On The Edge Of Your Seat...!

[calinoff]

Who are the most exciting drivers you have ever wached race..?

I have seen a ton of them but will have to narrow the field to a half dozen..three midget and three sprint.

Johnny Coy

Bob Tattersall

Bob Cicconi

Wally Campbell

Tommy Hinnerschitz

Jud Larson


There are many more, but in most cases I have seen them only once ot twice. Guys like Jack Calabrase, Pete Folse, Buzz Barton, Scratch Daniels , Shorty Templeman and maybe Jack Turner in the early laps of a race at Indy.

There is also a special place in my heart for Richie Evans, who would make your palms sweat if you watched him in a modified.

[KnockOff]

"Bob Cicconi"

Is he the wild man who used to grab the mic after the race and do his own comedy routine on Thursday Night Thunder?
Larry Nuber would have to wrestle it out of his hand!

[rlm]

Len,

Got to agree with Richie Evans. Saw him run Islip a few times. Start in the back, run all over the track to pass everyone, where ever, and win a 25 lap feature. Racing as it was meant to be.

How about the Bugman and DeSarro in the mods?

Did you ever have the priviledge of watching Ollie Silva in his super?
He gave driving lessons all over the country to some of the top names of the day.
Raced them all; usually beat them.

How about Oppermann? Not too bad a shoe either, IIRC.

Geoff Bodine and Ray Hendrick were quite a show in the mods as well.
Doesn't Geoff still hold the record for wins in a single season in that division?

[calinoff]

Knockoff..That is the man. As a matter of fact I "think" it was Salem that he got on his head and was being carried off the track on a stretcher and grabbed a mike and interviewed himself.

By the way..Bobby could run a midget with anyone in his day, and a champion at that.

I was at Sandusky the night he finished second in the Super-Mod feature behind Bentley Warren...Bentley was driving a super and Cicconi a Chevy sprint car !

[Dick Ralstin]

There is only one place to "rate" exciting drivers and that is on DIRT, and that makes a long list.

Ward, Foyt, Parnelli, McCluskey, Bobby, Al, Larson, Branson, Marshman, Rutherford, Hurtubise, Hinnerschitz, Tony Bettenhausen , Jim Packard, Johhny White, Jimmy Bryan and one of the wildest, in my mind at least, Bobby Grim.

Those are some that I saw in the post WWII years, heaven knows what it must have been like before 1941.

In case you haven't guessed, I am a dirt lover through and through.

[Racewriter]

Jan Opperman
Richie Evans
Dick Trickle
Terry Bivens
Mike Duvall
Darrell Waltrip
Larry Phillips
Dick Sutcliffe
Steve Kinser
Doug Wolfgang
Tony Stewart
AJ Foyt
Mario Andretti
JJ Yeley

[calinoff]

RIM..when Richie Evans ran at Islip (NY) I was the PR man for the track and got to know him real well. He used to come down from Rome , Ny and make a
shambles of the field ...guys like Charlie Jarzombek...Wayne Anderson and Jim Hendrickson were jus a few that chased Richie. There was one night when Evans came from the back and could not pass the leader with 10 to go. The leader and race winner was driving a # 35 modified owned by the Gorman Bros. All it had was a number ..no sponsors...and decals at all. Just a plain maroon car, which a unknown driver by the name of Don Taylor, who had never driven a stock car, behind the wheel. After the race Richie asked me, who the **** is that "old guy") he was in his 60's) that took up the entire track. When I told Richie the the old guy was really Russ Klar the midget legend , Evans laughed out loud and said.."yeah I should have known"...To my knowledge Russ never ran another stock car race....that was his only stock car win/

[3-wide]

The few times I saw Bill Randall race I realized how he earned
that "Wild Bill" nickname. I once saw him put on a charge through the field at Thompson Speedway that had everyone on the edge of their seats. (When they were'nt on their feet.)

[calinoff]

The day we lost Randall on the road course in an ARDC midget race, at Lime Rock CT, Mario Andretti won...his first non-oval win.

Bill was fearless we used to call him "The Thin Man" Drove well for Ken Brenn and Ed Stone.

[indyrjc]

Even, though he wasn't around long, I'll put in a vote for Danny "Kid" Caruthers. He drove the most spectacular 2 qualifying laps at Terre Haute for the 1971 Hut 100 that I have seen. The 1/2 mile track was tacky and Danny ran both laps without lifting the throttle on his Sesco and set a track record that lasted for many years. And I'll agree with those who said Bob Tattersall should be on the list. I didn't see him race until late in his career but I can remember him putting on several great drives in the Stroud Honker II.

[Elto-Joe]

Red Reigel.

[PHJIndy]

Danny Caruthers was indeed an exciting driver and left us way too soon. My list also includes Pancho Carter, especially at Salem and Winchester, Jan Opperman, Foyt in anything, Jimmy Bryan on dirt, and Steve Kinser.

[Bruce Spencer]

Ollie Silva, supermodified legend. Watching him battle Don McLaren and hiking the left front all the way down the backstretch at Star while sawing at the wheel are some of my most exciting memories.

[DavidM]

Van May is the top of my list. I'll never forget the night he continued to race after losing his left front wheel.

Pancho Carter, my first Silver Crown race at the Grove saw Pancho lap after lap back his car into the wall in turn's one and three than shout down the straight.

[calinoff]

Now that I think of it..a race between Jeff Gordon and Rich Vogler wasn't exactly boring.