Going through old photos...

[rrrr]

I found this picture of me and a German formula car driver:

Taken at a horse ranch outside Whitesboro, TX. Just before this, Michael was at a grocery store (note the cases of beer in the background), and told me "You know, no one recognized me. That's nice."

 

[rrrr]

Me and a famous motorsports legend, taken at Indy just before the green flag:

 

[rrrr]

Me and the dean of motorsports TV and journalism, taken just months before he passed away:

Economaki was a great man.

 

[Willie B]

I found this picture of me and a German formula car driver:

Taken at a horse ranch outside Whitesboro, TX. Just before this, Michael was at a grocery store, and told me "You know, no one recognized me. That's nice."

… Damn…you have some great photos… Really sad about Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident…

 

[rrrr]

… Damn…you have some great photos… Really sad about Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident…

It is. He is in a limbo of hell. It must be difficult for his wife and son.

 

[rrrr]

A photo of my friend and 1999 IndyCar Champion Greg Ray:

I took this at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2002, seconds before the car was fired for qualifying laps. Greg won the pole and the race.

 

[rrrr]

The Spirit of Rett, taken at Bonneville just after dawn and our 383 MPH A/FS record run:

 

[rrrr]

Me and Charles after the record run:

 

[rrrr]

My signed Indianapolis Raceway Park poster from the Twin 25 lap races that paid $50,000 if a driver won the first race, started from the back in the second race, and won that. Dave Steele, #29, (RIP) took home all the dough that night. I was crewing for A. J. Fike in the RFMS #69. Dave Darland was in the Steve Lewis #9.

The race was held on the same weekend as the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I didn't have a clue. I flew into town to crew for RFMS, and couldn't find a hotel room. Had to stay in extreme NW Indy, kept the door chained.

 

[rrrr]

The 500 CI Reher and Morrison DRCE engine in the Spirit of Rett, in the pits at Bonneville

The DRCE ( Drag Racing Competition Engine) was designed by GM for NHRA Pro Stock efforts. Reher and Morrison modified it for the 1:45 full throttle on the bottle runs at Bonneville. It put out 2,278 HP on the dyno, and ran with two ginormous tanks of NO2. Check out the size of that dry sump oil tank. It held 14 quarts.

 

[rrrr]

My cat, Chuck.

Chuck is now 16, I hope he hangs out a little longer with us.

 

[Racer56]

Great pictures, keep posting!

 

[4Waters]

My cat, Chuck.

Chuck is now 16, I hope he hangs out a little longer with us.

So that an old photo of your cat or a photo of your old cat

 

[WhatExit?]

Great pics - very cool!

 

[rrrr]

The Great One:

Taken at Indy in 1995, I think.

 

[rrrr]

So that an old photo of your cat or a photo of your old cat

The former. Chuck was a lot younger when the photo was taken. He still sleeps on my bed with us.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Great pictures, keep posting!

Dunno, looks like he's in bed
We may not want to see more until morning

 

[Racer56]

Dunno, looks like he's in bed
We may not want to see more until morning

I meant all the pictures except for the pussy pic!

 

[rrrr]

Great pictures, keep posting!

I have hundreds, but they're on 3.5" floppy discs. I had a Sony digital camera that used them for storage. My USB floppy reader crapped out, guess I should get another one before they aren't sold anymore.

 

[Racer56]

I have hundreds, but they're on 3.5" floppy discs. I had a Sony digital camera that used them for storage. My USB floppy reader crapped out, guess I should get another one before they aren't sold anymore.

You need to have the pictures uploaded to the cloud.

 

[rrrr]

You need to have the pictures uploaded to the cloud.

Yep. They're mostly photos of my IndyCar days. I don't even remember what's on them, but they were taken at tracks all over the country.

 

[rrrr]

Me and my WWII history buddy Bob:

This was taken at the annual Commemorative Air Force airshow in South Dallas in 2018. Bob is a WWII reenactment guy, and has US Army and Royal Air Force uniforms and other kit. In the background is a booth featuring 103 year old Richard E. Cole, the copilot of Jimmy Doolittle's B-25 on the April 18, 1942 Tokyo Raid. I talked to him for a bit, he still remembered details of the mission, including how they had to bail out of their aircraft over China at night as it ran out of fuel.

Dick told me he found Doolittle under a tree, very upset because he thought the mission had failed and he would be court martialed. Instead, Roosevelt presented him with the Medal of Honor. Dick and all the other crewmen received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the US Army Air Forces' highest medal. He died in 2019 at the age of 104. This photo was taken in 2014.

 

[rrrr]

Screen grab taken from a 8mm movie I shot in May 1968 from a rented Cessna 182 as my Dad and I circled Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I was eleven years old. I came home from school on a Monday, and Dad told me "You're not going to school for the rest of the year. I rented a plane, and you and I are flying to Indianapolis to watch the Indy 500." I couldn't believe it.

This is me, my Dad, his friend Dick, and Dick's son Jeffrey, at Coronado Airport in Albuquerque, just before leaving:

Skylane 2565 Romeo is still on the FAA register. I found the owner was a company in South Houston. I called them a couple of years ago, and talked to the owner. He told me 2565R is still flown regularly. It had less than 200 hours on it when we flew it to Indy.

My Dad's high school pal Bobby Unser (RIP) won the race. I regularly tell my Dad the trip is the coolest thing I've ever done. At the time, I couldn't have imagined that years later I would be working at the Speedway during May for a decade.

