Having grown up in a small town in Southern Illinois, auto racing was a very important entertainment option. In my formative years, Belle Clair Speedway was the only race track "close by" and Friday nights were race nights. By my teenage years Highland Speedway had opened and ran on Saturday nights. Like so many folks who have fond memories of their youth, I think about the good ole days and how racing has changed. In no particular order, here is what I miss about racing from my early years.
*Cars pitting in the infield at Belle Clair.
*The ageless one "Dandy" Don Klein who always wore a white shirt and white pants back in the day. Burgundy colored car all the way.
*The old coupes that they called modifieds in later years.
*Driver Kenny Shrum who drove the car #66/99. The numbers were intertwined so the 6's were on top and the 9's were underneath with the "0" portion of the number coming together. I never saw anyone else ever do that.
*Driver Mike Hammerle drove something they called the "War Wagon".
*Qualifying order at Highland was the first driver took a qualifying lap and then came to the infield. They lined the cars up until all of them had taken a lap. Then the final qualifier would start out by taking his second lap. Basically they all qualified in reverse order on their second lap. Unique to say the least.
*The first car that rolled over at Highland always won a free case of beer from Red & Stell's tavern in St. Jacob, IL. Quite the promotion back in the day.
*The Allied Auto Racing Association ran three nights at three different tracks. Friday at Belle Clair, Saturday I believe was St. Charles and Sunday at Lake Hill. The roster of drivers included Len Garson, Don Klein, Kenny Shrum, Carl Springer, Ray Eby, Wib Spaulding, Curt Allen, Mike Hammerlee, Ed Dixon, Chris Bargetzi, Charlie Johnson and so many more I can't remember.
*Open trailors. On Saturday I used to ride my bike up to the middle of town (5 blocks) to sit at the car wash which was at the only 4 way flasher in town. There you could watch the car haulers (open trailors) to see who was going to be at the races that night. The crews would always wave and sometime even stop to say hello. A real thrill indeed for a kid my age.
*Since moving to Indiana I now also miss the old ASA & Artgo series. Rex Robbins and John McKarns respectively ran these great series showcasing the talent of the short track stars.
*I also miss seeing the J W Hunt strawberry decal on so many open wheel cars. J W handed out a lot of cash in his day.
Looking back on just some of the racing I enjoyed as a kid. So tell me, what do you miss about racing from back in the day?