STEAL OF THE DAY - A REAL RUNNER !

     Unlike this era of cars being recycled frequently - some even going through three or four owners, earlier cars were seldom around to be re-used after one season. One magazine article referred to early stock cars as "wad 'em up" cars - ready to be wadded up and thrown away after one bad wreck because concepts like "getting a front clip" were not yet in the picture. It was noteworthy, then when a car either lasted a long time, through multiple owners; or - even more rare yet - enjoyed more success with a second owner. Here are some examples of these cars.

Courtesy of Allen Maskell Erwin Bettis built this car to be driven by Allen Maskell. It was a suire performer; but, for some reason, it ended up being sold to Ralph Bushey of Burlington.	Courtesy of the Bushey Family via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey would take this car and,  among other accomplishments, set a still - existing record for feature wins in a season at Airborne Park in 1954.	Lynch Photo Dutch Hoag built this Valiant when the trend started moving towards later model bodies. Dutch was great in whateverhe drove, but this was far from his  most famous ride. It was sold to Joe Romano of Johnstown, NY	Romano Family Collection Andy Romano had a long and very successful career. Arguably, this car, his Galiant Valiant, was his most famous car.
Weaver Photo This particular photo inspired this page. This is the famous Central New York modified star Bernie Miller, of Canastota, with his semi late model Oldsmobile hobby car at Utica - Rome.	Ladabouche Collection The car was probably best remembered in the hands of Oneida, NY's Ralph Holmes.	Ladabouche Photo   Jean - Paul Cabana enters the Catamount pits in 1973 with a newly - built '64 Chevelle behind his regular car. The car - noteworthy for having the window post, was driven a little by Don Bevins.	Courtesy of Chris Companion  The car  went through three other owners. The last owner, Ray Richards, had rookie Bob Ellis drive the car, and he did the best with it of anyone - winning a very prestitgious 1973 Northern NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award.
Ladabouche Photo   Larry Caron built one of the first quality cars in Catamount's Hurricane division.	Ladabouche Collection  Milo Lockerby bought the Caron car and proceeded to have a truly banner year with it, winning numerous features.	Ladabouche Photo   The Granville, NY - based Loomis brothers built many race cars, starting in the early '50's. This one, built to replace a #p61 from the previous year, would stay in the family but undergo many changes.	Ladabouche Photo   Same car, two years later, then driven by Fort Edward NY veteran Nelson Moore. It was the best year for the car.
Courtesy of Cho Lee Bob Pratt built this gorgeous Chevelle for Clem Despault. It was, however, too heavy and - therefore - evil handling.	Denis LaChance Photo   Future star and Oxford 250 winner Mike Barry would buy the car for his first late model sportsman and have some luck.	Photo  via Russ Farr Russ Shaw with a former Jack Dubrul car. For years I thought another car was the one Vince Quenneville Sr drove at D Bowl in 1967, but Russ Farr has helped me see it is this one.	Ladabouche Collection   Gael Dundon would buy this car from Dooger Jones for Vince Quenneville, Sr. who nearly won the first track championship at Devil's Bowl with it.
Ladabouche Photo   Argyle, NY's Bob Hoffer backs his X9 Ford into a pit stall at the Vermont State Fair in 1962. Killed in a highway accident a year later, Hoffer never did much with the car.	Ladabouche Photo   The third owners of the car were Norm Scarborough and Vince Quenneville, Sr., who gave it its only successful year.	From Dan Ody's 8 MM Old Speedways DVD George Rogers was a local star who decided to build a late model for Devil's Bowl's first season. He won the Vermont State Championship race with; but, suffering from a serious illness -he would sell the car after the race.	Ladabouche Collection   Center Rutland car dealer Ray Nutting would put the 1956 Chevy on the map, and he won some races - but he would tell you he was no George Rogers.
Ladabouche Collection   New York  low buck operator Oscar Porath puttered around tracks like Victoria and Fonda for a few seasons before selling his Ford.	Courtesy of Dan Ody   Ron Quackenbush put a little life into the old girl around 1959.	Courtesy of Phil Butler   The Allisons built a number of these Allison chassis Chevelles in the early 1970's.	Ladabouche Photo   One Allison Chevelle was bought for Richie Panch's fabulous rookie season with Northern NASCAR in 1972. Then Steve Poulin had a breakout seaszon with the same car. Ladabouche Photo
