Posted: March-01-2007 at 10:01pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Hey James K.... Here is the Coyote Racing #99 Cadillac Enduro car which made it's one and only racing appearance late in the 1995 season.

Since there was a big Enduro event scheduled at LPIR and no late Model race on the program, we had planned to go to Hickory that weekend and compete in a double-header Late Model event to try to get a good finish (or two) to add to our 1995 results.... which would have allowed us to drop one (or two) of our early season bad finishes from the races counting toward NASCAR Regional points. At that point in the season we were in the top ten and we were having our best ever season. Our season had started off with two wrecks in the first two events, and any finish position better than 17th at Hickory would help us. By this point in the season we had managed to win half of the events run at LPIR and on our way to a third consecutive track championship. On Wednesday before the planned Hickory trip, driver Tommy Spangler called me and asked, "Do you really want to go to Hickory?"    I said, "Why are you asking?"   He said, "Well, I'd sort of like to just run that big Enduro race at Coeburn and just have some fun".

So..... we bought the Cadillac (which had been in a few Enduro's before) on Thursday, took it to the shop Friday, checked it out, lettered it (such as it was), and loaded it up.

We had fun.

Early in the Enduro event Tommy came off the track and drove over into the infield where we were all watching the race from the back of a truck. We all jumped down to see what was wrong. Tommy just looked at us with that impish grin and said, "I am having FUN!!! But, this car is a DOG!" .....and he shoved it back into drive and took off.

Just a little past half way in the 100-lap Enduro the #99 Caddy was about 38 laps down best we could tell. Then the bottom end of the motor scattered all down the back straight and through turns 3 &4, Tommy parked it up against the guard rail in turn 4, and when the cars were finally slowed to allow him to get out, he ran straight across the track to announcer Dave Stanley who was waiting on him at the end of pit road. Dave said, "Looked like you were having fun out there!"

And Tommy without missing a beat said, "Yeah, we were running our race, just like we planned. I was just taking it easy and staying out of trouble. Our strategy was to do that for the first 90 laps and then turn her loose for the last 10 laps."

...... by the way..... the NASCAR regional points? That was the last year before NASCAR went to the competition index point system. We did win the track championship, but when the final point total was announced we ended up 11th in the region..... one point (yep... "1") out of tenth place. The top ten got points money and 10th place points money was $6500. In August that old Cadillac cost me $400, but by the end of the season the cost had gone up to $6900....

Posted: March-01-2007 at 10:16pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Yep.... our whole bunch had a good time that night. It was fun.

Posted: March-01-2007 at 10:43pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Hey Linton..... Check this one out.

Posted: November-26-2008 at 5:23pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Bringing this one back to the top.

We'll be posting some more photos and stories during the off season.

Posted: March-14-2009 at 8:02am | IP Logged	Tweet

Here's one from way back......

The year was 1967. I was a senior in high school. The car was a 1955 Ford Hobby Division car and was driven at Kingsport Speedway by Kingsport's B.G. Flynn. Kingsport was a high banked red clay track of just over 1/4 mile length at the time.

Note that we have been lettering race cars for 43 years as attested to by this photo......  HA HA

Posted: March-14-2009 at 11:15pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Wow "SpeedRacer," being you've been lettering race cars for 43 years, maybe it's time Shawn's nickname of "Sam the Snowman" is dropped and we just call you the "Ancient One." HA HA HA HA

Hey, being serious ... you've really contributed a lot to local racing in the region over the years. Did you ever think back in the early days when you hand-lettered by painting the numbers, sponsors, etc. on the cars, that vinyl and body-wraps would one day be used on race cars?

Hey Lynn, I'm not saying you're OLD ... but when you were a high school senior in 1967, I was nine years old. HA HA HA

"SpeedRacer," back in the '60s when Kingsport was dirt, did they have track souvenir programs? A buddy of mine recently asked me that, when I showed him an old Kingsport Speedway program when the track was asphalt. I've got that program and also old Sportsman and Appalachian Speedway programs. But not one from the '60s when Kingsport was dirt.

