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EARLY CATAMOUNT & OTHER NASCAR TRACK POINT STANDINGS
I have obtained some NASCAR points information from Catamount and Thunder Road - for the year 1965. As a leadup, I also have standings from the other NASCAR track that led into Catamount - Otter Creek Speedway near Vergennes, Vermont. I hope to look at these standings and the men in them - and offer some thoughts about the significance of the whole thing. I sincerely hope people who were "in the game" at that time will contact me and offer corrections and additions to the thoughts. wladabou@comcast.net
1962 - OTTER CREEK SPEEDWAY
Waltham, Vermont
Hi Monroe and Lee Tucker ran the Otter Creek Speedway, on the Monroe farm in tiny Waltham, near Vergennes, Vermont. These "hobby" drivers were the track regulars - local drivers from the immediate area, from the Malletts Bay Speedway, from Thunder Road, and a few from other nearby tracks. It would appear as though the sportsman drivers put in more laps than the hobbies, but the reverse is actually true. It must be that the hobby boys didn't earn as many points for the same time spent on the track as the big guys primarily from New York.
This is the second year of the track's operation. In the Hobby Class, I can clearly remember Dooley, Gover, Ballard, Foley, the Russells, Ansel Quintin, Jack Cutter, and maybe even Beaver Dragon from that first year; but, Martin, Quenneville, Pritchard, and Brown may not have put in much time at Otter Creek in the first year - 1961. No - namers like Ollie Wescott, Don Smith, Billy Bigelow, Jimmy Saltus, Howie Miller, Harley Chamberlain, Dick Hawkins, and several more ran almost every week at the new track in that first year. I will try to find a record book from 1961.
I honestly do not remember Shoemaker, and most of the other big name New Yorkers spending enough time at the track to earn over 300 points. They must have run double point races - or even more - because I can clearly recall the surprise victory by Meahl, driving for the young teenage car owner Jerry Cook..... and Meahl has only those 50 points. Perhaps there were other places to earn points, but I sincerely doubt it. These guys were the ones I saw at the "special Shows" at Otter Creek.
Go to the Otter Creek page to see pictures of many of these runners.
1965 - CATAMOUNT STADIUM SPEEDWAY
Milton, Vermont
When the small consortium of Ken Squier, Jack DuBrul, the Cooley brothers, and Gordon Fitzgerald finished the rather speedy construction of their classy third mile asphalt track in the Northern town of Milton, Vermont, they were wise enough to follow Otter Creek in their membership with NASCAR. The new track had a tough time attracting a decent - sized field of sportsman coupes. Sometimes, the same cars would have to run more than one qualifier, just to fill out the program for the crowd.
Given these problems, listed above are the drivers who managed to spend the most time earning points at snazzy Chittenden County oval. Canadian veteran Andre Manny managed to comfortably outpoint a younger Jean-Paul Cabana and Cabana's team mate, former Canadian Champion Paul Hamel. Marcel "Mr. Clean" Godard, finished right behind Cabana, and then six New Yorkers who were regulars at Plattsburgh, New York's Airborne Speedway finished fourth through ninth before there finally placed a local Vermonter, Jack DuBrul, from Burlington.
Mackie Miller's fourth place accomplishment is somewhat of an upset because Miller never had as much equipment to work with as did other Northern New Yorkers like Ried, Nephew, Bruno, and Trombley. Ron Marvin, Johnny Gammell, and Tony Colucchio represented the Thunder Road drivers who were still running flathead Fords. Most of these runners can be seen on the Catamount Stadium Coupe Competitors page.
Go to the Main Competitors Page
