The Legends of Penn Can.
Friday almost came too soon,
at least for one 'mechanic'
trying to recover some
resemblence of brakes on a
flathead powered modified. I
know, I know, brakes only
slow you down..still, better to
have them than just uhh ..
hope.. And the #24 just wasn't
co-operating. Ok, tear the
master cylinder apart, it's not
too bad, clean it up and
re-assemble. Bolt it back on,
this time for sure aaaannndd -
nothing. Pump, Pump, Pump,
nothing. Crack that bleeder
Belvedere. He doesn't and
gives me that blank look like,
'You know I haven't got any
thumbs..' Maybe a trip around
the track will get the juices
flowing a bit.. Well, it goes OK
but still won't stop and now I
think I'll go inside and glue
my teeth back in.. The springs
on the rear of this car came
out of a truck and need to go
back under a truck, I thought
the track was pretty smooth,
guess again..
Similar farm techniques are
being employed to the north
as the S33 has engine woes,
good oil pressure but one
cylinder is down and Dad
suspects a broken ring. Out
comes the Ford and in goes a
Merc. He's wrenching all week
on the car which with the full
fenders isn't as easy a task.
Thursday night he calls and
has it going, mines still not
stopping so the call is easy,
the S33 is going to Penn Can.
Friday, gotta get this wood
finished up, and all that's left
are the butts. They're like
hitting corks with the go-devil,
saw, saw, saw, whack, whack
whack - I finally chewed them
up, what a workout! The
Teardrop is loaded and I check
the oil in my old maroon bomb
truck, two more trips this
season and it's time to get
Thumper going again for next
year I figger. It's a beautiful
day and it's time to go. Down
the road and the old bomb is
smoking pretty good, good oil
pressure though, but clouds
are coming out of it. I still got
oil and three extra quarts with
me.. we'll make it. Fingers
crossed. Off of 17 at Windsor
and down the winding Route
79 to Susquehanna, Pa. Pull
into Penn Can Speedway and
pop the hood - this thing is
smoking pretty good.. better
let it cool off. Unload the
Teardrop, at least it's running
good and here comes Dad and
Howdy Witter. 'Engine
trouble?' Yep, using a littel oil.
Open the hood and what do I
find? Some idiot hasn't put
the dipstick back in all the
way...Hmm, who could that
have been? Belvedere? One
quart and problem solved, at
least the truck is undercoated
now..
Pull up the teardrop behinds
the stands to join the club.
Mike Newell has the Pink
Panther parked and has saved
me a spot next to it. Larry and
Howdy Witter have their GMC
powered Chevy coupe on
hand. Dad's S33 is at the
entrance to the stands and
John Mason has brought a
real treat, the #115 Crosley
coupe driven by Jack Wanatt
at the track over 45 years ago.
This is a real interesting piece
that Mel Ogden has acquired
to go along with the #15
Chuck Corey Model A team
car. It's rugged, and crude,
and perfect. Track promoters
Reed Miller and Al Wilcox have
set up a nice tent for us and
furnished the club and
Legends with a cooler full of
cold drinks - nice. We settle in
and do some bench racing.
John Mason is still gushing
over the Orange County Show,
maybe next year we'll try and
make it, and get after John to
get himself a digital camera.
As always, we talk of racing,
our war stories - and the rising
cost of racing in general. Good
stuff. John relates, "When we
were runing here in the early
80's it cost $500 a night to do
it. Then we got this great
engine, 605 horspower and
Joe (Driver Joe Donahue Jr.)
and I thought we're ging to
really do something now. A
few weeks into the new engine
and I realized, 'Joe, we're just
getting to the wreck faster!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Next
we're onto how many times we
ran our cars on 'test tracks'.
Larry Witter remembers taking
his car up a dirt road and an
old lady shaking a broom at
him. He wheeled it home, got
out and took the plugs out if
it. "Sure enough, 10 minutes
later here comes this
policeman. He's asking if I've
been running it up the road
and I said no, it's all apart.. he
looked it over and didn't feel
it, it was hot, and then said
well there's got to be alot of
these thngs all over the place
and he couldn't keep track of
them all. Whew!" Dad and I
made more than one trip up
Pine Tree road in our day, if it
ran good up the hill, it ran
good at the track. I
compliment the guys on the
Otsego County Fair event.
John roars again, "Mike calls
me up and says we got to get
the 29 over to the fairgrounds.
I said 'Just drive it over, it's
only a block.' And he says
back to me, "I'm the Mayor!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Guess
it wouldn't be exactly kosher
to see the mayor of Morris
driving a unliscensed car on
the village streets??