Ladabouche Photo  Henry Caputo built a fabulous 1936 Chevy coupe for Ken Shoemaker. The car, along with Shoe went over to Chris Drellos for more dominant racing. When Drellos was taken ill, the car was finally sold.	Conde & Parry Site Photo   The car, when owned by Frank Trinkhaus and driven by Irv Taylor.	Moody Family Photo  Wes "Slugger" Moody was pretty done with hs driving career when he had this Olsen Eagle.	Ladabouche Collection When Moody promoted Airborne Speeway for C.J. Richards in 1984, he arranged for the Eagle to be sold for Dick Nephew to drive. The former National champ had a great comeback season from a retirement that year.
Herbert Family Photo  This is Dutch Hoag in an early Ford coupe he built.	John Grady Photo  Some historians claim car owner Hal Kempeny bought that Hoag Ford and had - among others - Bill Wimble as driver. The car was good, while really ugly.	LaFond Family Photo  Norm Cyr built this little coupe to run at Devil's Bowl. Then as he often did, he sold the car off [to a group wanting to put Cyr's Milton neighbor, Beaver Dragon, in it].	Dragon Family Photo  Dragon won one of the most dramatic upset victories in that car around 1966. Later, he raced at Devil's Bowl in a coupe for the man who had bought this car from him and wrecked it.
Courtesy of Ken Paulsen The cars of the George Barber stable, out of Bradford, VT were legendary. The backup car, first driven by Leland Ingerson, carried the banner after lead driver Pappy Forsyth retired. Ken Paulsen says Barber only used one 1932 Ford - the one shown above on its maiden voyage at T Road.	Courtesy of Cho Lee  Claremont, NH area salvage business owner Allen Whipple bought the 1932 version of 47 and had a great season or two at Bear Ridge with the car. [ It was the only track left where flatheads could run, and Barber owned the track.]	Ladabouche Photo  Larry Warren broke the mold of ugly cars  in Catamount's Hurriucane division with this neat Chevy. It finally had at least five owners.	Ladabouche Collection  The last owner may have been the most significant: Jamie Aube, [seen here in it as #41] who would go on to greatness in Catamount's late models and, ultimately, 2 consecutive Busch North titles.
Bruno Family Photo  Courtesy of John Rock  Plattsburgh, NY area car builder Vic Wolfe [shown with a favored driver Bob Bruno and some of his trophies] was not afraid to selloff his old cars to competitors.	Ladabouche Photo  Canadian Frank Hodge bought a Wolfe coupe and ran it at places like Fairmont Speedway and in Quebec. He would change the number to Lucky 7 for most of his races with it.	Courtesy of Cho Lee Harold Healey was arguably Wolfe's most successful buyer - his #70 shown here with Ernie Reid at Thunder Road.	Bob Mackey Photo via John Rock  Bud Besor, with another Wolfe coupe, reportedly also owned by Harold Healey.
Bob  Doyle Photo  Ladabouche Collection Ray Lasnier built this elegant Firebird for Catamount's Grand American division, but ended up selling it. It had a long and successful run, ending with several years under the ownership of Joey LaQuerre.	Ladabouche Photo The Lasnier when Joe Myers had it. It was also run by Norm Andrews and LaQuerre.	Ladabouche Collection Second generation driver Skip Roots built this three window coupe and had a moderately successful run at Fonda. His car later went through arguably  as many as six other owners.	Russ Bergh Photo  Ladabouche Collection This is thought to be one of the other versions of the Roots car - Bob Emsminger using the car  on pavement with Bruce Dostal as owner.
Ladabouche Collection Will Cagle had Bob Rossell build a number of sedans for him. This one, shown at Catamount's All Star League show, was for his asphalt ASL races. He sold some of these sedans, and most were run at Leb. Valley.	John Grady Photo via Otto Graham This Cagle sedan, shown here with Lebanon Valley legend Tommy Corellis, isstill sporting Cagle number and colors. It - or anothe like it would end up with the Fleury family and be driven by Bob Leach.	Courtesy of Bud Brooks This old 8MM footage shows the 1951 season car of Manchester Depot, VT's Gene Tetreault, an ace welder and darned good shoe. He would not sell the car, but did mothball it for over ten years.	8MM Frame from Dan Ody's Old Speedways DVD After getting the racing bug back in 1962 at CJ Richards' Fairmont Speedway, Gene brought the old girl out for the remainder of that season. He did OK, too. Same dents - notice ?
