Jump to content


Photo

Meadowdale mayhem, 1962


  • Please log in to reply
118 replies to this topic

#101 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 28 November 2009 - 14:44

Nice shot as usual, Ron. That is Gonstead in an Elva 200 and Bob Major in an Osca. What race was this at, Ron? It has to be either the May, 1961, MCSCC event, or the 1961 Oktober Rennen SCCA Divisional. The third race at Meadowdale that year, the July SCCA National, saw Gonstead drive a DeTomaso for Ollie Schmidt to the win.
Tom

Advertisement

#102 scroggzilla

scroggzilla
  • New Member

  • 7 posts
  • Joined: February 10

Posted 30 April 2010 - 20:48

As you may know, you can search the Life Magazine photo archive via Google Image search. The archive has a number of high resolution photos of the 1959 SCCA race, taken by Frank Scherschel, that I'm sure would interest TNF. Enjoy!

http://images.google.....q=source:life

#103 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 30 April 2010 - 22:15

As you may know, you can search the Life Magazine photo archive via Google Image search. The archive has a number of high resolution photos of the 1959 SCCA race, taken by Frank Scherschel, that I'm sure would interest TNF. Enjoy!

http://images.google.....q=source:life

The race pictured is from September, 1958. That was an SCCA Regional, won by Chuck Daigh in a Scarab. In 1959 there were no SCCA races at Meadowdale.
Tom

#104 Bob Riebe

Bob Riebe
  • Member

  • 3,003 posts
  • Joined: January 05

Posted 30 April 2010 - 22:20

In post #30 is a picture of the Meister Brau pit tractor. I have included a photo of Harry Heuer ( I believe) driving my brothers and sister around at meadowdale back in the day on that tractor. Enjoy, John Scott.

Posted Image

OH for the day when men were allowed to act like men and kids were allowed to act like kids; do that nowadays and you will be in asininely horrendus trouble.

Wonderful picture though, takes me back to my yout, and all its youtful danger.


#105 etceterini.com

etceterini.com
  • Member

  • 288 posts
  • Joined: April 07

Posted 01 May 2010 - 00:26

The race pictured is from September, 1958. That was an SCCA Regional, won by Chuck Daigh in a Scarab. In 1959 there were no SCCA races at Meadowdale.
Tom


What about May 1959????:

Posted Image


And July 1959????

Posted Image





#106 ZOOOM

ZOOOM
  • Member

  • 522 posts
  • Joined: April 08

Posted 01 May 2010 - 00:27

The race pictured is from September, 1958. That was an SCCA Regional, won by Chuck Daigh in a Scarab. In 1959 there were no SCCA races at Meadowdale.
Tom


Tom, If it was the race Chuck Daigh won it was the opener, first race at meadowdale.
Chuck never ran the Scarab again at meadowdale...
ZOOOM


#107 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 01 May 2010 - 18:16

The race pictured is from September, 1958. That was an SCCA Regional, won by Chuck Daigh in a Scarab. In 1959 there were no SCCA races at Meadowdale.
Tom



What about May 1959????:

And July 1959????

Both those events were USAC races, not SCCA. USAC ran three weekends at Meadowdale in 1959, SCCA did not run any that year.

Tom, If it was the race Chuck Daigh won it was the opener, first race at meadowdale.
Chuck never ran the Scarab again at meadowdale...
ZOOOM

Yes, the race pictured is the SCCA Regional in Sept. 1958. It was the inaugural race at Meadowdale and was won by Chuck Daigh in a Scarab. Zooom is right about that being Daigh's only Scarab appearance there.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 02 May 2010 - 01:04.


#108 Fez

Fez
  • New Member

  • 3 posts
  • Joined: May 10

Posted 05 May 2010 - 18:16

Great thread --I love reading all this history.

Pasted below is a link to four pictures from the 10/61 race at Meadowdale --the top one is of my dad's car (#85) on the "Monza Corner." The bottom photo features my dad verses Bob Spooner in his (Spooner that is) famous "Purple People Eater" (#33).

http://dicklang.blog...dowdale-il.html


But I'm not sure about this photo. I'm pretty sure it is Meadowdale, but do you experts agree? Dick Lang's Corvette (#85) vs. a very cool Cooper Monaco (#44).
Posted Image

Edited by Fez, 05 May 2010 - 18:28.


#109 ZOOOM

ZOOOM
  • Member

  • 522 posts
  • Joined: April 08

Posted 05 May 2010 - 19:12

The first picture of the vettes is definitely on the "Monza".
The rest are probably taken from the outside of Doanes Hairpin.
The last big picture is from somewhere else as the cars are going in the wrong direction for the "Monza Wall". It can't be the little Monza either because the little Monza had concrete walls...

ZOOOM

#110 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 05 May 2010 - 19:39

I agree with Zooom. The photo is not Meadowdale. As he points out, they are going in the wrong direction. Also, I suggest that the photo was taken in 1962. Lang's Corvette is an AP model, which came into being in that year with the 327 engine as opposed to the 283 of prior years.

