Ss/x

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

Chuck, you sure captured a lot of history in that photo from Harrison County Dragway. Before that 60 Chevy relocated to the louisville,ky. area it was raced by Gregg Luneack in Michigan. It is now owned by Joe Smith somewhere in the northeast. I have lost track of joe in the last few years.The55 wagon was owned by Pat Ryan who later bought the Checkerboard car from Val Hedwoth . The checkerboard car now resides in Hopkinsville, ky. And hasn't been seen at a racetrack in decades. The driver of the 55 wagon in the picture is Shay Smith. After the towing accident and death of one of the Neja brothers, shay drove to California and bought a 57 wagon from the surviving brother. ( sorry I can't recall his first name) . Shay flat towed the car back to Louisville and the car still races two or three times a year , always at the Bowling Green reunion race.The 57 wagon to this day s painted Red with white stripes on the roof. That track, Harrison County Dragway was the first drag strip that I ever went to. On a Sunday afternoon Good Ole Captain Jack asked me if I would like to go watch him race and the rest is ...shall we say history...Ironically one of the first cars that I witnessed going down the track was a 66 nova that belonged to Buddy Hughes....wow chuck, You sure brought back a lot of memories with that one photo. THANKS.......M.J.

The '55 wagon was the one that Pat Ryan bought from Val. Val drove the wagon and a couple of other cars ('55 4-door and '56 2-door wagon) while winning the Division 7 Stock Championship in '71, then switched it to SS/V and won the Super Stock Championship with it in '72. He sold the '55 to Ryan and delivered it to him just after the U.S. Nationals in '72.

c