| 08.14.14 |
John McCaughey |
Jeez Ted, I almost didn't recognize Leon in this
picture! Who could miss him!? Lol....
I remember this race, end of 1977 season at Nazareth, same year Syracuse
rained out and ran the next spring. Howie killed em at this race, it was a
100 lapper, freezing cold and at the start he fell back a few spots...when I
asked him about that later I figured it was just a case of getting the tires
going on a cold night. Nope, he said that he wore earplugs for the first
time and couldn't hear the motor....first caution he reached into his helmet
and pulled them out, then went right to the front. That car and motor was so
freakin' fast, that was the same one that during an interview at Syracuse
Dick Tobias said the only car he was worried about that year was "the black
9C" because he was the only one fast enough the 2nd day of time (in the mud)
to crack the starting field. Anyway, there was a caution in this race with
18 to go and Balough was 2nd in the M1...when they went back green Howie put
3/4 of a lap on Balough...and that's no exaggeration!
After that JB sold the motor to Arnold Fluery and convinced Howie he'd
build him another one just as good. Didn't happen, though....and this car
was sold to Ken Hammer, converted to a small block car and almost won the GV
76er, falling back when Jay Aten, driving for Hammer, developed back spasms.
Was later driven as a #77 by Johnny Leach. |
