Bill Elswick passes

[Marty Little]

Some of you South Florida fans from the late 70s will reacll the Performer Racing Team with twin tan and brown Camaros numbered 30 and 31. They were driven mostly by Bill Elswick and Bob Castoro. Elwick later went on to drive 17 Winston Cup events for the Rahmoc Team during 1979-81. Bill passed away on Nov. 1 following lengthy medical issues including a heart bypass and a near drowning. He was 61 and lived in Ft Lauderdale.

[Old Sunshine Fan]

Not sure if I remember correctly or not... did that pair of cars race at a Gov. Cup at the Gate? It seems I remember them being there.

[Osmosis Jones]

Yes I do remember....

I remember those two Camaros at Golden Gate one year for the GovCup...I remember thinking how cool they looked and the hauler they were using was awesome.....looked very professional (to me)for mid to late 70's Florida Late Model racers.....Think I have a picture of them somewhere from that day...

Sorry to hear of his passing.

[ronabneysr]

were they also cars billy harvey drove at 200 at gate

didn't billy harvey have same cars or same #at florida 200

[Boneman]

Here is a picture of Billy Elswick rolling into the pits at Hialeah. At the time, this hauler and car were considered an extravegence, and we all wondered how on earth he and Bob Castoro could afford such luxury.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Two pics I have of the Elswick/Castoro cars from the '77 Governor's Cup (actually, I think both of these are of Castoro, and both the 30 and 31 were taken out in an early crash). Notice that it's not the same ramp truck, but an open-air trailer with two tire racks.

Oh, and hey Ron (Abney), I'm not sure that Harvey ever ran at the Governor's Cup, although he ran at New Smyrna and Palm Beach quite a bit.

[ronabneysr]

wouldn't it be fun to have a time machine

and to be able to go back in past for some special races some of the people that race today would never believe you could start over 30 cars at hiealea on flat track start in back go to front running 3 wide

or go to old holly wood speed way and watch rod perry -in blue jewell pan american air lines start dead last pass 3 deep on out side and turn track back then under 12 seconds

or start 34 cars in feature at golden gate and watch high point man come from rear 3 wide on out side

they did not have any bottom feeders that drove down in grass to pass on inside back in old days

by the way back then those guys built those cars they did not get them out of book or get go daddy to buy them and send them to school to learn how to drive them not that there is any thing wrong with it

and one more thing i just seen last week a guy was bragging about running over 2 place sprint car spinning him out and tearing his fuel cell off he thought that was funny when he was getting his picture took

my my times have changed

[Jimmy McKinley]

Goin' back in time...

Not to take away from the thread...

I don't ever recall seeing Harvey at Golden Gate, but Elswick made a number of races over on the west coast. Seen them cars a lot at St. Pete, Golden Gate, and DeSoto when it first opened. If I recall, too, Elswick ran a team car to Harvey as well at one time, Elswick in the 30 and Harvey in the 31.

Look at that pic of the lineup on the frontstretch *closely*. Castoro, Rogers, and Tharpe are all on Firestones

[ModelCarMan]

Sorry to heard of Billy's passing.

I to remember these two race cars, I was only a teenager at the time and man they were real sharp from what I can remember.