Courtesy of P. Teresco
The Teresco and Manicini
685, nicknamed "Kalamity
Jane" was easily one of my most favorite cars. It had "uh awful accident".
Keen Sentinel Photo
The DN3 entry of noted Bay State driver Lionel Arel had a slight problem
at the Cheshire Fairgrounds, Keene, NH.
Courtesy of John Rock
*&#@!**, Joe! That's not what I meant by
"fire it up !"
Dragon family Photo
Hey ! this ain't the bear I was aimin' at ! Late model legend Beaver Dragon, with his favorite sport.
Ladabouche Photo
Jeez Dear, i wuz only fooin' around !
When Bill Threw was pitching a fit at Fairmont Speedway in 1962 - nobody was going to try and get the tough as nails West Glens Falls driver out of that car. So, they brought over his wife.
Bitiig Collection via
The Fonda Book
This is what happens when you let your brother - in - law drive your car. Carl Fink, with Bob Zimmerman's brand new sedan. Carl survived this and lived until 2013.
Ladabouche Collection
" I didn't even know you could FIT an engine this
big into this little Late Model Sportsman !
Courtesy of Mike Cain
Fans try to get in one last memory of Catamount Stadium before its final race program in 1987.
Ladabouche Collection
Found on Outside Groove
Bert Thornton finds out why few people tried to pass Charlie Benoit when he wasn't handling well.
From the Fonda Book
This is what happened all too often to Pete Corey
at Lebanon Valley. The locals didn't want Fonda invaders there. A body man, Corey would have it all fixed up again the next week.
Danish Family Photo
Steve Danish was regarded as a hard racer, but good on equipment. Try convincing the Clark brothers [45 owners] of that.
Ladabouche Collection
If Howard Dikeman [39] didn't like CJ Richards' new fence at Devil's Bowl - he could have just said so.
Courtesy of Cho Lee
I buy this car off Cabana, I paint it up cool, I get these great goggles, and what do I get ? WHAT DO I GET !!?
Via The Racers Bored
Site. Photog Unknown.
Oh, &#@!**, this was supposed to be OUTSIDE of the car ! [Ed Patnode and Leo Matte]
Courtesy of Mike Laduc
This was the first and ONLY race for Elroy Laduc [brother of Devi's Bowl star, Charlie].
Courtesy of Barb Laduc
Some days it just doesn't pay to promote races. CJ Richards drew the biggest sports crowd in Vermont history; but he had two Major pileups that almost caused the cops to shut down he show.
Courtesy of Ed Fabian
|Ray Williams Photo
I don't think he's fixin' that one ! George Gowie at Lebanon Valley in the 1950's.
Source Unknown
If I have to crash, does it
really have to be into a friggin' graveyard ?
Herm Buttery at Fonda.
Courtesy of Gary Nephew
Dick Nephew [lft] and Bill Wimble receiving trophies as NASCAR 1961 National Sportsman Co- Champions. Read what it says in the one Nephew is holding. They had handed each the other's trophy.
John Grady Photo
I hate fire - anybody's fire. Here is Rene Charland's self - named "French Barbeque" in the 1960's.
Courtesy of Mike Perrotte
"I told ya they don't like NY drivers in VT". Jimmy "12 Port" LeClaire and Harold Healey look over a damaged car at Devil's Bowl.
Courtesy of Gary Nephew
Thank God for supportive parents. Wes Moody rescues the tech teacher of his son from a flaming wreck at Devil's Bowl. That is Dick Nephew as co - rescuer.
Sources Unknown - Likely Schenectady Gazette
Early flaggers took an awful chance, usually starting races from the track surface.
Courtesy of Cho Lee
The 3Sr. of Wayne Chandler is sitting there, on fire, as the local fire dept. takes their sweet time firing up the 1948 GMC and getting over there. This was 1961, the first year of a very rustic Otter Creek Speedway,
Waltham, VT.
Aldo Merusi Photo - Courtesy of Rutland Historical Society
Crews at the Pico Raceway, Rutland, VT tend to a wreck. See all those people in the background ? They are all watching for FREE from a railroad overlooking the track. No wonder it failed in two years.
Ladabouche Photo
When Bob Pratt bought this former Jack Dubrul Daytona car - he installed famed driver Gordy Owen to drive it at Otter Creek Speedway. Sadly, like most super speedway cars, it was way too heavy and just spun its wheels constantly.
Ladabouche Photos
Car owner Gael Dundon seems to be wondering what ever happened to the beautiful car he had bought, only a year before, for Vince Quenneville. Below - brand new.
