Evolution of the (Super) Late Model body

[ABYSS64]

Look for this series Jimmy.
http://www.oscaar.ca/

[ABYSS64]

Here's a couple more. From what I understand Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson,Ga. runs an outlaw style car.
http://www.greshammotorsportspark.com/

[AB195]

outlaws--

The first pic is the #5 of Larry Zent, at Fort Waynes' Baer Field Speedway, Summer of 1985ish. If you look to your left, the tracks right, is me, up against the fence in the white sweatshirt.

[ABYSS64]

Yeah, I think most of us here knew/know about Randy Sweet's car, but that *particular* car was built with one thing in mind - and it wasn't to *race* against other cars, just the clock, to try and set a world record. Now, on the other hand, Hialeah had the gumption to put together a few races in about '84 - '86 time frame, to actually get a bunch of those cars together and race 'em. That one pic that I posted is Mike Borghi's car down there at Hialeah; there's a bunch more from the same race on that same site (you just have to go through the "Late Model" pictures to find 'em...).

Where I'm moving to up north, there's still some tracks up that way that run them cars - and I won't be too far from Sandusky where the Supermodifieds run

I just absolutely LOVED those wedge cars; ehhh, the *current-style* Late Models are a bit "racier-looking" than what they were ten year ago, but those wedge cars are just timeless - and BAD....A$$....FAST!!!

What's the website Jimmy?

[AB195]

actually--

Look very closely the inside of the #5 car of Larry Zent.................

inside in the drivers seat...........is non other than Dale Earnhart, SR.

that was back when they were all barnstorming,,,, on a wed or thurs night. Rusty Wallace, Dale, SR., Dick Trickle, Steve Christman, Randy Sweet, Joy Fair, Mike Eddy, Ed Howe, Rich Bickle, Bobby Blount, Bobby Allison, on and on.

mid-week programs in the midwest were not all that uncommon in 1980'ish time--

dale earnhart,sr. drove the zent house car that night.

[ABYSS64]

Look very closely the inside of the #5 car of Larry Zent.................

inside in the drivers seat...........is non other than Dale Earnhart, SR.

that was back when they were all barnstorming,,,, on a wed or thurs night. Rusty Wallace, Dale, SR., Dick Trickle, Steve Christman, Randy Sweet, Joy Fair, Mike Eddy, Ed Howe, Rich Bickle, Bobby Blount, Bobby Allison, on and on.

mid-week programs in the midwest were not all that uncommon in 1980'ish time--

dale earnhart,sr. drove the zent house car that night.

You know, the file name for this picture said Dale. Sr. but I wasn't sure so I didn't make mention of it, thanx for pointing that out.

[Jimmy McKinley]

What's the website Jimmy?

Florida Racing Memories:

www.floridaracingmemories.com

LOTS of great stuff there! Even some pics of our car from "down south" at Hialeah. The "Collections" link has specific events from different collectors, including Marty Little.

[Jimmy McKinley]

one of the best ever on karnac.

possibly the best post ever on karnac Jimmy, and a huge thank you.

Thanks for the compliments ;-) Ya know...I'm still a youngster compared to some of these ol' farts on here - Fenton, Boner, Carol, Nerone, etc. - but I grew up with the '70s and '80s. Those cars had some variety - and *EXCITEMENT* - to them that just isn't seen today. Why? To me, because they all "look the same", because they're purchased from a manufacturer - and there's only a handful of 'em. I doubt we'll ever see the creativity of Hanley, Howe, my dad, Anderson, et al, ever again in short track Late Model racing.

[ABYSS64]

Thanks for the compliments ;-) Ya know...I'm still a youngster compared to some of these ol' farts on here - Fenton, Boner, Carol, Nerone, etc. - but I grew up with the '70s and '80s. Those cars had some variety - and *EXCITEMENT* - to them that just isn't seen today. Why? To me, because they all "look the same", because they're purchased from a manufacturer - and there's only a handful of 'em. I doubt we'll ever see the creativity of Hanley, Howe, my dad, Anderson, et al, ever again in short track Late Model racing.