I do remember, though, attending racing at Kingsport in the '60s when it was dirt and the old modified coupes raced. I was there when my good friend Dale Ball's uncle, Adel Shaheen got killed. If my memory is correct, from what Dale's late father (Walter Ball) said, battery acid had eaten the seat belts up and when Adel wrecked, he didn't have the belts to restrain him.

Posted: March-14-2009 at 11:17pm | IP Logged	Tweet

About Adel Shaheen, I occasionally see his daughters Rhonda and Sheena when they come by Dale's car lot or his house.

"SpeedRacer," do you remember what year it was when Adel got killed? I don't remember.

Posted: March-15-2009 at 8:46am | IP Logged	Tweet

The year was 1967 best I remember, possibly 1968. His car barrel rolled a couple of times off turn two. He was ejected from the car and then run over by another car. Yes, that car had the seat belts mounted to the floor behind the seat, with the seat belt mounting bolts on each side of the battery which was also mounted to the floor by a battery "hold down" clamp. The battery was not covered by any type of container, and yes, corrosives from the battery had eaten away at the belts.

Souvenir programs at Kingsport Speedway when it was a red clay track? They didn't have a weekly "slick" program. They did have a printed and stapled "program guide" (just sheets of paper stapled together) which was available at times. I think that I have a few of those in my collection of stuff.

Posted: August-23-2009 at 9:12pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Gonna get some more photos posted on here soon......

Posted: November-25-2009 at 11:10pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Moving forward a LOT of years from that photo posted above of me hand lettering the 1955 Ford #12 Hobby Division car...... This is a much more recent photo of me applying graphics to the car of NASCAR legend Geoff Bodine. Geoff is a member of the ProImage/84expo family of racers.  Pro Image Racing Graphics is a supporter of and a graphics supplier for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc.

(photo by Dale Roberts, ISCARS Dash Series official photographer)

Posted: November-26-2009 at 12:34pm | IP Logged	Tweet

...and then Geoff takes to the track in the newly lettered #99.

(photo by Dale Roberts, ISCARS Dash Series official photographer)

Posted: June-08-2010 at 4:16pm | IP Logged	Tweet

A photo of Brad Teague and me on the night of a feature win by Brad at LPR. Brad also sat on the pole for that race.

(photo by Sissie "Susieqtoo" Keys)

Posted: June-08-2010 at 5:02pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Another photo taken after that feature win. Obviously I was happy with the way the night had gone........

Note, too....Picture above.... No we didn't run the nose of the car that high. The guys had already raised it up for loading in the trailer. The picture were taken after we had come back from the scales post race.

(photo by Sissie "susieqtoo" Keys)

Posted: June-09-2010 at 9:03am | IP Logged	Tweet

That was a regular Saturday night weekly event. It was normal back then to have 20 to 25 Late Model cars, and good car counts in all the support divisions. The number of fans in the stands averaged 2500 to 3000, and on some weekends the stands were filled to near capacity. The grandstand seats over 7000.

Heck, our group alone always brought around 200+ people every week, and several other teams brought as many. I always marketed my race team.... i.e., got out press releases to the area weekly papers, gave away Coyote Racing T-Shirts and hats via drawing for different age group kids at the track every week, gave T-Shirts and hats to local radio stations to use for their prize packs, etc. We took our race cars and drivers to area schools and libraries for special programs, such as career day events, Race-to-Read  program, etc.  We did several special Race-to-Read programs all over SW VA where we worked with local librarians and elementary schools.... giving them the guidelines and awards criteria well ahead of our scheduled appearance, then we would take the race cars, drivers and as many of the crew as possible and spend a day at the schools or an evening at the libraries. We let the kids tell us about the books they had read, and we talked racing. Brad Teague is a master story-teller, and he would have the kids (and teachers) alternately in stitches and in tears as he told stories of growing up in in the mountains of North Carolina, dreaming of being a race car driver, and making it to the Spint Cup level..... and he always tied it all together by pointing out the value of a well rounded education, and being happy with who you are and what you do in life. We always had great turnouts for those events, great response form the kids... and brought many many new young fans to the sport.  In fact, our grand prize at most of those school and library functions was that the winning child (or children) and parents got to come to the next race as guests of Coyote Racing. They usually got interviewed during pre-race, and always got to spend time with our team .... and quite often got to come down with us post-race and be part of the victory lane celebration.   I called it the "McDonald's theory of marketing".... i.e., cater to the children; let the children feel special and be part of the team..... and the kids will bring their parents to the race track. we brought a lot of people to the track.

