Posts
6897
Joined
4/22/2010
Location
Fenton, MI
US
Edited Date/Time
3/5/2015 11:42am
Is that Bill France Junior in the plaid pants and red shirt watching Pierre getting minor air?
How about how poochy the infield grass looks? These days it looks like a major league infield's grass. All manicured.
The Shop
Walked around in the pits by myself ,watched Joel and Roger get ready ,really had no idea what I was seeing.
That track was long back then.
Way back when, Bill Sr. had a buddy named Red Pugh. They were old high school ( I believe) classmates, and when Bill Sr. needed someone to become the manager of the grounds for the new speedway he built in the late 50's, Red was the man. Not really qualified for the job, nor interested in maintaining a sano facility. He did like to drive around in an old pickup truck though.
Unfortunately, the tri-oval area, as well as the outer walls of the banked turns, the infield parking and common areas suffered greatly, until the 80's when Red retired (?) and Dick Hahn was brought in to revitalize the grounds. Dick was a golf course guy, and turned the place into Disney World compared to the early days.
Gone were the weeds, sand and sand spurs. Dick brought in custom blended grasses and turf, state of the art irrigation and made the place immaculate.
Dick is gone now, and I don't know the current grounds crew, but the place looks beautiful year round.
Pit Row
http://racerxonline.com/2015/03/04/the-list-daytonas-best
This little kid on the bicycle is riding the Talladega track that week. His dad was building it, I believe.
Ccould be wrong though.
edit: I just noticed the kid is riding one of the most dangerous bicyles ever made.
I had forgotten that Gary Bailey was designing the Daytona tracks as early as 1972/73... and did not realize he may have also designed the Talladega course. Could very well be Talladega.
RacerX is incorrect. I know Talladega. The tri-oval in Daytona isn't red clay, isn't near that big, doesn't have that scoreboard or the red and white Winston pit wall and where is the gray/black sand on Pierre's bike? When GB made jumps in Daytona back then he used limerock (white)
Pretty sure Rich Eierstedt won the support class that day on a factory Honda
.. and I had apple jacks for breakfast in our 28ft Chieftan Winnabago and worked on my dad's bike on a Bryer Holcomb stand wearing one of my dad's red, white and blue painters caps
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