comy14: Love the shot with the bungy cords holding the hood on......Tell me that don't look like a tractor.....lol...shoulda called em Mudd Tractors......(no disrespect to you mudders out there of course)
DW: Benny The Moth always told me that your favorite cars were the ones he worked on?
I remember that night at Canandaigua like it was yesterday and yet it was 30 years ago.
modcrew18...
2011 will be my 39th year of involvement as a fan and it all started at Canandaigua Speedway in the summer of '72 when I was 9 years old. The unveiling of the Mudd Buss was a special event, and I think that's the reason we all remember it so well. As I said earlier, after victory lane ceremonies were finished, you knew you had just watched history in the making. I remember gloating to my Dad on the way home about how bad Alan made everyone look, and several times he told me to STFU because he was a Will Cagle fan. He and I had this friendly (most of the time) feud going on because I was and still am an Alan Johnson fan. Then along came Bob McCreadie and Dad switched teams.
Darrell...
The Grant King cars were 2nd to the Weld cars for me. I really liked how the bodywork in the front of a Weld car resembled that of a champ car. I also liked how long the nose was on a Weld car. The King cars were a little more compact, making the body look a tad too big. But what the hell do I know? I hate sail panels too.
This has been an extremely interesting topic for me and what's cool about it is that there are 2 people here who were directly involved with it.
Kt: I do have a fond spot in my memory for the John Fisher 98jr that Benny worked on. I think that's mostly because it was my first "ride". I didn't have to fix it when I f**ked up and there are owners I drove for that can more than substantiate that I did my share of that. For proof, see my avatar. When you see Benny say hi for me.
HFB: I have said for some time that I hate sail panels but now we are in our third year of running them on the car my brother Dale drives at Woodhull and I guess I'm getting used to them.
Here is a dirt trackin magazine cover I dug up.
Danny's 2nd car - the Jim Cincerbeaux 0jr. I'm pretty sure Danny got his first win in this car. Danny's first car was an old beat up orange Pinto numbered 14jr that resembled Fred Brook's 14x.
I think this my favorite thread on the forum.
Half fast Bob, I think you gave me the name of the sponsors on Bob Houck's #99 Vega. Thank you.
I'm still looking for pictures that show the lettering for this car.
Guys - great discussion. Wasn't there a vega-bodied ride for Alan in that era?
Heres another dirt trackin magazine cover.
Alan's first car was owned by Tom and Kim Ewing out of Victor, NY that had a Corvair body on it. He ran the car from 1973 through 1975 and copped his first win at Canandaigua on May 3rd of '75. In 1976, Alan drove his first of 3 Kenny Weld Gremlins - a white car. In 1977, he drove the pink and yellow one pictured above. In 1978 he drove a red and white one. 1979 was Alans first pairing with Tico Conley where he drove a car of his own design - copper and cream Gremlin. 1980 saw Alan paired up with Scott Stackus in a horrible looking car with a home made body and bright orange wheels. In 1981, Alan and Maynard teamed together. Their relationship continued through the end of 1983. In 1984, Alan moved over to Show Car with Howard Conkey in a relationship that lasted until atleast 1987. I've got pictures of each car up to this point and beyond. The problem is, none of the remaining 28 pictures have dates on them.
Anyone got a good picture of the black and gold Jim Beachy owned 24 sponsored by Mitsubishi? I'm also looking for the orange and white 358 car owned by Mike Maroney, any of the Howie Finch 25's and any of the other pickup rides over the years.
Here is a pic of the car Alan drove that Tico Conley owned in 1980 which was the first full year they were together.
In 1979 is where Alan drove the Scott Stackus car which Tico Conley bought and drove himself that year for a double header at Canandaigua one night. If memory serves me correct Alan had sum sort of leagle issues with Wembly Construction with the car and he had it taken away for that night. I heard that Will Cagle was involved in the matter and sided with Wembly so that Alan wouldn't have his car to race so Will could win the Canandaigua track championship that year. Now this is what I heard back then so I hope that somebody comes on and that might know the exact circumstances of that event but thats what I heard.
I don't know the particulars leading up to the fiasco in the pits, but I do remember watching all I could see as it unfolded from the stands. Some people might say, "What could you see going on in the pits if you were in the stands?" Fact is, you could see a lot because everyone towed with open trailers in those days, and only the most elaborate teams used converted school busses for transporters. There weren't very many of those. And this was also a day when we had fewer divisions, but more cars in each. Pit stalls were a lot bigger in those days. This is why in a lot of cases, you'll see pit photos that have personal vehicles parked between tow rigs. Joe Marotta was the track announcer back then, and he's the one that told everyone in the stands to direct their attention to the pits.
The Wembley Construction car was a Weld Gremlin and was owned by Cliff Barcomb with Alan as the driver. The engines were built by B&M (initials for Bill and Milt - Bill was Billy Campbell and Milt was Milt Johnson, Alan and Danny's dad). And this is probably how Alan was able to secure the ride in the first place. Alan was relatively unknown at the time, but getting the job as a hired driver without a ton of credentials would have been impossible unless you had money in your pocket to contribute. Alan had no money, but he did have a Dad who was half owner of the engine shop that was building the most powerful and popular engines on the east coast in his pocket.
There was some kind of dispute in the team. If I had to guess, I'd probably say that it was due to the driver not getting what he was promised when it came time to split the pay envelope from the payoff window. That's just a guess, but it came to a head one night in the pits at Canandaigua. I know all 3 Johnsons were involved, Cliff Barcomb, Will Cagle and I believe Pep Pepicelli - who got the ride after Alan vacated it. A large fight started in the pits, the sheriffs were called, cars were impounded and everyone spent the night at the sheriffs office pleading their cases, trying to convince the cops why they shouldn't be arrested and should have rights to posession of the car. The only reason I can come up with for Will Cagle to be involved would be that he and Pepicelli were friends and Cagle didn't like Alan. I think Cagle was probably the instigator by trying to convince Barcomb to hire Pepicelli and get rid of Alan.
comy14... you sent me a picture via email taken at Weedsport with Alan on the bottom, Danny on top in the 0jr., and a white Weld Gremlin in the middle with Wembley Construction as the sponsor. That picture was taken within a week or two after the fiasco at Canandaigua, and the driver in the middle is Pep Pepicelli.
Awesome pictures by the way. Some I already had, and some were new. THANK YOU! Give me until Monday. I'm busier than a cat covering sh!t on a marbal floor this weekend, but I'll get back to you, I promise.
Half Fast Bob....the fiasco that took place was in 79 and Alan got the car back the next week and finished the rest of the 79 season. He went just one weekend without the car.
The colorful weld car Al drove in 79 was refered to as the circus wagon, I believe the guy who lettered the car(who I know very well) came up with the term circus wagon and it stuck.
The pic in which had Alan, Danny and pep pepicelli, the car pepicelli is driving is the weld car Alan drove in 78(red with white trim) before the circus wagon.
Bob did you get the picks of Alan's troyer cars, I will send more pics and I do have the black #24 mitsubishi car.
Thank you for clearing some of that up. I have a fairly good memory, but sometimes things get fuzzy. I guess that's the price you pay for doing over 120 events per year for close to a decade.
I'll get the pictures I have uploaded to photobucket during the next week. With what I already had and what comy14 sent me, I'm close to 100. If I had to guess, I'd say there are about 40 different cars all said and done.
I know I've posted it before but here's a GATOR NEWS clipping showing Alan with his first ride the Tom Ewing owned Covair.
