The Short Chute
PAGE 2 - Newsletter #73 - Winter 2001
Racing Fraternity Deaths
Former driver Stan Fox was killed on December 18 in a traffic accident approximately 200 miles south of Auckland, New Zealand. He was 48 years old.
Jim Gilmore, longtime sponsor of A.J. Foyt's Indianapolis 500 efforts, died in a car accident on New Year's Eve in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was 77 years old.
CART Team owner Carl Hogan died at his New Hampshire home on January 14. He was 71 years old.
Legendary Indianapolis car builder Quinn Epperley died on January 7 at his home in Paso Robles, CA. He was 87 years old. Quinn worked for Frank Kurtis from 1946 to 1950. Among the cars he worked on while with Kurtis was the first post-war Novi and the 1950 Indianapolis 500 winning car, Johnnie Parsons Wynn's Friction Proofing Spl. After a 2-1/2 year partnership with Lujie Lesovsky, Epperley rented a shop in Lawndale, CA in 1953 where he concentrated mostly on repairing wrecked race cars. In 1955 he took the Belond Kurtis 500B and converted it into the Belond Streamliner driven that year by Jim Rathmann. In 1957 he built the tanks and body parts for the George Salih laydown roadster that carried Sam Hanks and Jimmy Bryan to victory in The 500. He built many other notable cars including the 1957 second place finisher also driven by Jim Rathmann, the famous Demler laydown driven to top five finishes three years in a row and on the front row with Jim Hurtubise in it's fourth year in 1961. Quinn also built the Hopkins Autolite Spl. driven in 1961 practice to the threshold of a 150 mph lap by Tony Bettenhausen.
Seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion, 1998 Daytona 500 winner and 1995 Brickyard 400 winner Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap at the Daytona 500. He was 49 years old.
Larry
Stan won 19 USAC National Midget features during his career. He was victorious 3 times in the Copper World Classic Midget race at Phoenix, AZ. He also won the Turkey Night Grand Prix twice. The 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora as well as the Belleville (Kansas) Nationals in 1990 and 91. Stan started in The Indianapolis 500 eight times with a best finish of 7th place in 1987. His career ended in 1995 as a result of a first lap accident in The Indianapolis 500. Fox was a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.
"New New Book from Dick Wallen "
The King of Class, when it comes to auto racing books, is unarguably Dick Wallen. Mr. Wallen has recently released his fourth beautiful hardbound book titled, “Riverside Raceway Palace of Speed”. This book is similar to his previous classic works “Board Track”, “Fabulous Fifties” and “Roar from the Sixties”. The 352 page book includes over 800 photos, 160 of which are color. The Riverside history includes Indy Cars, NASCAR, Midgets, Trans Am IMSA, Drag Racing, etc. Box Scores for each are included. Hardbound is $100 and with matching sleeve $125. Worth every penny. Fax to: 623-566-5580 or call 623-566-5578. You also may visit their new website at www.racingclassics.com
Recently I ran across a softbound book you may already have. If you don't, I think several of you would enjoy it. It is “Tex Smith's Roaring Roadsters” A Track Roadster History, by Don Radbruch. Copyright 1994. This book is full of pictures and history of the Roadsters that many 500 veterans drove while on their way to The Speedway and sometimes after “making it”. One feature I enjoy is the way much of the book is broken into State or Regional areas. Of course many famous names appear in California as well as Indiana. The section about Mines Field is excellent, too.
Bits and Pieces
Here's a couple of fun notes from our friends at Wisconsin Auto Racing Historical Society:
•Rex Mays was the winner of what was supposed to be a 100-mile race in Milwaukee on August 29, 1937. The AAA-sanctioned race was inadvertently finished after just 96 laps do to a scoring error.
•Recommended website visitations according to their newsletter are: Milwaukeemile.com; Roadamerica.com; Bmara.com; Speedvision.com; and Indy500.com.
You may be interested in the magazine “Vintage Oval Racing”. Vintage racing seems to really be catching on and this magazine covers it well. I just like looking at the pictures of the old cars. The Jalopies and Stock Cars from the Fifties bring back fond memories. All forms of Oval Racing is covered. The ads are fun to read, also. If interested you can call 650-321-1411 or write Vintage Oval Racing, 2460 Park Blvd Suite 4, Palo Alto, CA 94306-9826.
One of our newest members is former 500 great Len Sutton. I contacted Len by letter when I purchased his calendar for 2001 and he graciously answered my questions (as well as autographing the cover). Len, who won three Champ races during the Roadster Years and finished a close second in the 1962 500, spun during the yellow flag caused by the five-car pileup on the front stretch in 1961. He was running well at the time in the blue #8 Bryant Heating car. I asked what caused him to spin? Thought you might enjoy his response: “The spin in 61 was kind of dumb. I was looking at my pit board for my signal to come in. When I looked back forward to see the “slowed” cars coming back to me, way too fast. I turned to keep from running into them and spun.” Len has been producing calendars for 4 years now. They have excellent pictures from Len's collection. Most of which you have probably never seen. What about a front-drive Offy powered Midget that Len drove in 1949? The calendars are still available. Send $15.00 for each to: Len Sutton, 21 Masaryk, Lake Oswego, OR 97035.
Indy Racing events already are televised in numerous countries including Australia, Chile, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom. Fox Sports is distributing the programming.
ABC and ESPN-ESPN2 will televise all 13 Northern Light Series IRL events in the U.S. in 2001.
