Posted by JOE TAVALARO
on 8/19/2006, 7:19 pm, in reply to "Duke Donaldson and Freeport Speedway"
205.188.117.9
RAN INTO BRUNO BRACKEY TODAY 8/19/06 STILL HAS GREAT STORIES TO TELL.LOOKING AND FEELING GOOD.
--Previous Message--
: I wish that there was this much
: activity and information brought
: out on every vintage stock car
: racing website. If you do a google
: search on Duke Donaldson, not much
: info comes up. That all changed with
: our little discussion,which is a
: good thing. Not blowing my own horn,
: but if were not for my efforts, a
: man like Bruno Brackey,who was the
: best man at my wedding I might addd,
: would have very little regognition
: for his accomplishments during his
: racing career on the internet.
: --Previous Message--
: 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.
:
: --Previous Message--
: 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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