[rdzsprint]

Does anyone out there have any photos or stories to share of Cecil Beavers in the red Foutch Chevy sprint car #57? Also of the famous Fleetwood Trucking Co. #F-800 supermodified driven by Bobby Kinser? These were legendary car/driver combos back in the day. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[FishBurger]

Upon further review (as they say in the NFL) this essay was painfully boring. Seemed funny in 1960....didn't survive the 51 years that followed. Sorry 'bout that.

[midget96]

Cecil from Bedford, IN? My dad drove for him in a black #57. I think I have some pics of that. He owned a pizza place dad and I used to eat at.

[bigq11]

There was also a F-600 car back in the day. The F-600 was usually not as fast as Bobby. I remember one night at the old Mitchell Speedway on Hwy 37 just north of Mitchell when Bobby didn't even try to win the race. He got behind the F-600 and pushed him to a victory. Don't remember if it was the feature or not.

[TQ29m]

I can remember when the F800 pulled into the Columbus Motor Speedway(the "hole", the "pit"), the tension made the hair on your neck stand up, more then the "electrical" field you passed thru to get there! Shazam, them was some bad Flatdead's! Bob!

[Panama]

Originally Posted by midget96 Cecil from Bedford, IN? My dad drove for him in a black #57. I think I have some pics of that. He owned a pizza place dad and I used to eat at.

I remember watching both Cecil and Bob run at Bloomington as a little kid. I also remember watching Calvin Gilstrap, Larry Miller, Jess Kinder, Jim Waltz, Bill Dugger and many more.

For those that did not know Cecil personally, he was quite a "CHARACTER"!

I also remember the pizza place Cecil had, and strangely enough when somebody built a new Pizza Hut in Bedford, it was firebombed before it ever got it's doors open. No one was ever arrested in that deal either, strange huh?

A very sad part of Cecil's history was, Calvin Gilstrap was killed in Cecil's #57 at Bloomington after his regular driver didn't show up. Calvin was sitting in the stands watching and jumped into Cecil's car. He promptly set fast time on his first qualifying lap and on his second the car hooked a rut or stuck it going into turn 3 flipped landing on the chromed roll cage that snapped of at the dash and collapsed killing one of the all time great drivers.

[bigq11]

Originally Posted by Panama I remember watching both Cecil and Bob run at Bloomington as a little kid. I also remember watching Calvin Gilstrap, Larry Miller, Jess Kinder, Jim Waltz, Bill Dugger and many more. For those that did not know Cecil personally, he was quite a "CHARACTER"! I also remember the pizza place Cecil had, and strangely enough when somebody built a new Pizza Hut in Bedford, it was firebombed before it ever got it's doors open. No one was ever arrested in that deal either, strange huh? A very sad part of Cecil's history was, Calvin Gilstrap was killed in Cecil's #57 at Bloomington after his regular driver didn't show up. Calvin was sitting in the stands watching and jumped into Cecil's car. He promptly set fast time on his first qualifying lap and on his second the car hooked a rut or stuck it going into turn 3 flipped landing on the chromed roll cage that snapped of at the dash and collapsed killing one of the all time great drivers.

I was there that night also. Didn't realize Calvin was not scheduled to drive the car that night. Who was the driver who didn't show?

As I recall, Cecil did not bring the car to the track till late in the season. May have been an outlaw show (or not) as Steve was in Carl's car and something broke and sidelined them for the rest of the night.

Close to feature time a car was seen coming in off Fairfax Road, on an open tailer as most were then. As they turned right toward the pit gate there was enough light to see it was the #57. Everybody was guesssing Steve was going to drive the car in the feature. Must have been added as a promoter's option or something of that nature.

Steve started on the tail, spent 2 laps feeling out the car, then drove right to the front. Had a good lead till the power steering gave out. Had to tuff it out the rest of the way as others were gaining on him. He did hang on for the win. I don't recall ever seeing the car run again.

