One of the fondest memories I have as a young boy was heading off to the “Stock Car Races” with a band of the old mans motorcycle buddies. Saturday afternoon we’d pile into the car and head out to a local track to inhale dust and gas fumes for the next few hours. This was the early 50’s and before we had TV to distract us from doing fun things.

            Stock cars in those days were just that, “Stock Car’s”. These modern day chariot drivers would take an old junkyard jalopy with a flat head six motor, remove the windows, maybe, and go racing. An oval dirt track that was a short as a ¼ mile was their arena and the prizes could be as high as $50 if you won the feature race.

            Things have changed in dirt track racing. Maybe not much in the last 10 or 15 years but certainly since the 50’s. Cars are special built for racing with tubular frame’s, roll cages and engines that are built to the max. Tires have become a science, as have suspensions. The cars are no longer junkyard specials but they are specifically built for the job. They are fast, furious and noisy but the dust and dirt are still the same.

            5 lap heats in several classes lead up to the “Feature Race” which can feature as many as 24 cars on the 3/8 mile oval. The starts are exciting with that many cars trying to get thru turn 1 and 2 as they fight their way to the front of the pack.

             Bob and Sheila K, Alan M and I rode to the track and Ed K, who had a graduation to attend, met us at the track. Ed managed to cop some great seats in the upper deck away from the flying mud. While flying mud is a feature that adds flavor to the track, it is pretty annoying getting peppered throughout the race with tiny mud balls flying at you at 50 miles an hour.