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DAYTONA GEEZER REPORT
#1
PREFACE - AFTER I GAVE UP THE DUAL B-BOMB STARDUSTER IN 74 AND WENT BACK FOR AN MBA, IN THE LATE 70S AN ARTICLE IN THE MELBOURNE PAPER NOTED THAT WKA WAS GOING TO RACE AT DAYTONA.  I WENT UP ON RACE DAY.  I ASKED FOR "DANDY" RANDY KUGLER (WKA HEAD HONCHO) AND WAS INVITED UP FOR A CHAT  WITH RANDY.  WE TALKED ABOUT KUGLER RACEWAY ESCAPADES, ETC.  I WATCHED OUR KARTS FLY AROUND THE TRACK AND REMEMBERED JUST HOW UNRELIABLE THE TIRES OF A FEW YEARS EARLIER WERE AT HIGH SPEED.

I DECIDED TO REVISIT THE ENDUROS SINCE SOME "VINTAGE" KARTS ARE SUPPOSED TO RUN.  THE WEATHER IS MARGINAL FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY.  THE WKA LITERATURE DOESN'T MAKE IT CLEAR WHEN THE REAL KARTS RUN.  IF IT DOESN'T RAIN ALL DAY, I WILL STOP BY AND SEE WHAT OUR RACERS ARE UP TO.

SMOKEY
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#2
Hey, Blaine. I lived in Titusville in those days, and was married back then. We used to jump on I-95 and cruise up to the speedway to watch the kart races. Lots of fast folks and fast karts used to go there each year. I ran there in situp a couple times in the eighties, but broke something both times. I remember the McDonalds bunch, the Margay crowd and dozens of others. Of course, Chuck West from Longwood was always there. You mentioned the Melbourne paper. The Times was the older paper, the Florida Today was also in print. I was born in Melbourne, grew up in West Melbourne, where Pop had his mower shop. We sold and raced Bug and Go kart from our small kart sales shop. In the early sixties, until I quit karts in '64, we raced at the Rockledge FL track, about 25 miles North of Melbourne. All the Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center karters raced there. I tried to get a Rockledge pic to attach. A few of the guys cominugh the infield turn. I cant get pix to attach any more. We also raced at the old Eau Gallie Speedway just North of Melbourne. It was owned by Indy driver Al Keller. Al ended up with the Homelite racing team. We even did exhibition races during intermission at the Eau Gallie track on Saturday nights amid the stock car races. It was a challenge weaving in and out of the haybags in a B Super direct drive kart!
My avatar above is our front yard in West Melbourne in '61. My pal, Charlie Craibe still owns the Bug Scorpion that's sitting in front of the rest. Ted
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Added later, follow-up: Ted sent me the photos by eMail. I'm adding Ted's description with the photos sent. Scott Elkes

"Here's a couple pix from Rockledge, Florida's Shriner track. The first pic is several of the bunch coming through the infield turn. The second is on my pal, Charrlie Craibe on the Bug Scorpion he bought from my Pop in '62, and which he still has. That must be a very early pic, as the kart is still orange. Charlie painted it a maroon color and mounted dual 82 PP engines pretty early on. Thanks, Scott. Ted"

Picture 1...
.jpeg   charliepix 040.jpeg (Size: 545.44 KB / Downloads: 20)

Picture 2...
.jpeg   charliepix 051.jpeg (Size: 505.61 KB / Downloads: 15)
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#3
Hi Ted,

Send me your pictures via eMail and I will "attach" them with your comment.

60skart@gmail.com

Happy New Year!

Scott
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#4
Pix should be on their way. Thank you; Scott. We sure had a ball on that Rockledge track. The Shriners built it probably in '61. We raced there Sundays at first, then later on Saturday nights under the lights. We had the Alley Kat team run with us (Aurand's from Pennsylvania), and the Lancer bunch from Ohio. Duke Fox of model engine fame brought a couple of the Fox Champ karts for us to try out. Duke knew Pop from Pop's control line speed racing. Later on, they ran Micro Midgets at Rockledge. The Konigs and one Anzani were fun to watch. Our little team was always there: the "Half-Fast Racing Team", and the bunch from Wyatt Enterprises in Cocoa. Charile Craibe was working at Wyatt's at the time. The Craibes lived very close to us in West Melbourne, and I hung out with Charlie all the time. My Pop always liked Charlie, and from the time Pop bought the Scorpion from Bug in '61 until Charlie bought it, Pop always let Charlie run the kart. When I decided to put triple Macs on my Go Kart 1200, we did the setup in Charlie's pop's shop. Lotta history beginning in '58 with my dead axle Bug Custom single A400 Clinton! Pop got a very early '59 Bug dead axle with dual A400's. We thought that was hot. Charlie's first kart was a '59 dead axle Bug. Charlie put a triangulated frame on the back and added a live axle and a PP58 mounted on the back of the seat. Man, did those things vibrate. I couldn't stand to drive Charlie's Bug, even though he had rubber mounted the '58. I remember going down the back straight beside Charlie on that Bug at the Eau Gallie Speedway, when we were passed up by a 12" rear wheel. The wheel went all the way down the straight, over the West turn bank, and down into the briar patch and pond at the bottom. Charlie didn't even realize he was running on one wheel and a sprocket until he tried to make the corner..... Ted
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#5
I edited your first commented Post (#2) to include the photos you had trouble posting. Nice looking color photos!

Very nice story and funny ending on Charlie's three wheel kart (in post #4) Ted.
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#6
Thanks, Scott. I had dozens of pix from Rockledge and from the old Eau Gallie Speedway, but the albums were stolen from Pop's hobby shop. I haven't a clue where the negatives got off to. Too bad. There were some nice pix of our A Super and B Super events. The pix with the rounded corners were printed from Charlie's and his pop's Kodachrome slides. They got printed and scanned into the computer. I imagine Charlie has many more. Ted
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