I think one of the coolest cars was AJ Foyt Champ's dirt car in the seventies! That an AJ Watsons dirt car with the Twin Cam Ford. I was able to be around these cars as a kid and spent some time goofing around in the driver's seat! 🏁
Used to go to the Flemington Fair every year. Dad would go on Saturday and stay late to watch the sprints . To all the sprint car drivers THANKS & GOD BLESS.
A 0:57 seconds its Charlie Mussleman at Langehorne Pa. in 1957. He was tossed from the car shoeless. His driving shoes were found inside the car of Johnny Thomson who continued to lead the race until the white flag lap when his engine expired. Ralph Liguori took over on lap 49 and finished in First-place. Charlie Musselman retired from racing in 1958. He continued to operate the hotel with his wife Shirley until the 1970s when they moved to Venice, Florida. Charlie passed away at Melech Hospice House in Temple Terrace, Florida on July 2, 2014. He is long remembered as the driving that flew through the air, at “Langehorne, the track that ate heroes.”
One of my all time favorite drivers and a hero to 11 yr. old me in Tucson, Arizona. @5:26 is Hank Arnold and his fabulous "Twister." Complete with a Chevy 327, Blown/Injected Super Modified 4-71 GMC Blower and his trademark "Weed Sprayer Headers." Whether it be Tucson Speedway, Manzanita Park or anywhere in the South West, when Hank and his "Twister" showed up everyone knew they were racing for second place. This picture was taken for Hot Rod Magazine for the August 1963 Feature Story. Hank's car has been shown at the Knoxville Iowa Speedway Hall of Fame as well as his induction into the "Sprint Car Racing Hall of Fame." The "Twister" was lovingly restored by Don Brown in the early 2000's. Remarkably, every piece is original. The sound of that Huffer blowing exhaust trough those dragster style headers was a most beautiful sound that I had never heard before or since. In a 1963 or 64 exhibition at the Phoenix Fairgrounds Mile Dirt Track, Hank was clocked at 135 MPH. Pretty awesome for the early 1960's. In an 86 inch wheelbase car no less. Sadly we lost Hank Arnold in June of 1967 at Phoenix, Manzanita (Park) Speedway driving a super hot AGS Special, Sprinter called "Summer Wine." When the word came down to Tucson Speedway that fateful Saturday Night, there was a hush that fell over the place that I'll never forget. I had always hoped that Hank would join fellow Tucsonans Roger McCluskey and Bill Cheesbourg and take a crack at the Indy 500. But, sadly it was not to be. Farewell and RIP Hank Arnold. You were the best!
I grew up in central North Carolina, and sprint cars were something we never saw in the 70’s and 80’s, so a look back is neat! One things for sure, when you sat down in one of those, you had to clear your mind of thinking about how many different ways you could die racing them! No roll bar/cage on the oldest ones, then when people started adding them, the top of the roll bar frequently was well below the top of the drivers head, so if you landed upside down it was curtains! Those drivers had such big balls that I don’t know how they got them in the cockpit!
I grew up going to stay with my older sister Susie and husband Big John Parsley every summer up in Sandusky County Fremont Ohio and he owned and drove his Sprint Car Mid late 70s I knew when I was a kid I was blessed to be able to take part in such a awesome experience but now looking back I fully understand how truly blessed I was to be around such strong and genuine folks just common people doing such extraordinary feats every Saturday night at the track that was built by speed
@@ronaldknisley9792 Wow. Did you get to watch the great Rick Ferkel in the 00? I have a Rick Ferkel t-shirt that was given to me 30 years ago. I’ve never worn it but it’s still in my drawer.
Went to my first sprint car race at the Rockford Ill speedway in the mid 50’s , before that I only watched the stock cars at our fairground dirt track,so as an 8 year old seeing these shiny cars screaming by on an asphalt track, well I can see it now 60+ years later
@@johnnyquist8362 well i like the sprint cars of today.but theyll never be what the narrow tired roadster style sprint cars back in the day. Course your probably to young to remember them. They had no safety belts for years no fire suits.some even used old football helmets. My dad raced them in white painter type pants white t shirt a jet pilot helment and an old bardohl jacket .
@ 2:03 its the legendary Paul Pitzer in front of the Weikert # 29 and behind him is the # 35 Ted Brewer Special which was chauffeured by Jay Myers of Westminster Md.
Not all of the cars in this video are true sprint cars, a few are actually Champ Dirt Cars which have a larger wheelbase than a sprint car. Example, the thumbnail photo of AJ in the 14 car is a champ dirt car which are now called Silver Crown cars.
Gary Laatsch - Would you be so kind as to time stamp it for me? I've only ever heard of this legend of a Man, and being from Australia, I never got the pleasure of having seen this Man race, though I have had the pleasure of seeing the Brad Dotty Memorial on RU-vid, which is, unfortunately, the closest I'll get in this life to seeing the Man himself, "kicking up the dirt". So, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it just SOO much!! Thanks mate!!
@@karlmuller3690 I'm an old man now, but if memory serves me correctly, I remember Brad Doty in the late eighties. I saw him and the other legends of that era a number of times.
Saw Lynn win at port royal in 1980, my first sprint race ever. Keith Kauffman in a backup car unpainted tank wrecked night before at Williams grove. Seeing Paxton come from the middle of the field to win and I was instantly hooked on sprints.
You out did yourself !, them old sprint cars are bad ass!. When I first seen them old sprints a guy popped into mind, #1 Mel kenyon. I guess that shows my age!, lolo!.
Steve Ashworth - I'am a little to young to remember the Man himself, but here in Australia, Mel Kenyon was a regular visitor to our shores throughout the 1960s He, and a number of other big name drivers came over here during those years, for example, Johnny Rutherford would make a yearly trek downunder to race Midgets, and in the years since, many, many American Stars of the Dirt Track Racing Persuasion, in ALL the classes that we both have in common.
All the side panels on today’s sprinters and midgets you can’t really call them open cockpit. Also can’t see the drivers get up on the wheel so to speak
@ 42 seconds its "The Linglestown Leadfoot" Mitch Smith in The # 77 Al Hamilton Contracting Special at Selinsgrove Pa. The yellow #57 behind him is Carl Williamson from Mill Hall Pa.
