Just a thought

[Oldewalnut]

Someone on the IRL side of this forum mentioned Freddie Agabashion (hope I spelled his name right). Over Thanksgiving I was digging through some junk over at my folks house and found an old program with his autograph on it. I remember my Dad going to some kind of dinner and getting this for me. He worked for Romine Industries and back in the 50's and 60's it wasn't unusual to meet bigtime racing people there from time to time. Also remember another of the guys there would take the month of May off to work for one Anthony Joseph Foyt. No big topic here just some random thoughts on a cold Sunday nite.

[Railbird]

Maybe a Champion Spark Plug thing..Champion used to send guys out to speak on safety in gradeschools, or to have a few drinks and tell bawdy jokes at Moose Lodges..

Johnie Parsons got confused on his appearences one time and showed up half tanked at a gradeschool...

The bawdy jokes did not go over well.

[jandj]

Freddie did a safety program at my High School back in the ...heck , I don't remember what year it was ! Showed a film of that year's 500 and gave a safety talk afterwards. I do remember being the only guy who knew who he was !

[ January 21, 2002: Message edited by: jandj ]

[Eagle104]

My highschool got Bob Veith in either late'70 or early'71.

[BroncoBilly84]

My high school, Rosary High-St. Louis,MO had Tom Bigelow. Not only was I the only person that knew who he was, I was also the only person that HE knew that day. Really awsome.

[beyondnascar]

My high school didn't get Jack!

[Eagle104]

Ohh, you must mean "Cactus Jack" Turner.
Is that what you're saying, beyondnascar??

Actually, I think he was one of the early participants in the program.

[beyondnascar]

No, I meant Jack Diddly! Ever hear of him? hahaha! No wonder all those Southern California tracks went bankrupt! Guess what High School I went to...... FONTANA! They had somebody come talk about steel! Now that steel mill is gone too! But it was replaced by a racetrack! Go FIGURE! And now I live in Maryland, a state that seems to despise those beer drinking-hot dog eating racefans! (that is what they said!) But they have a gazzilion dollars to spend on Orioles, Ravens, and that horse race thingy called the Preakness which always seems to interfere with Indy qualifying coverage! AURGGGGHHHHH! But those people dont drink beer and eat hot dogs I guess! Thats okay, because who can afford to take a family of four to the races these days anyway? Not me! Lets see...good seats $70.00 each plus no coolers, right arm for something to eat, left arm for something to wash it down. Thousands of more seats but the same skinny exits to leave. Especially NASCAR! Remember when they used to say they owed all their popularity to the fans.... they sure dont seem too appreciative of the fans anymore! I don't know how much an IRL race is, hopefully not as outrageous as NASCAR.
This will probably sound funny here but... I urge everybody to watch any of the Freestyle motocross competitions on the winter X Games starting this week. What these guys do on/off a motorcycle 30 feet in the air and then land is truly breathtaking. Taken from a die hard auto race fan. My whole family went to the Summer X Games in Philly in 2001. I cant wait til this year! These guys made my heart stop! So thrilling to see live. The cost to enter the X Games to see any competition is FREE! It is all paid for by Corporate sponsors. They have an interactive village for the sponsors.
I just wish racing could figure out something likle that. I know it aint racing.... but it is thrilling! The thing is the sports are judged which is kinda bunk.

Okay... off my soap box. Come to Philly in August! Or when the X Games come near you, Go! It is well worth the price of admission!

[ January 29, 2002: Message edited by: beyondnascar ]

[3-wide]

I’d forgotten about that Champion Highway Safety program. In retrospect, what a brilliant PR idea. I remember Bob Harkey did some school visits up here in New England and got some very good radio/newspapers interviews selling safety AND racing.

I wonder if any of the major companies in racing have ever thought of picking up that concept. (I don't know. Maybe they have.) Teenagers still seem to killing themselves on the highway at the same tragic rate as ever. What a great idea for say, Goodyear to put some of their drivers (from any of the series’) into schools to talk safety and show a video. And if they chose to publicize it, which they’d have every right to do, I can see some very effective commercials, not unlike some of the United Way spots the NFL does with some of it’s players. A win/win situation, Id say.

[Mother Duck]

They use to give away little Champion Spark Plugs on a chain for your keys. I understand they are a real collectable item now. Does anybody remember those???

[ClintCurtis]

I got to see Jack Turner at an old timer's banquet in Seattle a few years back. What a cool guy. He had lots of interesting stories.
Back on topic, the only racing related thing my school got was a Chevrolet dealer who brought along a Camaro funny car he sponsored. The funny car was awesome. The car dealer was later indicted for turning back odometers.

[beyondnascar]

I remember those lil spark plugs. bad part is I don't remember what happened to mine!

[hdolan]

FONTANA...Slag heaps and great HS football teams...