Problems at Charlotte Motor Speedway

[Gene East]

A large sink hole has developed on the infield at CMS. Not surprising since it was built on an old landfill. As far as I known, Allied Waste, the successor to BFI still operates a landfill next to the back stretch parking lot.

When I worked for BFI we held a truck rodeo at the track. A track employee (not a name racer) was giving rides around the track in a pace car to anyone who would sign a release form.

Top speed on these rides was held to around 125 MPH. I told the driver I was a former boat race "deck rider" and I didn't think he could scare me. He said "Hang on" and we headed for the road course on the infield.

Now that was a ride, but apparently the driver was told not to take anymore "special" excursions because he never ventured onto the road track again the whole weekend.

Don't worry NASCAR fans, word is the problem will be fixed before the next race.

[AZOutlaw]

[bandit]

Yeh man , the race isn't for 2 weeks or so is it?
So i don't see a prob. How about that Mc.Murray boy of course carl from columbia isn't bad either !!

[Gene East]

I don't know about Edwards, but McMurray and numerous other NASCAR stars have raced in Quincy, not in stock cars but in go- karts.

Back in the glory days, karting was nearly as big in Quincy as boat racing.

Stan Long was one of the best kart engine builders in the country, but he didn't have a machine shop so he was at our place at least once a week. Stan was always welcome at Q.W. and he became friends with everyone, especially O.F. Christner and Paul.

Stan now builds the engines for his son Michael's modified stock car. They often are in the winner's circle throughout the Mid-west.

Bill Schwab stated on this forum that he has run "Stanley Steamer" engines in his 1/4 midget cars.

Stan once asked me why boaters didn't bump and rub as aggressivley as karters do. I showed him a prop with a very sharp edge. Then he understood!

Often kart racers who were in town for a race would come to Q.W. for repairs.

I don't remember all of them who made it to NASCAR, but one was Lake Speed.

With a name like that, HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A BOAT RACER!

[Original Looper 1]

Gene,

As Chris and I were frantically working on the new "Z" engine in 1975, West Quincy held one of the largest karting nationals in it's history at TNT Speed & Sport Center. I can still remember welding and adjusting our rather large diameter, for the time, expansion chambers when the kart guys came into the shop for welding & machining repairs to their karts.

Famous people like Gary Emmick, Scott Pruitt, and Lake Speed came to Quincy. There were also others, some of whom went on to become famous car racers in their various racing divisions. Need I say, that the so called "blimp" go kart pipes came to the karting scene a short time later after some of these teams' were exposed to Quincy Welding's unusually large diameter expansion chambers. Chris had many lengthy engineering conversations with some of these famous karting teams' engine builders.

I must mention that the brilliant Frank Volker should receive credit for the cutting edge, at that time, expansion chamber development at Quincy Welding, because Chris and I were using Frank's designs from the early 1970's onward. Frank was, back then, finishing up a mechanical engineering degree at Columbia and he was the real "father" of what later became the blimp pipes.


Regards,

Paul