Courtesy of Chuck Grime Many of these stories seem to involve Vince Quenneville, Sr and one or the other of his car owners. This is Bob Vivari of Connecticut. He and Chuck Grime sold this pavement car to Quenneville and Gael Dundon for use on the dirt at Fairmont.	Ladabouche Photo Vince [foot on car] Gael [kneeling] and the crew at Fairmont in 1965. They struggled with the car for quite some time, but it eventually became a rocket that propelled them to the 1966 track title.	Ladabouche Photo Jim Cayea built a 1962 Dodge Hurricane car for his young friend, Leon Gonyo. Gonyo began driving in 1975 and is still racing effectively. It is likely this car would have been orange and black .	Courtesy of Andy Boright The automatic tranny car lasted through at least five owners. Don Turner, Jr, recently the Republican leader in the Vermont House of Representatives [above] was the last known driver. What is it with those racin' Vermont politicians ?
Cavalcade of Racing Johnny Flach's coupe, from Fred Searing's Ridge Runner Racing Team, was the scourge of Lebanon Valley in the very early '60's.	Lebanon Valley Classics via the Blake Collection Flach sold the to Russ Blake, who certainly had a great ride to begin with.	Ladabouche Photo Wilbur Baker's old Me2 car from Warrensburgh, NY was driven at Fairmont by a number of drivers.	Ladabouche Photo Wilbur Baker's old Me2 car from Warrensburgh, NY disappeared for about 2 seasons before re-emerging as Bob Harrison's 711.
Ginny Ross Collection Gordon Ross's 19 coupe, with Doug Garrison at the wheel. Ross cars [and Garrison with a number of cars] won a ton of races in the late '50's and early '60's.	Courtesy of Arnie Ainsworth Gordon Ross's sold this 19 coupe to his driver, Doug Garrison, who uglied it up considerably but made to go tres fast !	Courtesy of Steve Pecor Fred Rosner built three 1967 Fords in all for John Rosati to run on the Northern NASCAR LMS circuit.	Courtesy of Arnie Ainsworth Ripton's Bucky Dragon bought this 1967 Ford, built for John Rosati by Fred Rosner. He used it at Devil's Bowl. The poor Ford wasn't built for dirt and NO CAR was built to withstand Bucky for long.
Courtesy of Tim Rogers Second generation Castleton, VT racer Butch Rogers built several innovations into this dirt Camaro for Devil's Bowl in 1977.	Courtesy of Tim Rogers Butch Rogers sold the car to  Castleton neighbor Charlie Brown who enjoyed as much success as had Butch. When forced to run cars of a higher class later, he did wreck it.	From the HAMB Chat Site Irv Taylor, usually a driver for hire, did have  his own T&M 1 car with which he had much success.	From Dan Ody's 8MM Old SPeedways DVD's Lefty Casey, with car in 1967.   Courtesy of Tim Rogers Ted Brown, a little later.
Joe Cryan Photo via  3 Wide Pic. Vault Rene charland with one of his Rosner - built coupes.	Bob Frazier Photo via  Ed Fabian Steady Eddie Allen with one of the Rosner - built coupes at Devil's Bowl.	Ladabouche Collection Mor Dubois made a brief comeback to Northern NASCAR wit this orange Nova.	Ladabouche Collection Jamie Aube bought the Dubois Nova and kickstarted a tremendous career that is still going.
Internet Source Unidentified Buzzie Reutimann had very similar cars for years.	Jack's Race Photos One of the last Buzzie Reutimann cars was bought by Jack Duffy.	Bob McDowell Photo via CJ Richards Saratoga's Spence Parkhurst was an early stock star in the 1950's.	Courtesy of Gerry Lavallee via via John Gallant After a brief stay with George Voeckler, the Spence Parkhurst car became the first 10% of Johnny Kollar.
Dragon Family Photo In the heady spending days of the 1987 ACT season, Beaver Dragon's team's backup car was slated for use by crew chief Steve Poulin [left]].	Courtesy of Walter Newell It ended up being sold to Barney McRae, when Poulin built another backup car. Barney came very close to beating Beaver at Catamount with this car in one particular ACT program.	Courtesy of Mark Austin Henry Van Acker had this sharp Camaro in the Catamount Grand American division.	Courtesy of Andy Boright Henry Van Acker sold his car to Owen Wimble, fresh out of the Street Stock class, as the New Flying Tigers were created around 1985.
