Vintage Racing?

[irv]

Originally Posted by BruceinGa

Yes, 20+ were killed.

Wow! I assume that was a non sanctioned event or an event to showcase dragracing?

I use to follow NHRA religiously when we had ESPN and TNN but now all I get is reruns, occasionally.

[Justus]

Thanks Bored. I've checked it on Chrome and Safari, both signed into Net54 and not signed it, and they are showing for me. Anyone else having problems seeing the pics?

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Justus, maybe this is just a glitch on my end, but your images are not appearing for me.

[Justus]

That is an incredible piece! Would love to have that framed on my wall.

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Sometimes I bid on stuff that has the Wow factor. This panoramic I won not to long ago and want to contribute to the thread. I've copied and pasted Heritage's description

1910's Indianapolis 500 Panoramic Photograph. This Indianapolis 500 panoramic photograph pictures eleven vehicles with their drivers and team members lined up in front of a packed grandstand for an early installment of the iconic racing event. Panoramas from the early years of this race are hard to come by in any condition. The ones that have come up for sale are mostly aerial-type shots of the speedway. This one on offer here is one of the few (and most likely the earliest) which showcase the automobiles and the drivers. Measures 30.25x6.25". Some vertical creases, otherwise EX.

[BruceinGa]

Originally Posted by irv

Wow! I assume that was a non sanctioned event or an event to showcase dragracing?

Yes. It was March, 1969 at Yellow River Drag Strip, just east of Atlanta. Houston Platt loses control while racing Don Nicholson. I took the pic with a Polaroid camera.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Justus

Thanks Bored. I've checked it on Chrome and Safari, both signed into Net54 and not signed it, and they are showing for me. Anyone else having problems seeing the pics?

I changed browsers from Chrome to Firefox on my desktop and opened this thread on my phone, but was unable to get your pictures to appear for me. Weird, the STP images you posted in post No. 85 still appear for me. Maybe the glitch is just on my end. No big deal. I am glad the thread has come back to life; this is my favorite thread on the board.

You are right, that Indy 500 panoramic that Jay posted is an awesome piece.

[irv]

Originally Posted by BruceinGa

Yes. It was March, 1969 at Yellow River Drag Strip, just east of Atlanta. Houston Platt loses control while racing Don Nicholson. I took the pic with a Polaroid camera.

Wow! I didn't realize you took the picture. Not something I'd like to witness.

[BruceinGa]

Originally Posted by irv

Wow! I didn't realize you took the picture. Not something I'd like to witness.

It was not a good afternoon.

[Justus]

Do these work better, Eddie?

free image cdn





free image cdn

[irv]

Originally Posted by BruceinGa

It was not a good afternoon.

No, I don't imagine it was. Sorry you had to witness that.

[Snapolit1]

Great thread. I know nothing about racing but very cool to hear these stories.

[Snapolit1]

Great thread. I know nothing about racing but interesting to see these cards and hear these stories.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Justus

Do these work better, Eddie?

free image cdn





free image cdn

That works. Cool Marios. I know that price is determined by supply and demand, but it always surprises me that his '69 rookie card is not worth more -- given his worldwide accomplishments as an F1 world champion, Indy 500 winner and Daytona 500 winner. You'll never see someone do that again.

I have always liked the Sugar Daddy card of Evel Knievel because of the three images.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Great thread. I know nothing about racing but interesting to see these cards and hear these stories.

Thanks for checking out the thread.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by BruceinGa

Yes. It was March, 1969 at Yellow River Drag Strip, just east of Atlanta. Houston Platt loses control while racing Don Nicholson. I took the pic with a Polaroid camera.

I had never heard of this incident until you mentioned it here, even though I've been living in the Atlanta area over 30 years. So, out of curiosity I researched it some. To this day it is still the worst US racing disaster. Just a few clarifications: Huston Platt was racing Frank Oglesby, who was driving Don Nicholson's car, a Cougar. At the 1,000-foot mark, Platt heard a bang and let off the throttle and deployed the parachute. As this happened, an idiot in the crowd ran out onto the track to retrieve a beer can and was killed instantly when he was hit by the parachute. The impact to the parachute caused the car to veer wildly into the crowd, killing ten more people, injuring 40 more. One of the injured died a few days later in an Atlanta hospital, bringing the death total to 12.

[brian1961]

[QUOTE=BruceinGa;1661320]It was not a good afternoon.[/Q

Since someone made reference to the Le Mans catastrophe, neither was the early evening of June 11, 1955. Really, no one single person was at fault. With the swiftly increasing speeds of the cars, the beautiful circuit had become unbelievably too dangerous at certain points on the course. The accident occurred at precisely such a spot. The spectator view was spectacular. As the tracked kinked, or turned slightly to the right, the width of the road shrinked just a tad.

A tad too much.

The worse case scenario.

Three cars were trying to get through this kink at the same time. All in their own way, a victim of circumstances.

Would some brave soul load up the image of Pierre Levegh's Mercedes, as it was filmed in mid-air, being shot by an amateur photographer whose arm or leg was broken in the crash, and whose film snapped at this instant. At least he came out alive. Eventually, the film was developed, and can actually be seen free on YOU TUBE.

