only one year.