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| Image via Mickey Pleasant |
We never really notice time slipping away, and how many images such as this have been lost. It documents a richness in a day when you could drive your street car to the track (notice the front license plate), strip the windshield off, tape a few numbers on, throw on some overalls and hit the asphalt, tires screamin'.
The shot was taken at an SCCA Drivers School held in the parking lot of the Del Mar Fairgrounds, circa 1963.
You have to wonder, is it as fun today as it was back then. What do you think?
Related post: Del Mar Road Races
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John, great pic...reminds me of the HP Bugeye I had on the track in the early 70's. There's more to it now, but safer. Back then, to get started, we would buy a helmet and put a big 'X'on the back our cars. There were a lot of guys out there with no clue about car control, myself included, and we were running wheel-to-wheel. Overall, it's better now.
ReplyDeleteFrank Sheffield wrote: "Mark Ferlin and the eventual Tony Viedma Sprite? Mickey Pleasant and ... I'm not recalling the name of the tall BMC-specialist at right. At a Holtville Solo I event he fixed a carburetor on my MGB -- after I ran for time, before Phil Binks drove it. Guess who was faster?"
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not. It's actually very little 'fun' now ; it ceased being fun in the mid 80s when all the tube frame and 'free' crap came along. As in 'brakes are free' - which means 6 pot Brembos. And 'transmission is free' which means a new Jericho...
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I still have the sticker with the red circle and line going thru 'nick craw'...
Average guys can no longer race, and the cars have no relevance. Havent been to an SCCA race in 20 years or so...