Driver Nickname Trivia

[John Berti]

Just wondering why no one has mentioned "Mr Excitement". One of the top five late model drivers in my opinion. If Jimmy Cope was there it was a good race.

To those of us from the Northeast "Mr. Excitement" was Jimmy Spencer.

I'll never forget the day I was announcing at Monadnock Speedway when we had a NASCAR Modified Tour race. Jimmy Spencer raced that day. Of course I used "Mr Excitement" as Spencer's nickname. That day he hit just about everything that moved on his way to victory. That prompted one of our scorers to say she had a different nickname for Spencer. It was "High Speed Bulldozer".

[ancrdave]

Don't remember a lot of them from OSW... I'm getting brain fade worse & worse every day...
There is "Bomber" Bill Loomis
George "The Animal" Murphy
"The Bithlo Bullet" Bobby Crites
Carl "Peanut" Green
Mike and Timmy Todd - The "Todd Squad"
Jim "The Crusher" Erb
Jerry "The Hammer" Symons
"The Old Die Hard" Bobby Sears
"Terrible" Ted Head
John "Believe It Or Not" Ripley
and I'm sure some of you can remember some more...

Some already had their own like William "Dink" Sullivan, Jeff "Jinx" Moyer, "Leapin'" LeRoy Porter, Chuck "Junkyard Dog" Rush, Jack "Punky" Cook, "Professor" Duke Southard etc. And who can forget Bob Hiner "Damn Yankee"...

[Frasson118]

To follow up on my previous list, un-guessed answers were:

The Monk, Lou Lazzaro
Michael "Mutley" Kurkowski
The Gray Fox was Don Diffendorf
Neil "Terrible" Tooley

Fuzzy Baer is also correct, but I was going for Fuzzy Van Horn.

[John Berti]

wonder if OJ can get this one....lol

Hank "The Crank"

The "Hank the Crank" nickname was given to Hank Bechtloff who was known countrywide for his talents as one of the most prolific engine builders of engines for just about any racing venue. I still think he has a shop in California.

[John Berti]

Tweedy is correct about Todd Gibson being the Flintstone Flyer. He beat Duval to it by 20 years or so.

How about:

Rags
Parnelli
Mutley
The Monk
Jumpin'
Socks
Pee Wee
Rat
The Snake
The Mongoose
Fuzzy
Dutch
The Silver Fox
The Gray Fox
Terrible

Don't think these were guessed.

Lou "Monk" Lazzaro
"Terrible" Tommy Corellis
Donald "Dutch" Hoag
"Jumpin" Jack Johnson
Merwin "Socks" Hulbert
Jake "The Snake" Marosz or Don "The Snake" Prudhomme
Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen

[John Berti]

Steady Eddie Flemke, Mario "Fats" Caruso, the Connecticut Bandits were Ed Flemke and Dennis Zimmerman they were more commonly called the Eastern Bandits and included Rene Charland when racing in the South, Mike "Magic Shoes" McLaughlin.

Got some more to throw out myself:

"Money Bags"
Sparky Belmont
Dicky Doo
Jocko - Real name please!
Bobby Vee
"The Flying School Teacher"
Jap
Ice Man

"Money Bags" Moe Gherzi. He was a colorful character with his thin mustache and the classy way he dressed as a driver. Most of the time all in white.
Sparky Belmont was really Mike Belmonti
Dicky Doo was Dick Ceravolo
Jocko - Chauncy Maggiacomo
Bobby Vee's real name was Robert Vallencourt
Mike "The Flying School Teacher" Murphy.
Tony "Jap" Membrino
Terry "Ice Man" Labonte

[John Berti]

Mr Berti,

Jocko was Chauncey
Jap was Anthony

Do you remember the original "Jalopy King" at Riverside. ? (Tuesday night programs.)

To all others; How about the Flintstone Flyer ?

In addition to a lot of great Modified drivers coming up from Tuesday night jalopy races at Riverside Park there were a lot from the Tuesday night Novice Division. Names like John Rosati, Bob Polverari, Bob Stefanik, Russ McLean, Jack Fisher, George Circosta, Tom Vining, and Charlie Rose to name a few.