Mike Arthur Photo
Mike Arthur caught racing photographer Bill Korbacher looking for action when it was right behind him. That's Doug Coulter in the air.
John Mason Photo
Phil Clement ends up on top of the John Birdsall car at Midstate Speedway, Morris, NY. Trouble was, John was still in the car. They got him out OK.
Probably Shaney Lorenzent Photo
Plainville Stadium. It is unlikely they had this car back on
line the next week. Could be George Lombardo.
Joe Cryan Photo
Bobby Pickell: Damned car, damned track, damned drivers ...I'm outta here ! [How did he manage to get out of it and not knock it over ?
John Bisci Photo
Lancaster Speedway staff rushes to rescue an official after Wes Moody and another driver hit the stand twice in the same night.
Dean Wright Photo
In the early days of racing,
like here in Naples, NY, they
often just let a car burn itself out.
Internet Source Unidentified
Why did guys put signs like the one on the hood ? It sort of predestined his fate, don't you think ?
Flickeringmyth.Com
It was hard enough being one of the first female drivers in NASCAR, but Louise Smith obviously had a beauty of a wreck here.
Courtesy of Andy Boright
Charland starts a ride nobody
wants at Thunder Road. Below - All Star League helmet and all, a disgusted Charland walks off.
he did it again the same year.
{See right]
Courtesy of Cho Lee
Courtesy of Wayne Bettis
Wouldn't you know, in that"same season, he did it AGAIN !
Courtesy of Lew Boyd
A genuine Oh Shit ! moment
for Ed Wolf at Roosevelt
Stadium in NJ in the '50's.
Burlington Free Press Photos
Courtesy of Wayne Bettis
Ron Bettis wins the Best - Looking Car Award at the annual car show
only to put the car on its hat
later on into the season.
Courtesy of Cho Lee
A man smokes and watches as Wayne Chandler's Hudson goes up in smoke before his heat at the inaugural program at Vergennes, VT's rustic Otter Creek Speedway. He did start the race.
Sanders Collection
Courtesy of Otto Graham
Al Sanders says:"I'm just
towing to the track, minding
my own damn business,
and I still tear the damn thing
up!"
Courtesy of LaBrehe Family
"I can't believe you don't
know where the rear end went !
It was there when you left"the pits !"
Les King Photos
Courtesy of Gail Moses Remington
Al Moses was tooling along in
the lead in his roadster at Wilton
NY's McGregor Speedway when
he managed to flip it.
Courtesy of LaBreche Family
They said "Add right side
weight"; so I did. Now
what you bitchin' about ?
Courtesy of Northeastern
Speedway Site
Perley Densmore drove his
car at Northeastern Speedway
every week, with a few
dents. Wife, Mabel,
raced it once .......
Courtesy of Calif. Speed Sport Shop
"Cale ! Cale ! Ya told Bobby he could borrow your shoes, remember ?"
Courtesy of Chas Hertica
Oh sure ! Gerber and his bright ideas! This ain't gonna make pit stops any faster !
Maynard Johnson Photo
Courtesy of Otto Graham
Can ya believe the crime around here ? Somebody musta needed rear wheels bad !
Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III
Floor it, Jabe ! Them revenuers got their own hot rod !
Courtesy of Lew Boyd
Apparently, a very young Gary
Balough didn't always have
things go his way.
From the Racers Bored Site
Art Lewis learned, as early as 1953
that the best way around Rhythm Inn Speedway was NOT through the woods.
Courtesy of Ginny Ross Collection
Via Dick Hansen and Chas Hertica
By God, Rene, that DOES look like a field mouse in there.
Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III
Uh oh ! I think the race was
yesterday.
Courtesy of Joey LawrenceCollection
Via Chas Hertica
Joey Lawrence had a fast, state - of - the - art Mustang; but, it didn't go so well with this setup.
Courtesy of Midstate Club
Via Otto Graham
Bill Brunschmitt had no idea who he was bowling when he cleared out a young Lou Lazarro at Sharon Speedway in the early 1950's.
Courtesy of Philly Fun Guide.com
Langhorne had a horrific crash and fire during one of its first stock car shows in the '50's. Cars just kept driving into the mess. They had no warning lights then.
Courtesy of Johnny Racer
Jim Duell had a reasonably long career in the Hurricane division at Catamount and Thunder Road. After this experience with his first car, it's a wonder.
Courtesy of the Catamount History Program
My God, boys, this is just
the PARADE LAP ! [Catamount's original Flying Tigers around 1967.
Courtesy of Catamount History Program
John Bilodeau had a lot to do with the removal of the ARMCO barriers around the outside of Catamount in the early years. What officials found was that he had CEMENT in that side of his car. Ever heard of stagger ?