It isn't long and the former
drivers start coming around,
drawn to the display. Paul
'Zeke' Zedar is all smiles, Bob
Page still wants to get his #79
going, Stub Stephens juts out
a hand. Carl Nagel is looking
over the 115 and confirms it
was driven by Jack Wanatt, I
enlist him to drive the
Teardrop tonight. Roger, Don,
and Gary Beagell all stop by
and chat, Roger will take the
S33 out. Eddie Rafferty is
busting chops. Chuck Akulis
and Lynn Highhouse share
some laughs. Doug Worthing
is trying out the Witter #4, we
have a nice talk, it's his first
time to the track in 5 years.
This is shaping up to be a
really nice event and race fans
are all over our display again
with wonderment in their
eyes. Many have not seen cars
like these and can't believe
modifieds have evolved from
these crude beginnings.
Reed and Al have reserved
seats for our club and the
legends at the top of the
stands behind the flagger.
Great seats, not that there's a
bad one at Penn Can, you can
see all the action and there's
plenty of it on this tough
quarter. The racing is just
fantastic, Paul Zedar barks
"Wow, do those modifieds ever
get after it!" I ask if he'd like to
try one again, "No thanks,
think I'll just watch." Honestly,
I don't know how they don't
wreck every lap, a true
testament to skill. I counted
28 modifieds, 4 heats. Plenty
of Sportsman, Pure Stocks and
Late Models too and all the
races are competitive. Great
stuff.
During intermission we fire up
our old mounts and take them
around to the track. Roger,
Carl, Doug and Chuck take
over from there and pace them
around. Roger leads on Gary's
U-Pull It night, as he should.
Pretty cool to see the old cars
back out on the track and just
for good measure, Chuck gives
Doug a good smack in the
arse. Just like old times...
The dislplay over, we load up
and reclaim our seats to watch
the features, they're even
better than the heats as Craig
Terrell holds off Jeff
Rudalavage for the Modified
win in thrilling fashion. After
scaling Jeff throws Craig a
wave of respect, he earned it.
All the features were close and
fun to watch, the food was
good as was the hospitality.
Penn Can should be on every
race fans list as a must do.
We'd like to thank Paul Doig,
Reed Miller, Leon Andrus and
Al Wilcox for having us again
this year, it was fun. And also
like to thank all the Legends
of Penn Can for making our
nigh complete. See you again
next year.
Friday almost came too soon,
at least for one 'mechanic'
trying to recover some
resemblence of brakes on a
flathead powered modified. I
know, I know, brakes only
slow you down..still, better to
have them than just uhh ..
hope.. And the #24 just wasn't
co-operating. Ok, tear the
master cylinder apart, it's not
too bad, clean it up and
re-assemble. Bolt it back on,
this time for sure aaaannndd -
nothing. Pump, Pump, Pump,
nothing. Crack that bleeder
Belvedere. He doesn't and
gives me that blank look like,
'You know I haven't got any
thumbs..' Maybe a trip around
the track will get the juices
flowing a bit.. Well, it goes OK
but still won't stop and now I
think I'll go inside and glue
my teeth back in.. The springs
on the rear of this car came
out of a truck and need to go
back under a truck, I thought
the track was pretty smooth,
guess again..
Similar farm techniques are
being employed to the north
as the S33 has engine woes,
good oil pressure but one
cylinder is down and Dad
suspects a broken ring. Out
comes the Ford and in goes a
Merc. He's wrenching all week
on the car which with the full
fenders isn't as easy a task.
Thursday night he calls and
has it going, mines still not
stopping so the call is easy,
the S33 is going to Penn Can.
Friday, gotta get this wood
finished up, and all that's left
are the butts. They're like
hitting corks with the go-devil,
saw, saw, saw, whack, whack
whack - I finally chewed them
up, what a workout! The
Teardrop is loaded and I check
the oil in my old maroon bomb
truck, two more trips this
season and it's time to get
Thumper going again for next
year I figger. It's a beautiful
day and it's time to go. Down
the road and the old bomb is
smoking pretty good, good oil
pressure though, but clouds
are coming out of it. I still got
oil and three extra quarts with
me.. we'll make it. Fingers
crossed. Off of 17 at Windsor
and down the winding Route
79 to Susquehanna, Pa. Pull
into Penn Can Speedway and
pop the hood - this thing is
smoking pretty good.. better
let it cool off. Unload the
Teardrop, at least it's running
good and here comes Dad and
Howdy Witter. 'Engine
trouble?' Yep, using a littel oil.
Open the hood and what do I
find? Some idiot hasn't put
the dipstick back in all the
way...Hmm, who could that
have been? Belvedere? One
quart and problem solved, at
least the truck is undercoated
now..