Type:

The Worst Accident in Motorsports History (1955 Le Mans Disaster)

or

Le Mans 1955 accident: Raw footages of the crash in HD (read description)

I'm not getting my razzies from letting you in on this, merely to educate you about the absolute worst accident in automobile racing history. The film is extraordinary.

Numerous aftereffects occurred as a result of this catastrophe. Races were canceled. Racing was banned in Switzerland, which still holds today. Drivers suddenly or soon retired. The Mercedes-Benz company directors held a quick meeting, and seven hours after the accident, with their cars running a strong first and third, withdrew them from the race in honor and respect to those who perished, their bereaved families, and the many who were injured. For what it's worth, fans worldwide and vox populi understood and respected Mercedes for retiring their cars, with their lead car leading by 2 laps.

The other company refused to acknowledge ANY fault of its driver, and that car happened to win the race. Several photos taken of that driver after the event were not very flattering, and I know, deep, deep, deep down---he actually believed he had precipitated the accident. I read a mesmerizing first-hand account from Rob Walker in an early 90s Road & Track, where Rob encountered Mike Hawthorn at an enclosure / bar right after the accident. What Rob remembered Mike confessing is frankly haunting, and I am certain haunted Mr. Hawthorn the few years that he lived after the disaster.

Really, as I said before, there were several mitigating factors. The track was widened significantly for 1956, and the grandstands at that point moved back sufficiently to satisfy the officials who ran the race that such a tragedy would not re-occur. In the intervening years, many more barriers have been put up, and the cars have enough complicated spoilers and stablizers to make them much more controllable at speed. Be that as it may, racing is racing, and those cars are going over 200+ miles an hour. Anything could still happen, but the rules and regs and design of both the cars and the Le Mans circuit have been worked out extremely hard, to prevent another 11th of June 1955 from ever transpiring again.

Well, there have been a lot of accidents in motor racing history. As I said, the sight, sound, and smell of the racing cars are wondrous. The drivers really are a special breed of heroes.

Nice discussion.

As I mentioned to Eddie, I have never gravitated to racing cards, preferring models of the cars. After my dear Mother passed away in 1996, to deal with my grief and agony over losing her, I built a fantasy Dinky Toy of none other than the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Le Mans racing sports car of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, car number 19 that was leading the race by two laps when it was withdrawn from the race. It took about 3 years of my free time, partly because I had to use an old John Day kit for a base. Those old kits required a LOT of work to make them look good. I stuffed it with a plethora of interior and exterior goodies and detail. I received major help from my modeler friend, Tim Dyke, from England. True, no Dinky Toy would ever have looked that good, but I took it from the standpoint of what I as a child would have loved to have seen on that exotic car. You see, my Mother and Dad gave me Dinky Toys as a kid for Christmas and birthdays. These got to my heart a few years before baseball cards were introduced to me.

I apologize for the long, long post. This is a very personal thing that means a great deal to me.

If you've read this far, thank you, sincerely, for listening to an old man who misses his dear Mother on Mother's Day.

Best regards, guys. ---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

Great post, Brian. The 1955 Le Mans disaster also occurred against the backdrop of fierce nationalism. The German national anthem was not played prior to the race, and cars were painted colors based on the country of the manufacturer. The car of Pierre Levegh, who was killed in the crash, went into the crowd and officially 83 people were killed in the worst racing accident of all-time. Levegh's car disintegrated and caught fire upon entering the crowd. The dislodged engine, hood and front end assembly acted as a guillotine and decapitated over a dozen spectators. The disaster was made even worse when track workers doused the magnesium fueled inferno with water.

It has long been speculated that even more than 83 spectators actually died in the Le Mans Disaster.

As Brian mentioned, Mercedes was leading the race when team bosses elected to withdraw from the race several hours after the incident. Race organizers and Mercedes officials were keenly aware of the optics of a German manufacturer winning such a major race after a German car went into the stands and killed dozens of Frenchmen just a decade after World War II.

Who exactly was most at fault for the Le Mans Disaster has been debated for decades, and multiple books have been written on the topic. It is generally acknowledged that the Mercedes Levegh was driving was more car than he was able to handle, but perhaps Levegh was simply put in an impossible position in a split second. Eventual winner Mike Hawthorn usually receives much of the blame for causing the accident by abruptly darting into the pits, and Hawthorn allegedly acknowledged his role in causing the worst crash in racing history shortly after the incident occurred.

Famed racer Stirling Moss has said in the past that the problem with Le Mans at the time was that there were 120 drivers, 20 of whom were the best in the world. "The rest were idiots," said Moss of the amateur/sportsman drivers who were sprinkled throughout the field at Le Mans.