Ladabouche Collection
All hell breaks loose with the
Flying Tigers at Catamount
in 1969. Webster Krupp [43] misses it all by getting to the infield. We care for his widow at our care home and she still recalls the car, at 95 years old.
Ladabouche Photo
Wilfred Gerard loads his car at Fairmont Speedway in 1962. The need for large radiator with the NH - style cutdowns meant the radiator was often totallyu blocking the driver's view.
Courtesy of Jeff Elliott
Russ Ingerson [42 and 51] and Lennie Stockwell [00] were two of the Flying Tiger class's most colorful drivers [and they couldn't stay away from each other].
Via Andy Boright
Credits on the Photo
They didn't put enough windows on
Ray Anderson's Onteora Speedway
coupe, so he made his own.
Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III
A car ends up in the crowd at the old Bowling Green Speedway in the 1950's. That happened a lot in the early days.
Both Ladabouche Photos
Athol, NY runner Red Smith puills his yellow Hudson into the pits at Fairmont Speedway. By afternoon's end, the car was totalled.
Courtesy of John Bisci
Ya carefully build this Buick, ya
drag it all the way to Florida from
Lockport, NY, and then this happens ! Ker - Rist !
Courtesy of Lew Boyd
Dick Clark hated it when the Shoe
never lifts.
Ladabouche Collection
We sent George out there to BLOW their doors off, not knock them off.
Berggren_Valley_180Coupe_Hertica
Courtesy of Chris Companion
Dontcha hate it when: they start a new class at Catamount, everybody's green at it, and this girl from Montreal comes down with a barely legal car and dusts all of you off ?
Courtesy of Mary Sommers Cortese
Dontcha hate it when: yer smaller than everyone else and they hoist you up like a flag in Victory Lane? [Well, I guess you coulda lost].
Courtesy of Joe Staiger
Yaw, Frank, I know this guy behind us hit you on the last race start, but DO have to move off the track once the race begins.
Delameter Photo Courtesy of K. MacIsaac
Hey ! Move that damn wrecker - I'm overheatin' here !
tte's Speedway in the
late 1940's near Perth, NY.
Look at the poor flagger running
for his life.
Irv Conron Photo
Courtesy of John C. Grady
Fonda official Bob Whitbeck
[white cap at left] stares at
the Car of Jerry Jerome, in one of
Fonda Speedway's worst ever
crashes. Bob had built the
car years before for Pete
Corey to drive.
Courtesy of Shane Frank
The pampered drivers of
1960's modified racing.
Whip Mulligan grabs a water hose
beside the track and grabs a drink while Jackie Evans waits for the
same. Today, drivers
would want bottled water run
into their air conditioned
helmet.
Gene Baxter Photo
Bob Pocinskas Collection
Courtesy of Stan Kawalsinksi
Nobody seems to notice the wheel Flying towards them at Pine Bowl
Speedway. This is very similar to a LIFE magazine photo taken at nearby Burden Lake Spdwy
a few years before.
Courtesy of Gerard Major
How such a small car do so
much damage ? Laval,
Quebec's RIverside Speedway,
1959.
Courtesy of Gerard Major
Laval, Quebec's RIverside Speedway,
1959. Can you see the people in the
tree at left, watching track crews
righting a wreck ? Try having
that happen today.
Courtesy of Sandra G. Fontana
This is what happens when you borrow a local hearse for an ambulance and park in the wrong spot. West Lebanon, NH's
Twin State Jalopy Speedway,
1950.
Courtesy of Sandra G. Fontana
This is what happens when your father owns West Lebanon, NH's
Twin State Jalopy Speedway,
1950. You have to take your car and do the wall of flame stunt.
Courtesy of Tommy Thompkins
Alan WIlson's Dad, WIllie told
hin he'd get Alan's car to the
Oxford Plains Speedway. Alan
forgot to ask how that was
going to happen.
Courtesy of Cho Lee
Thunder Road International
Speedbowl, then newly - built In
1960. It didn't take Ken Squier
long to realize those railroad
ties weren't going to work out
for his Widowmaker wall.
Movie Footage Courtesy of iIke Stridesberg
Chuck Bown is assisted off the
track by someone in Bob Curtiss'
car which - in turn - is being rammed
by the guy behind him. Catamount 1982.
Courtesy of Flemke.com
The second major fire is as many years for Rene Charland - this one at Thompson, 1966. Maybe it occurred to him to stop putting gasoline in the
roll cage.
Courtesy of Victor Phillips
Charlie Frisado probably got hurt worse getting out of this early '50's wreck at Seekonk than he did in the crash itself.