James McElreath question
 

Does anyone know how many seasons he ran USAC? What was his best points finish?

Thanks

Re: James McElreath question
 

I would guess early 1975 to late 1977. I was one of the unfortunate fans in attendance that witnessed his death in 1977 at Winchester. :crying:
I was really into photography back then and took pictures of everything, including James fatal crash. No one will ever see them.
He and his Dad were trying to become the first father/son to qualify for the same Indy 500, in May of 1977, but James failed to qualify in an underfunded car.
James wasn't on the USAC scene that long, but he was one of the nicest people I ever met.
David.

Re: James McElreath question
 

I raced with James the nite before at Manzanita he left about mid nite to fly back to INDY to race next day at Winchester we finished 6/7 it was fun I was driving for Karl Kinser.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Hawker, his USAC debut was in a Champ dirt car at Springfield in August of 1975. His USAC sprint debut was Sept. 1975. It looks like the last USAC show he made was at Syracuse on Oct. 15 1977 (Champ Dirt). Apparently he died the next day October 16, 1977. Also, the debut dates I'm giving are the first main events he qualified for and not neccessarily his actual debut but, the time frame should be close.

BTW..I got the information on openwheeltimes.com

Re: James McElreath question
 

I was in the infield for my first Hulman Classic to witness James win in 1977.
The kid was sure a gasser that day...:respect:

Re: James McElreath question
 

Yeah David, I was there on that fateful day too. It made me sick. I was in the first turn infield. I think Dr. Dunseth rode in the ambulance with him and tended to him. :crying:

I seem to remember that James had a hand injury at Indy from loading or unloading his sprinter prior to the 500 that year?

Re: James McElreath question
 

As bad of an accident it was they pushed his car back across the track with a wrecker. I believe larry moore got crossed up coming for the green an all hell broke loose. He was in ben leyba's #74.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Gregg I forgot about the hand injury. It rings a bell now that you mention it. (Check your pm's).
smith19, yeah the car was actually not in bad shape after the accident. He just took a bad hit at some point.
David.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...sMcElreath.jpg

Re: James McElreath question
 

Thanks guys...

I looked on Kevin's site and saw the USAC races he ran, but I never knew if he had ever ran a whole season with them for points.

Ovalmeister, if you have some action shots of James, or even pit shots, I would sure like to get my hands on them!

I grew up in "Super" land (Oklahoma) and some of my fondest memories were when James would come to Oklahoma for a little extra cash, as it seemed like he always won whenever he would pop in. I remember well when he and Jackie Howerton went to Indiana to race, it was a BIG deal back in Oklahoma at the time. When Howerton did his 21 flips at Terre Haute, it was the "News of the Day" the following week back home.

Re: James McElreath question
 

[QUOTE=Hawker;85716]Thanks guys...
Ovalmeister, if you have some action shots of James, or even pit shots, I would sure like to get my hands on them!
QUOTE]

I have several Hawker, but I need to scan them. For now though, there is the one in the above post and also this one below.
David.


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...lreath1977.jpg

Re: James McElreath question
 

Thank you sir!

Re: James McElreath question
 

Is that an AMAX decal I see on the hood?

I ask because my uncle, Melvin Lucas, was one of the top people at AMAX for a long time from the 1960s till the 90s. He was a mine supervisor and also worked for the Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. CART team for a long time as a fuelman and PR guy, among other things. He also worked for a few racing teams before that.

I wonder if he was associated with James McElreath's sprint car team as well? My uncle passed away a handful of years ago, so I can't ask him. Or is there no connection with my uncle? Maybe AMAX was close to the McElreath family and decided to sponsor the CART team of Tony Bettenahausen, Jr. There was a connection there. After all, Tony Jr. was married to James' sister, Shirley, for a long time until they both died in the terrible plane crash in 2000. :crying:

Sorry, I am just wondering out loud. :wink

Re: James McElreath question
 

No problem. BTW, racingfromthepast.com has a few older shots of James. One in a supermodified? (looks like a dirt champ car with wierd bodywork). They have a good photo section, James is on "lap 7". Also in the memoriam section.
David.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Yup it's the same AMAX. They were associated with the McElreath's for years. Like you said, after James passed away, and Tony married Shirley, AMAX sponsorship migrated to Bettenhausen Motorsports for a bunch of years. I snapped these at Indy. Maybe your Uncle is in one of them? Never know! :thumb
David.



http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...er/TonyB-2.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...Indy199263.jpg

Re: James McElreath question
 

Thank you David for the reply. :thumb My uncle is not in either of those pictures, but thanks. As it turns out, he did have something to do with the sponsorship.

I have gone into my racing archives and found an article about my uncle entitled "Luke" written by Mary Andrew from the old Indy Car racing magazine (April 1992 edition, pages 24-25). I found the exact origin of the AMAX sponsorship for the McElreath's and the Bettenhausen's.

