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RickFigure8
01-01-2010, 05:05 PM
Artie congratulations. I haven't logged in here in a while. I had gone down to West Virginia to race go-karts and a couple days after I came home I got the flu. I was feeling better for a few days and for the banquet but it came back and lasted another five weeks. Worst flu I've ever had by far. It's funny, as Joe was speaking I was clueless but as he went along I knew it was you. Very well deserved. I've seen all that you have done and accomplished over the years. From the early years before you got together with Tommy, the years we worked together with Tommy, and the recent years with Carl and Roger. You've never had a car that was not a top runner. I went to the banquet wondering if one of the chosen was going to be Tommy. I was at least as shocked as you were. I literally could not speak. This means so very much to me. I've loved figure eight racing for half my life. I first would go into the pits at Islip after the show was over and hung out with the Jimmy Hendrickson group. That's where I met Bill Stockert for the first time. In 1974 I made the change over to figure eight. What actually made me pick him I'm not really sure but I started going by Ernie each week. Being a big Ford person it very well might have been that he had a garage of Falcon bodied figure eight cars. I learned the basics of the car from Ernie. He got me the deal that enabled me to buy my first car. The first year I kept and worked on the car at Ernies. Championship Day 1977 I destroyed the front of the thing and over the 1978 season Ernie and Barry Estler helped me clip the chassis. Actually we halved it, lol, it was bent back past the firewall. The car then became my mustang bodied car in 1979. During the 78 season I met Tommy Kraft and it began a relationship that will never end. We've worked together, lived together, and raced together. Every award I have received from the club over the years has been important to me. The John Kraft Memorial in 2006 and now the Ernie Maynor Memorial Hall of Fame are the ultimate. I'm still speechless, lol. Two names that mean so much to me and my racing career. It's very special that we share this year together Artie. Over 35 years. Wow. Again, for everyone who had a part in my receiving this induction into a very special group of racing people, I thank you.

Rick

Tower Man
01-06-2010, 10:02 AM
That's what this is all about!

figure849
01-06-2010, 07:04 PM
I believe that first win that Tommy got at Islip, Was the day that we messed up and put some brake fluid in the clutch and brake system that made all the rubbers expand to like twice there size.
So we lost all the fluids, had no brakes and no clutch.
We were going to just put the car on the trailor. But decided to take the green, go a few laps and park.
Tommy went out and won the race. Could'nt stop if he wanted to.
Well thats the way I remember, Maybe Tommy or Ricky can add.

A great post for this time of year would be drivers and crews telling there accounts of races they may have won or the once that got away.

Leah see if you can sit down with your dad at the key board to tell about the day he used the kill switch.

Tommyj16
01-06-2010, 07:31 PM
Yup that is what happened heard that a couple of times over the years no brakes he(tom) said back in the day sometimes first caution would end race do to time limits but race went green all the way.

Tower Man
01-07-2010, 01:51 PM
I remember the night Roger used the kill switch. he'd fly down the straight and then you would hear the engine go on and off. Then on for the straight.

RickFigure8
01-13-2010, 03:19 AM
Tom, thank you, and you know you're welcome for any help over the years. I've always been willing to help anyone in any division who asked me for help. It meant a lot to me when both you and Bill asked me to run the 16 when you couldn't be there and I enjoyed it. I think today in all divisions there's more mutual help among the teams, both at the track and in the garage than there was in the earlier years. Our division, as long as I've been around, has always been like that. Probably mostly due to SAFER. We've had cases where the battle happened one week and the following week worked on each others cars, and it goes way back. I know Tommy remembers helping change Bobby Masons motor in the pits at Islip, and with Tommy Ryan helping Joey Jr clip his car in a week. Talk about stories, one of my strangest ones happened in mid 78. It included the only time Ernie and I had a big argument. Ernie raced in New Egypt with the modern stocks during the week and hit the point by the Track exit head on. He hit it so hard it pushed the water pump right into number one cylinder. I was moving from one house in Ronkonkoma to another and I borrowed Ernies trailer to move my racecar which we had just clipped and changed the cage. Saturday morning I was making trips trying to get everything moved and I asked my wife to go to a phone and call Ernie and let him know I'd have his trailer there by the time we had to load the car. She came back and told me it was okay, Ernies car was damaged too bad at New Egypt so he was going to drive Bill Howards car and that was getting towed on Bills trailer so I didn't have to have Ernies back yet. I finished moving and went to the track and when I got in the pits Ernie came right over to me yelling about why I didn't have his trailer back to him. I told him what my wife had told me and he said she never spoke to him. About this time I was told to go and see Al Tyrell by his car. Sammy Atkins had been driving his car but walked out on him and he was looking for someone to drive it. I went out and qualified it. It was the 4th of july weekend. I was sitting in the stands and Ernie comes and asks me where his trailer is. I told him at my house, and he says it had better be in his driveway by the time he gets home. So I race to Ronkonkoma, hook up the trailer and race to Bay Shore with it. I got back to the track as the fireworks show was ending, told him it was in his driveway, he said thank you, and that was it. I drove the 011 in the feature and then went home. I think it was monday or tuesday night Dewey called me and told me Ernie was totally depressed over everything. When my wife called his house she spoke to Bill Howard and he was the one who said he saw no reason Ernie needed the trailer yet but he never told Ernie he spoke to her. Ernie had not touched his car, it was just the way it was after the crash. The following night I went to Ernies and just went in the garage by myself, cut the nose off the car and started getting the motor ready to pull out. Ernie came out and started helping and we got it out and started fixing the chassis. He had the motor sleeved and ran it the following week. I don't think we said more than a few words about that week after that. It was as if it never happened. The 011 was the first chevy powered car I ever raced. One thing about racing, anyone who has done it for some years is going to have stories to tell. Some jobs you can work at for years and years and not have one good story to tell, lol. I agree, a story thread is a good idea. I know I have a number of other stories.

