LUKE'57

OUTLAWED-Number 4 in a Series. Not really sure if this represents an outlaw situation or a self imposed exile. Back in the early fifties one of the most feared combinations was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet and Daytona speedster Marshall Teague. He won and led races in Nascar events until his ambitions caught up with him and sent him north in search of his dream to win Indianapolis. You know how well that set with France and Teague probably got word through the grapevine that he was "expendable" as far as souther stock car racing went. Here's one of his mounts in the USAC stock car division from the '56 season as he chased fame and fortune on the northern ovals. Sadly, his dream of an Indy 500 win eluded him and by the late fifties the Daytona native was looking for a way to return to southern stock car racing. It was not to end well, however. While trying to mend fences with his former friend Big Bill France, Teague attempted to be the first man to turn a 180 mph lap at the newly opened Daytona International Speedway. While on a speed run on February 11, 1959 Marshall's indy type car, the "Sumar Special", lifted slightly entering the first turn and and slide down the track. As the car reached the safety apron it begam a series of flips that covered over 1,500 feet from the first flip until the car came to rest. Teague, still strapped in his seat, wound up 150 feet ahead of where the car stopped. Teague' record run, attempted comeback and his life all ended on the new Daytona asphalt that early Wednesday morning.

While the factories had been tap dancing around getting involved in big time stock car racing in the early fifties( OK, the Hudson effort was a full blown Vegas review), by the time 1957 rolled around the gloves were off and it seemed no holds were barred. Nowhere was it more evident than at the Chevrolet Division of General Motors where they not only encouraged the use of their product, but even came out with a 24 page guide to tell anyone who was interested just what to do to make the new '57 Chevy competitive on the racing circuit. It had everything in it from which model to use on what type of track to engine and gear combos for different types of tracks all the way to how to modify a car for the hostile enviroment of bullrings and larger ovals. But one section, more than any other, let it be known that the "Bowtie Brigade" was dead serious about the racing thing. It said, in effect, that the cars, engines, gears and other heavy duty parts were availible in short supply and that if you weren't "on the factory's 'short list' then you need not apply". But if there were any doubts as to how serious Chevy was about this new venture, this little rocket dispelled all doubts. As purpose built as anything that rolled onto the Brickyard on Memorial Day, albeit built from the parts bins at Chevrolet instead of Curtis, Miller and Offy, the new Chevrolet "Black Widow" was intended to put everyone else on the trailer. With six lug truck hubs, a fuel injected Corvette engine and several other goodies, this Stovebolt caused Peter DePaolo and Bill Stroppe no end of headaches as the 1957 racing season opened up.

What Darin said. If you look close, a lot of the Fords had the cords on the rear edge fo the hoods close to the windshield.

Not yet, but I think there may be a Toronado in the "junkyard". I'll have to see.

Ol' Pops didn't cool his jets just because Big Bill wouldn't let him play in his back yard. While he would have much rather been rubbing fenders with the good ol' boys of Nascar, he still got in his licks behind the wheel of his favorite brand of automobile. He ran some dirt tracks, some paved tracks and even made a few rapid trips up to the top of little hill in Colorado named after some guy called Pike. Bet it felt pretty strange going UP the mountain and with no one chasing him. Here's the HM Galaxie Curtis drove in some USAC races in '63 that I think is the same car that wound up being campaigned by Wendell Scott after Turner crunched it a little up north.

Hate is such a strong word....................... But I will admit to a very highly developed, all encompassing and active dislike for the new stuff myself.

