[Mud Packer]

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?

[Charles Nungester]

Qualifying, Fast car dashes and total inverts is what I miss. Also all winners each race got a victory lane photo. Now the cars are off the track before a announcer says Give him a big round of applause.

Bert Swafford who flew in every week to announce from IDK where and mispronounced names for years. Never knew till years later that Salaminno was really Salaminto and Crabs was Krebs and Emery Link was really Ember.

About the only track I hit with Dad as a Kid was Lburg about five times a year. In my teems I hit almost every track from Cincy to Erie following wings with Bloomington, Brownstown and Twin Cities and Florence at which I crewed a Street Stock Did three nights a week in the late 80s with Union County which ran many sprint shows and I discovered Robby Stanley's hidden tallent of finding his own groove Florence on Sat with Street stock/LM and Sunday Burg ran LMs Emods and bombers.

Strange thing about this little world of ours, I've seen people for years who Im still meeting and getting to know for the first time. I also know several people that when Specials became the norm and kids under 12 started getting charged, NEVER CAME BACK.

[dirtball]

I miss the Hoosier 100 on a Fri. nite or Sat. afternnon, and the Hut 100 on Sun. afternoon.

[dirtball]

Andy Granatelli's ," Hurricane Hot Rod Association ", running inside the mile on a 1/4 mile track at the Milw. Mile.

[Flatrightrear]

Back in the 60's and 70's Haubstadt would have the sprint cars take two laps for qualifying but the first car would run one lap and then pull into the infield inside turn 3 and all the subsequent drivers would do the same. Soon, the whole backstretch would be lined up with cars until the last guy would come out and he would run his two laps and everybody would then get pushed off starting in turn 2 with the original first qualifier now being the last guy to run a lap. It was really cool as the drivers of the cars would often times take off their helmets and sit up on the roll-cage and gawk around, take a smoke or go and talk to other drivers who also were waiting. It made all the drivers visible to the crowd and you could yell out things at them and it was just a lot of fun. Maybe Tommy could do a "throw back" type night sometime and relive the old days. I'd like it as a one-off deal.

[Action Tracker]

Afternoon races; Only 2 left for me were the 500 and Winchester Old Timers Weekend. Don't even see that on the 2014 schedule.

[staggerman]

Little Springfield, one of the best bullrings around. Nothing was better then when they had to go get cars that flew through the fence and ended up in the KMart parking lot.

[Gregg]

-All cars all being hauled on open trailers.

-Rounded bodywork from the cockpit to the nose of the car.

-On most of the USAC shows back in the day we didn't have support classes. Instead, much of the time we had Ed Watson dressed in a clown uniform doing funny antics with his go-kart during a lull in the racing. I miss that.

-Weekly CORA midget races at Whitewater Valley Speedway near Liberty, IN.

-100 lap midget and sprint car shows at Winchester Speedway.

-Most of all I miss my parents going to the races with me. My dad and I could have still probably done some serious bench racing even today. I'm sure he would probably say sprint car racing isn't the same as the 'good old days" but I think he would have adapted well and enjoyed the shows nowdays just the same.

[davidm]

I miss covered Grandstands. Most of the old Fairground track used to have them, today there are not many left that still do.

I miss the character and innovation that a lot of the car and car builders had in the 60's and 70's. I also miss seeing the car owner’s letter worked into the front bumper.

I miss seeing full size tail tanks on Sprinters.

I miss hearing Frank Sagi calling the races at Hagerstown Raceway.

[JJMooney]

• Flaggers who started races from down on the track. Other than the Chili Bowl, I think the last time I saw it done was around 1979 at our local quarter mile bullring.

• Race nights that were completed so early there’d be a huge crowd of spectators (and their kids) waiting to get into the pits after the races so they could see the cars up close and meet the drivers.

• Victory laps where the race winner carried the checkered flag around for a lap following the heat race or feature.

• The sound of a big block engine without mufflers. Growing up in the Northeast, the massive 427 or 454 cubic inch plus Chevy big blocks powered our modifieds, supermodifieds and even sprint cars. A full field of those at speed would practically shake the fillings out of your teeth.

• Scantily-clad trophy girls

• I too miss races cars towed on open trailers. Add to that ramp trucks and the occasional school bus converted into a hauler.

• Hand lettered paint jobs on race cars. Paint. Not vinyl.

• The anticipation for Thursday’s mail to arrive because that’s the day your racing papers showed up in your mail box. And you could finally find out who won and where last weekend.

• As far as track announcers go, for me it was hearing Jack Burgess' voice echo around the Oswego Speedway…or the New York State Fairgrounds.

• Kiddie rides. Once a year our local tracks would have a special promotion and let the kids ride around in a race car. Back in the days of the roomy pre-War coupes and coaches, you never actually lived until you got to ride in a race car with your favorite driver and held on for a few slow laps around the track. Those nights were the highlight of my childhood.