The race continued to its conclusion, at least in part because officials were concerned that the large crowd leaving the track all at once would clog up the roadways for ambulances trying to take the 100+ critically injured fans to hospitals. No announcement was ever made that anything out of the ordinary had occurred, and many fans elsewhere on the speedway grounds did not have any idea what had happened until after the race was over (several days later in some cases)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEk85gKJN6k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz2VezfEWXQ

http://jalopnik.com/just-how-horrify...rts-1589382023 (this is an amazing article on the Le Mans Disaster)

[brian1961]

Thanks for your kind words, Eddie. It took me a good while to type and edit the thread, but it was worth it. Somehow, I felt someone good at loading up You Tube videos would come to my rescue and do as I suggested. I'm not surprised in the least it was you. Thank you, my friend.

Oh, the finger pointing that went on, especially at poor Levegh. He really was made the scapegoat. While he was nowhere near as good as the two greatest drivers in the world at that moment, Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, doing great battle with another of the top 20, Hawthorn, Levegh did very well with the 300SLR. He was getting better and better.

My aforementioned modeler friend, Tim Dyke, pointed out to me some years back that in the video you posted of the lead-up to the catastrophe, when Mike Hawthorn slammed on his brakes (powerful DISC brakes, mind you!) Austin Healey driver Lance Macklin had to stand on his brakes immediately to prevent smashing into him. However, Lance also pulled over gently, BUT HE PULLED OVER WAY TOO FAR, and so Pierre Levegh hardly had enough room to negotiate the slight bend and pass safely by Macklin. He almost made it, but instead of crunching in Macklin's tail end, it served as a launching pad...........

I watched the clip several times and Tim is absolutely correct. It takes some resolute deep honesty for an Englishman to admit this, too.

Also, lest anyone say anything they might regret, remember all this was happening at 150-160 miles per hour, with Macklin slightly down from his top speed of 145-150 when he braked. Remember in your life when someone hurriedly said to you," THINK FAST!", and tossed something at you at the same time? Reaction time for all of this was in seconds to milliseconds.

I just shake my head at the horror of the whole thing. The first 2 1/2 hours had been perhaps the best actual racing between 2 cars at the Sarthe (Le Mans). The battle between Fangio's Mercedes and Hawthorn's Jaguar was monumental. Everybody was having such a great time....

Eddie, after I wrote my thread response post, I went downstairs to gaze at my fantasy Dinky Toys Mercedes. It's been 17 years since I completed it, but I still get a big kick out of viewing it. Very fulfilling, that project.

Take care, my friend. If you ever want to set up a phone chat, PM me. Recently, another customer of mine and I spent a delightful 2 1/2 hours on the phone. I think we both needed it. ---Brian Powell

[BruceinGa]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

Huston Platt was racing Frank Oglesby, who was driving Don Nicholson's car, a Cougar. At the 1,000-foot mark, Platt heard a bang and let off the throttle and deployed the parachute. As this happened, an idiot in the crowd ran out onto the track to retrieve a beer can and was killed instantly when he was hit by the parachute. The impact to the parachute caused the car to veer wildly into the crowd, killing ten more people, injuring 40 more. One of the injured died a few days later in an Atlanta hospital, bringing the death total to 12.

At the race we assumed it was Nicholson because his name was on the car. As you can see by my photo no one was retrieving a beer can, they were just over the fence so they could get a better view. I have newspaper clippings that state 20+ were killed that day and several others died later.
Maybe I don't remember correctly, I'll check into that.
It took me an hour to find the newspaper clippings. I was wrong, 11 died that day. It's odd that you get something in your mind and you could swear that it was right, until you see it in writing.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by BruceinGa

At the race we assumed it was Nicholson because his name was on the car. As you can see by my photo no one was retrieving a beer can, they were just over the fence so they could get a better view. I have newspaper clippings that state 20+ were killed that day and several others died later.
Maybe I don't remember correctly, I'll check into that.
It took me an hour to find the newspaper clippings. I was wrong, 11 died that day. It's odd that you get something in your mind and you could swear that it was right, until you see it in writing.

I can sure relate to that. Memory does funny things to you when you try to retrieve it 40 years later. However, when researching and writing my book on postwar regional baseball cards of 1947 - 1971, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, I painstakingly checked and double-checked facts of all sorts, taped interview transcriptions, and so on----to get it right! A few times I was annoyed to discover I didn't remember "it" as it actually was, and the correction was made in time! So far, I've only found two typographical errors, which still enraged me, but then I had to console myself over the fact it's 478 pages in length. For those with tendonitis in their wrists, they will enjoy an E-book on a CD, as opposed to a heavy book to hold!

Don't feel bad, bro. The tragedy you've been recounting was flat-out bad, and in a disturbing way, parallels the '55 LeMans catastrophe in that spectators were jammed to the edge of the fence to get a better view. Looking directly right from where they were, they could see the speeding cars, for a few seconds, coming right at them....., just as the gentleman with the camera was, whose amazing footage was loaded up on You Tube, and linked here.

---Brian Powell

[Snapolit1]

Thought you racing guys would like this. Just came across in an email.

http://www.auctionzip.com/auction-ca...log_NAJG4FQNR7

[Beansballcardblog]

I love the Andretti Panini cards. They are in the top ten on my "want" list. I'll be fine with an ungraded, poor copy.

I wrote a post on my personal blog six days ago about a piece of Jimmy McElreath memorabilia. He passed away today at 89.

