Cool pictures! You run with a rarified crowd! I see you grew up in the Bay Area. I was born in 1960 at Stanford medical center. Lived in San Jose near the old San Jose Speedway which we walked to and attended every Saturday until 1969. Moved to Watsonville and saw racing on the dirt there and selected other races back in S.J., Altamont, Stockton, Vallejo and others until 1973 when we moved to Redding. Stopped going to races until the early 1980's where the new wife and I went all over on weekends and across the country on vacations to see races. Never missed the Copper World back in the day. Saw many Nascar races on tracks that are now defunct. Slowed down our race attendance to a couple three a year since moving to Wyoming in '05. We concentrate on open wheel sprints nowadays when we do go. I do watch the F1, Indy on TV. Stopped caring about Nascar 20 years ago. I find it boring now.
I enjoyed your stories and you should publish them and make them available on Amazon. Many a writer cashing in on books that are marginal at best. Mostly women's fiction with romance. Not my cup of tea but there are other writers that found a niche on Amazon through self publishing and make quite the coin.
Looks like you selected well when you found your wife. It's a drag when your lifelong friends start aging out. What can you do? Looks like they are still part of your life and I'm sure they appreciate the love from their compadre's.
San Jose Speedway......
I have some history at that race track! I had been crewing for a successful SCCA driver, Mark McCarthy. I crewed for Mark in either '74-'76 or '75-'77. Mark finished third at the SCCA National Championships in '76 (?) driving an F-production Spitfire, car #53. Mark finished behind the two Group 44 cars, which had full British Leyland factory backing. Mark, Bobby Dorman (his best friend and engine builder), and me - we all had day jobs.
Anyway, Mark and his brothers, Tom and Mike, were some of the most fun guys I've ever met in my life. Simply going to the grocery store with them was a comedy act. And speaking of comedy acts, how about the time Mike rolled a golf cart with brother Tom inside. I can still see that thing shedding parts, golf clubs and bags flying everywhere, and seeing Tom crawl out of it, absolutely furious at Mike. Sue and I had so much fun in those McCarthy days!
At the time I was working for an industrial equipment company called Summit Enterprises. They specialized in industry sized air compressors. The owner of the business, Cliff Morin, sponsored a Super Modified that raced at The Speedway. I forget the driver's name but Cliff became disenchanted with his results and bought the car from him. Cliff turned it into a copper colored #99 car. I painted that car!
Well, I was crewing for Mark and Cliff needed a driver. I suggested Mark and incredibly Cliff gave him the ride! Mark got some good results in that car, winning San Jose Speedway ROTY honors in '76 IIRC.
I crewed on that car for awhile, but it never floated my boat because I was a road racer at heart. That said, those Super Modifieds were beasts. BIG horsepower and even BIGGER wings. I always found them a bit primitive, but intimidating none-the-less.
During my time there Howard Keading was king. There was another driver, Nick Resino, who was **** quick as well. One Saturday night I saw Richard Zwemke (I use Richard because his abbreviated name gets censored) burn to death while trapped fully conscious and flailing desperately inside his car, an image that still haunts me to this day. I bring this up because Mark raced with a full faced helmet. He was openly laughed at by some of the other drivers, thinking he was a wuss.
Anyway, San Jose Speedway. Part of a by gone era.
Scott
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