From the late 50's till the early 70's, my dad (center) built dirt track stockers. The man on the right was the owner and part time driver, the one on the left was the lead driver. Both men were named Howard.
Through those years, as a team, they averaged 6 wins out of every 10 races they entered. (Howard on the left, got more kisses from pretty little trophy girls then any feller i've ever known, the man was a local legend!!
) Both cars were equipped with 289 Ford engines that dad built out in our garage. Their main competition was the fella that owned the local salvage yard. He normally ran big block Chevy motors, but just couldn't get the snap that those little 289's would deliver on the 1/4-3/8 mile tracks they were running on.
I spent many a summer night at those local tracks watching those cars burn up the dirt. I even got to take quite a few rides while the cars were being checked out and warmed up before the races. Eventually, lead driver Howard pushed a little too hard going into turn number 3 one night. He broke a couple of vertibrae and the glory days 98 and 98 jr. were over.
I still remember the sights, sounds and smells of those cars and racetracks to this day! Fond memories and exciting times!!
This picture dates to the very early 60's.
WB
.
