[Buford61]

Found a couple of photos.

[tootparp]

First of all thank you Alvin Karpis and all contributors to this amazing thread....here is my first ever post but sadly it is a close-up of Mel Kenyon's burned hands.

[tootparp]

First post=fail i'll try again !

[tootparp]

Close-up of the grommet sewn into Kenyon's glove and modification to the steering wheel so that he could continue racing, what a guy !

[Buford61]

Mel Kenyon tid bits. This is kind of long I'll divide it up into multiple posts for anyone interested. It was 1975 and only the second time I had raced a USAC Midget. The first time had been on dirt and I didn't do very well but when we got to Illiana, a fast half-mile paved track I was flying in practice. The car was really hooked up and after four years of road racing this felt like what I was used to. It was an unusual day in that the race was in the evening but there was a lot of practice in the afternoon. Usually we only get a few laps in one session but this time we had multiple sessions which really helped with my rookie status getting experience.

The first session I was third fastest. I was passing cars left and right including Indy 500 drivers. It really felt good until I heard this roar to my left rear and suddenly a car flashed by down into the corner and actually scared me. It was Mel Kenyon. I thought "Well I guess I'm not doing that good after all." My car owner kept changing the car after hearing my comments and it was getting faster and faster each session.

In my heat race I had ticked the wall so I came in. He said "Why did you pit?" and I said "I hit the wall" and he said "Oh you can hit it a lot harder than that." So he starts making more changes and I said "You know I really haven't found the limit of this thing yet, I don't think you should keep changing it every time I go out." But he was all hyped up and said "No we are going to win this thing. I am going to beat their asses with a rookie road racer." He was furious and almost quit USAC because they didn't want to let me run at sign in even though the USAC office had issued me a license. There was a lot of animosity about sissy pants, hand kisser road racers among the roundy rounders in those days and they were shocked I not only was competitive but running as fast as anybody first time on a paved track. They didn't want me there and my car owner was giddy he had found a driver to shove it up their asses. He neglected to realize I really didn't know what I wad doing. My balls were bigger than my skill at that point.

Long story short I started in the rear about 24 cars and as we came around out of turn 1 when I nailed the throttle that sucker took off like a rocket sled. Whatever change he had made in the jets turned the car into a fireball and I blew by cars like a picket fence down the back straight. It startled me I was more a passenger than a driver and to make matters worse I had an old shield which had scratches which wasn't noticeable in the daytime but the track was poorly lit and the sporadic lights were flaring on my shield creating something of a strobe light effect as I went down the back straight in a surreal world I didn't understand and probably shouldn't have been in.

By the time we got to turn three I was up to fifth from 24th on one straightaway and I really couldn't see very well and made the mistake of braking where I had been in practice, not realizing I was going probably 10 miles an hour faster. Turned it into turn three and it just wouldn't turn. Same problem as in the heat race when I touched the wall coming out of turn 4, but this time much worse. I saw the yellow light come on. Johnny Parsons Jr who I had passed went in as deep as I did thinking "If that punk can do it so can I" and then realized he was too fast and spun. I wasn't smart enough to do that I tried to save it. Continued below. Here is the car. Me on the inside and John Gall who was killed the following week on the outside.

[Buford61]

Part two and yes there is a Mel Kenyon tidbit coming up. So I hit the wall a ton coming onto the main straightaway and it knocked me out for an instant. When my eyes came back out of blackout I was looking at the flagman eye to eye a short ways up the track. Problem was he was up on a tower about one story high. The car came down on the nose and then bounced back to the tail, a miracle it didn't flip, and when it came down on the track the engine caught and I was still going straight and driving again. There were two problems however. One I heard this irritating thump thump thump noise over my right shoulder and two, I didn't have a clue who I was or where I was. I was driving the car slowly under yellow trying to figure out what was going on. As we rounded turn 1, I saw cars ahead and realized I must be a race driver and this must be a race, but if I didn't know where I was I was smart enough to know I shouldn't be there. And this thumping was driving me crazy.

The pit entrance is off of turn three and I saw it and realized I better get off the track if I don't know what's going on. I entered the pits and people were running to get out of my way and then I realized I didn't know where I was going. But I spotted my bright yellow van and realized that must be where I'm going and I saw the trailer behind the truck parked next to it, so I drove up to it and when I hit the brakes there were no brakes and I slammed into the back of the trailer at probably about 30 to 40 mph which was a pretty big jolt.

So I unstrapped and got out and was standing there looking at the race car crammed into the back of the trailer and completely in La la land. I didn't have a clue where I was or who I was. My car owner came running up saying "What happened what caused the crash." I said "no brakes." I thought he was talking about the trailer crash I didn't even remember the other one. People started rushing up and my dad arrived asking me if I was OK. I was telling everybody I was fine but I really wasn't. I mean I wasn't hurting but I had no idea what was going on. The ambulance pulled up and a nurse got out and she was asking me if I was OK and where does it hurt. I was saying I was OK but she never asked the essential questions. What is your name? Never asked what day of the week it is or if I knew where I was. I couldn't have answered any of those. My car owner was blaming himself saying "I gave you too much car too soon but wow were you going. Next time we are going to beat them all." Unfortunately the season was almost over and parts could not be obtained in time to fix the midget so there was no next time because he sold the car over the winter and bought a Sprint car and hired Bubby Jones.

Anyway I regained my senses in about a half-hour and could remember everything although I did have a relapse driving home where for a while I didn't know where I was and where I was going but that cleared up. And after the race my dad was talking to Mel Kenyon. He said to my dad, "When he blew by me down the back straight I said to myself no way that kid is going to make that corner. What surprised me was he almost did!!!"

[Buford61]

I guess I killed the thread sorry lol.

[FunkPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Buford61 ↗

I guess I killed the thread sorry lol.

Far from it! I really dig your stories, Buford. I've never heard anything quite like them.

I have zero racing stories to share. My background is working for the great software khans out west. All the juicy stories I have would probably violate and NDA or ten, so I just lurk and like on this thread.

[Photoplay]

Love reading the stories Buford

[jennilee]

Wow