Tower Man
01-15-2010, 10:38 AM
Artie, I'll post one which did not appear in the book. here goes.

I am running the Figure 8 car at Islip in 1979 and for the first time I am racing against/with my Uncle, "Jumping Johnny" Kraft. I am actually excited about this at the time. So anyway, I line up on the back stretch for the start and my Uncle, driving the Fred Dunlop Jr. # 77, lines up next to me. Now Uncle John was 5 ft 1 with his boots on and Fred is maybe 6 ft 2 in his stocking feet, so imagine this sight.

The crew decides to blow up two inner tubes, one for the seat back and one for the seat bottom so that Uncle John could see over the dash board and reach the pedals.

Well, 1/2way into the race I pass the 77 and much to my surprise, as I pass him all I see are two hand on the steering wheel, no helmet, no body, just two hands on the steering. Why? Because both tubes had leaks and they were now deflated. But Uncle John just kept on racing as I laughed hysterically to a non-qualified spot.

Ken Resnick
01-15-2010, 05:56 PM
The year is 1982 ,the track is Islip Speedway , the figure 8 driver is a newbie in the seat of the brand new, black 1974 AMC Hornet bodied #03. The driver had built and maintaned many a Figure 8 car and Street Stock car built by him and Ray Theiss in that small garage in Farmingdale, but this is his first time strapped in (very tightly) to the drivers seat. Full of energy and determination to qualify in the heat race and enter the main , he is visited by Hank Kramer, Bill Steen , Lenny Fisher, Chris Young , Mike Knoud , Bobby Mason and "Chief" Valitzky and finally Ray Theiss, Bob Valitzky, Don Cassese and his father Joe Resnick, amongst many others.

Hank Kramer gives the young aspiring driver a peice of gum and a pep talk.

Bill Steen gives the young aspiring driver a pat on the helmet and a smile.

Lenny Fischer tells the young aspiring driver he will do great ,and to relax.

Mike Knoud (friend and car painter) shakes the hand of the young aspiring driver and wispers luck.

Chief Valitzky tells the young driver not to "mess" the seat too badly .

Ray Theiss (mentor and car owner) tells the driver he knows what to do and now go out and do it while keeping the car in one peice or theres going to be alot of work for them to do before the following Saturday night.

Joe Resnick (crew member and father) has no words, for his voice is worried and his hands shaking.

The young driver exits the pits , enters the track, gets a nod from Walt Etsel and Ray Morturano, and lines up for the first race of his life. The young driver waves to his mother and future wife seated in the stands and heads into his first turn .
At the checkered flag the young driver finds himself in third place and heading into the pits to ready the race car for the upcoming main.
The gum given to him by Hank Kramer is nothing more than a dot remaining clenched in his teeth and all is well except for the seat which was "messed" terribly at the very moment the green flag was displayed by Ray Morturano.
That was the first Saturday night of the rest of my life. Sadly, this was also the year we lost Ernie Maynor who was two cars ahead of me at the time of his crash.

Ken Resnick

Ka$h25
01-16-2010, 06:08 AM
I'll take my best attempt at recalling a story I heard recently when Tommy Ryan visited.

Tommy was leading with Joe Biondolillo Jr second and Joe Biondolillo Sr. also in the field. As Tommy came up to lap "Ppppa Joe" he feared he might be intentionally getting in the way to benefit Joey Jr. So Tommy got into Poppa Joe and sent him spinning through the intersection. Tommy went on to win the race.

He later approached Joe Sr. to apologize and Joe acted accepting. Tommy said he knew better and could tell that revenge was going to be served.

A few weeks later Tommy had a restart in the second row behind Joe Sr, and next to TK. Tommy said he knew this was gonna be it- he had to choose to make a move and risk his car, or settle for not passing poppa joe. An opportunity opened on the inside and Tommy Ryan made his move. At the same time TK made his move on the outside. Joe Sr turned Ryan, who spun and took out TK leaving both cars wrecked.

