The Things You See At The Races...

[no74falcon]

End of the season and was hoping this might carry us through for a while. Not a thread for bashing anyone personally, so keep names out please.

Went to Utica-Rome tonight for their Labor Day show with the ESS. As we know, Dean Reynolds threw out the shirts and frisbees as he always does. I always swore that if I caught one of the shirts or frisbees, I'd give it to whatever young kid might be sitting around me that looked like he/she would appreciate it. Two rows in front of me sat a young boy around the age of 5-7. Been sitting there watching the races and not messing around so I thought to myself... Perfect! If I catch one, this kid is getting it! The boy was there with his father, and with about 2 empty seats to the boys right, sat an older couple, well into their 50's, if not their 60's. Sure enough, a frisbee was coming our way, but was headed right for the kid (Dean is good at that). Doesn't the older gentleman, clearly not there with the boy and his father, almost takes out everyone in a 10 foot radius, to snatch that frisbee. Then the old fart waves it around like he'd won the lottery. It reminded me of the incident recently with the young boy at the ball game that had the guy sitting next to him taunt him with the ball that he had caught.

 

[Spokes]

You hit the nail on the head with this one!  I'm 64 and every day I see seniors behaving badly.  Then they wonder why young people give them no respect. 

 

[Half Fast Bob]

Allen - your description of the old guy makes me think he was one of those people who never win anything.

 

[oldguy]

"Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill".

Mr. no74falcon, This "gentleman" upset the theory of survival of the fittest. 

To balance the scales, I have seen a guy from Erieville (definitely under 65) dig into his own pocket and give a young racer a gift certificate for some safety gear.

For every unruly fan :'( , there are a thousand more  that swing the scales in favor of humanity.

 

[racer#9]

Yes some people are rude, but I choose to remember those who have done special  things. A couple of years ago my son had his back pack with his cars and some other things in it stolen. I made a post on raceny to vent, and someone replied to it asking for my address. A few days later a package arrived for my son with new stuff. I will never forget that!!!                              Thank you Mr. Flock

 

[no74falcon]

Yes some people are rude, but I choose to remember those who have done special  things. A couple of years ago my son had his back pack with his cars and some other things in it stolen. I made a post on raceny to vent, and someone replied to it asking for my address. A few days later a package arrived for my son with new stuff. I will never forget that!!!                              Thank you Mr. Flock

See how you are John? 

 

[Terry]

Gotta good laugh when the winners picture had one of the tech personnel in his victory celebration pics holding his pointer finger high in the air. Not the way to represent a track in a professional manner!! Maybe thats why the car counts have reduced so much.

 

[thewackyracer]

Terry, maybe he knew that he was gonna DQ him.

 

[no74falcon]

Super Dirt Week 1997... I acquire 2 VIP weekend passes that had a value of like $175.00 each. That weekend, the girl I was with at the time (also a big race fan), had her son staying with us for the weekend, but we just couldn't afford another VIP pass, and he was too young to sit by himself, so my mom stayed home with him during Saturday's races. After the races Saturday, we went down to Joe Plazek's trailer that his wife, Sue, ran. We purchased my girlfriend's son a t-shirt, explaining that we needed to take him home something, because he was mad he couldn't come. As we finished the transaction, she asked us why he couldn't come, and we explained the situation with the VIP tickets. Sue put the shirt in a bag and told us to please wait a minute, then disappeared out the back of the trailer. She came back, smiled at us, and handed us another VIP ticket, informing us that he better be wearing his new t-shirt when we brought him back Sunday for the big race. I was always a Joe Plazek fan, but I've also been a Sue Plazek fan ever since!

 

[Turbo01]

This should maybe be posted in the Gail Barber Memorial thread, but it fits perfectly here too. Many many years ago at Freedom (Arcade) Speedway, I believe we were there watching his son Jim race, walking threw the pits. A young pure stock driver stopped Gail to ask him a racing question. Ever willing to help anyway he can, Gail began looking over the rear area of the car. He was shocked to see the young driver had a beer keg for a fuel tank. The driver explained that he couldn't afford a racing fuel cell. Gail, rather sternly told that driver to bring his car by the Bliss Garage the next day. The driver did, and Gail gave this driver a fuel cell for his car, explaining he could not in good conscience let him race with an empty beer keg for obvious safety reasons. He then went through the rest of the car with the kid and pointed out what needed to be changed in order to run up front. That driver ended up winning a heat that season, then I believe never raced again. Didn't matter to Gail, he was just glad to help. One of thousands of good deeds done by Mr. Barber.

