This is probably dumb. Wouldn't be the first time for that!

One of the automotive sites I visit has a section on full-size vans, with much useful info. The other day a guy was asking for advice about his van and posted a photo the looks to me as if he is using it to carry a couple of roadracing motorcycles. The bike racers have long been heavy users of full-size vans, and seem to have a million stories about them. For some reason, it struck me that with all the reminiscing that old racers do, I have never seen anybody write a tribute to the lowly van, so I posted the following, which few of you will see so I'm pasting it here for what it's worth:

I'm an old man, got into racing outboard hydros in the era of the Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys. Whether cartopping the raceboat or towing a light racing trailer, nothing was better than a van! If you were carrying the racing machine externally (unlike most of the bike and kart racers), you probably had room to camperize your van with a fold-out cot for two, maybe even a sink and icebox and a fold-out table (my '66 Econoline Supervan had all this). This meant you had a LOT more fuel-efficient and handy set-up for two-day races than did the guys who had big pickups with huge drop-in camper units (which however were more commodious and wife-friendly).

I wonder if any old amateur motor-racer has ever written a paean of tribute to the lowly van. At club-races of boats, roadbikes, MX'ers, enduro and trials bikes, karts, sleds, sportscars, dune buggies and sand draggers, . . . if you were in the parking lots and pits at any of these events you'd see vans all over the place. Nice ones, crappy ones, all makes in all lengths. Yeah, we certainly could have used pickups and station wagons, and even old ambulances and hearses and run-out commercial step-vans (which are all geared wrong for highway use), but the vans that started coming out in about 1961, IIRC, turned out to be the deal sheneille for low-buck racing use.

So here's to the vans! Thanks for all the good times!!

Got any good van stories???