FABULOUS FACEBOOK FINDS    

I sincerely hope I don't already have a page like this. I looked and looked, but couldn't find one on the site. This is featuring some of the most exciting
photos I have found roaming around on the various vintage racing facebook pages. Many are rare and obscure. Some are less so, but simply
ones I haven't been able to find before.


Courtesy of  John Gallant
A young Doc Blanchard in what might be Red Cromer's Oldsmobile. There has been a number of 49's and of Blanchard cars; but I never saw this one before.
 
 
Courtesy of  LaQuerre Family
It seems like Joey LaQuerre has raced forever. I had always heard about his father, Armand - but this is the only photo of the racing patriarch's car. It might be Joey, himself sitting inside.
 
 
Courtesy of  Corey Kennedy
Pico Raceway was the first track I ever  attended. I was well aware the Romano family not only ran the track but had at least two race cars. This shot of Big Bill Anderson is with the rarer, harder to find team car to Al Romano's 303.
 
 Courtesy of  LaQuerre Family
West Sand Lake, NY's Bill Stevens was at the frist race I saw at CJ Richards' Fairmont Speedway. I photogrpahed he car in September and captured his young daughter. A few years back, the daughter contacted me through Facebook and this photo is one of the results.

 
Courtesy of  Sam Barlow
 I had seen the 1963 United Stock Car racing Club's Grand American show at the fairgrounds in Rutland, VT. BOb
Devine had run a steady third all day
unitl leaving the track and striking a
woman in the parking lot. It took me years to find a photo his '61 Chevy
he drove that day.

 
Courtesy of  Woody Woodbury
Fairmont Speedway rookie Chet Doaner had picked up a Claremont
Speedway car for his first season. Later. Chittenden, VT's Bob Taylor bought the car. I waited decades to find a photo of it as Taylor's - he is at right. He wrecked it end for end  not long after debuting it.
 
Courtesy of  John Lutz
During his three year time at Northern NASCAR, John Rosati had three Ford Fairlanes, either built by him or the famed Fred Rosner. One was sold to the tempestuous Devil's Bowl driver
Bucky Dragon. I finally got a pohot of it as Dragon's car [while it lasted].
 
Courtesy of  Dennis Bulger Collection
via Chas Hertica

Butch Jelley's Y was always a favorite of mine, This car was a surprise to me as I always thought his '37 Ford was his first. The photo is extra neat because it also shows the 151 of DOn Leffler. a car I had seen at the first Fairmont Speedway show in 1962.


Courtesy of  Arnie Ainsworth
I never saw a photo of the Butch Jelley's Ed Winn - owned
Y looking as new as it looks here. 
 
Courtesy of  Marty Kelly Jr.
I waited for years to get a good shot of Charlie Brown's 17 - the former first car of Butch Rogers.
 
Courtesy of  Rick Parry
Rick Parry found this amazing shot
taken at Pete Corey's body
shop. The Studebaker, headed
out for its maiden voyage. The coupe
he built after losing the Falcon sits
in the background.
 
Courtesy of  Rick Parry
Pete Corey with the coupe
he built after losing the Falcon. The Crescent Hillbilly reference is first seen, as well as the stuffed TIger which used to ride on the Falcon.

 

                                                                                                                                       


Courtesy of  Rick Parry
The Cross - owned 47, withits
various hired drivers, was
always a favorite of mine. This
was a far better photo than
anything I had prior.
 
Courtesy of  Sam Barlow
Roadster specialist Del Moak,
with what is said to be the first
Toll Gate Ice Cream car. Moak had
driven his own powerful "Deep 6"
roadster prior to this.

Courtesy of  Justin St. Louis
I asked and asked for an early
photo of Fast Eddy Keenan, from Warrensurgh, NY. Devil's Bowl's Justin St. Louis finally came up with this.

 
Courtesy of  Bruce Brockett
This is a very rare photo from
Whites Beach Speedway. Ed Brockett
with his Gold Comet car. Either Ed or his son ran a Studebaker in the semi late models at Malta later.
 
Courtesy of  Alan McDonald
Jim Hoyt poses with his
newly - designed 55 [with
input from Ed Belinger, Sr]. Little
did he know he would crash
on the Fonda frontstretch, breaking
the car into several pieces.
 
Courtesy of  Rick Parry
When Bill Fowler brought out
his new version of the 27Jr,
all I had ever seen was the car with the rear of the body cut off. Here, we have the full body and driver
Paul Marshall, whom I never saw
drive the car.

 
Frank Simek Photo [obviously]
Simek got a good shot of Skip
Roots, a local Fonda driver from
nearby Gloversville.
 
Courtesy of Ronnie Caisse Hunt 
I had taken two photos of this car,
but was never certain of who
drove it [kind of driver by committee]. This time, photographer Bob Frazier shot Skip WIlcox at the
contorols at Fairmont.

Courtesy of  Tim Rogers
NY driver - for -hire had innumerable rides over the years. He partly owned
the 1NY, one of his most popular rides. NH's Ted Brown enters Devil's Bowl
with that car - having now been
owned for the third time.
 
 
Russ Bergh Photo
Courtesy of  John Chest

Kids get a ride at Fonda with
Canajoharie's Willie Chest.
They couldn't have climbed in
with a nicer and more popular
driver.
 
Courtesy of  Scott Belknap
Former open wheel driver in the
1940's, Art Spoar [Spore - take your pick] was one of Pete Corey's less -
known car owners in the early
years.
 
Courtesy of  Ayotte Collection
Like the Charlie Brown car above,
Bruce Milo's Camaro was one
of the Butch Rogers - influenced
late models of the 1970's at
Devil's Bowl. Bruce was
known to occasionally invade Brookfield.