Also, if anyone is going to be in Indianapolis on race weekend, the Indy Memorabilia Show is the day before the race.

-kin

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by wvu_class_of_2001

I love the Andretti Panini cards. They are in the top ten on my "want" list. I'll be fine with an ungraded, poor copy.

I wrote a post on my personal blog six days ago about a piece of Jimmy McElreath memorabilia. He passed away today at 89.

Also, if anyone is going to be in Indianapolis on race weekend, the Indy Memorabilia Show is the day before the race.

-kin

Awesome Jim McElreath piece. The man had a lot of sorrow in his life. McElreath 's son, Jim Jr., was a rising open wheel driver who was killed at age 23 in a Sprint Car at Winchester (Ind.) in 1977. His daughter, Shirley, married racer Tony Bettenhausen Jr. and was killed along with Bettenhausen in a 2000 plane crash.

I read in the past that when Jim Jr. was killed at Winchester, Jim Sr. took the car back to his home in Texas and left the car sitting as it was for years.

Here is a great Robin Miller profile of Jim McElreath that was posted a few hours ago.

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/14...eath-1928-2017

[Beansballcardblog]

I just did a little internet reach and found his address (I wish it wasn't easy for people to find stuff like that). I knew he was also an Arlington resident. Went to the stepson's choir banquet Saturday night and apparently I was right there by him. I wish I could have met him one time and shaken his hand.

-kin

[Beansballcardblog]

I missed out on one a couple of months ago that was in my sweet spot. Got the eBay email but when I saw it and clicked, it had sold. Alas.

-kin

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Kin, if you keep an eye out, the Mulford card from the T227 set does pop up at a more reasonable price from time to time. All four of the cards in that REA lot are either the"highest graded" for that particular card or tied for "highest graded" honors for that particular card. A couple registry collectors are most likely what is driving up the price of that lot.

[Bored5000]

I won the lot of Marhoefer Meats Indy cards at Sterling Auctions earlier this morning. The lot is actually a mix of 1962 and '63 cards (the distinguishing feature is the shape and location of the driver portrait on each card). The cards all show stains/discolorations from being included in packs of hot dogs. All the cards present poor to fair, but the big pick-up in the lot is a 1962 A.J. Foyt Marhoefer card. Foyt's card is one of the nicer cards in the lot.

I have wanted a Foyt Marhoefer card for a while now. There has been a beat up, hot dog stained Foyt Marhoefer card on eBay for a while now at the museum price of $795. Even with the hot dog stains, I am happy to pick up a Foyt Marhoefer card for a little over $100; they just don't come available very often.

There are nicer, unstained Marhoefer cards in the hobby that were presumably given out as hand outs and not placed in product packages. But like I said, any Foyt Marhoefer card has been on my want list for a while now. Marhoefer cards in general rarely appear at auction, and the same cards sit on eBay forever at sky-high BINs. The Foyt card on eBay is priced about 10 times what it would sell for at auction in that condition.

http://www.sterlingsportsauctions.co...-LOT39749.aspx

[Beansballcardblog]

I was missing from this thread for awhile and am now trying to catch up.


I only moved to Texas three years ago. I lived in Indianapolis for almost a decade, which rekindled my love of IndyCar, specifically the 500.
I grew up in West Virginia and watched the 500 most years.
I got into NASCAR around 1995 or so, but my interest started waning in the early 2000s.

I think my dad wanted me to be more into cards and racing as a kid,
but I knew I was going to be a pro baseball player and wasn't interested.
Hindsight is always 20/20!

I've attended one F1 and one NASCAR race (both at IMS). I've attended the Indianapolis 500 three times as a fan and two other times was on the grounds. For two years that I worked for Lids and they were the official retailer of the IndyCar series, I was a part of the buying and merchandising team. Since moving to Texas, I've attended the Firestone 600 1+ times. I went in 2015 and last year was there for the first night that never started. I decided not to go back the next day because I wasn't feeling well and it was about 100 degrees with 500% humidity. Haven't decided yet if I'm going this year.

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I don't think this has been asked yet in this thread, but did any of you grow up going to local racing? I see that Kin is from Texas, but I am not sure where Brian is from? As I mentioned earlier, my parents began taking me to dirt track races in the Northeast when I was just a few months old. All through my teenage years, my 20s and into my 30s, I was going to local races every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.

Over a 15-year period, I averaged about 90+ races a year.I don't go to nearly that many races anymore, but local racing is still a big part of my life. I never got into any trouble when I was in my teens because I was always at the races every weekend. I have been to right around 200 tracks in my lifetime, stretching all over the Northeast and a smattering of tracks in the Midwest and Southeast.

Did any of you attend local Modified or Late Model or Sprint Car races? I did not mention some of the other great racing books I have read in recent years because I don't know if there is any interest on the board or if the topic of local short-track racing is outside of this thread's racing interest.

[brian1961]

Congratulations, Eddie, on the Marhoefer Meat cards pick-up. Even I have heard of these tough-to-get racing cards. There's a guy in Columbia City, Indiana that deals in a lot of the post-war regional / food cards. Off-hand, I cannot recall his name, but he knows very well of how much racing collectors cherish these cards---by the impressive prices I seem to remember him charging!

