ontherocks

At age 13, my Dad took me to my first auto race, a 1967 NASCAR Sportsman race at Lakewood Fairgrounds Raceway, Atlanta. He had attended a few motorcycle races at the track in the late 1930s. The photos were taken by me with a Kodak Instamatic camera. I present these perhaps to give someone some ideas. (There is a slim chance that I may find a few more slides within my numerous boxes of slides.) (Please pardon the dust spots.) The first photo is of Curtis Turner (I think he won this race the year before). After the race, they let us wander about the "garage area". The second photo is of Curtis' "used up" car. The third and fourth photos are of Jim Hunter's 1964 Chevelle. The fifth photo is of Sonny Croft's 1961 Impala. (I was a Chevy fan in those days.) (I wish I had sought out a few of the older cars after the race. I remember Bruce Brantley's 1955 Chevy and there were a few others.)

My goodness! How time passes. In September 2019, my 2nd wife was in a car accident (not her fault), which indirectly caused her to need a knee replacement (just before the Pandemic), I had to give up my substitute teaching job, ... I just got off track in regards to model building. If Husky1943 is still around, in the 1960s and 1970s, NASCAR Sportsman cars were what later became Busch Series and then XFINITY. In the 1967 Sportsman race, which was my first auto race, the body styles ranged from 1955 - 1964. (That was the only time I got to see the 1955 - 1957 Chevies and Fords.) On another thread, perhaps I can drop a few scanned photographic slides from the 1967 and 1969 NASCAR Sportsman races I attended at Lakewood Fairgrounds Speedway, in Atlanta. The photos might provide some ideas to others.

At age 70, after a 20/30 year layoff, I still have a small stash of kits to work from. A variation of this car is one of my planned projects. Aside from the daunting prospects of the two-color paint job, I have a couple of other problems. I gave away my parts box years ago, how do I find some generic headers that would fit a big block Chevy? And how does one fabricate that dual cowl induction "air cleaner"?

When did Bobby drive this car? I seem to remember seeing Buddy Baker driving it at Pocono in 1981. BTW, nice build and nice photos.

Just Wow! Very impressive work. It's way beyond what I want to do (or can do) at age 66. But it is wonderful to look at and it can give one ideas for a few "extras". If I give this a "100" for details and extras, I am probably thinking of maybe "12 - 15" for what I'm doing for fun (and to preserve a little NASCAR history from 45 - 55 years ago). We each have our own ideas and goals, I am glad that you can do this so well. (I just worry about mundane little things such as where to find dirt-track tires and the right headers for a 1966 Fairlane or cowl-induction air cleaners for other projects.) I have other interests indoors and out, such as nature photography, building front yard rock gardens, tending native plants, mineral collecting, light indoor carpentry, … aside from my planned model building. [My second wife is a retired Occupational Therapist and she makes jewelry to sharpen her "fine motor skills" and that is a similar benefit of model building.] As long as it's fun, keep doing it.

During this time of semi-quarantine (other members of the household are at-risk, due to existing health issues and age), I decided to do something about the stacks of model kits that remain in my basement storage. I haven't actually built anything in at least 20 years and when my first wife passed away 5 years ago, I sold off a number of kits and gave away my parts box (darn it X 3). I primarily kept 1990s reissues of 1960s kits that could be converted to period NASCAR GN and Sportsman cars (middle-1960s to early-1970s. Due to the long layoff, I am doing quite a bit of planning in order to "get it right". Glue choices have changed, paint choices have changed, and the hobby shops I used to visit are gone. So getting headers and GN dirt-track tires (for one or two projects) will be a challenge. (I have an errand to run. I plan to be back later.)