Posted by George on 4/19/2006, 12:16 pm, in reply to "Re: Your opinions on Freeport Stadium" --Previous Message--
205.188.117.9
No hard feelings Chuck. If you go to my website...www.weissglassspeedway.com.. you'll see a picture of my old car. There were so many great cars built for Freeport Stadium. When new rules were made,guys spent hundreds of hours building cars for that track. Weissglass was my first love,growing up few blocks away. Freeport was my second favorite track. When I got my drivers license,that first Friday night I went to Freeport. Now I restore vintage stock cars and am currently working on a 37 Plymouth coupe with a Spitfire Engine in it.It's going to be a replica of a Weissglass car. As far as I know ,only two original Freeport cars exist. I have Bruno's 71 Sedan and Marty has Jim Lacey's 447 Non Ford . Regards,George.
: George,
: Sorry not to have responded sooner -
: been busy as a one-armed paper
: hanger. I hope there are no hard
: feelings. I have a lot of respect
: for you guys who chose or had to go
: to Vietnam and know how lucky I am
: that my life went in a different
: direction. I lost several friends
: over there.
: Now I know why I couldn't place you
: or your car. It was in 1971 that I
: graduated college so in April and
: May I was still on campus. Then I
: got married in July of '71 and had
: seen the last race I was ever to see
: at Freeport Stadium. Those were two
: mistakes I made! Sorry I missed
: you.
:
: Chuck
:
: --Previous Message--
: Ok Chuck,your response is very
: informative and you saw alot of
: things a competitor or fan didn't
: see.I saw things at Weissglass
: Stadium here that I didn't like
: also.As you mentioned,cutting a race
: short because Bruno was about to
: pass a local favorite that the
: promoter would rather see win. I
: just got upset with you bashing Duke
: Donaldson.You have to admit,in it's
: heyday,Freeport was a mecca of
: racing and the drivers made very
: good money. Bruno told me he won
: races that paid more than it cost to
: build the car.An outsider like
: myself thought Duke did a good job
: promoting the races and creating
: new,very different divisions
: there.I think that there was some
: driver resentment that he made too
: much money. I particularly liked the
: street tire rule in 1968. I ran
: there in 1971. My car was a
: red,white and blue 32 Plymouth
: #100+. Weissglass didn't open until
: June that year so I was at Freeport
: for the Sunday afternoon opener and
: a few times after that until
: Weissglass opened.I was able to
: barely make the main in my heat race
: every time (seven Cars qualified)
: but my car was underpowered.When I
: put the 12 inch slicks on at
: Weissglass I felt like Superman
: compared to the street tires. Your
: right,I should not have gotten as
: carried away as I did. Our post high
: school years were very different.
: You went to college,I got a two year
: all expenses paid tour in the US
: Army,a year of that in Viet Nam.
: That kept me from racing until I was
: 22. George..
:
: --Previous Message--
: :
:
:Freeport stadium tried to build up
: interest in their lagging
: "modified six" fields by
: having the roofs cut off of the cars
: and calling them open cockpit
: modifieds. One of the promoters at
: the time was Duke Donaldson who had
: part ownership in some Indianapolis
: cars and was an open cockpit
: enthusiast. (as well as being one
: of the most egotistical and worst
: stock car promoters ever!) Anyway
: Mickey Corr cut the roof off his car
: but left it so that it could be
: bolted back on when he wanted to
: race elsewhere. For a couple of
: summers he and his wife Fran would
: go own vacation with their racecar
: and he would race other places.
: Before this orange number 40, Mickey
: owned a non-ford number 140 and a
: modified number 1401/2 that were
: driven by Bob Lamoreaux. Hope this
: helps some. It took the Campi's with
: all of their money to finally ruin
: the track. I said to Don Campi to
: his face one night at New Egypt
: Speedway when he asked me what I
: thought of the Improvementa that he
: had made to the new Freeport
: Speedway, and I said to
: him,"You destroyed for the
: backyard racer". He walked
: away. I now you have many fond
: memories of Freeport,but you can't
: make negative comments about a man
: like Duke Donaldson, who made alot
: money and flaunted it, but did a
: much better job at running a race
: track than the Campi's did with all
: of their money.Keep building your
: models,that's as close as you will
: ever get.
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