At  the end of Part II, I mentioned the Indy car race at Darlington, S.C.  It was held on July 4, 1951.  I mentioned the blue 79 driven by Johnny McDowell.  Guess I remember that car, also, because he started on the pole.  As for Faulkner, well, he was the race winner.  Vukovich?  I know I remember him.  Who could forget a name like that?  "Vukie" failed to qualify his car, but he did drive relief for Walt Brown.  There were twenty eight cars in the field.  Forty four cars were entered.  I have just purchased one of Dale Snyder's racing videos.  "Sprint & Champ Car Classics", is the title.  There were some shots from the 1951 Langhorne Indy car race.  I guess the old memory is still pretty good.  There was Johnny McDowell - in a blue number 79.

Some of the drivers that day were:  Tony Bettenhausen, Cecil Green, Bill Mackey, Jack McGrath, Manuel Ayulo, Henry Banks, Mike Nazaruk, Chuck Stevenson and Walt Brown.  Actually, that is the top ten, after winner Faulkner.  Brown was relieved by Vukovich.  Some of the other drivers for this event were:  Andy Linden, Paul Russo, Bill Schindler, Johnnie Parsons and Joe James.  Some of those that failed to qualify were:  Rodger Ward, in three different cars, Joe Barzda, Fred Agabashian, Doc Shanebrook and Duane Carter.

Now, we are into the fifties.  I recall going up to Syracuse, NY. in 1951.  Again, with my brother and father.  I do not recall the trip up there, but it must have taken forever.  Back then, there was no Interstate 81.  Guess we went up US 11.  Man, that had to be some trip.  Today, with the Interstate Highway system, it is a good three hour drive.  And you know that we rarely travel at the speed limit, right?  What do I remember about Syracuse?  Well, I do believe it was during the State Fair.  There were "huge" circus tents in the infield.  Well, "huge" enough so we could not see the backstretch.  They started 18 cars out of a 21 entrees.  Thinking now, I really think that this race was the first one I had seen on a dirt track.  As what was the "usual" race distance back then, it was for 100 miles.  Tony Bettenhausen was leading, when on the sixty seventh lap, Bill Schindler broke a right front spindle coming out of the second turn.  All we could see, from the grandstand, was one huge cloud of dust.  Communications back then were practically nil.  Vukovich, in third place, actually stopped his car at the starters stand to tell the starter that there were cars all over the backstretch, and the track was blocked.  The race was red-flagged, and considered "official".  Bettenhausen was declared the winner.  After him came Walt Faulkner, Vukovich, Eddie Johnson, Harry King, Henry Banks, Jack McGrath, Schindler, Chuck Stevenson and Buzz Barton in tenth.  Some of the others in competition were Duane Carter, Tommy Hinnershitz, Paul Russo, Johnnie Parsons and Mike Nazaruk.

My father, being a big Bill Schindler fan, and with Schindler now more or less running sprint cars and Indy cars most of the time, we more or less "abandoned" the midgets.  We started following the sprinters.  We hit Reading, Essex Junction, Rutland, Williams Grove, when dad's work would allow it.  Reading on an opening day.  All the cars in their new colors.  Chrome shining.  And, the fans.  Always big crowds.  At one particular opening day at Reading, I remember getting our tickets, and walking towards the track, between the starters stand and the first turn.  Not a good place to stand, my father thought.  He was right.  We went up to or seats.  Look, here comes Hinnershitz!  Down the straight.  Maybe about three quarter throttle.  As he passed the starters stand, he gets "on it".  Throws it sideways!  Well, the dirt - boy did it fly!  Dad was right.  Standing down there by the track was not to good a place to be!  Those that had their noses up against the fence, well, they did not know that Tommy was a-coming!  He passed by them, wide open, sideways, and those "knobby" tires were just throwing dirt!   Right at them!  Never knew what hit them!  I still do not know how dad knew about that.

Rutland, Vermont.  For some reason back then, in the early fifties, "security" was not like it is today.  My father, brother and I had crossed the track and were in the pit area.  Keep in mind that I was only 14 or 15 years old.  I can remember that as we were in the pits, there was someone going around the track on a tractor, towing some "Harrowing discs".  All the discs were doing was to put little "nicks" into the racing surface.  We were getting ready to go back into the grandstands, when Hinnershitz pulled in, by himself.  My dad and brother offered to help Tommy unload, and he was really appreciative.  After we had helped him, he went over to look at the track.  He came back and went over to my father.  "Going to be more slippery than chicken shit out there today", he said.  And, he was right.  We went up to the stands.  The racing started.  The "hot-shot" at that time was Wally Campbell.  I remember he was in the Curtis number eight.  They started the heat that Wally was in, and Wally looped it in turn one.  Restart.  Same result.  Wally woke up.  The "racing" that day, due to the track conditions, was basically just a "show".  Take your time, make it look good, and finish in one piece.  Rutland.  I do believe that the only thing separating the track from a highway, at turns 3 & 4 was a wooden fence, behind the guard rail.  Only went to Rutland one time.  Suppose that dad was not too happy - going that far and not seeing a real "race".

