US Nats ? For You Older Guys

[Larry Merk]

Originally Posted by Chuck Norton

Is it possible that the winner in 1974 was Al Vanis and that the name was misspelled "Al Vanisyl?" Larry Peterson, the runner-up, probably remembers it.

I scrolled through several years of the list and the letters "yl" are randomly appended to the names of numerous winners and runners-up. Is that another NHRA enhancement?

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by Larry Merk

I scrolled through several years of the list and the letters "yl" are randomly appended to the names of numerous winners and runners-up. Is that another NHRA enhancement?

Larry, we gotta watch out for those "randomly appended" entries. Seldom see them outside the courtroom or legislative halls and when they show up there it usually means something just got shoved where the sun don't shine.

[Rich Biebel]

Al Vanis is his name and he raced this area for years and years . He won the Etown national event in Stock a number of years ago too I believe. Haven’t seen him racing for a while but he did race area tracks in Pro bracket for years in various cars. Was often at Island Dragway or Englishtown.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

Al Vanis is his name and he raced this area for years and years . He won the Etown national event in Stock a number of years ago too I believe. Haven’t seen him racing for a while but he did race area tracks in Pro bracket for years in various cars. Was often at Island Dragway or Englishtown.

Thanks for that info !

I think I MAY have all this figured out.

I posted a pic of Dave Pruden's '69 GTO, in the US Nats winners circle, on a Pontiac FB page. He had a trophy which was not a Wally. Here's what he said about that pic.

"...That’s for E/S class win at the 1973 US Nats. My first time there..."

So, I'm thinkin that the pic of Rock Running in the winners circle is for his class win in '74. And, the pic of the Al Vantis car going down the track was not from the final round. Rock Running just happened to be his opponent on that particular run, when the pic was made.

That's the best I can do.

Below is the pic of Dave Pruden in the winners circle, with his E/S class trophy.

[oldskool]

I'm obviously not familiar with all those who raced competitive Pontiac Stock/SS cars thru the years. But I know some of the names.

I found that Sonny Ray won SS at the Cajun Nats in '79 & '82, & David Rampy won his 1st Wally, in that same car, at the '83 Cajuns.

http://www.nhra.net/50th/results.asp?mYear=1979

http://www.nhra.net/50th/results.asp?mYear=1982

http://www.nhra.net/50th/results.asp?mYear=1983

The Cajun Nats were held in my home state. We went in '78. Got a good close-up pic of Sonny & his '72 GTO.

[oldskool]

OK, got another one for you guys. I just found this pic.

It shows a '68 Bird, with "Hard Times" on the door. It's in the US Nats winners circle, and the guy is definitely holding a Wally.

Here's the problem. I know that Truman Fields won Stock in '73, in the Hard Times Bird, and Mike McKinney won a couple of years later, in the same car.

But, the car in this pic has different lettering & looks to have a vinyl roof.

So, who is this, and IF he did win the US Nats, what year was it ?

When they have a div 3 race at Indy, do they leave the US Nats winners circle sign up ? If so, I assume this could have been a win at a div race, maybe ?

It’s Truman Fields in 1977 at the Nationals. He won C/S class that year. In 76 he sold the car that he won the 73 Nationals to Roy and Mike McKinney. This is the car Truman got in trade from them plus the money for his HT1 Firebird. I currently own the car in the picture





QUOTE=oldskool;581061]OK, got another one for you guys. I just found this pic.

It shows a '68 Bird, with "Hard Times" on the door. It's in the US Nats winners circle, and the guy is definitely holding a Wally.

Here's the problem. I know that Truman Fields won Stock in '73, in the Hard Times Bird, and Mike McKinney won a couple of years later, in the same car.

But, the car in this pic has different lettering & looks to have a vinyl roof.

So, who is this, and IF he did win the US Nats, what year was it ?

When they have a div 3 race at Indy, do they leave the US Nats winners circle sign up ? If so, I assume this could have been a win at a div race, maybe ?[/QUOTE]

[oldskool]

" It’s Truman Fields in 1977 at the Nationals. He won C/S class that year. In 76 he sold the car that he won the 73 Nationals to Roy and Mike McKinney. This is the car Truman got in trade from them plus the money for his HT1 Firebird. I currently own the car in the picture "

OK, I'm confused. This article clearly states that the car Mike McKinney traded to Truman was BURGANDY. Says Truman got it running quicker than Mike was running in Truman's old car. There are 2 pics of the Burgandy car. There is no mention of a green car with a vinyl top.

So, is the info in this article completely false ?

http://www.risesales.com/pages/Dragr.../t_fields.html

Another question. That is clearly a Wally in his hand, in that winners circle pic. Truman did not win Stock that year at the US Nats. So, in '77, did they also give a Wally to all the class winners, as well as the eliminator winners.

Earlier pics showed a completely different trophy for class winners.

[btrc]

I don't know what the did at Indy but I have a wally from winning class at the 1976 Sportsnationals in BG.

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Another question. That is clearly a Wally in his hand, in that winners circle pic. Truman did not win Stock that year at the US Nats. So, in '77, did they also give a Wally to all the class winners, as well as the eliminator winners.

Earlier pics showed a completely different trophy for class winners.

In the first place, it should be recognized that there is a HUGE difference between a class win and an eliminator win and a corresponding difference between the sizes of the trophies for each. The eliminator trophy is at least twice as big as a class trophy and that doesn't begin to address the differences in payout as well as in earned prestige. In any given year, at any given event, there are literally dozens of class winners, each presented with a traditional small Wally. By contrast, there is only ONE eliminator winner trophy per category, per event and there is no mistaking the difference when they're placed side-by-side. Magazine write-ups and "For Sale" ads sometimes blur the distinction through the misleading usage of terminology such as "Indy Winner" to describe a class win at the U.S. Nationals even though some Class Winner trophies were presented to racers who were the only contestant in a given class. It should be remembered that there are usually seven rounds of sweat, blood, and tears between a class win and eliminator win.

The discussion regarding the timing of the change-over in trophies caused me to take another look at that issue. I have a picture of my car taken in 1975 following class eliminations in front of the "Winternationals" trophy backdrop that includes the car, me, and a "cup" trophy sitting on the ground beside the car. In spite of that, the trophy on my shelf with the tag identifying the 1975 Winternationals Class Winner is a small "Wally." The photography crew placed the "cup" beside the car for the picture but the trophy that I eventually received was the "new" design. It seems that I recall that there had been a late delivery of trophies following the change and they didn't appear for several days. That late delivery probably only occurred at the Winternationals that year but it demonstrates the point that things are not always as they seem.

c