Of course dad had to blame it all on Tommy being impatient, but Tommy knew- as well as the rest of us, that TK would have tried the same thing regardless of possible consequences.

Ka$h25
01-16-2010, 06:15 AM
And to compliment Ricky's stories about comradery among the division, I heard numerous stories about Tommy wrecking other cars and then spending the entire week repairing them. Maybe that's just the way it was back then, but to me, today- that just sounds unheard of.

It's no secret that racing isn't what it used to be.

Tommyj16
01-16-2010, 10:52 AM
well kash maybe true but a yr or two ago paul specht wrecked his car and a couple of drives went to his house and helped him out the one guy I know of was mike m. he clipped the car for paul while others did the nut and bolting. today some drives still say to guys i have a bunch of old parts or spares you need it come get it. just last season mike m. put the 21 car in his garage and helped set up a car even though he knew it was a waste of time he still spent the time and effort helping and to help car count he put a driver in his back up car to finish the season oh that was me lol. so it still happens today just not as many cars so not much help is needed like in the past when you had 50 fig-8 cars tring to qualify

racerwife
01-16-2010, 11:45 PM
To be completely honest about the last post statement.... 2 drivers came to our home to help Paul fix his severely damaged car. Kenny Hyde Sr. and Mike Mujsce... Kenny near killed himself prepping a clip we had, readying it to be put on as Mike and Paul cut, unbolted, ground and what ever else it took. Every night Paul and Mike were in the garage till 2:00 - 3:00am so we could get back to the track ASAP. Yes, we made it back out with the help of some other racers. If there were others of you, sorry... don't mean to not give credit due. But, the bulk of the work was Mike, Paul and Kenny. We also did not have much excess space to have people standing around. The garage was cramped as is usual for a race shop with equipment being used. There is only so much that can be done by anyone at one time.

In all fairness though... these days are different than years past. #1, the economy stinks, money is tight and racing is very expensive to be competitive. Most guys are working full time jobs++, commuting to those jobs and just making financial ends meet. The sponsors are not around like they used to be with as much $$$ as they used to spend. Yes, there are some out there, but times are tough on them and they have had to cut back on what they can afford to sponsor with too. People, regardless of who, don't seem to be interested in Saturday night racing like it used to be. Let alone affording to lets see... buy a car, trailer, tow vehicle, make a season long committment to racing,...repairs, safety equipment, available funds to afford the track entrance fees and licensing fees... I know I left alot out.
My point... the people still racing for the most part have been in it a long time. They had major expenses to start years ago, now they either upgrade, maintain or replace their "equipment" as $$ and time allow. There seemed to be an abundance of us years ago, you are so right... but racing used to cost a pittance of what it does now.(it used to be family friendly too) Ask anyone who raced, owned and footed their car expenses then and ask what it cost now.. huge, huge difference(yes, I took in the differences of salaries,still huge $$ difference). Today, I think people just don't have that extra time in their life they want to commit to such a hobby nor the $$ needed to do so either. Jobs and family committments come first. Family racing is a huge $$$ and time investment. Many more people seem to be doing soccer, baseball, football with their kids as a "family thing" than racing. A new breed of family is out there and family racing is not part of it that I can see.
Our car sits, nothings wrong with it, but the $$$ outlay is just out of control with all of the other bills most of us have to survive here on LI. Most people chose to keep a roof over there head, food on the table first I think before the race car at the track. At least we did... we put priorities in place and if there is time and $$ left over we race, if not... we are there in spirit rooting everyone on.
Thats my take on it anyhow. Even the enduro craze seems to have slowed down lately. I really truly believe that most people have had to take a step back and put the brakes on a hobby that has gotten financially out of control for so many. What should/could be a fun sport for everyone has become a financial burden to many. To keep up with the Jones so to speak you have to hock your life and everything connected to it. What should/could be a fun night out with the family for a reasonable cost has sky-rocketed out of control. Just a look in the stands or pits after the races told you that for years now. No excuses... racing is expensive and people just don't have it... so they go and do other things that are more affordable and family friendly. They also choose to spend more time with their family, not in the garage working on a damaged car every night.


Now back to the thread about stories... oh yea... Paul has some too but said his would be censored and yanked. Oh yes, racing used to be very different years ago. Think this racing is tough... you have short memories! Think our squabbles and fights are tough on and off the track... just think about it. Times and racing were good, they could also be bad.

Karen

figure849
01-17-2010, 07:44 AM
It's no secret that racing isn't what it used to be.

Lets not turn this into " It's no secret that racing isn't what it used to be."

How about a post on racing stories.

Keep it possitive!!!

art11758
01-19-2010, 09:15 AM
Cool thread. I gotta see if I can remember anything in its entirety to add. (sorry, being "old" is a drag)