Fan Notes from the 1977 Knoxville Nationals Part 1

Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Jimmy Boyd at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo)Jimmy Boyd at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo) (Tom Myers) My parents were auto racing fans long before I came along. Northeast Ohio offered an ample supply of racing in the 50’s and 60’s. Dad and Mom watched stock cars, midgets and supermodifieds at tracks  named Midvale, Sportsmans Park, Cloverleaf, Lorain County, Painesville, Barberton and the Akron Rubber Bowl. One of the racer names I remember being mentioned was Norm Calhoun, who used to win quite a bit from what I understand.  When I came along, my parents left off going to the races. So my first experience with auto racing was listening to them tell stories about it. Then I started watching  the races on TV. And I fell in love with auto racing. I loved watching the stock cars and the Indy cars, Formula 1 and Drag racing too. A.J. Foyt was my favorite driver….. He was the man.  And then a day came, when my racing experience would change dramatically! 

Fred Linder at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo)Fred Linder at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo) Grandpa had hired a new engineer to work at the family business and this guy followed the sprint cars and supermodifieds. Jack was his name and Jack got to talking with Dad and invited him to go to a sprint race. I was 9 years old and it was 1975 when I got to tag along on that first trip. I don’t remember the first track we went to, but I do remember that it was the most glorious thing I had ever seen and heard.  Mansfield? Fremont? Wayne County? I think it was Wayne County. It was an All Star Super Sprint race. I remember the cars with big, right rear tires and huge wings on top. Wings on top, wings on the front and wing panels covering the sides of the cars. They were loud and obnoxious looking and they would power- slide through the turns, flinging mud everywhere. I was hooked right then! In between the action, Dad’s friend would fill us in on the drivers to watch and bring us up to speed on the current news and recent events in the sport. We were eager listeners too. One of the racers we were told to watch was Rick Ferkel, in the crème colored, orange numbered zero car. Rick got two new fans that day. 

Gary Patterson at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo)Gary Patterson at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo) The next summer, we followed the sprints a bit more. It was 1976 and we became familiar with racers named Bobby Allen, Paul Pitzer, Kramer Williamson, Harold McGilton and Fred and Jim Linder.  Steve Smith, Dub and Van May, Lynn Paxton, George Harbour, Junior Smalley, Lou Blaney and Johnny Beaber raced as well. These were the All Star Super Sprints and man, this was great stuff. We also took in some asphalt racing and followed the supermodifieds a bit.  Lorain County and Sandusky hosted a few races that summer and we were privileged to see guys like Warren Conium, Gary Albrittain and Ollie Silva. Ollie had an old black sprinter held together with duct tape and he would pass those low riding modifieds around the outside! I liked the asphalt, but not nearly as much as the dirt. At that time my Dad started getting the Speed Sport news sent to our house. I would wait all week for the mail to come on Thursday so I could find out what happened in that far away world of sprint car racing. 
 
Sprint cars were always on my mind.  And on those days that we were going to a race? Oh my goodness, I couldn’t wait to get on the road and head towards the Ohio farmland. That was where the tracks were.  I remember sleeping in the backseat of the car on the way home….with the windows down, the smell of cows and hay, the radio on, the feeling of the car on the road and me in the backseat falling asleep in the darkness…with my ears still ringing from the races! 

Paul Pitzer at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo)Paul Pitzer at the 1977 Knoxville Nationals (Jim Carmichael Photo) The following year, we went to even more races. After the holidays and when the snow was flying, we went to Florida for a vacation and met up with Grandpa at his winter home in Punta Gorda. I didn’t realize that there was racing in Florida in the wintertime….I was thinking about Disney World, orange trees and beaches. I am glad Dad had racing on his mind! It was no coincidence that there was a series of races going on at the same time we were vacationing.  There were events on dirt as well as some on asphalt. I can’t remember if we saw any of the asphalt races but I know we went to East Bay and also to Lake City Speedway, which featured  a  dirt surface that had oil put down on it…if I remember correctly.  For the first time I got to watch Doug Wolfgang in the Van Patten 18, Shane Carson in the Nance 1n and Sammy Swindell in the Bruce Cogle 44 car. Also racing were Bobby Allen in his 1a, Kramer Williamson in the Boops 1, Paul Pitzer in the Weikert 29 and Rick Ferkel in the 0 car. That vacation was loads of fun, needless to say!

Back up north, when the summer came along, we travelled to some new tracks too.  New to us were Tri- City Speedway, Mercer, Millstream, and Toledo.  It was 1977 and according to the Speed Sport news, Doug Wolfgang was killing the competition after switching to a new, lightweight car.  All of this must have come together to create a perfect storm in my father’s head. His appetite for more racing was growing into an obsession and I was all too eager to tag along. So when August rolled around, Dad informed me, out of the blue, that we were going to Iowa…and to the Knoxville Nationals!