[rdzsprint]

Originally Posted by FishBurger Upon further review (as they say in the NFL) this essay was painfully boring. Seemed funny in 1960....didn't survive the 51 years that followed. Sorry 'bout that.

I really enjoyed your story about Cecil Beavers gassing it in 1960. I certainly didn't find it boring at all. Those days interest me more than todays' stuff anytime. Wish I would have copied it off before it went away! A lady friend of mine is a good friend of Cecil's daughter and I was going to get her a copy of your response as I'm sure she would have enjoyed it, but I was too slow on the draw. My bad. If you saved the original you could pm it to me if you would? I gave her copies of what few pictures I have of Cecil. Trying to find anything I can for my own scrapbooks and for her as well as she has very few momentos of her father.

Cecil was always colorful and exciting to watch. Fans usually perked up when he hit the track, nothing bland or boring about him. He reminded me a lot of Jim Hurtubise, pretty wild/wide open and didn't care much for pavement. I have 2 photos of Cecil at Terre Haute running a USAC show, in one he's side by side with Foyt and the other he's wheel to wheel with McCluskey. I wasn't there that day but a friend of mine was and said Cecil gave the big boys all they could handle until engine overheating took him out. I have Terre Haute race results from 6-15-1952 up to 5-5-1973. It only lists the top 3 from each race but Cecil's name shows up a few times. He won the USAC sprint car semi-feature over Johnny Thomson on 8-21-1960. On 6-11-1961 he was runner-up in the USAC semi. On 7-16-1961 in an IMCA race he ran second in his heat and second in the feature to Pete Folse who scored his 60th win on that day. On 8-13-1961 he ran 3rd to Don Branson and Bobby Marshman in the USAC semi. The last time his name appears in the top three was a USAC show on 8-12-1962 when ran 3rd in his heat behind Elmer George and Don Branson

I was just a kid then and not old enough to drive, only got to go when Dad could afford to take us. Wish I could have seen more than I got to but am thankful for the ones I did see. Wish they had video cameras back then, would be great to have films/sounds of those days including the famous F-800/Bobby Kinser duo..

I was standing right beside Cecil talking to him and helped push Calvin Gilstrap to the staging area to be pushed off for his final ride at Bloomington on July 30, 1976. Understandably,...Cecil was really upset and I can still vividly remember Bobby Black telling me 'don't go look at that car'. Bad day.

[smith19]

well i guess i'll chime in on the gilstrap thing. as many of you know calvin drove for us for two years and he told us he had won more with us than anyone (31). well maybe two and a half. calvin and i were buddies as i was just a kid he showed me how to throw pocket knives and teased me a lot and gave me some of the many trophies he won at bloomington. well in late 1976 red mccourt was our crew cheif and he got sick and wanted to quit and we were going to quit and let calvin go just a few weeks prior to the incedent at bloomington. our family was very devistated. my granny cried for two days over that s h i t. we will always miss him.....rip calvin..................after that greg leffler called us and went usac racing...thx

[ronmil]

Originally Posted by bigq11 I was there that night also. Didn't realize Calvin was not scheduled to drive the car that night. Who was the driver who didn't show? As I recall, Cecil did not bring the car to the track till late in the season. May have been an outlaw show (or not) as Steve was in Carl's car and something broke and sidelined them for the rest of the night. Close to feature time a car was seen coming in off Fairfax Road, on an open tailer as most were then. As they turned right toward the pit gate there was enough light to see it was the #57. Everybody was guesssing Steve was going to drive the car in the feature. Must have been added as a promoter's option or something of that nature. Steve started on the tail, spent 2 laps feeling out the car, then drove right to the front. Had a good lead till the power steering gave out. Had to tuff it out the rest of the way as others were gaining on him. He did hang on for the win. I don't recall ever seeing the car run again.

I have heard of this incident several times, and, supposedly Butch Wilkerson was the regular chauffeur but he chose to deliver a load of cattle to Decatur, IL that evening instead of racing.
Maybe Butch will see this and verify its' validity.