INDIANAPOLIS — Sooner or later, the best days and nights become chunks of time. Spend enough years around this sport and you find yourself no longer breaking things down by seasons, but by clusters of seasons.
Vintages, I suppose; yes, that’s accurate. Like wines, the best racing vintages age in the cellar, in a quiet corner of your mind, until the memory of some great race makes you pull a bottle off the rack. Inevitably, you end up decanting the whole era.
I had the same curiosity that once seized the incomparable Parnelli Jones, who dazzled in sprint cars, Indy cars, stock cars, midgets, sports cars, Trans-Am pony cars and Baja trucks, but spent no more than four full seasons driving any of them.
“All my life,” Parnelli told me, “I’ve been the guy who wants to see what’s on the other side of the hill.”
Me, too. I saw all kinds of racing and I filled my cellar with fine vintages.
– New England Modified Racing, 1977-’81: When race night at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway switched from Saturday to Friday, the move ignited a golden period for pavement modified racing in the Northeast.
The top drivers and their fans went to Stafford on Fridays, split to various bullrings on Saturdays, then reconvened on Sundays at Thompson Speedway, also in Connecticut.
Sunday afternoons had a social feel; you got to Thompson early, so you could get the Saturday-night scoop direct from Bugs Stevens, Ed Flemke, Ron Bouchard and Richie Evans.
– NASCAR Late Model Sportsman (Busch Series), 1977-’85: As the late model sportsman division morphed into the Busch Series, these nine years produced the following champions: Butch Lindley twice, Gene Glover, Morgan Shepherd, Tommy Ellis, Jack Ingram twice and Sam Ard twice. I saw them all when they had Dale Earnhardt, Sonny Hutchins and Geoff Bodine nipping at their heels.
– DIRT Big-Block Modifieds, 1976-’79: Maynard Troyer’s wide, sleek Mud Buss cars, launched in 1981, set the design standard for the next decade in New York, but I can’t shake the minimalist Gremlins, Vegas and Pintos that ruled the state in the ’70s. Homebuilt or crafted by small-scale shops, steered by men like Lou Lazzaro, Tommy Corellis and Will Cagle, they were ugly standing still, but beautiful at speed.
– World of Outlaws, 1980-’82: I am full of respect for Donny Schatz and Brad Sweet is a bad ass. However, I’ll go to my grave thankful that I saw Steve Kinser in his cousin Karl’s car, Doug Wolfgang in the Howells No. 4 and Sammy Swindell in the Nance house car.
– Stock Car Connection, 1987-’88: A partnership of three alpha-dog promoters — Rex Robbins of ASA, Bob Harmon of All Pro and Tom Curley from ACT — the SCC crashed after two years and eight races.
But, man, what a collection of asphalt late model heroes those races drew: Jody Ridley, Dick Trickle, Robbie Crouch, Bobby Gill, Butch Miller, Beaver Dragon, Steve Grissom, Mike Eddy, Junior Hanley and, well, everybody.
– Indy Racing League, 1997-’98: Though scorned by CART loyalists and much of the motorsports media, IRL boss Tony George did something thought to be impossible: He reestablished Indy car racing as a possible career path for grassroots oval-trackers.
The 1997 IRL title fight came down to USAC standout Tony Stewart and supermodified ace Davey Hamilton, and the Indy 500s of 1997 and ’98 featured a dozen short-track graduates, including Steve Kinser, Billy Boat and Jack Hewitt.
It was nice to again hear rookies talk of Indianapolis as the stuff of lifelong dreams. Let’s face it, half the starting field in 1995, the last 500 run as part of the CART series, would rather have been racing at Monaco than Indy.
– USAC Midgets, 1997-2000: Midget racers from all over the map had long flocked to USAC, but the IRL and its whiff of Indy 500 glory only heightened the stampede.
SoCal kids Jason Leffler, Jay Drake and Ricky Shelton, Florida’s Dave Steele, Arizona’s Jerry Coons Jr. and Washington’s Kasey Kahne met stiff Midwest resistance from Tony Elliott, Tracy Hines, Ryan Newman and Dave Darland. Magic nights, those were.
– Dirt Late Models, 2005-’10: Wherever you were, there was a major event not far away. The rival Lucas Oil and World of Outlaws tours displayed the division’s remarkable depth of talent: Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Don O’Neal, Billy Moyer, Josh Richards, Tim McCreadie, Clint Smith, Darrell Lanigan, Rick Eckert and Shane Clanton didn’t know how to run dull races.
– USAC Sprint Cars, 2010-Present Day: Walk into Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track and you’re hit by visions of Hurtubise, Foyt, Opperman and Carter.
But here’s the thing, active USAC racers such as Chris Windom, Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr. and 2020 champ Brady Bacon race so fiercely that you’ll forget those old names — at least for the 30 sizzling laps it takes to run a feature.
Occasionally, “now” is an excellent vintage.