Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

Tom I wasn't at Atco when Joe flipped the Nova but it was to bad as he pretty much disappeared not long after that. The "Bat" was very cool. He used some real low tech equipment, like a starter button for a trans brake button and could usually hit .420 Rt's......I could barley get in the .4's foot braking......but he gave me some RT tips that helped and we always had fun racing with him....

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

you pups should have been around before spools and unbreakable axles... them GM service package axles would snap like a cheap fishing line, hell lots of tracks had concrete barriers around the trees !!

jack mccarthy

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

I don't think it was Oddy at Bowling Green in the Opel, it was Frank Mazi.
Middle of this page...
http://www.maziracing.com/99June/june99.htm

I would have thought replacing a tree would be a simple thing, unplug it and lift it out of the holder. Don't they take the thing out after the races?

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

I'm no pup ( but I wish I was) and I was around for that stuff.........Broke a rear (ring and pinion) in a '57 sedan delivery and it was a 14 second ride in 1966 with a hydro.......was with Frank Iaconio one weekend when he broke an axle at York and he and some helpers worked for hours trying to get the broken piece out.....loaded up with it still broke, went to a motel and worked the next morning at another track, Island.....got it fixed and broke another axle that day! His car was a stick fuelie at the time......I doubt that many Jr. Stockers had aftermarket anything back then in their drivelines......

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

You're right ,Tom. It was Mazi. My memory gets a little fuzzy now and then. ...Hey Capt.Jack, I'm old enough to have broken ten spline Olds axles in my 4100# J2 powered 50 Olds convertable, ..I used to carry a spare pair of axles and a center section so I could make it home from the track!...I think those are the fun days we are supposed to fondly remember!!.....I drove with 4.56's all the time, but my buddy that I traveled with used to swap rears and axles in his 55 Chevy when we got to the track! .......

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

Gotta chuckle at this one Jack!

Back in the early 70's, I was convinced I didn't need/couldn't afford aftermarket axles. In my 67 Mustang, I had a 9" taken out from under a 58 Ford station wagon. I welded up the spiders from a single trac and went racing. To make a long story short, I got real good at changing axles and pulling out the gears. I did my best to deplete the supply of 57-59 Ford axles.

Oh by the way, I about took out a X-mas tree myself once due to a snapped axle. Car jumped, jerked and rolled hard to the right. I can still remember looking to my right and seeing that tree coming at me. I can feel for the guy, that's not something you live down real easily.

Robert Swartz

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

I think I probably have enough stuff to fix that truck. If anyone knows the family, pass that on. I got lots of old stuff for Dodge Trucks. I really like that action.

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

The truck in question is the one Gary Harper and Sara Norsworthy have driven in the past. The unfortunate thing of this whole situation is that Irving bought the truck from Harper in November and this was his first National Event with the truck. Looks like it did some pretty good damage.

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

John Irving broke a couple of tows and hurt his right arm in the mishap. He said the left rocker panel got bent in bad and he doesn't know if it's repairable. He hopes to be healed up by Phoenix. Say's he has more race cars at home.

Re: TREE Taken out by a rear TIRE !!!
 

Hope that dude from the pinks show clealy understands why the tree is used in real drag racing ! If not get your insurance coverage up dated .....lol...