No different than the baseball card collectors obsessed with the "free prizes" in, or on, hot dog packages.

Have a great weekend, my friend. Again, congrats on the pick-up, especially the A. J. Foyt. One of my favorite models I own is the IXO 1/43 diecast of the 1967 Ford Mark IV that AJ shared with Dan Gurney to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Great race, great-looking car, great driver pairing--and the only time they were paired together.

---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Congratulations, Eddie, on the Marhoefer Meat cards pick-up. Even I have heard of these tough-to-get racing cards. There's a guy in Columbia City, Indiana that deals in a lot of the post-war regional / food cards. Off-hand, I cannot recall his name, but he knows very well of how much racing collectors cherish these cards---by the impressive prices I seem to remember him charging!

No different than the baseball card collectors obsessed with the "free prizes" in, or on, hot dog packages.

Have a great weekend, my friend. Again, congrats on the pick-up, especially the A. J. Foyt. One of my favorite models I own is the IXO 1/43 diecast of the 1967 Ford Mark IV that AJ shared with Dan Gurney to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Great race, great-looking car, great driver pairing--and the only time they were paired together.

---Brian Powell

Thanks, Brian. I have about 25-30 cards on my want list and within my budget. The two racing cards currently at the top of my want list are a 1986 SportsStar Photo-Graphic Dale Earnhardt and a T36 Barney Oldfield. You wouldn't think a card from 1986 would be that tough, but the Earnhardt card from that set is short-printed; they just don't come available very often. Aside from a cheesy card in the 1983 Uno set and some early postcards, the Sports-Star Photo-Graphics card is the Earnhardt card to have, IMO.

[steve B]

Since we're close to the topic, it's interesting how racing tragedies change the sport and occasionally history in general.

While it's not modern racing, this one had a major effect beyond the sport.
A sport called motorpacing was very popular before WWI especially in Europe. It's basically a combination of bicycle and motorcycle racing. The bicycle rider follows the motorcycle around the track at high speed. Typically around 40, but sometimes a lot higher. The riders were very well paid.

On June 18, 1909 at Berlin, one of the motorbikes - then huge specialized things often with a driver and a heavy guy on the back to make a bigger windscreen- along with he bike rider went into the crowd and caught fire.



9 killed and by some accounts 52 injured.
Prussian authorities banned motorpacing, and overall the sport lost much of its popularity.
It had always been dangerous, but was becoming less manageable. (The berlin track was also massively substandard for that sort of racing even by the loose standards of the time. )

As the sport became less popular, and fewer races were held, the riders began moving on to other things to make money. Some went into racing motorcycles, others got in an entirely new field that promised similar money with occasionally less risk. Early aviation! Many motorpace riders became pilots doing the rounds of the air shows. Best of all, the money was appearance money and a plane that actually flew wasn't necessarily a requirement. Many did fly, and at the time, that was also risky. Those early aviators provided a core of experienced pilots when WWI put and end to the air show circuit.

The sport survived, had a decent revival in the 30's as part of 6 day races, and is still done today.

Here's a motorpace bike from probably the early 30's.


Steve B

[Bored5000]

So many of the safety innovations that are now taken for granted in racing came about due to a specific tragedy:

* Two-time defending NASCAR champion Joe Weatherly was killed in 1964 when his head struck a barrier at Riverside (Calif.) Raceway. Weatherly was not wearing a shoulder harness nor using a window net. Following Richard Petty's spectacular flip at Darlington (S.C.), in which his head actually hit the pavement during the crash, window nets became mandatory to prevent a driver's head from moving outside the cockpit.

* The 1964 Indy inferno that killed both Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald resulted in Indy requiring at least two pit stops the following year. What that rule did was eliminate the use of gasoline, since there was no longer any point in using the more fuel efficient (and highly flammable) gasoline.

* Fireball Roberts' fiery fatal crash at Charlotte (N.C.) six days prior to the Sachs/MacDonald double fatality resulted in the requirement of a fuel-cell inner-liner to prevent catastrophe in the event of a ruptured fuel cell. Roberts' death also led to NASCAR requiring drivers to wear flame-retardant coveralls when racing.

The deaths of Sachs, MacDonald and Roberts also led to more effort being put into developing better flame-retardant substances/uniforms. Dupont was at the forefront of developing fire-retardant Nomex that is still used in modern racing uniforms.

* Billy Wade's 1965 death while tire testing at Daytona (Fla.) led to the modern racing safety harness. Wade was killed when the lap belt he was using compressed his intestines and caused them to rupture. The solution was a third belt that attached to the floor of the car and prevented the lap belt from riding up and compressing a driver's intestines in the event of a crash.

Wade's death also led to the development of a better tire inner-liner in the event of a tire blowout.

* Jim Hickman's fatal stuck throttle at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile in 1982 led CART to instantly require a "kill switch" on the steering wheel that would shut off power when pressed. NASCAR took nearly 20 years (and the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin due to stuck throttles) to mandate the same requirement.

