Superbird crash at race

[nascarxx29]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px8XZ7h6C-I T boned and pushed in to wall

[Aero426]

That is a Bill Zautke 8mm clip.   You can buy a whole DVD of 1968-72 Milwaukee Mile footage from his son, Steve.  Steve compiled and remastered the footage with commentary by pro broadcaster Jim Tretow.    The wing cars ran at that track through 1972.   DVD is about an hour long, $25.     Email Steve at szautke@gmail.com   

[Aero426]

Before the new wore off.

[Aero426]

After.

[Aero426]

Norm was a little T.O.'ed.   Bottom of column 1.   "It's those junkers in the back..."

[Aero426]

The rest.

[Indygenerallee]

In a weird way I really do like to watch all those old wrecks! (as long as nobody got seriously hurt, which I know many guys did) Just something about watching what are now priceless relics get smashed up!

[Ghoste]

I'm with you on that.

[timmycharger]

Sooo was he smoking the cigarette during the race? Safety First!!

[Ghoste]

Pearson had to have a functioning lighter in his cars, or so I've heard. 

[timmycharger]

I guess its no worse than the stories I have read about 70's F1 drivers such as James Hunt, who was known to enjoy different kinds of cigarettes before a race 

[Aero426]

Sooo was he smoking the cigarette during the race? Safety First!!

Jerry Kulwicki (Alan's dad) or one of the other crew would often light up a cigarette for Norm on a pit stop.   He's got one here.     

A LOT of these guys smoked.   Lung cancer got Norm and he died in his 60's. 

[tan top]

good pictures & video , thanks for sharing 

[nascarxx29]

Also got stuck in the mud at a race  http://www.moparmax.com/columns/magnante/vii_11-5.html

[Stevearino]

I like the way he got out to check out the damage like he cared about the car. Think about how drivers today just get out of the car and stroll over to get a ride in the ambulance most times without even looking back. Also that was a pretty hard hit and the car wasn't that lumped up. Today the car would be shredded by a hit like that. But that's what happens when a body is built out of .023 tin foil as opposed to .035 or 22 gauge sheet metal.

[Ghoste]

A lot of drivers back then had some kind of vested interest in the car too.

[Mike DC]

                 
They were running mostly stock .048" sheetmetal.


Way more people smoked back then.  Blue-collar Southern guys even more than most.

[Stevearino]

                 
They were running mostly stock .048" sheetmetal.


Way more people smoked back then.  Blue-collar Southern guys even more than most.

.048? No wonder I was nearly breaking my arm to pound the dents out my old heap.

[Mike DC]

    
.048" might be a little high.  It might have been .045" or so.  I think 18-guage is .048" which is what I've always used to patch the stock outer skin.  I'm not positive exactly what the factory stuff was but it was thick.  The sheets must have started out in at least the mid- .040s before the stamping dies stretched them out.

I recall the four longitudinal subframe rails are in the .060s.  The tranny/torsion bar crossmember was even thicker still, maybe the .080s.

[TiMopar]

Pearson had to have a functioning lighter in his cars, or so I've heard. 

I recal seeing some old movie footage of one of the drivers lighting a cigarette from a lighter, from the dash in the car, while in the pits.....

[Ghoste]

It seems like it was a captive audience that Winston was playing to when they started sponsorship. 

[5hunert]

Pearson had to have a functioning lighter in his cars, or so I've heard. 

I recal seeing some old movie footage of one of the drivers lighting a cigarette from a lighter, from the dash in the car, while in the pits.....

How about Dick Trickle lighting one up while circling Talledega under the yellow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9fB1IcTD48

[Aero426]

It seems like it was a captive audience that Winston was playing to when they started sponsorship.  

A perfect match.   Seemed like everyone smoked back then, particularly in that culture.