 

[no74falcon]

Great story Brian! Although this is where I was hoping this thread would go, I guess I didn't start out very well with the first post. 

Gail was always a favorite of mine as a kid, as I liked the color blue, plus he had the cool numbers on the car, with the cars racing around the "0", and the snowmobile blasting through the drift in the "1".

 

[Turbo01]

I remember that car too. It was very cool. Do you remember the cars (drivers) racing on the 0 on his car?

 

[no74falcon]

I remember that car too. It was very cool. Do you remember the cars (drivers) racing on the 0 on his car?

No... But I'm hoping you do!

 

[Turbo01]

I can't say for certain if there were 3 or 4. I know the first 3 were Gail, followed by Richie, followed by Doug Hewitt. Two of Gail's good friends, whom he enjoyed competing against. The 4th if it was there, may have been a field filler. ;D

 

[thewackyracer]

One night at Holland Sheri Hogan had problems with her cylinder heads, Mike Logsdon drove to Pavilion to get Sheri a pair of heads while the team tore her car down. Sheri had a race the nextday. I think she made it. Astory of good people finding good people.

 

[Jazzy]

Last night at WCIS, the McLean team was having loads of engine issues after hauling down several hours from up in Canada for the SST race, after going thru the carb and distributor, Andy J was in the engine bay working on the valve train right up until feature time trying to help get them on the track....

 

[Sodus Mike]

Andy J =RACER !

 

[no74falcon]

What I saw in '77 was Dad cutting back from the Modifieds because of cost and building a new Street Stock. He started a little late in the season due to a hand injury on the farm. A young Tony Vecchio Jr. had been tearing up the Street Stocks at both Fulton and Shangri-La, where Dad was going to be racing. With in a couple weeks, I had met Tony's younger brother Sal, so we would sit together in the stands. Dad had gotten rid of the "New car woes" and was pretty competitive at Fulton. While I had met Sal, Dad had met Tony Jr, as they always seemed to be in the same place, at the same time, out on the track, even during practice. I remember Sal and I watching, and saying to each other, "Oh no! Here they go again!" After lots of loud verbal, and even a few physical confrontations, Dad and Tony Jr. certainly weren't friends, but Sal and I still always sat together. Sal always looked out for me and made sure I wasn't doing anything that might get me in trouble.

Fast forward almost 30 years, Dad had passed, and I was restoring Dad's last Modified. While I had the car over to Ray Hedger's getting the Falcon body hung properly, Ray asked what I would be lacking, and I told him a period correct seat, and whatever fuel cell he thought would be appropriate. Ray dug out a nice fiberglass seat (which has a story all to itself), and said he would see what he could come up with for a fuel cell. About a week later, with the car still at Ray's, he asked if I was going to the Spring Swap Meet at the NYS fairgrounds the following weekend. When I told him I had planned on it, he told me to look for Tony Jr., but wouldn't tell me why. I found Tony at the swap meet, and sheepishly walked up to him and told him who I was. He said to me "I saw your dad's old car at Ray Hedger's, and he said you need a vintage fuel cell for it." I told him I did, but didn't know exactly what would have been used way back then. He told me that when I was done looking around, to come back and find him. When I came back and told him I had seen enough, he said to me "C'mon, follow me over to the race shop." We made the short trip down 690 to the race shop they had been in for years on the west side of Syracuse, and Tony took me in and showed me an old fuel cell, that was certainly still useable. He said "Dimension wise, this is just what you want." I looked it over while thinking back all those years and remembering all the confrontations, and Tony asked "What do you think?" I said that if he thought it would work, I'd take it, and asked how much he wanted for it. He smiled and said that what he wanted, was to see Dad's old Mod come back to life, and I could have it.