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The Dixie Twister was the one involved in the wreck at the Yellow River Drag Strip in Georgia in 1969. A spectator drop his beer and leaned out and the parachute caught him and the car went into the grandstands. I thought some might be interested in reading the article in one the local newspapers.
HTML Code:http://www.dawsonnews.com/section/1/article/8640/
Wow! Quite a story! It's hard to imagine that chain of events happening, which is why they're called "accidents", I suppose.
FYI, I put the cursor over the HTML Code, did a "CTRL/left click", hit the little arrow box that lit up and then selected "Search with Google" to open that link. Pretty slick!!
if you highlight the code it will open a box to copy or go to page .
the part i didn't understand was " when he rounded the corner " .
I didn't understand the part about calling it a 69 Camaro.
Quote:
The 1969 Camaro has come to represent a major mile marker in professional racing safety standards since the historic crash.
Yeah, there're some inconsistencies in that newspaper account, aren't there? If you click on the picture there's another shot that says it is from '69, and that car is obviously different.Quote:
Originally Posted by pro70z28
Attachment 52761
I can't get it to do anything??
copy the link and do a google search with it ..Quote:
Originally Posted by cffisher
try this Hoss.Quote:
Originally Posted by cffisher
Drag racing car finds home
Thanks interesting story but I agree How fast was he going while turning ??? and if I'm not mistakeing thats a 70 Camaro.
I thought the same thing about the turn, but Gordon Pirkle is a big NASCAR buff. he also owns the Dawsonville Pool Room which is all about NASCAR and Bill Elliot. It's in the Dawson County news online if that helps anyone find the article.
The old Yellow Creek Drag Strip is now a trailer park. that race day from what I read before was the first time Coke a Cola and the Atlanta Constitution had promoted a Drag race if I remember correctly.
The newspaper article appears to have some critical errors, if one believes the accounts of the supposed eye-witnesses - Deadly Day at the Drags The account seems to be more believable that the driver got out of shape, pulled his chute and went out of control just past the guard rail which ended well short of the finish line - another account says at about the 1000 foot mark. The guy who had dropped his beer was on the wrong side of the fence and got tangled in the chute, as I read it...
I can remember back in 64-65 of racing down in Ga and Ala and only being 2 close narrow lanes thru the woods with all the betters right at pavement edge or closer---it wasn't unusual for the lead car to go to center of the track and the other had to follow---
Union Grove or Oswago here in the midwest was like that back then 60/65 stand right out on the edge of the track, I'm not sure about us30 but I'm sure past the 1320 it was open
US30 they sat on the guard rail and passed money back and forth as they won or lost on there bets---it was worse there than the grove or oswego---
And US 30 was 2 separate lanes with a grass strip between them til the big end
Kil-Kare,Xenia, Ohio, was about that bad in the late 50's early 60's. Knew a guy who just about bought the farm when a clutch explosion right off the line opened up his chest from one side to the other. He was standing just off the line.
Kil-kare was difficult to stop---and the river was waiting--they had real SAND TRAPS!!!
Neat article on the old Twister, though it is quite obvious the newspaper guy who wrote it ain't no car guy!!!!! Always enjoy seeing these old race cars being restored and put into a museum, got to preserve our history somehow!
Here's a video with Huston and the Dixie Twister start up at a show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvSgpTlpeNk
Way kewl video!!! Huston just sits in the car like it's any other day in the office!!!
So true about the closeness of the fans to the track. I remember the a faitfull day in Dallas Ga., I think it was 64 or 65, when Richard Petty went into the stands filled with spectators and someone was killed. No mention of this event when the career of Petty is relived. This was the year Petty boycotted NASCAR and went drag racing.
Any relation to Herbert Platt?
Not to be overly critical but that camaro isn't what i'd call a 'faithful representation' of the original as in the pic.
Hubert PLatt and Huston were brothers. here is a note from Hubert
Drag Racing News Daily: RIP, Huston Platt
Sorry, got stupid for a moment, Hubert. That must've been a pair! one die hard Ford and the other a Chevy guy. Oil and water. Dick Walters comes in my shop every now and then, he is just vaguely aware of the nostalga movement. I asked if he has anything left of the 'good old days' when he and Hubert were crisscrossing the country and he said not a thing was kept. He and Hubert were just having a ball tearing shit up and Ford footing the bill. He said the only thing he has from back then was the Revell model they made of the A/FX Falcon (the one after the above falcon)that Hubert drove.
Ahh, those were the days.
Those two Falcons sure got a lot of us Ford guys (kids) motivated at the time!!!!! Never did run the injection on one, but I sure did have some might fine running FE's back in that time. I remember at about age 14 there was a get together for all us Blue Oval guys sponsored by our local Ford dealer and featured a couple cars and some of the people from the Ford Drag Club promotion that Ford did in the 60's. At this one they had on display a couple of their sponsored drag cars but front and center was a 427 Cammer with a set of Hillborn's, just like Platt and all the other 'big time' Ford guys ran! Then once a summer we'd get a pair of the match racers at Thunder Valley in Marion, SD.... It was always the A/FX cars and was either a Ford vs. Chevy, or Ford Vs. Dodge showdown. Then every year on the 4th of July weekend we get a couple of the Funny car match racers in, usually Tommy Hoover vs. whomever was travelling with him that year!!!! Drag racing was so much fun, so much cheaper in those days, heck, ya dang near have to treat it like a business now just to be able to run a bracket car......
Yup, i remember those days. I can even recall what the trackside burgers tasted like.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
Pheonix City Alabama Dragway----
I was in line behind Hubert in the blue falcon right after they haddone the straight axle in front--after his two or three burnouts and sweeping rosin around he launched with a hugh wheelstand---besides the rosin they had put there tool box in the trunk for traction--it worked--giant wheel stand and sockets and wrenches all over the track
It was almost an every week end deal to have the Platts, Dyno Don, Ronnie Sox, Jenkins , ramchargers, etc ---course it was 1964/65 and just before the flip top funny cars came out---all these guys had altered wheel base, fuel injection, solid axles, rosin burn outs etc---
Same thing here! Usually the first day was at the local dealership where a couple of the "pro's" would be on hand, for us it was pretty much always the Tasca crew but I had ABSOLUTELY NO COMPLAINTS!! :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
I was always hopin' that Don Nicholson would be there but....:LOL:
The second day was track day and I would just sit there with the widest grin that was stuck there all day!! Boy do I miss those days!
I can remember in the early 60's the Platt brothers, Don Nicklson, and other Super Stock cars from the Atlanta area comming to Batesburg SC, a pull of 200 miles plus one way to run heads up for the top money of $300 to the winner. Don't remember the ET but the speed were 130 to 140 for the quarter.
My how time flies and times change.
