02.07.03_054_TOB_REA_0067

Visitor's Comments		*To add your comments about THIS PHOTO - Click Here*
Date:	Visitor's Name:	Comment:
02/08/03	James Brewer	It is true that the ATCO #54 was a little awkward looking but versions of this car took the Reading championships in 1966 and 1967. Davey Brown was the wrench and with Toby they were a great team wherever they raced
02/08/03	3-Wide	I think this is one of the tallest cars I have ever seen, especially when compared to some of the other cars of the day, but maybe it was that height that gave it enough bite through the corners to take the championships as James reminds us above. (There's nothing awkward about winning 2 championships!)
02/08/03	James Brewer	Didn't mean anything by the comment other than to draw attention to the fact that Toby and Davey won the championships those two years. Actually - - and this is just my opinion - - when Tobias and Brown took over the mechanical end of the ATCO team it became the first threads of the Tobias chassis of the 1970s. I think it really became apparent with Toby's next cars - - the Super Dog #17 coupes. The ATCO 54 cars, beginning in 1965, were really a race chassis built on a production frame - - driver and engine way back compared to most of the other cars. Part of the reason the cars were different (awkward looking), had to do with the design change to a higher center of gravity and a move to the single purpose car - - dirt or asphalt. In fact, ATCO cars did not convert to asphalt use very well - - I think they really had their hands full at Langhorne after they started messing with the design to get the driver in the center of the car - - and all that started with Toby and Davey in 1965. You didn't get to Reading much and I was never at Flemington as much as I would have liked. Both tracks were part of the Golden Era - - I still miss it as much as anyone.
02/08/03	3-Wide	Thank you very much for your comments and I'm sure the rest of the visitors will agree. For the heck of it I looked up "awkward" and the definition is "marked by a lack of dexterity and grace, esp. in physical movement...describes objects whose size or shape make them difficult to handle" That being the case, I guess it could be said that this version of the #54, while appearing somewhat "awkward", actually performed in an "unawkward manner" on the Reading dirt!" Thanks again for the information. One of my biggest regrets in life is that by the time I made it out to Reading, I found a mall instead of a racetrack.
02/08/03	Mike Feltenberger	Bob Zellers was the track photographer in the closing years of the Fairgrounds.
02/19/03	Bill Hanna	I was born and bred to Flemington, having been born there and attended every Saturday night from probably 1964 (when I was 5) until 1997, when I retired as an official and just could not get up to love the asphalt anymore. I was raised on steady diet of Flemington on Saturday, and Nazareth on Sunday, sometimes we even made the Harmony feature of Sunday night when I was young. But my greatest day of my young life was when I turned 17 and could drive to Reading. From 1976 until 1979 I went each and every Friday night to see the stars at the Track of Champions, and am so sorry to see these two tracks gone, but OH THE MEMORIES......

Photo ID #	02.07.03_054_TOB_REA_0067_1
Car #:	#54
Driver (s) :	Dick "Toby" Tobias
Location:	Reading, PA
Date:	1967
Photographer:	Bob Zellars
Photo provided by:	Mike Feltenberger
Comments: (Thanks Mike)	Dick Tobias in 1967 at Reading. Toby was at the end of his Consoli career and was at the helm of this somewhat awkward looking modified for the 1967 season.