art leong made me laugh

[Paul Precht]

You should have seen some of the contraptions he used to bring to Hampton Raceway back in the early seventies, Paul.

[Jim Wahl]

Yep, Art is a unique individual for sure! Nobody can not like 'ol Artie! He is a "give you the shirt off his back" kind of guy. I am thankful to have him as a friend all these years. Now that he is a "Southerner" we will have to work on that funny accent of his! Jim

[Jack Matyas]

Artie in Alaska ? It will never be the same.......Artie has been telling me stories since the early Seventies --and that stuff about the Hemi in his apartment -- all true .Ah , those were the days...................... PS -- Artie paid ?? He must have got his SS check early . Just kidding Artie..........

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Paul Precht

You should have seen some of the contraptions he used to bring to Hampton Raceway back in the early seventies, Paul.

What contraptions???????? You meant "high" Quality race cars didn't you?
I remember when we took a manhole cover off the street to use as ballast We had to prove the car weighed 3500 pounds. For a money match race. (it took 3 of us the lift the manhole cover). Got a 2 second head start and won some big bucks That manhole cover was still by the dunes at Hampton the last time I was there in the mid 90's.

Jim I'm to old to lose the accent. Don't have enough time to find another LOL.

[Paul Precht]

Hi Art, I'm thinking of the 65ish Dart that looked like it escaped the boneyard and had the 413 stuffed in with the fenderwell headers. The 65 Ply was actually pretty nice. The good old Hamptons had character and plenty of characters, I wonder if Ol Pete is sleeping next to that manhole cover right now. Remember the heads up class with Dino Ramirez and Tom Baird going at it every week.What a gang of characters Georgie Roach, Fat Walter, Henry, Harry the Bear, The Gremlin, Domani and Sheppard, Willie Hassek, Eddie Hass, Curtis Odum, and countless more. I used to have fun grudge runs with my completely stock 64 Max Savoy and Charlie Bubkas 64 Fine 409 Chevy. I miss those days so much. I try to tell stories about the Hampton but I guess you had to be there, Paul.

[GRAPE]

Art
I was at the Grove for the streakers.I think the girl was Stan Welsh's wife Adrian.
What about the time at Budds Creek when you got a "good deal" on a hotel room with no running
water ?

Terry Welsh
Struse*Smith*Welsh

[Jack Matyas]

Terry -- That was Stan's wife that streaked us -- that memory is etched in for sure .As for Art's great deal on the motel -- it was just that -- a great deal but water not included .


Artie -- Like they say "those were the days" ...................

[Casey Miles]

Art, did you tell them about the spare tire with the cable wrapped around in it weighing over 300 lbs and the tech guy asking you guys to take it out so that they can weigh it. You told them that there wasn't anyone on the grounds that could lift it and that you needed a cherry picker to get it out!
Also about going to Indy with enough money to get there but not enough to get home. You and Tex won the race that year, got money to get home. As Jimmy Mouller would put it "Mopar Morons"! Him and Mike Magistro where a pair of them also.
We didn't know it back then, but they were some great times to be remembered now.
Casey Miles
248H

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Casey Miles

Art, did you tell them about the spare tire with the cable wrapped around in it weighing over 300 lbs and the tech guy asking you guys to take it out so that they can weigh it. You told them that there wasn't anyone on the grounds that could lift it and that you needed a cherry picker to get it out!
Also about going to Indy with enough money to get there but not enough to get home. You and Tex won the race that year, got money to get home. As Jimmy Mouller would put it "Mopar Morons"! Him and Mike Magistro where a pair of them also.
We didn't know it back then, but they were some great times to be remembered now.
Casey Miles
248H

Casey That spare tire info is as accurate as Moby Dick is a whaling documentary.
The real story is the tire was off a big ford (same bolt pattern) And it weighed 50 pounds (without the wire)
The limit a spare could weigh was 85 pounds so I wound 30 pounds of wire cable around the wheel. then put a tube in the tire to keep the cable from rattling. The splinters on the cable puntured the tube allowing the cable to move. We went to bowling green The "creep" tech guy Joe from canada (he was after us bigtime).teched the car he asked us to lossen the spare tire. He picked it up no problems at the time. (evidently he heard the rattle) He let us through. We raced the class went to teardown passed the motor, wheelbase, overhang etc. Then the creep comes over and asks us to pull the spare tire. I knew it was 80 pounds so I pulled it when I put it down it clunked. The was the end of the story. Tex and a few others carried me to the truck and locked me in it. I was going to make sure the guy never teched another car.
We were poor racers that could not afford 50 pound rims for a spare tire, like many others did. It was cheating but not to gain an advantage it was to keep up with what everyone was already doing.
The challenger really wasn't that light. Every part on the car was as thick as it was when it rolled down the assembly line. The charger on the other hand was a feather weight, that car had 6 steel hemi heads in it and only 2 were bolted to the motor.
And also the real muffler story was each resonator had 20 pounds of lead in it.Also caught by "joe"
Gregg X himself knew we got screwed, but there was nothing he could do about it. He often commented about his ability to sit on out fenders, something that could not be done to a lot of others stockers at the time.