This build has to start with a story . . .
In 1968 at age ten I attended my first auto race. It was at Golden Gate Speedway, a third of a mile pavement oval on what were then outskirts of Tampa, FL. That night I was smitten. I sat in the covered, wooden bleacher section just below the press box. Gordon Soley announced the race from the press box. Starter Johnny Hicks was in the flag stand just in front of me.
By ’68 you didn’t see many 1930s cars on the street. I was immediately captivated by the steel body coupes and sedan modifieds. The grandstands shook every time the pack went by; the covered grandstand accentuated the roar of the cars. The smell of burning rubber and alcohol fuel fumes permeated the air. I’d found gear head utopia. I became a life long gearhead after this night of racing.
The top class for the night were the modifieds. The modified feature was won handily by Dave Scarborough. He was known as “The Largo Flash,” (a town near Tampa) and later they called him the “Little General.” About the size of a jockey, he commanded respect being the modified champ in ’65, ’68, the sprint car champ and late model champ in ’70, He won the “Little 500” in Anderson Indiana (at the time the premier pavement sprint car race) in 1985 and placed high there several time. He was Late Model champ at Inverness in 1986 and also 1988, 1989, and 1990. Sprint car champ at Desoto in ’86.
People like this didn’t race for millions of dollars; they raced with heart for a few hundred dollars and the love of the sport.
After all of his daring on the track he died of cancer at age 74 in 2011.
Along the way, as I started slot car racing at large commercial tracks at Hobby Shops or home tracks with the smaller scales, I would run an orange colored #96 like the first car I saw Scarborough win in that night. I even painted my 20” muscle bike orange eventually.
Since I was recently gifted a good but faded Murray Westport I thought why not make one more orange #96.
Here are all the pictures I can find of the original car.
This is my project bike, a gifted USA Murray Westport
After conditioning the wheels and mounting new rubber and testing I discovered the fork was tweaked and set the wheel to a non-drive side lean. I could over come it with washers but I had another fork from a cheap Roadmaster Mtb.
I tore the frame down completely and stripped it to bare metal. There were three colors on what was originally a maroon frame. The most recent color was silver.
I'll post some more later today.
In 1968 at age ten I attended my first auto race. It was at Golden Gate Speedway, a third of a mile pavement oval on what were then outskirts of Tampa, FL. That night I was smitten. I sat in the covered, wooden bleacher section just below the press box. Gordon Soley announced the race from the press box. Starter Johnny Hicks was in the flag stand just in front of me.
By ’68 you didn’t see many 1930s cars on the street. I was immediately captivated by the steel body coupes and sedan modifieds. The grandstands shook every time the pack went by; the covered grandstand accentuated the roar of the cars. The smell of burning rubber and alcohol fuel fumes permeated the air. I’d found gear head utopia. I became a life long gearhead after this night of racing.
The top class for the night were the modifieds. The modified feature was won handily by Dave Scarborough. He was known as “The Largo Flash,” (a town near Tampa) and later they called him the “Little General.” About the size of a jockey, he commanded respect being the modified champ in ’65, ’68, the sprint car champ and late model champ in ’70, He won the “Little 500” in Anderson Indiana (at the time the premier pavement sprint car race) in 1985 and placed high there several time. He was Late Model champ at Inverness in 1986 and also 1988, 1989, and 1990. Sprint car champ at Desoto in ’86.
People like this didn’t race for millions of dollars; they raced with heart for a few hundred dollars and the love of the sport.
After all of his daring on the track he died of cancer at age 74 in 2011.
Along the way, as I started slot car racing at large commercial tracks at Hobby Shops or home tracks with the smaller scales, I would run an orange colored #96 like the first car I saw Scarborough win in that night. I even painted my 20” muscle bike orange eventually.
Since I was recently gifted a good but faded Murray Westport I thought why not make one more orange #96.
Here are all the pictures I can find of the original car.
This is my project bike, a gifted USA Murray Westport
After conditioning the wheels and mounting new rubber and testing I discovered the fork was tweaked and set the wheel to a non-drive side lean. I could over come it with washers but I had another fork from a cheap Roadmaster Mtb.
I tore the frame down completely and stripped it to bare metal. There were three colors on what was originally a maroon frame. The most recent color was silver.
I'll post some more later today.
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