* Most recently, the death of Dale Earnhardt and numerous other drivers led to racing organizations large and small to require the HANS Device (or a similar head and neck restraint system) to greatly reduce the chance of a basilar skull fracture.

[brian1961]

Superb post, Eddie, as always. Honestly, I was not aware of several of the cause of death accidents and the resultant solutions that bettered the safety of all drivers (Billy Wade and Jim Hickman incidents).

I have often pointed out to people that racing has developed numerous mandatory safety innovations and efficiency improvements. One of my favorites was used on the winning car of the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500. That car, the Marmon Wasp, was fitted with-----the first rear view mirror.

---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Superb post, Eddie, as always. Honestly, I was not aware of several of the cause of death accidents and the resultant solutions that bettered the safety of all drivers (Billy Wade and Jim Hickman incidents).

I have often pointed out to people that racing has developed numerous mandatory safety innovations and efficiency improvements. One of my favorites was used on the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500 winning car, The Marmon Wasp-----the first rear view mirror.

---Brian Powell

Thanks, Brian. The Jim Hickman story came from Dr. Steve Olvey's book. Olvey mentioned repeatedly in his book that NASCAR was a donkey series safety-wise right up until Earnhardt's death in 2001. In the 1970s, the doctors staffing some NASCAR tracks were so sketchy that A.J. Foyt paid out of his own pocket to have Dr. Olvey in his pit area whenever Foyt ran a NASCAR race and Dr. Olvey was available. Basically, the main requirement for being a doctor staffing a NASCAR race in the 1970s was that the doctor would work for free.

At some 1970s Cup races, the most qualified doctor servicing the race would sometimes be an optometrist or other doctor woefully unqualified to deal with any type of traumatic injury should the need arise. Foyt was terrified of being critically injured at a NASCAR race and having an eye doctor decide whether or not an arm or a leg needed to be amputated.

Olvey also related a story about Foyt's pathological fear of the color green (like many old school racers). Olvey talked about accompanying Foyt to a 1970s Cup race and Olvey stopping at a local convenience store the morning of the race to purchase a cooler and some sodas for the day's event. Naturally, the cooler was green. Shortly after arriving at the track, Olvey heard Foyt ranting and raving and swearing before taking a tire iron to the unattended cooler that had suddenly appeared in his pit area. When asked by Foyt if he knew whose green cooler that was, Olvey simply shrugged and said he did not have any idea.

Here is are several different articles in this link that talk about Billy Wade's crash and how it led to modern racing seatbelts.

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Billy_Wade.htm

[bnorth]

I picked up 33 of these Fleer AHRA cards from a member in a trade. I know very little about them but when I saw them I knew they had to be mine. Brought back many memories of watching drag racing as a kid.

Great thread guys, a big thank you to everyone that posted, awesome info.

[Beansballcardblog]

Picked up some more cards for my T36 set!

Rolling 7s.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by wvu_class_of_2001

Picked up some more cards for my T36 set!

Rolling 7s.

Congratulations, Kin. Sweet blog---well done. ---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

I finally had time to scan my Foyt Marhoefer card. The lot I won at Sterling are my first Marhoefer cards. The cards are thick, rigid cardboard; that makes sense since most of the cards were using as a backing for packs of wieners.

Cards do exist that were never placed in product packages, but all the cards in the lot I won were definitely inserted in packages. The cards may not be the nicest, but a Foyt Marhoefer is tough to come by in any condition.

If anyone in this thread in interested in a type card sample other than A.J. Foyt, I would sell an example for $20 net delivered.

[Beansballcardblog]

Congrats on picking up that AJ. It's certainly in the top 10 of cards I want. I don't have any of the Marhoefer cards yet. I also really want the Lloyd Ruby. I've read a couple of books on him and have become a fan even though I never saw him race.

-kin

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I finally had time to scan my Foyt Marhoefer card. The lot I won at Sterling are my first Marhoefer cards. The cards are thick, rigid cardboard; that makes sense since most of the cards were using as a backing for packs of wieners.

Cards do exist that were never placed in product packages, but all the cards in the lot I won were definitely inserted in packages. The cards may not be the nicest, but a Foyt Marhoefer is tough to come by in any condition.

If anyone in this thread in interested in a type card sample other than A.J. Foyt, I would sell an example for $20 net delivered.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by wvu_class_of_2001

Congrats on picking up that AJ. It's certainly in the top 10 of cards I want. I don't have any of the Marhoefer cards yet. I also really want the Lloyd Ruby. I've read a couple of books on him and have become a fan even though I never saw him race.

-kin

Thanks, Kin. Congrats on your recent T36 pick ups as well. I enjoy the write-ups you do about each card on your blog. Nice to see your blog has some other followers, based on the people who left comments about your T36s.

I would like to pick up a Eddie Sachs Marhoefer card if I ever saw one at auction (he lived and is buried only about 45 minutes from me). Sachs is such a sad figure in racing history. He was leading the Indy 500 with three laps to go in 1961, but decided to pit out of the lead when he felt a tire coming apart. He ultimately finished second to Foyt that year. The Sachs quote after deciding to give up the lead with three laps to go in the '61 race was made all the more eerie after he was killed with Dave MacDonald in the Indy inferno three years later:

"I'd sooner finish second than be dead," Sachs said after the '61 race.

