Haven't seen that car around here in the midwest, but that is the car that won the 2000 or 99 Turkey night at Bakersfield right?

Thanks to all who have posted their stories. I'm looking forward to creating more memories this season. So many good things are in store.

that is the car that my dad ran second to jay drake in at the the 2000 turkey night at irwindale. it never won on turkey night, but had several other wins on the west coast.

a little history of the car:

my dad built in in his shop in 1996 for a guy he knew in san diego. many would argue that it's the best tq ever built. my dad took several tips from andy bondio on car construction and was ablt to build a car that he described as "idiot proof."

for the first couple of years, they struggled with motor issues and never got the car running quite right (my dad only ran it once in that span). in 1999, he started running the car full time and won his first night out at irwindale (first race ever on the 1/3 mile). he was able to win three more races that year at san bernardino, bakersfield, and ventura.

the ventura race has an interesting story...that whole year, my dad had developed a rivalry with josh wise (who ended up winning the championship in his rookie year). that race at ventura saw the two of them up at the front battling for the win. josh punted my dad for the lead early on. my dad attempted to return the favor several times throughout the race but couldn't pull it off. after trailing josh for most of the race, he gave it one last shot going into turn one on the last lap. he screwed up and lost a lot of ground as they went down the back straight. going into turn three, josh must have thought that he was gonna get plowed, and completely missed the corner. as a result, my dad slipped by and won the race.

in 2005, my dad won an additional three races in the car, and jody bandfield (the only other driver to win in it) won his first race in his one and only race in the car.

additional wins came in 2000 at irwindale and in 2004 at bakersfield bringing the win total to 10. that's not too bad considering the car only ran about 7 full seasons and maybe about 75 races.

the car won the owners championship in 2005.

this is a video that i made of my dad's career highlights...there are a few tq clips in there as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zshqp...e=channel_page

Bruce & Jim,

While going through my records I came up with this information on the Bicknell race:

July 31, 1973
Bicknell, Indiana
23 cars

Fast Time - Rick Meyer
Trophy Dash - Rick Meyer
Feature - Butch Wilkerson

Also of note in this yearbook:

Total Races - 22 (at 16 different tracks)
-- 5 races Indianapolis Speedrome
-- 4 races Rushville
-- 1 race Ind. Coliseum, Muncie, Riverview (Milton, Ky), Salem, Hilliard, Elnora, Madison, Greensburg, Martinsville, Chillicothe, Columbus, Leitchfield & Frankfort

Average Car Count - 31.136
-- 46 cars at Rushville on July 4th
-- 20 cars at Indianapolis Speedrome on June 27th

12 different drivers won features
-- 7 Rick Meyer
-- 3 Roger Ramsey
-- 2 Dick Dwenger & Bon Hamilton
-- 1 Tom Kehoe, Bruce Meyer, Sam Brand, Jim Mercer, Butch Wilkerson, Steve Perkins, Tommy Gray, Jr., & Jim Graybeal

Top 10 in Points
1- Rick Meyer, #1 Rollin Harpring, Triumph, 2,619.5 pts
2- Dick Dwenger, #36 Paul Moorman, Honda, 1,778.0 pts
3- Roger Ramsey, #13 Bob Lowe, Crosley, 1,578.5 pts
4- Kerry Norris, #35 Dave Norris, Honda, 1,133.0 pts
5- Tommy Gray, Jr., #7 Bill Case, Honda, 1,017.5 pts
6- Dave Coffman, #57 Allen Langley, Honda, 986.0 pts
7- Sam Brand, #20 Sam Brand, Triumph, 920.5 pts
8- Don Turner, #61 Don Turner, Crosley, 821.5 pts
9- Jim Mercer, #62 Jim Mercer, Crosley, 789.5 pts
10- Jimmy Graybeal, #83 Jimmy Graybeal, Triumph, 778.5 pts

If anyone has any old UMRA yearbooks, newsletters or anything else that might contain statistics I would be very interested.

I am missing these yearbooks:
- 1961 (may have not been one)
- 2002
- 2003
- 2005
- 2007
- 2008

Thanks,
Sandy

Thanks for starting this thread. It has brought back a lot of memories. Judging by the posts I am not the only one with fond memories of three-quarter midget racing and UMRA.

