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Here is the #4 that started it all (at least for me anyway).
This is the 57’ Chevy Late Model owned by my B-in-L Kenny Faircloth that was affectionally named Ol’ Midnite. This was the first car I ever made a hot lap in.
Here is a shot of the car in the pits at GG while the fenders were still straight and the lettering was legible.
Here we are at Gold Coast Speedway, Ft. Pierce, Fl in 1967 after Kenny won a 100-lapper there.
I am on the left; Kenny is in the middle and Kenny’s cousin Stevie is on the right.
Unfortunately after a lengthy stop in Okeechobee on the way home that night indulging in too much fried catfish and Budwieser, your’s truly fell asleep and ran off the road in Bradenton at 3:00 AM totaling the truck and damaging the racecar. Wiping out the iron wasn’t nearly as bad as the injuries suffered by Stevie.
He was sitting in the middle between us asleep with the trophy between his legs and the winged figure on top against his neck when I ran off the road at full speed. The trophy cut a major artery in his neck. I’ll never forget when the truck finally stopped, the windshield was open and partially laying on the hood. I got out immediately (in a stupor) and went around front to survey the damage and I couldn’t figure out where the warm transmission fluid was coming from still hitting me in the face with the engine off. Here it was Stevie’s blood spurting through the hole in the windshield from his neck with every heartbeat.
Fortunately I was able to flag someone down pretty fast a get help. As it turned out Stevie was OK and left the hospital before I did.
This is shot of Ol’ Midnite at home after the wreck. That 50' Ford in the background up on jackstands was a sleeper I had built as a Sophomore in High School. I put a Buick engine in that beast with dual quads (note the traction bars hanging down) and that thing would fly. The problem was that I adapted the engine to the original Ford 3-speed transmission (thanks JC Whitney) and it kept grenading on me, hence the car up on stands in this shot.
This is the 57’ Chevy Late Model owned by my B-in-L Kenny Faircloth that was affectionally named Ol’ Midnite. This was the first car I ever made a hot lap in.
Here is a shot of the car in the pits at GG while the fenders were still straight and the lettering was legible.
Here we are at Gold Coast Speedway, Ft. Pierce, Fl in 1967 after Kenny won a 100-lapper there.
I am on the left; Kenny is in the middle and Kenny’s cousin Stevie is on the right.
Unfortunately after a lengthy stop in Okeechobee on the way home that night indulging in too much fried catfish and Budwieser, your’s truly fell asleep and ran off the road in Bradenton at 3:00 AM totaling the truck and damaging the racecar. Wiping out the iron wasn’t nearly as bad as the injuries suffered by Stevie.
He was sitting in the middle between us asleep with the trophy between his legs and the winged figure on top against his neck when I ran off the road at full speed. The trophy cut a major artery in his neck. I’ll never forget when the truck finally stopped, the windshield was open and partially laying on the hood. I got out immediately (in a stupor) and went around front to survey the damage and I couldn’t figure out where the warm transmission fluid was coming from still hitting me in the face with the engine off. Here it was Stevie’s blood spurting through the hole in the windshield from his neck with every heartbeat.
Fortunately I was able to flag someone down pretty fast a get help. As it turned out Stevie was OK and left the hospital before I did.
This is shot of Ol’ Midnite at home after the wreck. That 50' Ford in the background up on jackstands was a sleeper I had built as a Sophomore in High School. I put a Buick engine in that beast with dual quads (note the traction bars hanging down) and that thing would fly. The problem was that I adapted the engine to the original Ford 3-speed transmission (thanks JC Whitney) and it kept grenading on me, hence the car up on stands in this shot.
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