I guess you could say the same would apply to Essex Junction, Vermont also.  Went there only one time.  Dust and dirt?  The picture is still crystal clear in my mind.  Joe Barzda.  Shiny black number 33.  Coming down the straightaway with the dirt just literally going up over the hood and then up and over the windshield.  Joe, in his white "uniform", with his head tucked behind the shield.  When the cars went into the turn, they went completely out of sight.  Then they would re-appear as they shot down the back stretch.  It is my understanding that the ARDC ran there after we went, and I hope that the racing surface was in better shape

Williams Grove, Pennsylvania.  Went there only one time.  For the "Ted Horn Memorial" race.  A tight point race.  Hinnershitz and Schindler.  And, as far as I remember, the last race of the season.  Bill might have been in the Caruso car.  Not really sure, but that thought is in this old mind.  Car problems.  As the cars were being pushed off for the feature, I seem to remember a car pulling into the pit area, which, back then, was on the straightaway, with no separating fencing.  The driver, who I believe was Buzz Barton, or maybe it was Mark Light, offered his ride to Schindler.  I can still see Bill hi-tailing it down the track, on his crutches, and getting into the car.  He gets pushed off.  The starter signals to him - one lap!  One lap to get familiar with a strange car, in a race for the championship.  Schindler had a familiar head nod, and when he noticed the starter telling him "one lap", that familiar head nod appeared.  Once up and then once down.  Still remember that.  Think Tommy won that day.  The championship also.

Durning 1952, my brother, "Jim", would drag me along with him to some races, when dad was not or could not go.  And, not only "open wheel" events.  Was it Floyd Bennet field?  Went out to Westhampton Long Island on one occasion.  Sports cars on the road course.  Thompson, Ct for another sports car race that used the oval as part of the course.  A 100 lap midget race in Dover, NJ.  I still swear that the holes were so big that day that cars literally disappeared.  Oh yes, I went out to get us some hot dogs.  Could not find my brother.  Had to be because of the large crowd.  Ate both dogs.  Met him at his Studabaker pick-up, after the racing.  Still wonder to this day, damn, I walked up and down in front of the stands.  He had to have seen me.  Guess maybe he wanted to lose me?  Nah!

September 13, 1952.  Morristown, NJ.  The pit area was behind the stands.  AAA sprint car race.  A black day for racing was just a week away.   Again, my brother was nice enough to drag me along with him.  What a night of racing.  Paul Russo was driving a blue # 7.  Bill Schindler was in the Earl Beal Offy.  Morristown was, from what I remember, again only going there one time, was a pretty track.  Maybe a little narrow?   Seems that I remember quite a lot of green grass in the infield.  Schindler, that night, I believe, was having a problem with a leaky radiator.  Had it fixed by the time the feature came up.  What a show Russo and Schindler put on.  Good, clean, side by side racing.  Almost the whole feature run side by side.  Little did we know, those that were in attendance that night, and did not go to Allentown the following Saturday, that it would be the last time we would see the great Bill Schindler in competition.  Russo won the race at Morristown.  Beat Schindler by this much.  I remember Tommy Hinnershitz spinning between the first and second turn.  That was something that one did not see on to many occasions.

In May of 1952, at Indy, Bill Vukovich had the 500 won.  Or so everyone thought.  A cheap part in his steering broke, with eight laps to go.  Troy Ruttman went on for the victory.  "Vukie" was to return to that place.  The Indy 500 has never been won by anyone - three years in a row.  Vuke just missed in '52.  The '53 and '54 races were his.  We all know what happened in '55 when he was leading.  The "Mad Russian" came oh-so-close to taking that race four times in a row.  After the Morristown race, I can't recall going much that year.  I started working part time in 1953, and when one worked in a grocery store, and you were the "part time kid" in the produce department, you worked every Saturday.  Hey, I had to "beg" to go to lunch a little late to go 2 blocks and watch the high school football games.  I only made a few races in '53. 

Transportation was hard to come by.  I remember many times, I would wait for my dad to come get me, and he would be a "no-show".  Quite a few times my stepfather would drive me to the tracks.  And, he would let me go in on my own.  Oh, he used to go to races when he was younger, but at this time, well he was content to relax and wait for me at his car.  I do not know if he would "sneak" a look now and then.  I kind of thought that he did.  A fine man, my stepfather.  It was his "second time" at raising kids.  He would, over the next few years, teach me quite a lot about the "workings" of automobiles.  In 1954, at seventeen years of age, I finally got my own car.  1946 Chevrolet.  Big 4-door boat.  We, some of my buddies, and I, painted it two-tone green - with brushes!  Car cost me $200.00.  The insurance was more - $246.00.  For a year.  Transportation to the races was not going to be a problem anymore.  Just as long as I knew how to get there.  Good thing road maps were free, back then.

Part III is finished.  In Part IV, I will tell about my "going out on my own", so to speak.  Making those Sunday rides mostly by myself.  And getting more enjoyment than you can imagine.  I'll be back soon.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the "Open Wheel Racing" website. TVR would like to express our thanks and gratitude to John LeVan, the editor of OWR. Check out the latest open wheel racing news at www.openwheelracing.com.
-DZ

Who were your favorites? If you'd like information on how 
to contribute stories and/or photos to TVR, click here!
   

Top of Page    Back    Part I    Part II    Part IV    Part V   Part VI   Part VII