My favorite memories of UMRA involve my family and the many friends I have made. Sunday afternoon races at Montpelier back in the mid 1980's were the best. My whole family would head up Highway 3 to Blackford County on Sunday morning. I can still remember listening to the Weekly Top 40 on the radio and counting the number of windmills we would pass along the way. After the race we would go over to Jess and Donna Huggins' house and have a cookout before heading home.

It's also made me realize how much I still miss my dad.

Sandy

Sandy,

I have or have access to all but the 1961 (sorry, before my time, lol). I'd be glad to let you borrow them to get the stats from.

AJ

Bob,
You're right about that smile. The Dwenger Memorial in Greensburg in 1994 was my first actual race, though I had wheel packed in Lynn Ambrose's car at Rushville in 1992. It was my first time to drive a race car. A portion of the track was real soupy because the water truck came to a stop on the backstretch. I drove through a wet spot and sent souply mud skyward.

All but one-quarter of a lap was putt putt. With the encouragement of photographer Jack Gladback, I mashed the throttle and kicked a rooster tail of mud into the Rush County sky. Jack gave me a thumbs up and a bit smile. The worst part of that day was that I was wearing Lynn's helmet and driving uniform. When Jack processed that film and could not tell me apart from the pictures he shot of Lynn.

I was supposed to mud pack at Rushville a couple of years before that in the car Tony Stewart and had driven for Barker. I had stopped by Larry Dwenger's garage to make sure I fit the seat they had put in. The only problem is they had done some work ont the steering wheel and forgotten to secure it its proper position. On race day, I climbed in to mudpack and when we put the steering wheel on I couldn't turn it. I weighed 300 pounds and could have waved at the crowd with both hands. During the next year, I lost 100 pounds to earn the chance to climb in Lynn Ambrose's car.

With the Dwenger Memorial two years later, I actually helped with the track prep after the truck provided by a local company to water the track "broke down." The mayor was kind enough to provide a fire truck full of water. That's right. We watered it with a fire hose and it was dry slick. The track was in pretty shape on the on the original date but It rained after hotlaps when a weird shower blew up and ruined the track. We came back July 5 and the track was dry dry slick. A rookie, I cooked the engine duriing the semi. The Ambroses had to call Tony Stewart and tell him the car he planned to race a couple of days later would not be available. I left after the races for a newspaper job in Iowa and returned for the awards banquet in November to pay Lynn my motor bill. A friend videotaped my race and, Pat, during the qualifying i can hear your voice over the public address system.

Today, some folks believe the only reason I show up at a TQ race is to peddle pictures. No. I show up for the smiles, and the stories. It's just in the past when I showed up everyone asked if I had an pictures.

Jim Morrison

Sandy,
I presume the Hilliard track listed for 1973 is the fairgrounds track at Hilliard, Ohio, on the northeast side of Columbus. Just curious, where did Hanger finish in Bicknell?
Jim Morrison

Jim,

The 1973 yearbook is about 3" wide & 5" high. The only race results listed are fast time and the winner of the trophy dash and feature. The race locations are listed just as I typed them above. The only track listing a state is the Riverview show.

In 1976 the yearbooks got larger (8.5" x 11") and in 1977 they started listing the track records. By looking in the 1977 yearbook Hilliard is in Ohio. The track record was 15.044 seconds set by Dick Dwenger (Moorman #36) on July 19, 1973. That night (or day?) Tommy Gray, Jr. won the trophy dash and Bruce Meyer (Rick's brother) won the feature.

You were talking about Bicknell earlier and I found something interesting in the 1977 yearbook. In the track record section there are two times listed for Bicknell:

1969 Bob Hamilton #9 12.60 seconds (old)

1977 Merrill Calvert #35 15.133 seconds (new)

Both of those years were waaaay before my time of paying attention while at the track.

I had forgotten that you actually raced in the first Dwenger Memorial. My most vivid memory of that day is standing in the infield with Joan Dwenger and Angie Covington trying not to cry as they played Garth Brooks "The Dance."

I pulled out the 1994 yearbook and took a look at your stats. Not to bad for a rookie. You finished 11th in the Last Chance Race (semi) behind a couple guys that might have achieved a smidgeon of racing success. Terry Goff, Larry Martz, Bob McClure, Steve Lovins, Jerry Frickman, Jeff Bennett, Chad Cory, Warren Welpott, Derek Scheffel and Jason Knoke.