One minor clarification. Bob Spooner bought a racing Corvette from Nickey Chevrolet, but to be very precise, it was no longer the "Purple People Eater". That was the Nickey Corvette raced by Jim Jeffords to two National Championships in 1958 and 1959. While Spooner did have one of those cars after Nickey, very technically it was no longer the "Purple People Eater" because that designation was the property of Nickey Chevrolet. I know, I know, nits are being picked...

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 05 May 2010 - 19:41.


#111 aportinga

aportinga
  • Member

  • 10,567 posts
  • Joined: November 01

Posted 05 May 2010 - 19:46

Yes indeed. When you stop to think about it, it is somewhat remarkable that a government entity is actually preserving an old/obsolete/out of service race track rather than just having the land sold off to some developer for yet another strip mall of one sort or another. This does not happen very often, I dare say.
Tom


Just south of the track there are tons of stores and a mall - so no worries about a build up.



#112 Fez

Fez
  • New Member

  • 3 posts
  • Joined: May 10

Posted 05 May 2010 - 21:48

The first picture of the vettes is definitely on the "Monza".
The rest are probably taken from the outside of Doanes Hairpin.
The last big picture is from somewhere else as the cars are going in the wrong direction for the "Monza Wall". It can't be the little Monza either because the little Monza had concrete walls...

ZOOOM


Thanks for the info. Dad told me that the last big picture was of Daytona, but that didn't make a ton of sense to me since they race clockwise there.

#113 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 06 May 2010 - 00:32

Thanks for the info. Dad told me that the last big picture was of Daytona, but that didn't make a ton of sense to me since they race clockwise there.

In the first few years the sports cars ran clockwise at Daytona. After that, and continuing to this day, they run counter clockwise.
Tom

#114 RA Historian

RA Historian
  • Member

  • 3,833 posts
  • Joined: October 06

Posted 06 May 2010 - 00:40

Duplicate post in order to cover bases:

In the May/June issue of Vintage Motorsport. just received, there is a several page article on Meadowdale. It is an overview of the track's eleven year life, and not a race history as such. Informative as to the origins of the track and its ultimate demise. Interesting, with just a couple items in the text that require a slight correction. However, the photo captions leave a lot to be desired, as several of the pictures grossly misidentify cars and drivers. A case where a quick look over by a historian (they used to use Jim Sitz, but apparently no longer do) would have caught these obvious errors.
Tom


#115 ERault

ERault
  • Member

  • 336 posts
  • Joined: November 07

Posted 06 May 2010 - 08:56

Great thread --I love reading all this history.

Pasted below is a link to four pictures from the 10/61 race at Meadowdale --the top one is of my dad's car (#85) on the "Monza Corner." The bottom photo features my dad verses Bob Spooner in his (Spooner that is) famous "Purple People Eater" (#33).

http://dicklang.blog...dowdale-il.html


But I'm not sure about this photo. I'm pretty sure it is Meadowdale, but do you experts agree? Dick Lang's Corvette (#85) vs. a very cool Cooper Monaco (#44).
Posted Image


This is Daytona on january 28, 1962. The Cooper Monaco is W. Bowman's, on his way to a DNF. It has already been touched here : http://forums.autosp...w...0&start=160

#116 SaturnVUEguy

SaturnVUEguy
  • New Member

  • 20 posts
  • Joined: September 09

Posted 07 May 2010 - 04:41

Great thread --I love reading all this history.

Pasted below is a link to four pictures from the 10/61 race at Meadowdale --the top one is of my dad's car (#85) on the "Monza Corner." The bottom photo features my dad verses Bob Spooner in his (Spooner that is) famous "Purple People Eater" (#33).

http://dicklang.blog...dowdale-il.html

Do you know what year his Corvette is in these pictures? Is it a '61 as the race was in '61, or did he use a slightly older car?

#117 raceannouncer2003

raceannouncer2003
  • Member

  • 2,944 posts
  • Joined: March 05

Posted 07 May 2010 - 05:17

Do you know what year his Corvette is in these pictures? Is it a '61 as the race was in '61, or did he use a slightly older car?


If you're talking about the #85 Corvette, it looks like a '61 to me.

Vince H.


#118 SaturnVUEguy

SaturnVUEguy
  • New Member

  • 20 posts
  • Joined: September 09

Posted 07 May 2010 - 14:03

If you're talking about the #85 Corvette, it looks like a '61 to me.

Vince H.

That's what I'm thinking too

#119 SaturnVUEguy

SaturnVUEguy
  • New Member

  • 20 posts
  • Joined: September 09

Posted 09 October 2012 - 16:57

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but...


I went to Raceway Woods with my two boys yesterday and took a few pictures that I'll post here when I can.

But before I do, does anyone know anything about the silo itself? There was a sign near it that says build date is unknown, but it appears in an aerial photo taken in 1939. I can't find this picture online anywhere.