teardown photos from BG in the 70's

[Lyn Smith]

Carl Lackeys Buick GS was sold to a guy that lives near me here in Ill. He still has it,and drives it on the street.

[thomas sheehan]

Here is a shot of the Meek Bros. running modified at Bowling Green during one of the sportsnationals.



Here are two shots that Bill Truby took from the same races in Bowling Green.
Both are pics of Lyn Smith......





Tom Sheehan

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by thomas sheehan

Here is a shot of the Meek Bros. running modified at Bowling Green during one of the sportsnationals.



Here are two shots that Bill Truby took from the same races in Bowling Green.
Both are pics of Lyn Smith......





Tom Sheehan

Thanks Tom. You guys are killin' me. It's just great seeing some of this old stuff.

As far as I know, I haven't spoken with him in years, I think Toby still has both of his old cars, the stocker and the modified. Just for a funny story, years ago I was at Toby's tire shop, buying a set of tires for the wife. One of his clerks commented, you look familar? Toby laughed, told him to go back to his office and look at the pictures on his wall, various races, class wins and such taken in their heyday, I was in a half dozen or so.


Lyn, it's nice to know that old Buick is still around.

Robert Swartz

[Lyn Smith]

Great pictures of my GS.Started racing it in76.Still racing it in F,G today 33 years later. Those pics are from 2 different years.Probably around 78,79.One of the Meeks used to work for Rayburn the circle track chassis guy,who back then had a machine shop next to Bob Gliddens house in Ind..Rayburn also raced a hemi pro stock back in the 70's.Back then the pros raced at Div. races.He would take the hemi out of the car on sat night, and have one of his machinist work on it all night back at the shop,pick it up sunday morning and have it back in the car and racing sunday afternoon.

[Bob Rice]

Here's a Bill Tuby picture of the white car.

[Dave Turner]

Originally Posted by Bob Rice

Here's a Bill Tuby picture of the white car.

Thanks very much Bob!!

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lyn Smith

Great pictures of my GS.Started racing it in76.Still racing it in F,G today 33 years later. Those pics are from 2 different years.Probably around 78,79.One of the Meeks used to work for Rayburn the circle track chassis guy,who back then had a machine shop next to Bob Gliddens house in Ind..Rayburn also raced a hemi pro stock back in the 70's.Back then the pros raced at Div. races.He would take the hemi out of the car on sat night, and have one of his machinist work on it all night back at the shop,pick it up sunday morning and have it back in the car and racing sunday afternoon.

Lyn,

That was Kenny, Toby's little brother, he was the driver. I haven't talked with him in at least 15 years, he took a job up in Chicago. After they quit racing, he lost the drive to keep working on race stuff.

Yeah, Rayburn's was a neat shop to hang out at until he finally hit it big in the roundy roundy cars. The whole atmosphere changed. I spent a few late nites at that old shop. I recall one nite helping to adapt a set of Hemi heads to a wedge block.

Rayburn eventually got to the point he wanted little to do with drag racers. He commented that circle track racers "payed" but drag racers wanted everything given to them and then wanted it fixed for free when it broke! The man was trying to make a living so can't blame him for wanting those with the serious dollars. I haven't been to his shop in over 20 years, he has a complex of about 3-4 buildings now.

Robert Swartz

[MEMORIES]

The blue SS/O Chevy II on the other side of the Buick in the staging lane shot is "Cheetin" Charlie Lee from Sparta, Tennessee. He raced at my home track, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, in the seventies. Here's a pic I took of his car in 1974. This car was sold to H/MP racer, Cotton Perry, who won his first national event with the car.

Wayne.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Robert Swartz

Lyn,

That was Kenny, Toby's little brother, he was the driver. I haven't talked with him in at least 15 years, he took a job up in Chicago. After they quit racing, he lost the drive to keep working on race stuff.

Yeah, Rayburn's was a neat shop to hang out at until he finally hit it big in the roundy roundy cars. The whole atmosphere changed. I spent a few late nites at that old shop. I recall one nite helping to adapt a set of Hemi heads to a wedge block.

Rayburn eventually got to the point he wanted little to do with drag racers. He commented that circle track racers "payed" but drag racers wanted everything given to them and then wanted it fixed for free when it broke! The man was trying to make a living so can't blame him for wanting those with the serious dollars. I haven't been to his shop in over 20 years, he has a complex of about 3-4 buildings now.

Robert Swartz

I was last at CJ's place about 4 years ago. When the PRI Show was at Indy, CJ had an open house the weekend of the show, on Friday night. It was always a lot of fun. CJ is the only guy I know who can throw a party and have two or three of his ex wives show up, and everyone still have a great time. One of my customers is real tight with CJ, in fact CJ keeps a picture of my customer's car on his desk a lot. I can remember being at CJ's party and seeing Tony Stewart, Kenny Schrader, and a 1/2 dozen other big time circle track guys, and they were all a lot of fun.

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

I was last at CJ's place about 4 years ago. When the PRI Show was at Indy, CJ had an open house the weekend of the show, on Friday night. It was always a lot of fun. CJ is the only guy I know who can throw a party and have two or three of his ex wives show up, and everyone still have a great time. One of my customers is real tight with CJ, in fact CJ keeps a picture of my customer's car on his desk a lot. I can remember being at CJ's party and seeing Tony Stewart, Kenny Schrader, and a 1/2 dozen other big time circle track guys, and they were all a lot of fun.

Alan,

You are spot on with this. Especially about the part with ex-wives and family. Rayburn is an interesting charactor. After re-readiing my post, it may have sounded more mean spirited than I intended. My point, back in my day, he started out as a little shop.I was around when that first little brick building {and a few old pieces of equipment} that I believe is essentially his office now were the business. He made it, took alot of effort and time. As his customer base grew, so did he.

Robert Swartz