HalfdollarMayflower Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 Flew into Charlotte last Wednesday for a little father-son trip with the old man...had a wonderful time touring some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup racing shops. Drove down to Darlington, SC last Friday and to attend Darlington Raceway's 2nd annual historic racing festival. Got a chance to listen to racing legends Cale Yarborough, Bud Moore, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, and Johnny Rutherford. Also had a nice visit with '61 Daytona winner Marvin Panch. Plenty of cool cars and lots of good times shooting the bull with the drivers and watching the cars give the 'lady in black' a good run. If you ever have an opportunity to attend, do so...it was the best two days and $25 I ever spent! Quote
HalfdollarMayflower Posted October 3, 2009 Author Report Posted October 3, 2009 David Strachan brought his '62 Wynns Ford out and turned some hot laps (38.68 seconds!). He went home with a 'Darlington stripe' to prove it! Quote
greg g Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 Looks like fun, 38 seconds is 10 sec slower than current qualifying laps. Only 8 seconds behind the truck qualifying lap. Wonder what some tweaking on his set up might have done. Quote
HalfdollarMayflower Posted October 3, 2009 Author Report Posted October 3, 2009 Had a good visit with David after his Sunday morning session...it turns out that he built the car & uses it primarily for road racing. He says he set the car up based on photos of similar cars that ran at Darlington back in the early 60's...lots of negative camber on the right, lots of positive camber on the left. It was also interesting to note the evolution of the stock car from the early 50's through the late 60's. The Johnny Mantz Plymouth that won the inaugural Southern 500 was bought off a dealer lot and the only things changed were the spark plugs, oil, and performance piston rings! By the late 50's, the cars were getting closer and closer to purpose-built race cars with highly adjustible suspension components, full-bore engines, and stripped down bodies/interiors. Quote
Frank Elder Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 The most memorable part of the 50's era racing to me was they just opened the door, got in and raced. Goggles or helmets which was your most important safety gear? Probably the short sleeved shirts and comfortable shoes:)Hard to tell. Quote
BeBop138 Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 Had a good visit with David after his Sunday morning session...it turns out that he built the car & uses it primarily for road racing. He says he set the car up based on photos of similar cars that ran at Darlington back in the early 60's...lots of negative camber on the right, lots of positive camber on the left.It was also interesting to note the evolution of the stock car from the early 50's through the late 60's. The Johnny Mantz Plymouth that won the inaugural Southern 500 was bought off a dealer lot and the only things changed were the spark plugs, oil, and performance piston rings! By the late 50's, the cars were getting closer and closer to purpose-built race cars with highly adjustible suspension components, full-bore engines, and stripped down bodies/interiors. My buddy was there with his yellow 70 Nova, he`s from Arlington MN,. He said he had a great time, he runs the Old timer circuit. Some fun.............Lee Quote
Don Coatney Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 Is this an annual event? To me this looks like a lot more fun than most car shows. Perhaps we should schedule an outcast party at this event next year. Quote
greg g Posted October 3, 2009 Report Posted October 3, 2009 I think this may be the 2nd meet. I heard about it on radio last year and thought it might be interesting. Quote
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