c12.13.06_FIE__OF_DRE_0056M_1.jpg (141511 bytes)

Photo ID # c12.13.06_FIE__OF_DRE_0056M_1
Car #: #34
Driver (s) : not sure...
Location: ... a field somewhere in South Jersey....
Date: 1956
Photographer: William Curley
Photo provided by: Russ Dodge
Comments: Comment from Russ:  I call this "Field of Dreams"

Just the other day I was riding down a country road and saw a beautiful sight. Three coupe bodies in a field!  Thinking about how fast they were discarded when they were bent.   Now however, each bent fender or rusted door is cherished like gold!

I was so glad I snapped out of my "daydream" before I drove off the road!   Just having fun with this William Curley photo taken of the Burris' 34's in 1956.   Wouldn't we all like to find this today!   Thanks, Russ Dodge
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12/14/06/06 Michael Kent Would that be same Melini Bros. that have their name on several dragcars these days @ Atco Raceway? Melini Bro. performance?
12/15/06 Russ Dodge Melini Brothers is still located on Wood Street in Vineland. Mr. Melini's daughter, married Joe Testa, who was an accomplished drag racer at Vineland Speedway Drag Dragstrip. Mr. Testa has passed away I believe and Mrs. Testa still operates the business. Their son is accomplished in drag racing also, and runs the performance portion of the business today. I believe he had an AMX Javelin, but I may be wrong. If anyone can correct or add to this I would appreciate it. On the cars pictured, Sal Moschella was one of the drivers of the 34 cars.
12/15/06 3Wide Hey Russ...  I'm sure we're not alone in thinking that this still exists out there somewhere... maybe on the edge of a farmer's field... somehow untouched by 50 years of the elements... 

Along the same lines, I'll bet most Vault Visitors do this: 

Even if only once you saw a stock car parked alongside a house or garage... even if it was 40 or more years ago... Even if the house or garage is no longer there, we all glance over as we drive by today, kinda hoping that maybe we'll see that car, or some evidence that a raceteam once used that location to field a car.  Maybe an old shell of a coupe... Maybe an old wheel or tire...  Just something to reward our quest to touch the past once again.
12/15/06 Barry Recaps by Melini Brothers.  Wow, I would be happy just to see a recap tire.  I guess us old guys would know what a recap is.  Great picture Mr. Dodge.
12/16/06 Russ Dodge Recap tires have been illegal for many years on car tires. For those who are not familiar with the term, it was a process in which a worn out tire casing was used and a new tread surface was molded (attached). The tire then had tread, Just Like New! (As long as the recap stayed attached!) The radial tire I believe really did the process in, along with being judged unsafe.

Melini Brothers, in Vineland, recapped tires with a thick surface that were used on stock cars. That was the tire of choice in the 50's, over lapping into the early 60's. The asphalt tire had rubber that was as "hard as iron", but they held up! This was all before the entrance of M & H, Hoosier, etc., into racing. I have the last one to come out of the Melini warehouse, I believe, unused. The cap on it appears to be at least an inch thick!

Melini's also provided a drag slick that was widely used at Vineland , when the drag strip opened.

A little off topic but ,"How many of you remember retreads?" In the 50's and 60's there were people who went around to used car lots and tire dealers, using a hand tread cutter, as used today on race tires, and re-grooved tread in the tire. Which means when a tire was worn out, they cut new tread deeper into the casing.(Sometime cutting the cords!) This was outlawed in the 60's also.

I remember Elton, "Wild Man" Hildreth, telling me that he could re-groove a road tire in under 2 minutes, or some unbelieveable time! A little black tire paint was then applied and you had brand new tires on the beautiful used car!!

Thanks for listening to the wondering mind!
12/16/06 Tony P Kenny Testa is in fact an accomplished drag racer, and still is racing to this day. I raced against him for years at Atco on Tuesdays and Saturdays until I got out of drag racing a year and a half ago. Always a contender with his 9 second wheelstanding AMX. I'd say he's about 40 years old or so, and a super nice guy.
12/18/06 Wayne Urffer My dad was a truck tire repairman for Matlack cement haulers in Northampton,
PA, so he had a retreading tool that he occasionally dragged out. It looked
something like a reciprocal saw, but instead of a saw blade the business end
had a small U-shaped blade, something like an X-acto blade, that would heat
up when the operator pushed on the back end of the tool.

One time in the late 1960s, Dad brought home a couple race car tires in the
back of his '49 Ford panel truck. Apparently, a co-worker of his was a
mechanic on a car that ran a local track--Nazareth, I think. He got out that
retreading tool and cut a cross-hatch pattern in the treads, turning a pair of
asphalt tires into dirt tires in about an hour. He let me try to work the
tool, but it was very, very heavy for a 7 or 8 year old kid. For years I saved
all the little chunks of rubber in a paper grocery bag. They were about an
inch and a half long and no more than a quarter-inch across, and there were
hundreds of them!

Ah, memories!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

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