[Beansballcardblog]

Not sure if you listen to podcasts, or to the weekly "Trackside" radio show out of Indianapolis. During May, they posted some Indy 500 in 60 (minutes) episodes on their iTunes page. The '61 race was one of them. I enjoyed listening to the old radio calls.

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Thanks, Kin. Congrats on your recent T36 pick ups as well. I enjoy the write-ups you do about each card on your blog. Nice to see your blog has some other followers, based on the people who left comments about your T36s.

I would like to pick up a Eddie Sachs Marhoefer card if I ever saw one at auction (he lived and is buried only about 45 minutes from me). Sachs is such a sad figure in racing history. He was leading the Indy 500 with three laps to go in 1961, but decided to pit out of the lead when he felt a tire coming apart. He ultimately finished second to Foyt that year. The Sachs quote after deciding to give up the lead with three laps to go in the '61 race was made all the more eerie after he was killed with Dave MacDonald in the Indy inferno three years later:

"I'd sooner finish second than be dead," Sachs said after the '61 race.

[LuckyLarry]

Any idea about what this card is? Appears to be 1967 Indy "jet/turbine" car #40 driven by Parnelli Jones car owner Andy Granatelli. Card is blank backed 4.5 inches X 2.5 inches.
Larry

[Beansballcardblog]

Very nice card, Larry! That's one on my wish list.

It is the 1970 Fleer Dragstrips "card."

Beckett's set information: "Fleer produced this 10-card set primarily as backers for their Dragstrips stickers. With each 5-cent wax pack, collector's received one of these cards and a group of automotive stickers. The cards are oversized (approximately 2-1/2" by 4-1/2") and blankbacked as are the sticker sheets. The black and white cards feature uncaptioned photos of top racers with an emphasis on Andy Granatelli and the STP IndyCar race team. We've assigned card numbers according to alphabetical order."

Jones is one of those racers I admire so much because he raced just about anything on four wheels.

Originally Posted by LuckyLarry

Any idea about what this card is? Appears to be 1967 Indy "jet/turbine" car #40 driven by Parnelli Jones car owner Andy Granatelli. Card is blank backed 4.5 inches X 2.5 inches.
Larry

[LuckyLarry]

Thanks for the info Kin. Bargain box find at the National....
Larry

[Beansballcardblog]

Awesome! I'm also looking for the Lloyd Ruby (car) from that set but haven't seen it. I don't believe these are too common, so great find!

Originally Posted by LuckyLarry

Thanks for the info Kin. Bargain box find at the National....
Larry

[Bored5000]

Sucks that I lost all my images in this thread with Photobucket going to a pay service. When I have time, I will have to move my images to another photo hosting site.

[Bored5000]

I have been at nine of 11 cards for the 1972 STP for a while now. I was pumped to see a lot of nine different drivers (10 cards total) show up on eBay a couple days ago. I still need Bobby Allison and Charlie Glotzbach to complete the set, both of which were contained in the lot. Allison is especially tough to find.

The lot started as an auction with a $250 minimum bid, and I saw that several people were asking the seller to end the auction and make it a BIN. The seller initially declined to do so, but I now see that the lot sold as a BIN for $450.

I am disappointed by that, and the seller definitely left money on the table with the BIN. The Allison card alone is a $300-500 card, and several of the other cards are $60-100 cards. I know when I bought my two Lorenzen cards from the set, that seller told me that people were messaging him offering him anywhere from $300 to $750 for cards that ultimately sold for $1,500 total at auction.

Somebody got themselves a great deal by convincing the seller to take $450 for the lot. The seller of this lot didn't really seem to know very much about the set. He did not know the set actually contains two Fred Lorenzen cards and is an 11-card set. I would have put in a snipe for a couple hundred more than the lot sold for if the seller had let the auction play out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-The-STP...vip=true&rt=nc

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I have been at nine of 11 cards for the 1972 STP for a while now. I was pumped to see a lot of nine different drivers (10 cards total) show up on eBay a couple days ago. I still need Bobby Allison and Charlie Glotzbach to complete the set, both of which were contained in the lot. Allison is especially tough to find.

The lot started as an auction with a $250 minimum bid, and I saw that several people were asking the seller to end the auction and make it a BIN. The seller initially declined to do so, but I now see that the lot sold as a BIN for $450.

I am disappointed by that, and the seller definitely left money on the table with the BIN. The Allison card alone is a $300-500 card, and several of the other cards are $60-100 cards. I know when I bought my two Lorenzen cards from the set, that seller told me that people were messaging him offering him anywhere from $300 to $750 for cards that ultimately sold for $1,500 total at auction.