Here's an excerpt from that article:

"Luke's (Melvin Lucas's) interest in racing began when four men who worked at AMAX, including himself, wanted to pool $75, go to the Hulman Classic and give it to a driver to help him out.

Luke's friend, Mike Rogers, public relations director for AMAX, heard about their plan and Rogers thought the company might be interested in sponsorship. Luke put together a program telling how many people would be in the stands and that it was going to be on ABC Wide World of Sports. From that, AMAX decided that they were willing to get involved, so the original group of four men never had to put in their own $75.

That particular year, 1977, James McElreath was sponsored by AMAX at the Hulman Classic. "He won his heat race, but I think he dropped out of the feature," Luke recalled. Meanwhile, AMAX officials watched it on national television.

"I figured that was it, but I got a call the following Monday morning asking how much it would take to sponsor the sprint car for the rest of the year," Luke says. "That's how I got started in sprint cars and how I got my start in auto racing."

Interesting stuff. I did not know that! I think he's wrong about the result, though. Didn't McElreath win the Hulman Classic in 1977, unless he's referring to the 1976 race? Anyway, he worked for Bettenhausen's team from 1980 to 2000. Here's a picture of him.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ichie/Luke.jpg

Re: James McElreath question
 

I was shooting in the first turn that awful day. I did not see the accident begin, but heard the tires skidding and the cars crashing just a few laps into the feature. and then saw McElreath's car flipping down the first turn and over the wall. My photo of debris (but not the car) flying through the air after it went over appeared in Sprint Car Pictorial. It was also my photo in Sprint Car Pictorial of him winning the Hulman Classic.

From what I remember, at least part of the cause for the fatal injuries was the bolts holding the safety harness to the cage. It was the third had flip the car had suffered that year and the theory was that the bolts were brittle from the stress of the first two crashes and snapped during this one.

Jim Morrison

Re: James McElreath question
 

Jim, you are right on that one. His shoulder harness broke. The car landed nose first against a big tree. You could tell they were broke then. I will never forget that. Will never forget the dana carter-billy cassella crash either. The 2 worst crashes i've seen on pavement...

Re: James McElreath question
 

Remember the Brian Hayden crash at Winchester? The fuel tank blew up when he hit at the end of the front stretch. I felt the heat from it up in the stands. That was pretty wicked.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Jim,

You are right. The car had been involved in three flips. I was present at all of them. The first occurred on July 2 at the Indy mile. If I remember correctly, the car left the track in the first turn, (or am I getting the McElreath accident confused with Mark Alderson's), the second was at Eldora on Oct. 9, just one week prior to his Winchester crash. I heard the same thing about the bolts breaking.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Dana Carter is Pancho's brother? Also, Pancho's eldest son Dane was named for his uncle? Another question - what is Dane Carter doing these days? Thanks.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Mark went out in 1. James dumped his ride in three and four. To this day it was the hardest ride I ever saw anyone walk away from.

As for the seat belts, he was running a Y type shoulder harness, where the shoulder harnesses become one behind the driver. After that wreck, I believe USAC banned them.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Well, I found an answer to one question. I was going through a database of Q&A'a for a trivia program I used to run in a chat room a few years ago. It looks Like James won the USAC Midget Rookie of the Year award in 1976. I didn't even realize he had that much time in midgets...

Can you send any photos of James McElreath to my email address so I can show them to his dad Jimmy? Annerace16@aol.com

To Melvins nephew. I knew Luke very well. I'm one of the few that called him Melvin. I live in Texas and we used to talk on the phone quite often. I was part of the McElreath Bettenhausen clan and scored for both. Just showed Jimmy McElreath this post and he said Melvin would have been eating this up. I'm sure Jimmy has man Melvin stories. Feel free to contact me with questions and I will discuss with Jimmy and get back with you. Annerace16@aol.com

Dane is a spotter for Andretti's rally cross team. Dana and Pancho were brothers.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Back in the day a car owner had the option of using the number of where he finished in the point standings the previous year....James finished 8th in the 1976 point standings hence the #8 he ran during the 1977 season.

Re: James McElreath question
 

"Luke" was very close to Jim McElreath and with that supported James. James ran the Western World the night before for Bill Boat who was Billy Boat's dad.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Bobby Marshall was also close to the family. There was also a family relationship. Anyway, Bobby has posted and/or commented on many pics in this FB newsgroup: VINTAGE SPRINT CARS,From the Beginning To The 80's..........

Re: James McElreath question
 

That Dana my be Pancho's son, but he's not his brother, because his brother Dana died of a heart attack maybe 30 years ago.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Didn't Dana pass away just a few weeks after winning a Indoor midget race in Dayton Ohio?

Re: James McElreath question
 

Yes, Dana was Pancho's brother.

I think you may have misread that Dane/Dana, with Dane being his son, and Dana being his late brother.

Re: James McElreath question
 

Yet another sign of my advancing age. :-( Sorry 'bout that.