Whizzer
Gig'em
When going through the thread "Things about to fall" on Chit-Chat, and seeing the photo of the lawn mower strapped to the roof of the hearse, it brought to mind an incident that took place about 1957 or 1958 in Honesdale, PA.
A small stock car track at Beech Lake, PA had races each Saturday night and as points were accumulated, those with the higher points got to race at the Wayne County Fair in Honesdale, PA in a one (or two ?) day event.
A friend of mine used an old Packard hearse as a tow car for his 1937 Ford coupe.
Leon had accumulated enough points to race at the fair that year. The Wayne County Fairground track was flat, no banking, a typical old-timey fairground track originally built for harness horse racing during the week and left to be churned up at the end of the week by stock cars. A two row fence of 2 x 8 boards surrounded the perimeter offering little protection and creating more of a hazard to driver and spectator alike.
The races were going off like clockwork, until there was a bad crash that sent race cars smashing through the fence and hitting a tree with spectators perched on limbs, knocking them to the ground.
Not sure how many people were injured or how many died, if any, but they had one ambulance and in those days of "you call, we haul" ambulance services, creature comfort or medical supplies in emergency vehicles were spartan.
Immediately after the crash, directors of the fair asked my friend if he would use his tow vehicle, the old Packard hearse, to transport people to the hospital. He refused. His logic was, it was a hearse and intended to carry dead people and he didn't want the responsibility of someone dying if he took them to the hospital in a hearse.
While I do not recall the number of people injured or whether anyone died it was a tragic scene and, to the best of my memory, might have been the end of stock car racing at that fair. I got out of racing right after this event and began starting races, something I enjoyed. Now I was getting paid rather than spending, what were to me at the time, mega-bucks on a race car.
A small stock car track at Beech Lake, PA had races each Saturday night and as points were accumulated, those with the higher points got to race at the Wayne County Fair in Honesdale, PA in a one (or two ?) day event.
A friend of mine used an old Packard hearse as a tow car for his 1937 Ford coupe.
Leon had accumulated enough points to race at the fair that year. The Wayne County Fairground track was flat, no banking, a typical old-timey fairground track originally built for harness horse racing during the week and left to be churned up at the end of the week by stock cars. A two row fence of 2 x 8 boards surrounded the perimeter offering little protection and creating more of a hazard to driver and spectator alike.
The races were going off like clockwork, until there was a bad crash that sent race cars smashing through the fence and hitting a tree with spectators perched on limbs, knocking them to the ground.
Not sure how many people were injured or how many died, if any, but they had one ambulance and in those days of "you call, we haul" ambulance services, creature comfort or medical supplies in emergency vehicles were spartan.
Immediately after the crash, directors of the fair asked my friend if he would use his tow vehicle, the old Packard hearse, to transport people to the hospital. He refused. His logic was, it was a hearse and intended to carry dead people and he didn't want the responsibility of someone dying if he took them to the hospital in a hearse.
While I do not recall the number of people injured or whether anyone died it was a tragic scene and, to the best of my memory, might have been the end of stock car racing at that fair. I got out of racing right after this event and began starting races, something I enjoyed. Now I was getting paid rather than spending, what were to me at the time, mega-bucks on a race car.