ACT Archives Courtesy of Cho Lee
Ron Barcomb
Winooski, Vermont
ACT Archives Courtesy of Cho Lee
A very young Ron "Red Dog" Barcomb, with one of his first Flying Tiger cars [and hair].
Ron Barcomb grew up in Winooski, the son of Herb Barcomb and the nephew of the other Barcombs who had not only pioneered racing in the Chittenden Countty area, but also established the most prominent of the speedways in Colchester, Vermont. Naturally, the big Winooski High School athlete would tend to try his hand at auto racing when the time was right.
Courtesy of Steve McKnight
With the considerable financial resources
of Herb Barcomb and his Malletts Bay Auto Salvage, young Ronnie would be able to
field top notch equipment from the very beginning. Called "Red Dog" Ron,
probably after the lower Church Street night club he apparently frequented,
Barcomb would almost immediately be among the top runners in the newly - built
Catamount Stadium's support division, the Flying Tigers.
ACT Archives Courtesy of Cho Lee
Photo Courtesy of Terry LaFerriere
[Left] Young Ron "Red Dog" Barcomb's Malletts Bay Salvage crew unloads the car. [Right] Things did not always go smoothly for the former Winooski High School football star.
Barcomb would switch from Chevrolets to
Fords in 1971, and he would manage to take the Vermont State Championship, over
strong competition from Hinesburg's Maurice "Little Mo" Dubois. Barcomb would,
in the ensuing season, field one of the most beautiful Ford race cars to ever
grace a short track - the Nordic Ford Torino. He would run the big Torino during
the grueling 1973 season, in which the Tour tried to run as often as five times
a week. Although the recently-returned Bob Dragon was the hottest thing that
year, Barcom was one of the top performers.
Bill Ladabouche Photo
Photo Courtesy of Rich Palmer
[Left] A water-damaged photo of the state championship car. [Right] The gorgeous Torino, displayed at Nordic Ford. [Check out the cars in the showroom].
What would follow was several seasons running Fords and being in the top echelon of the Northern NASCAR ranks. Barcomb would eventually settle down to the smaller Ford Fairlane 500 body for a year or two, with the Banjo Matthews chassis. Coca-Cola and Nordic Ford would remain with his team during these year. Then, upon the departure of Nordic, Barcomb began running Chevrolets again. He continued to field car show - winning beauties, and his cars were among the fastest in the field.
Andy Boright Photo
The familiar Fairlane 500
Terry LaFerriere Photo
The Nova he ran for at least
four years.
Barcomb ran the same little Nova for a number of seasons, until everyone was switching over to the Pontiac Gran Prix - Gran Am version. Along with numerous others like the Dragons, Dick McCabe, Randy LaJoie, and many more, he built a Pontiac. About this time, Barcomb acquired the services of Steve Hibbard, a locally - developed wunderkind who had learned his trade with the Bobby Dragon team for years. Hibbard and Barcomb had one of the fastest cars on the circuit.
Terry LaFerriere Photo
Steve Hibbard, a fanatic on weight reduction in his cars, had Barcomb's Pontiac flying in the early 1980's.
Towards the 1980's, Barcomb was beginning to tire of the grind of touring all over the Northeast. He was experimenting with various small businesses in the Chittenden COunty area, and he eventually decided to stop racing about the time that NASCAR split from Tom Curley and the ACT went over to the plastic pony cars. But, even with his deaprture, Barcomb left his marks in the record books, having won a prominent number of features and that one state championship in 1970.
 Terry LaFerriere Photo An early trophy either at Catamount or Thunder Road. |
 ACT Archive Courtesy of Cho Lee Barcomb wins a Flying Tiger feature around 1967. |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo Barcomb back in the running after a pretty good wreck took out the sheet metal on the nose. |
|
|
 Burlington Free Press Photo The championship car in the garage at Malletts Bay Salvage in 1970  Rich Palmer Photo |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo Kiddie rides in the Tiger |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo Flying Tiger 09, @ T Road, 1968ish |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo Barcomb in the running at Thunder Road against Red Wilford. |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo An unfamiliar red 09, year unknown
|
 Terry LaFerriere Photo A closeup of a very young Ron. |
 Andy Boright Photo I am proud to say I lettered this Barcomb Nova.. and we won the Zayres car show. |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo Barcomb's '57 Chevy Tiger encounters a very early Hector LeClaire car. |
 Beaver Dragon Family Photo Barcomb, with Dave Moody at a NASCAR North banquet around 1979. |
 Denisa LaChance Photo The plain orange Nova variation |
 Terry LaFerriere Photo The red 09 Pontiac, at one of the Oxford 250 races
|
 Beaver Dragon Family Photo The famous Coke machine in the hauler. |
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