INTRODUCTION Everybody knows that whatever Nascar says GOES! It's always been their way or the highway and sometimes the role of benevolent dictator was not only the best way but the only way to keep everyone straight. When Big Bill was running the show there were times he had to stand alone (without the megabucks that Brian enjoys having behind him today) against some pretty tough customers- drivers, car owners and mechanics, not to mention the Big 3 Automakers. In this rich and varied history there were some notable times that William H. G. France Sr. had to put his big foot down even if there was a good chance it could wind up being stomped or in his own mouth. I think the success of the sanctioning body through all those difficult times proves that, love him or hate him, he was the right, and possibly only, man for the job. As I looked through pictures of my model collection I saw cars that brought to mind some of the birthing pains of the great sport of stock car racing and wanted to share them with you. To some the stories will be well worn friends and to others new and fresh. But to all they are the story of how we got to here from there so many years ago. I hope you enjoy the ride. ____________________________________________________________ The first in this series had to be ol' Pops himself. Once quoted as saying, "I don't think I'd be happy if I wasn't in some kind of trouble", he got kicked out of Nascar for trying to organize the drivers as part of the Teamster's Union to raise money to help him finish and hold on to the Charlotte Motor Speedway back in '61. It ended badly with Turner getting kicked out of both Nascar and the speedway before it was over. To keep his hand in he would run whenever and wherever he could and wound up in this '64 Ford running USAC races. 1964 also marked his return to his beloved Charlotte Motor Speedway where he won the 250 mile ARCA race by lapping the field in one of Jack Bowsher's '64 Fords. I got to see that race as a kid with a bunch of other Boy Scouts that always got invited to the support races back then. It is still one of my favorite racing memories to this day.

I don't remember what the number was but it was in the acrylic "X" colors they did in the early to mid ninties. If I remember right it was the first acrylics they came out with and they had a clear red, blue, yellow and maybe more in that line. It looks pretty dark in the bottle but makes a beatiful gold anodized color over chrome plating. I just brushed it on. If you can't find it a permenamt magic marker in yellow does a passable job over kit chrome.

If you'd like it all to match, do it like most of the gold plastic is done. Give it a good "chrome" finish with something like Alclad, then a coat of MRC clear yellow. Even the gold stick one mylar lettering is done that way. You can experiment with VERY small amounts of MRC "smoke" to darken it and maybe get a perfect match. Here's the chrome Monogram wheels with a coat of the MRC clear yellow.

I have really enjoyed the short time I have been on here but this morning I found a place where an ol' country boy could just settle in and make himself right at home. How about a magazine cover article to commemerate it? Hope to see a lot of fine old and new stock cars on here. Does it mean that Sportsman, Grand National and Winston Cup and dirt track stuff is all welcome here? I am really looking forward to seeing what rolls through the back gate ready to race here.

You got that right! FUN! Don't leave home without it. Or do much of anything else without it either, for that matter.

It couldn't be simpler. All you need to do is go to your nearest auto parts store and tell them you want to see an air filter for a Chevy or GMC pickup with a 350 engine. There's two heighths with the short one about four inches and the tall one about six. I used metal rod from Home Depot for the frame and gates with very fine solder to attach the mesh to it. It looks very much like the method used on the real fencing and is very easy to work with. Just loop it through the mesh and twist it on the rod. Check out a real fence and you'll see how easy it is. I soldered the top, bottom and cross bracing together before attaching the mesh but you could use epoxy as well. I have access at work to Purolator and it works well but I've seen some Fram filters that look more like chain link with a relief type texture that the Purolator lacks. And the Chevy filter is one of the largest (more material) and cheapest of the filters. Win, win situation. Should be about seven or eight bucks for all the fence you need for most projects. If you use a good mask you can salvage a used one for free and it's already "weathered" but be very careful of the dust.

That is just too cool. And the photo possibilities are endless. But the guy at the bottom of the stairs with the unbroken case of beer is a mighty good start.