[Frasson118]

Special K
The High Plains Drifter
The Real Deal
Mr. Invitational
The Duke
Buckeye Bullett
Swifty
Travelin Tommy
Tiger Tom
Sugar Bear
The Blue Goose
The Turtle
The Zero Hero
The Ohio Traveler
Black Bandit

[Denman]

I believe most of mine have been guessed. F118 & Berti did fantastic. Here is a couple more:

Big Daddy or The Flying Scotsman
Westie
Super
Swede
Rocketman
Smokey
Roddy
Granny
Chick
Corky

[John Berti]

Special K
The High Plains Drifter
The Real Deal
Mr. Invitational
The Duke
Buckeye Bullett
Swifty
Travelin Tommy
Tiger Tom
Sugar Bear
The Blue Goose
The Turtle
The Zero Hero
The Ohio Traveler
Black Bandit

"Special K" - Brad Keselowski
George "The Duke" Kent
"Tiger Tom" could be many drivers: Tom Pistone, Tom Baldwin, Tom Sylvester
Don "The Real Deal" O'Neil
Rick Carelli was known as "The High Plains Drifter"
Dave Blaney was known as "The Buckeye Bullet"
Nolan Swift was known as "Swifty"
Steve Smith was known as "The Black Bandit"

That's about the best I can do. I've left some out there for others.

[John Berti]

I believe most of mine have been guessed. F118 & Berti did fantastic. Here is a couple more:

Big Daddy or The Flying Scotsman
Westie
Super
Swede
Rocketman
Smokey
Roddy
Granny
Chick
Corky

"Big Daddy" Don Garlits. Most widely known "Big Daddy", but I bet you were going for Don McLaren.
Don "The Flying Scotsman" McLaren or Dario "The Flying Scotsman" Franchitti
"Westie" - Eddie West, super modified legend
David Earl "Swede" Savage
Wayne "Rocketman" Jefferson or Ryan "Rocketman" Newman
Henry "Smokey" Yunick or Nathan "Smokey" Boutwell
Rodney "Roddy" Perry
"Granny" - Granny Tatro who used to race at New Smyrna. Sorry, don't know what her first name was.
Charles "Chick" Stockwell
Prentice "Corky" Cookman or Corky Craver. Craver raced all over Central Florida. Sorry, don't know his real first name.

[Denman]

Yes I was going for Don McClaren from NESMRA. Bingo on the rest. BTW when did you announce at Monadnock.?I used to go there often on Fridays I believe in the early to mid seventies.. Watched Jack Bateman, Ted Brown in the #92 (my favorite) and Punky Caron go to battle. My Dad lived about three miles north of the track in the large farmhouse heading torwards Keene on the left (same side as the track). So whenever I headed up to visit him, a stop at Monadnock was a definite for us. Great job with the trivia. Wish I could think of more Florida names, but they seem to escape me at present. Only been here since '79 so maybe thats the reason. lol, Guess it's old age creeping in.

[John Berti]

More Nicknames

Here's some more nicknames to keep you busy:

Superman - Looking for the modified driver
Crawfish
Fonty
Super Tex
Bubble Gum Joe
Booker T
Friday
Bones
Wasa Wasa Kid
Golden Boy
King of Southern Modifieds
Cotton
Speedy
Hoppy
The Lion
Bearfoot
Iron Man of Windham
Buckshot
Bunkie
Gentleman Jimmy
Coo Coo
Florida Hurricane
June Bug
Timmonsville Flash

[John Berti]

Yes I was going for Don McClaren from NESMRA. Bingo on the rest. BTW when did you announce at Monadnock.?I used to go there often on Fridays I believe in the early to mid seventies.. Watched Jack Bateman, Ted Brown in the #92 (my favorite) and Punky Caron go to battle. My Dad lived about three miles north of the track in the large farmhouse heading torwards Keene on the left (same side as the track). So whenever I headed up to visit him, a stop at Monadnock was a definite for us. Great job with the trivia. Wish I could think of more Florida names, but they seem to escape me at present. Only been here since '79 so maybe thats the reason. lol, Guess it's old age creeping in.

I announced at Mad Dog from 1982-1993. Left because of a pay issue. Also announced at Claremont Speedway for one season filling in for their regular announcer when his regular job took him out of the country. and was a special events announcer at Riverside Park Speedway mostly for the big shows and Sunday specials. I more often worked in the Riverside Park Amusement Park thereafter in Guest Services and handled media relations and pit sign ins at the pit trailer on Saturday nights after Ben Dodge left.

I hosted my own award winning, auto racing talk show, "Motorsports Talk" on WHYN 560 radio out of Springfield, MA and WACE 730 radio out of Chicopee, MA from 1983-1992. I use to do one Trivia Night each season and amazed many listeners with how much I was able to remember. We used to have a lot of fun. I was also a writer for Speedway Scene and National SpeedSportNews back in those days.

I moved to Florida in 2003. Since I've been here I was a contributing writer for Motorsports News Network and a contributing writer and former Senior Editor for Karnac.com. I announced for the FASCAR Sunbelt Super Late Model Series, Fastruck Series, and had brief stints at Desoto Super Speedway and Bronson Speedway.

[waggy431]

Here are a few popular current PA and NJ racers from up north:

The Kid
Showtime
The Quaker Shaker