Vintage Racing Video

RL Chilton

This is a cool vintage piece of dirt track racing post-war. Jim Rathman is shown in it, who went on to win Indy in '60. I think I spotted a Hudson in the parking lot.

schillaz

That awesome, thanks for sharing.

[Deleted User]

Great film. Back when men were men. Probably some had been in the war and what was a little racing when you had been shot at. My great uncle, been gone for 40+ years, always told the story of a race like this in the 30s where 2 Hudson 8s were racing. It was held at a county horse track with white posts all the way around the inside of the track. At he end of the race the two Hudson 8s were in front and not one white post was left standing.

hudsontech

Mayhem at 70 per!!!! And that's the way it was - back-in-the-day. Most tracks were watered down before the race to keep the dust down - trouble was it was like driving on ice, especially on the red clay tracks here in the south. But, dry, on those tracks, you couldn't see where you going, as you could see in this video. Fifty years later I'm still coughing up red dust.
Jim Rathman - you won't see todays "pretty boys" racing in open roadsters like that - tho as I recall I think Tony Stewart has diced it up with dirt track sprint cars a time or two. For one thing NASCAR would allow it and for another their sponsors wouldn't either. To much money involved. Back in the day money was secondary. As long as you had enough to put a car together you went racing. It was fun then, not all business like today.
I noticed a couple of Model A bodies - but those cars certainly weren't Dad's Model A for sure!!
Thanks for the memory, Russell.

Hudsonly.
Alex Burr
Memphis, tN

hudsonsplasher1

Very cool. Thanks Russell.
Gene.

bent metal

Cool video! Thanks Russell.

I like those roll bars, of those who had them. One guy had about a one inch diameter bar that went down and mounted to the nerf bar just in front of the back tire. That nerf bar looked to be quarter by inch and a half flat bar! Haha. Good thing he had a helmet on, because that roll bar isn't going to do much if he turns upside down.

Oh, did you see the custom aluminum hood with all the clearance bubbles?! Cool!

Richie

Great video Russell, the guys even look like they were having fun. Todays nascar is nothing like the REAL racing in the old days. Drivers today seem to be under a lot of stress, especially in qualifying. It can't be as much fun as the old days were. Richie.

hudsontech

Richie, read my post above if you haven't already - it sure as hell was a lot more fun. And we did it with little or no sponsorship to boot. We might get a few bucks from a local speed shop or auto parts store or maybe a local gas station to put their name on our cars. In this day of multi-million dollar sponsorships I stress "Few Bucks".

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

Richie

You are right Alex, I agree 100%. Richie