Ladabouche Photo The Royce Tucker [3rd from left] 14 VT was one of the most beautiful sportsman coupes I ever saw. It got wrecked at Airborne around 1963.	Courtesy of Moody Family Bernie Kentile bought the car and did a great job restoring to past glory. He ran it at Saranac Lake.	Courtesy of Rick Parry Roger Gauthier was one of the drivers of Charles Habreck's pretty but heavy 53 sportsman.	Courtesy of Rick Parry It became the first car for Bucky Tesiero.
Bettis Photo Collection Gone since Catamount dropped the modifieds in 1968, Jean - Paul Cabana returned in 1971 with this Chevelle and was once again very dominant.  He was one of the few late model builders who seemed to prefer a body with that rear door post.	Bettis Photo Collection That first Cabana Chevelle was sold to Middlesex, VT's Ron Bettis, a former Flying Tiger driver.	Caron Family Photo Collection Wily old Rex Shattuck, a 1950's stock car luminary, had built himself a very fast Hurricane car [4] for Catamount in 1971. He only ran a short while.	Cho Lee Photo Collection Shattuck sold the '62  Ford Hurricane car to young Paulie Robar,  ho was having great success until a fiery crash ruined the car.
Courtesy of Both Rich Palmer and Steve Pecor George Horn put together a gorgeous Chevelle for the Northern NASCAR circuit in 1972. He sold it after a year.	Courtesy of Andy Boright Dick Blake bought the car for Russ Ingerson to drive in 1973. They seemed to have arough go with the car.	Joe Lawrence Collection Courtesy of Chas Hertica Joe Lawrence's aaaJr was, itself, already a used car - from Danny Mitchell.	Cavalcade of Auto Racing Photo Courtesy of Chas Hertica Joe Lawrence's aaaJr became the noted Jimmy Markle 95, a Lebanon Valley standout.
Courtesy of Ted Vogel, Jr. Roger Canfield's 8NH plies Fairmont Speedway with Ted Brown at the wheel.	Courtesy of John Rabideau Leo Vallancourt would buy the car and put Sonny Rabideau in it to run Devil's Bowl, Lebanon Valley, and Claremont.	Ladabouche Photo 1964 saw Vince Quenneville Sr.'s first car with owner Gael Dundon. .	Courtesy of Davis Family Collection A year later, as Quenneville moved up to a sportsman, this car went to Harry "Boo" Duffany.
See Credits on Photo Neil Dunstan's 3 window coupe. This was the first car [and chosen numberf] for a young Peppy Peppecelli.	Courtesy of Ted Vogel, Jr. Peppy Peppecelli would bring his version of the 23 to Fairmont late in the 1964 season.	Courtesy of Arnie Ainsworth via Chas Hertica Mert Hulbert built this late model bodieid car for the Valley, and ended up selling it to Joe Lawrence	Courtesy of Chas Hertica Jackie Wilson with the Joe Lawrence version of the car. Courtesy of Marcia F. Wetmore via Chas Hertica Joe Lawrence ended up selling it to Stan Wetmore, an associate of Hulbert via the Searing racing stable.
Bob Frazier Photo  Courtesy of Bob Kilburn Pete Corey [who rarely sold his cars] brought this late '60's backup to D. Bowl, removed the fuel injection, and ended up selling it to a group for Chet Doaner.	Bob Frazier Photo Doaner had a memorable year at  D. Bowl with the car in 1968.	Russ Bergh Photo via HAMB Site Phil [PJ] Spiak started out with this car in the mid '60s' before selling it to the Tremonts and going NASCAR Grand Touring racing.	Via  Chas Hertica Win Slavin with the Tremont version of the car before they sold it to Wally Warburton.
Russ Bergh Photo via Jim Kelly Mel Austin's Ford coupe, as it sits after ramming the announcer's stand at Victoria Speedway.	Ladabouche Photo Amsterdam's Tom Douglas bought it and did little graphically to change it. I imagine some of the front got repaired.	Shany Lorenzet Photo via Dave Dykes Jokko Maggiacommo in one of the Garuti Brothers cars. Strangely enough, it was fairly common for dirt teams to buy pavement cars like this one.	Arnold Ainsworth Collection Butch Jelley with this, his first Martin Riiska Yellow X ride. The car had been a Garuti Bros. pavement car in southern New England.

Ladabouche Photo Above, I credited Butch Rogers [behind his car] with building innovative Camaros. This is his second one.

Courtesy of Tom Donahue Lee Nutting bought the second Rogers car, as Butch was beginning to have problems with his back. Nutting ran the car at D Bowl against three other similar cars.

Russ Bergh Photo via Dan Ody Veteran driver Ken Shoemaker wins one with the Azchet/McWalker 81a at Fonda.

MIke Gray Collection Ron Quackenbush, in the Stoney Thomas D1, the former 81a car.

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