AUTOS CARS CUSTOM

all the pace cars, and all the drivers are at http://indymotorspeedway.com/v1/500pace.htm

thanks Mike!

Such a cool guy, and great actor, but didn't get a single cool car to drive. 

 

I think the above photo is of Betty Skelton and Big baby


the old Glendale airport. There's a ton of history about that airport, it's where the first cross-country flights originated, where TWA started, Charles Lindbergh & Amelia Earhart flew out of there, Clark Gable & Shirley Temple and all the stars flew out of there often…


 Race car heading for the Indy 500 if I recall right. I've seen these photos before, but not posted them
All found on various posts on http://fifties50s.blogspot.com

 here's the coverage that showed how hard ot was for fans to watch the Daytona race when it was on sand

 not very fun

 the #59 was a T Bird, and that is why I enjoy old Nascar, the cars were identifiable as something you could buy at a dealership or used car lot, and take racing yourself


 Helicopters over the corners

 Smokey Yunicks team was in the pits crewing on Firebalkl Roberts' Pontiac

 And these windscreen / airfoils are something I've not seen or noticed before

and in this old film, he wasn't called Richard Petty, he was call Dick Petty. More interesting than that is the nickname painted on the door, "Squirrel Jr". Richard was 22 years old

 He was in the pit row watching other cars race because he'd damaged the engine trying to keep up with the  sedans... they had a 10 mph advantage over his convertible

In the Darlington / Southern 500 he drove this Plymouth



 Dual shocks, and 9 plus leave springs
 above is a kids pedal car from the pre race parade, and it's telling t-birds to get out of it's way


and fueling was very dangerous, on the left of the screen are TWO guys with 50 pound CO2 extinguishers while the guys on the right are holding the fuel nozzle on the gas tank
 and at Indy, helmets were not boring, they had flying eyeballs, or sponsor stickers, or Dean Jeffries pinstriping