I think you mentioned you were 11 years old in 81', I wasn't to far ahead of you, 81' was my junior year in school. I first saw cars like these on dirt, growing up in Virginia that's all we knew, not to much asphalt racing to speak of, except nascar of course. I always thought the dirt wedge cars were outrageous enough, I have a ton of pictures of them if you'd like to see some. But then, in the mid 80's I moved to florida and seen these wild creations on asphalt, I was like damn, I've been missing all this!?!?

Like a lot of us here I sure do miss that kind of racing, the same thing applies to the dirt cars, no creativity really, they are all the same as well, manufactured assembly line type chassis, same bodies with maybe a different nose piece, everyone with basically the same engine.

Take the Snowball for example, every single car looked the same except the paint jobs. I for one could care less about anything nascar does except the trucks, and I damn sure am not all that interested in seeing cars that look like them race every Saturday night. I attended a Supercup race at South Boston, a K&N Pro Series race at South Boston and a PASS race as well, only the names and paint jobs were different, they all looked like the same car from an outward appearance. At least we still have the super mods, hopefully since your moving north you'll get to take in some of those races.
Here's a couple of yesterdays dirtcar, I have a ton of these if ya wanna see more.

[andre]

Yep! It's all buy and drive today. No more room for geniuses. If you are one of those, you will be tomorrow sports front page headline: ''so and so was disqualified from the race because he''..............(you fill the blanks).

Remember when they use to burn ''witches'' alive on public places !!!!!

[ScannerMac]

Probably the last stronghold of outlaw super lates is in the MI, OH, and IN areas. The problem is the number of tracks running them are finding it more and more difficult to have them for a variety of reason. The Main Event Series and the Great Lakes Outlaw Super Late Model series are the only groups still running. Most tracks will run them for special events but not on a regular basis.

There is one track--Kalamazoo Speedway that has run an event for several years now which is the Call of the Wild. They run it at the end of the season and it brings out the most creative and exotic outlaw super late models.

This past year Andy Bozell ran a 10.038 sec lap on 3/8 mile track. Here is the link to the youtube video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bz1G...eature=related

If the link doesn't work just search Youtube for the Call of the Wild Kalamazoo Speedway 2010.

Make sure you turn up the volume and notice that the PA guy really gets into it.

L McMurray
Great Lakes Racing Frequencies

[Frasson118]

Interesting tid-bit about the Mike Borghi picture... the car on the inside is actually a Dirt LM by design.

It was the #12 Barry Wright house-car, driven by Gary Balough and sponsored by Carolina Tool. It didn't run very many races as I recall, but I did see it at an early East Bay LM Nationals on the dirt. This is the first time I've ever seen Asphalt tires on it.

[Jimmy McKinley]

I'd seen that "Franklin Flyer" car before; I think it was in Stock Car Racing magazine or something.

Remember Charlie Swartz' mid-engine wedge "Fiero"?

I guess my post was more into the local (Florida) racing "rules" on the bodies.

Here's Mike Eddy's Howe house car at the '85 DeSoto Triple Crown (Sunday) show:

[hanley_72]

GREAT pics and post here guys. I am a huge JR. HANLEY fan and collector and love this stuff. I have some pics of some more of his wild creations. Will look for them and post on here.
Jimmy, love your pics on facebook. Heard you are moving to Ohio, Toledo Speedway and Flat Rock Speedway just down the road from Toledo in Michigan run the OUTLAW SLM cars. Just like Kalamazoo, Dixie Speedway in Michigan.
TO the poster who posted the link to the www.oscaar.ca site, that is a series that runs up here in Ontario. Hanley's kid runs in the series but it is a little more travel for Jimmy to come from Ohio to see it .
Thanks again.