By turning collector's items into "you did WHAT?!??!" and I've been happily doing it for around fifty years now. I am of the school of thought that a kit is and was made to be built. After spending an extremely happy childhood turning potential high dollar collectible Revell, Monogram, AMT and yes, even Aurora kits into glue bombs that I was so proud of, I graduated into an adult (of sorts LOL) that still thinks that the best purpose for a kit is to be built, Here's what happens to a vintage kit or built up that finds itself in the proximity of my shop and I hope it will always be so. I would much rather see a kid turned loose on a kit to do it the best way they can than to brow beat'em about "craftsmanship" and be turned off from a hobby that has given me so much pleasure and could give them too if given a chance. You can start with baby steps if you'd like. How about something like an original '60 AMT Starliner promo that warpage had made "worthless"? It had that dreaded "promo arch" that made it look like an angry cat but when I cut the roof off (just like Ralph Moody did the real one) it stretched back out and took on the appearance of something ol' Pops would ride into battle. Another one doesn't bite the dust. Here's an idea. Get a few of those "never be worth anything on Evilbay" kits you've got hanging around and use'm one of the ways they were intended to be used. Help a kid build something they can (even if no one else could) be proud of and start them off on a wonderful journey that some of us may be nearing the end of but would take anything for the experience.

Thanks Dave, I really appreciate that. I'd like to see some of those builds. Must be something in the water around here that pulls us in the direction of those larger than life drivers. After all, it is the same water that was spread around to keep the dust down as all this history was written. Sometimes it even worked. LOL

That's right. I usually put the shop, track or whatever base I'm using on the roof of my real car. It gives just about the right perspective for the real trees in the background. Unfrortunatley, most of the trees are fast growing pines and it won't be long until I have to put the bases on the roof of my Ford F-100 and stand on a ladder to get the same shot. That's how my camers came to have a violent meeting with the ground a week or so ago that means I'm in the market for a new camera unexpectedly.

Wonderful, glad to have a new friend from WWAAAAYY across the water. And thanks for the compliment on the pic. If you're ever in the neighborhood, drop by the race car shop and we'll swap lies and building tips. And if you bring a ride we'll do a little match racing on my little race track, bring soft Goodyears and a 4.58 gear.

He is, only they use cheeseburgers and pizza instead of helium. LOL

Now I KNOW you wouldn't be talking about something like this, would you? I might just have to do something like that in the very near future. Hey JAFFA, lets just write this one off to "language barriar" and start over clean. Deal?

Thanks everybody, I now feel like I am a part of the "family". You are right, I do this for the fun of it and to honor my friends and heroes from my youth that built my favorite sport and have been largely forgotten by today's NA$CAR. Hey Aaronw, the easiest program to use to do what I do is the PictureIt program from MicroSoft. I've got PictureIt'99 and I use it to do the rough cuts because you can actually see the different images you are working with when you resize them as you go. No guessing at percentages of enlargement and you can go back and forth between the images easier. I use PaintShop Pro for the final tweaking because it has better fine control and more precise sizing controls. Hope that helps.

Thanks TJ. You wouldn't be talking about this old thing would you?

And that is quite enough, too. You know, I usually let stuff like this just pass by, like the self righteous "expert" drivel that caused me to stop entering contests many years ago, but I don't think I will this time. "Oh, the car is a model and nothing else is." Is that right, Mr. Selfappointed Expert About my Pictures? You might just want to re-think that opinion, slick. I do these things for fun and not to be perfect. Most people get a kick out of my "kits" and "magazine covers" and I enjoy doing them and sharing them with my fellow modelers. I didn't know that I had entered your "contest" and would be treated like I had tried to pass a conterfiet $20 bill. If that's an example of how you're treated here then I may just check out the threads every so often and not burden you with my pitiful efforts that don't measure up to your high standards. And that orange car on the side panel could have been the street version of this kit and the race car on the cover is blue, not grey. And now, that's all from me.

Aw shucks, twern't nothing. All in a days work around here.

You can never tell what's going on at ERTL these days. For sale or not for sale,out of business or a new kit series. Anybody seen this? Looks to be the first in a new series of vintage stock car kits. Who knows?

You'd be right. It doesn't. Here's a closeup of the same car. And Mark, were you ever at Darlington in '67? Everything, even the concrete walls were "wavy". Why don't you let someone else play?