[Buford61]

Thanks. As a followup the G force impact of hitting the wall sideways had driven my rib area into a pad that was there to keep me in the car in just such an incident. We did not have a net in those days but fortunately my head did not hit the wall like happened to Rich Vogler and Danny Milburn. That probably would have killed me. But the impact on my side put such a shock to my backbone that is what caused my brain to get scrambled into semi consciousnesses. I had just enough senses to get myself back to the pit but no more. I was lost in space.

After the relapse on the way home I pulled over and looked at an Atlas to try to figure out where I was, but it was useless because it had dozen of maps and I had no idea which one to look at. I spent literally the next 3 days in bed. I couldn't move an inch without serious pain. They called it in those days "race track arthritis." Every muscle in my neck, back and sides and been stretched and I was essentially immobilized flat on my back and that gave me plenty of time to kick myself for blowing my big chance. Also John Gall who is in the photo went over a wall at the Indy Speedrome a week later and hit a light pole in the roll cage and it went right through it killing him instantly. They may have called them midgets but they were not for the feint of heart.

[Barton Farley]

I used to really enjoy reading Buford's posts over at The Nostalgia Forum a few years back, and I tell ya he's got an amazing knowledge of motor racing history especially concerning people and events surrounding the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 500. Thanks for the stories Buford, keep 'em coming!

[Buford61]

Well since this is about disasters I could tell you about the time I saw the Green Berets pull the photographer stand off the 110 foot roof of the grandstand at the Illinois State Fair Indy car race and kill 3 people.

[CaSe]

Or post pics.

[FunkPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Buford61 ↗

... Also John Gall who is in the photo went over a wall at the Indy Speedrome a week later and hit a light pole in the roll cage and it went right through it killing him instantly. They may have called them midgets but they were not for the feint of heart.

Hopefully this isn't a duplicate post of this image, but I found this photo showing the moment of John Gall's fatal crash.

[fortythree]

Just a quickie - wire pics of johnny Allen chucking his Ford over the wall at Atlanta in '63 and neatly removing what looks like the motor, helpfully arrowed by the picture editor.

[Buford61]

Wow I never saw that before. I never met him. But he is forever ingrained in my memory for being in the photo with me.

[GG57]

This has been very interesting thread and I appreciate all the hard work everyone put in to it. I especially appreciate the better identification of the photographs in the much later posts. Even though there was an identifying page on Page 12, I really got confused with who and exactly what I was looking at. Better identification for those of us not completely familiar with all of the drivers and their nicknames would have been/would be much appreciated.

[jeremycrpntr]

Originally Posted by 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.

I could sit around all day listening to stories like this! There is no racing as ballsy and crazy as sprint car and midget racing. Especially on dirt (dirt is for racing asphalt is for getting there) lol Although I love Salem,IN!!! Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it!

[Buford61]

Josh Burton fatal Sprint car crash Bloomington Speedway 5/24/13 (orange roll cage).

http://www.si.com/longform/dirt-racing/index.html