3
« on: October 19, 2013, 05:44:32 PM »
Hey Moselli, I was at that race at Shangri-La too. I know that Benny Stephens was one of the guys on the front row in the Norton 3x. I can't remember the other guy on the front row, nor can I recall who won. Who cared at the time? 10 laps of 100% all-out side-by-side racing from the whole field in a heat. It was great stuff.
Back then, Shangri-La would group the heats by handicap. The low handicap cars were in the first heat, the middle in the second and the high handicap in the third. The third heat was a killer every week, and 1 or 2 big dogs went to the consi every Saturday night. If you were an outsider, you started last in the third heat behind the absolute best in the business.
I have fond memories of 1978, the year that my Dad became a regular in the third heat. NASCAR came in the next year with the standard staggered heat handicapping. Up until then, the heats at Shangri-La were well worth the price of admission.