Somebody got themselves a great deal by convincing the seller to take $450 for the lot. The seller of this lot didn't really seem to know very much about the set. He did not know the set actually contains two Fred Lorenzen cards and is an 11-card set. I would have put in a snipe for a couple hundred more than the lot sold for if the seller had let the auction play out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-The-STP...vip=true&rt=nc

That is really irritating, Eddie. I am so sorry for you, as you make it plain to us that these cards do not show up that often. The dealer did not know what he had, and the money the character waved was probably a lot more than he thought he'd get for them. Now, he's out a couple hundred bucks and his eBay integrity is very harmed. Your story underscores how desirable the STP cards are to the right people. Again, I'm sorry, bro; the auction should not have gone down the way it did.

Out of curiosity, how could you have known "that several people were asking the seller to end the auction and make it a BIN"?

Hang in there, friend. Maybe the sale will flush out some fresh STP cards. Keep close watch; then, you'll have a collector's edge!

---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by brian1961

That is really irritating, Eddie. I am so sorry for you, as you make it plain to us that these cards do not show up that often. The dealer did not know what he had, and the money the character waved was probably a lot more than he thought he'd get for them. Now, he's out a couple hundred bucks and his eBay integrity is very harmed. Your story underscores how desirable the STP cards are to the right people. Again, I'm sorry, bro; the auction should not have gone down the way it did.

Out of curiosity, how could you have known "that several people were asking the seller to end the auction and make it a BIN"?

Hang in there, friend. Maybe the sale will flush out some fresh STP cards. Keep close watch; then, you'll have a collector's edge!

---Brian Powell

At the bottom of the listing, where people ask any questions they may have for the seller, there were two separate questions in which people asked the seller to change the auction to a BIN. The seller replied both times that he was not interested in doing that.

When I bought my Lorenzen cards, the seller told me that when multiple people were giving him offers that were all over the map and trying so hard to get him to end the auction early, he knew that the people messaging him were trying to get the cards for far less than they were worth.

I also received a PM from another board member on here stating they were surprised at the $450 BIN price and that he would have also bid more than that if the listing had continued as an auction. Maybe my snipe would have lost anyway, but it is disappointing that the listing ended early.

[brian1961]

Now I understand, Eddie. Thanks. Occasionally, I have glanced down an entire listing, but with the cheaper stuff I buy these days, it's usually a simple BIN.

Again, another sordid chapter among eBay vendors / conniving buyers. I hope you get another chance soon, and with even better specimens of what you're hunting for.

---Brian Powell

[Bored5000]

I didn't want to out the auction while it was still in progress, but an A.J. Foyt Marhoefer card sold on eBay for $255 last night. Like I wrote earlier in the thread, i had never seen a Foyt Marhoefer card up for auction other than in a compete set in about six years of looking prior to one being included in a small lot at Sterling Auctions earlier this year.

I did not bid on the one on eBay, since the card also has the same hot dog stains as mine from Sterling. But Foyt Marhoefer cards are very tough, even when they are stained with hot dog juice.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-Marhoef...19.m1438.l2649

[Bored5000]

I believe I have written this on here before, but I have been a huge dirt-track racing fan all my life. That is my first racing love. My parents began taking me to dirt-track races when I was only a couple months old. As a result, I see lots of dirt-track Sprint Car, Late Model and Modified races each season.

I have shared the information with a couple other posters on here in the form of PMs, but Sprint Car driver Harli White is just an amazing story and worth checking out for anyone with even a passing interest in racing.

White is now 21 years old and races 360 cubic inch Sprint Cars on the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) national tour. In her first race, as a 12-year-old in 2008, she flipped her Micro Sprint and was burned over 50 percent of her body. The only reason she didn't die in the inferno that engulfed her car was that fellow racer Donnie Ray Crawford saw that track officials had emptied their hand-held fire extinguishers as the fire still raged. Crawford got out of his car and pulled White out of her burning car.

Crawford was then subsequently murdered a little over three years later when his mentally unstable grandfather shot him in the family home.

White's story is just incredible. When none of the hospitals local to the Oklahoma City area could adequately treat the severe burns she suffered, the Shriners Children's Hospital of Galveston (Texas) agreed to treat her. She went through six months of skin grafts and therapy to treat her burns. Even several years after the accident, she has had to undergo subsequent surgeries since skin grafts do not naturally stretch as a person grows the way a person's normal skin does.

There have been lots of drivers who have suffered devastating injuries in a racecar over the years, be it burns or paralysis or loss of limbs, but those drivers were almost universally grown men who knew the risks for which they were signing up. not a 12-year-old girl.

White's story is terrible in all kinds of ways: Her Micro Sprint did not have a fuel bladder to contain the fuel when the car's fuel cell ruptured. Over fifty years ago, NASCAR superstar Fireball Roberts died for the same reason. Such an inferno should not have happened in the year 2008. White was also wearing a normal, cotton T-shirt under her racing uniform instead of fire-retardant Nomex clothing. The safety standards at the Micro track she was racing at were substandard. Track officially were not wearing fire-retardant uniforms, so they were powerless to go into the fire and pull her to safety when their hand-held fire extinguishers were empty. Just the basics of a 12-year-old racing a Micro Sprint makes me cringe.

But how does she come back from such awful injuries in her first race to race again, especially on a national Sprint Car tour.