Posted: June-09-2010 at 9:36am | IP Logged	Tweet

I want to point out, too, that we weren't the only team doing community service stuff back then. Several other teams did similar things in their own communities, and several of us joined together for special events. We often had another Late Model team or Limited team or other support division teams participate with us in our school day and library events. Back during those years my Coyote Racing team was very active with the March of Dimes, and we always participated in the Russell County WalkAmerica event. The first year we participated we had only our race car and team there, and our team members walked. Within three years we had over 25 teams participating by bring their race cars to display and even signing up to walk. Then we organized our own Racers WalkAmerica Team to raise funds, and our Racers WalkAmerica Team was the walk team ended up raising the most money of all the company sponsored and civic teams participating. The area director of the March of Dimes came to the race the track the following weekend to present our team's plaque and to thank us for our efforts... and of course along with them came many area civic leaders, other walkers and walk teams and family members... and we gained several more new race fans.

Those are the kinds of things which build community and public support... and end up bringing fans to the track.

Posted: September-28-2010 at 9:22pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Way back to 1982, and our first ever Late Model feature win. This was at Kingsport Speedway, and it was the last Late Model Sportsman race on asphalt at Kingsport. Tommy Hilbert was the driver at the time and it was also his first ever Late Model win.

Sue hasn't changed much at all since then, but I have aged considerably.

Posted: September-29-2010 at 10:02am | IP Logged	Tweet

Tink and Mike Potter at Lonesome Pine back when it reopened in 1990. Tink went on the win the LMSC title that year.

Posted: September-29-2010 at 10:07am | IP Logged	Tweet

Another tough competitor! When he rolled through the gates at Lonesome Pine in 1990, you knew you were in for a tough night!

Posted: September-29-2010 at 10:13am | IP Logged	Tweet

Here is another shot of the Zervakis chassied Chevrolet Lumina, powered by an H&E Race Engine, that helped Tink to that track title at LPIR in 1990. He also finished sixth in the Blue Ridge Region Winston Racing Series points that year!

Posted: September-29-2010 at 10:20am | IP Logged	Tweet

Hey Kenny... You didn't tell everyone who that was in the Skyline Crane Service #4 car.

That was the one and only Curtis Markham.

Posted: September-29-2010 at 10:54am | IP Logged	Tweet

There are in fact some of those....... 

Posted: September-29-2010 at 5:01pm | IP Logged	Tweet

HA HA  I have been said to resemble a person or two over the years, but I will have to say that is a first.  I have never been told that I looked like Gilligan. LOL 

But, you are right..... now that I look at us side-by-side, (another photo of me from the year 1982 bb [that's before beard]), the resemblence is uncanny. We could have been twins.

Posted: September-29-2010 at 5:10pm | IP Logged	Tweet

...... and, the race was at Kingsport Speedway RW. We raced NASCAR Winston Racing Series weekly events at Kingsport 1978 through 1981, then some special events there in 1982. That particular event was the last ever Late Model event run on the asphalt surface at Kingsport Speedway.

Posted: November-14-2010 at 7:37am | IP Logged	Tweet

Some news coming soon.......

Posted: November-14-2010 at 7:49am | IP Logged	Tweet

Look for a return of the black #99 at Kingsport Speedway in 2011.....

Posted: November-14-2010 at 4:11pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Alright Speed, now you've got us all wondering.......