At 02:18 PM 12/12/2003 -0600, Albaugh, Neil wrote:
>Ray;
>
>
>
>Thanks for supplying the details. I guess we'll never know whether it
>could have been made to work or not.
I spose not. But if it had, I'm sure they would have outlawed it the next
year anyway. :)
>It's a shame those early drivers didn't have the benefits of modern-day
>fuel cells, fire suppression systems, full roll cages, etc.
Fuel cells is one of the things that Smokey campaigned for for a long, long
time. Bill France and he didn't see eye-to-eye on a whole lotta things and
the fuel cell deal was one of the bigger ones. I think it's part of what
precipitated his leaving NASCAR.
He was one heck of an innovator...always trying new stuff. That's how he
got his reputation as a cheater. He just thought of it as inventing
stuff. NASCAR figgered it was cheatin. Especially when he won with his
trick stuff.
If you ever get a chance to read "Best Damn Garage in Town", do so. It's a
fascinating 3-book series and illuminates a whole lotta stuff, including
his tour of duty as a B-17 pilot and wildcatter in the South American oil
and gold fields. Not for the faint of heart, tho. His verbiage is
"colorful" to say the least.
Matter of fact, he had the books published by his estate, posthumously, of
course, but I wonder if his writing style and "tell it like it is" attitude
(at least in his view) didn't account for the fact that it wasn't published
by one of the major publishing companies. Or maybe he just didn't want
anything edited.
Enough rambling...it's a good set, but expensive at $95.
Ray
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