Pull up the teardrop behinds
the stands to join the club.
Mike Newell has the Pink
Panther parked and has saved
me a spot next to it. Larry and
Howdy Witter have their GMC
powered Chevy coupe on
hand. Dad's S33 is at the
entrance to the stands and
John Mason has brought a
real treat, the #115 Crosley
coupe driven by Jack Wanatt
at the track over 45 years ago.
This is a real interesting piece
that Mel Ogden has acquired
to go along with the #15
Chuck Corey Model A team
car. It's rugged, and crude,
and perfect. Track promoters
Reed Miller and Al Wilcox have
set up a nice tent for us and
furnished the club and
Legends with a cooler full of
cold drinks - nice. We settle in
and do some bench racing.
John Mason is still gushing
over the Orange County Show,
maybe next year we'll try and
make it, and get after John to
get himself a digital camera.
As always, we talk of racing,
our war stories - and the rising
cost of racing in general. Good
stuff. John relates, "When we
were runing here in the early
80's it cost $500 a night to do
it. Then we got this great
engine, 605 horspower and
Joe (Driver Joe Donahue Jr.)
and I thought we're ging to
really do something now. A
few weeks into the new engine
and I realized, 'Joe, we're just
getting to the wreck faster!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Next
we're onto how many times we
ran our cars on 'test tracks'.
Larry Witter remembers taking
his car up a dirt road and an
old lady shaking a broom at
him. He wheeled it home, got
out and took the plugs out if
it. "Sure enough, 10 minutes
later here comes this
policeman. He's asking if I've
been running it up the road
and I said no, it's all apart.. he
looked it over and didn't feel
it, it was hot, and then said
well there's got to be alot of
these thngs all over the place
and he couldn't keep track of
them all. Whew!" Dad and I
made more than one trip up
Pine Tree road in our day, if it
ran good up the hill, it ran
good at the track. I
compliment the guys on the
Otsego County Fair event.
John roars again, "Mike calls
me up and says we got to get
the 29 over to the fairgrounds.
I said 'Just drive it over, it's
only a block.' And he says
back to me, "I'm the Mayor!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Guess
it wouldn't be exactly kosher
to see the mayor of Morris
driving a unliscensed car on
the village streets??
It isn't long and the former
drivers start coming around,
drawn to the display. Paul
'Zeke' Zedar is all smiles, Bob
Page still wants to get his #79
going, Stub Stephens juts out
a hand. Carl Nagel is looking
over the 115 and confirms it
was driven by Jack Wanatt, I
enlist him to drive the
Teardrop tonight. Roger, Don,
and Gary Beagell all stop by
and chat, Roger will take the
S33 out. Eddie Rafferty is
busting chops. Chuck Akulis
and Lynn Highhouse share
some laughs. Doug Worthing
is trying out the Witter #4, we
have a nice talk, it's his first
time to the track in 5 years.
This is shaping up to be a
really nice event and race fans
are all over our display again
with wonderment in their
eyes. Many have not seen cars
like these and can't believe
modifieds have evolved from
these crude beginnings.
Reed and Al have reserved
seats for our club and the
legends at the top of the
stands behind the flagger.
Great seats, not that there's a
bad one at Penn Can, you can
see all the action and there's
plenty of it on this tough
quarter. The racing is just
fantastic, Paul Zedar barks
"Wow, do those modifieds ever
get after it!" I ask if he'd like to
try one again, "No thanks,
think I'll just watch." Honestly,
I don't know how they don't
wreck every lap, a true
testament to skill. I counted
28 modifieds, 4 heats. Plenty
of Sportsman, Pure Stocks and
Late Models too and all the
races are competitive. Great
stuff.
During intermission we fire up
our old mounts and take them
around to the track. Roger,
Carl, Doug and Chuck take
over from there and pace them
around. Roger leads on Gary's
U-Pull It night, as he should.
Pretty cool to see the old cars
back out on the track and just
for good measure, Chuck gives
Doug a good smack in the
arse. Just like old times...
The dislplay over, we load up
and reclaim our seats to watch
the features, they're even
better than the heats as Craig
Terrell holds off Jeff
Rudalavage for the Modified
win in thrilling fashion. After
scaling Jeff throws Craig a
wave of respect, he earned it.
All the features were close and
fun to watch, the food was
good as was the hospitality.
Penn Can should be on every
race fans list as a must do.
We'd like to thank Paul Doig,
Reed Miller, Leon Andrus and
Al Wilcox for having us again
this year, it was fun. And also
like to thank all the Legends
of Penn Can for making our
nigh complete. See you again
next year.
Thanks to Everyone @ Penn Can