 

                                                                                                                                       


Courtesy of Walter Newell 
One of all - time favorite racing
classes was the Oxford Plains
six cylinder, large - bodied
Chargers, and Charlie Martin
was my favorite Charger.
 
Courtesy of  Silodrome.com
Some photographer caught the
Herny Caputo Plymouth [11] from
Hudson Falls, NY mixing it
up with the big boys on the
Daytona beach course.

 
Courtesy of  Irv Taylor
I have several photos of the Rollie John son /Richard Welch 77, but I never saw this graphics package. I think Johnson still owned it and Irv Taylor was driving then.

Courtesy of  Jim Kelly
Future car builder extraordinaire Dexter Dorr of Manchester, VT with his first sportsman coupe at Victoria.
 
Bob Farlee Photo
Courtesy of
Joe Cryan
We are all pretty familiar with
George Janoski's long - lasting
Chevy sportsman coupe, but
this one is earlier and is a Ford.
Notice the Koszella 15 of Ernie
Gahan is also a Ford back then.
 
Russ Bergh Photo
Courtesy of
Jim Kelly
This is the infamous Mel Austin
crash into the tower at Victoria.
It shows where Tom Douglas got his first car from. All TD did was add
a 1 to the number.

 
Source Uncertain - Canadian 8MM
Some old 8MM footage caught
future Catamount Stadiumn co-founder Jack Dubrul trying out some racing
at Quebec's Fury Speedway. This
was his flathead pavement Thunder
Road car.
 
Courtesy of Flemke.com
This is said to be a very
young Jerry Cook posing as
a driver. Must be he was at
a non-NASCAR track where he could
Drive. In 1963 he still couldn't drive
his own car at NASCAR -
sanctioned Otter Creek Speedway.
 
Courtesy of Flemke.com
A very young Ron Narducci,
somewhere in Western NY,
with a very early car.
 
David Frazier Photo
I had heard the story of Bill Stevens
selling his last S29 to the HOffer family, and the car was summarily wrecked that same week at Devil's Bowl. Here's the car, with the S29 changed to X9, before the wreck.
 
Resent to me By Big Bigelow
There are few photos of the 1961
Lebanon Valley show staged at
the VT State Fair. This one was
 a thrill when it came out: Bill Webb [33] and Doug Garrison in the Riiska
yellow X. Most shots show Webb,
but Joe Messina supposedly won.
 
Courtesy of Mark Austin
1965 was a difficult year for Thunder
Road. With the advent of Catamount, NASCAR had taken over both tracks, giving T Road's beloved flatheads
a one year grandfathered tenure.
Frustrated by the totla dominance of the overhead V-8's from NY and Quebec, Ken Squier threw them out midway through the season. This shot shows a tangle up that happened before the sportsman cars left.

 

                                                                                                                                       


Courtesy of Gary Nephew
One of the all - time favorite racing
stories in Cnada for me was the management of Riverside Speedway,
frustrated with freeloaders watching the races in the trees. When the track tried tear gas on them, the stuff drifted into the paying spectators instead. This shot shows some of the tree toads watching off turn four.

 
Courtesy of  Annette Azchet-LaTaif
Johnstown, NY's fun loving Red Knoblauch had his car painted
to look a lot like  the Mott 3 of Pete Corey to mess with the latter's fans.


Russ Bergh Photo
Courtesy of 
Ed Biitig
This early ride for Canajoharie's
Bob Sitterly is in obvious distress.
Sitterly's son, Otto, would also go"on to be a successful driver [mostly
in supermods].
+
Courtesy of  Doug Post

A young Ray "Zero" Brown with his
car at the Kingsbridge Armory in the
Bronx in the late 1940's. There are
almost no photos of stock cars racing
in the huge indoor venue.

Possibly a Frank Simek Photo
Courtesy of 
Lou Lazzaro
This became my all - time favorite
Fonda pit photo because it shows
So many obscure teams. Al Sanders
brought two cars - A3 and the A2 on the trailer; Jim Thomas' 60, the former Willie Chest car; Tom DOuglas' first
991; and Hank LeClaire's 21 are among these.

 
Photo by and Courtesy of  Joe Cryan
Joe Cryan put this shot on one of
the Facebook pages. Henry Caputo's
Plymouth coupe. Caputo was all
first-rate with matching haulers
and so forth. I think the car ended
up with the Richard Welch 77
 team later.

Courtesy of  The Myers Family
Without all of these vintage racing
facebook pages, we'd not get to
see people like Beech Ridge stalwart and racing pioneer Benny Myers.

Photo by Russ Bergh  Courtesy of  Bob Novak
It was a thrill to see a photo of
a car I saw way back at Otter Creek Speedway in Vergennes, VT
in 1961 or 1962. Doc Blanchard's
95. possibly a former Ray Vine car.
The car is pictured in the Otter Creek
action photo furhter above.

From Stock Car racers' Reunion Site
Where else but Facebook pages
would you catch Junior Hanley
driving this kind of car ? No
72 yet.

Mike Maqssaglia Photo
JIt looks like Mike almost stood
on his head to get in this shot
of Northern NASCAR driver
Lennie "Tiger" Stockwell and
his unique hauler.


From Christina Olsen Kilburn
The Midwest had its James brothers,
New Jersey had its Cordeleone brothers, and we in Vermont proudly
have these guys - the Lussiers. All four
raced at Devil's Bowl. From left: my friend Chris, Yogi, Mike, and Reggie.
They could get a ton of performance
out of a shoestring budget.
 
From Lew Boyd
This shot shows the tendency
of the high buck Kiekhaeffer
team to innovate in the NASCAR
Grand Nationals in the 1950's. Butch Jelley's Y had a similar exhaust
system in 1962.

Return to the Main Page
Return to the Main News Page
Return to the All Links Page