 

[rrrr]

My Bonneville trophies:

These were for breaking the A/FS and A/GS records in 2011. The year before, and before I started crewing on the car, the Spirit of Rett had broken the FIA and SCTA AA/FS engine driven Land Speed Record with a 414.315 MPH two way average speed. It broke the record set by the Summers Brothers' Goldenrod in 1964.

 

[rrrr]

TrimSpa sponsored our car in 2003.

This was taken at Michigan International Speedway. It happened every weekend, with different girls. Yeah!

 

[playdeep]

Hey Ron...
Remember hanging out in this parking lot...

 

[rrrr]

Hey Ron...
Remember hanging out in this parking lot...

What a great photo! This is the shopping center across the street from our Eldorado High School McDonald's hangout. I did all sorts of automotive mischief there.

Turned great smoking donuts across the parking lot in my 1973 TransAm.

Parked my $200 1953 Studebaker pickup with a 170 CI four banger flathead there. I had formed and brazed 3/4" conduit to flare the rear fender openings, applied bondo and grey primer to smooth them out, and mounted 10" M&H Racemaster slicks on it. I convinced a gullible crowd of high school gear heads it had a 427 Chevy engine before opening the hood. LOL!

Pulled up next to my buddy Steve Filkins, who had a 1970 383 Roadrunner, in a 1957 Plymouth Fury coupe I had just bought for $125 from a school teacher. It was red with a white roof, had a 392 hemi, glasspacks, a 727 Torqueflite with pushbutton gear selection, a black Juarez tuck and roll interior, chrome wheels, and a 4:11 rear end. Told Steve I'd kick his ass in a street race. He just laughed, he didn't know what was under the hood or the rear end gear. I killed him.

I rolled into the Conoco station across the street one night at 2 AM, out of gas and nothing was open. Me and a friend pushed the car around to all nine pumps and drained the hoses into the gas tank. I got enough gas to make it home, about two miles away.

These are just a few of hundreds of nights spent there. Playdeep has killed it with his post.

 

[rrrr]

A limited edition print of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, about to enter Turn 1 during the 2000 USGP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Michael was gracious enough to sign it for me.

Those were the days of the 18,000 RPM V-10s. That's 300 revs per second! During practice, it was cool as hell listening to the shriek of the Ferrari bouncing off of the stands as it went through the gears.

 

[playdeep]

What a great photo! This is the shopping center across the street from our Eldorado High School McDonald's hangout. I did all sorts of automotive mischief there.

Turned great smoking donuts across the parking lot in my 1973 TransAm.

Parked my $200 1953 Studebaker pickup with a 170 CI four banger flathead there. I had formed and brazed 3/4" conduit to flare the rear fender openings, applied bondo and grey primer to smooth them out, and mounted 10" M&H Racemaster slicks on it. I convinced a gullible crowd of high school gear heads it had a 427 Chevy engine before opening the hood. LOL!

Pulled up next to my buddy Steve Filkins, who had a 1970 383 Roadrunner, in a 1957 Plymouth Fury coupe I had just bought for $125 from a school teacher. It was red with a white roof, had a 392 hemi, glasspacks, a 727 Torqueflite with pushbutton gear selection, a black Juarez tuck and roll interior, chrome wheels, and a 4:11 rear end. Told Steve I'd kick his ass in a street race. He just laughed, he didn't know what was under the hood or the rear end gear. I killed him.

I rolled into the Conoco station across the street one night at 2 AM, out of gas and nothing was open. Me and a friend pushed the car around to all nine pumps and drained the hoses into the gas tank. I got enough gas to make it home, about two miles away.

These are just a few of hundreds of nights spent there. Playdeep has killed it with his post.

Thought you'd enjoy it.
It really resonates with me as well.
Every Friday night hanging out there then cruising out to South Eubank to Speedway Park or the street drags.
Good times!

 

[hman442]

Great photos and stories. Thanks for posting them up !

 

[The Prisoner]

The Great One:

Taken at Indy in 1995, I think.

That doesn’t look like Wayne Gretzky.

 

[Mandelon]

Just Awesome.

 

[rrrr]

Thought you'd enjoy it.
It really resonates with me as well.
Every Friday night hanging out there then cruising out to South Eubank to Speedway Park or the street drags.
Good times!

I don't remember if I already told you this, but my first racing gig was scraping mud from a stock car and a super modified that belonged to a couple of my Dad's employees after the racing ended. I loved.going to Speedway Park.

I was fourteen, and had some white coveralls with my name embroidered on them. The crew kid!

 

[rrrr]

I was eleven years old. I came home from school on a Monday, and Dad told me "You're not going to school for the rest of the year. I rented a plane, and you and I are flying to Indianapolis to watch the Indy 500." I couldn't believe it.

This is me, my Dad, his friend Dick, and Dick's son Jeffrey, at Coronado Airport in Albuquerque, just before leaving:

Skylane 2565 Romeo is still on the FAA register. I found the owner was a company in South Houston. I called them a couple of years ago, and talked to the owner. He told me 2565R is still flown regularly. It had less than 200 hours on it when we flew it to Indy.

My Dad's high school pal Bobby Unser (RIP) won the race. I regularly tell my Dad the trip is the coolest thing I've ever done. At the time, I couldn't have imagined that years later I would be working at the Speedway during May for a decade.

I have been looking at this photo on my armoire. That's me and Dad on the right. It made me cry again.

On Saturday I carried my Dad's casket. I probably told him at least a hundred times during his life that our trip to Indy in 1968 was the coolest thing I'd ever done.

Rest easy, Dad.