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July 22, 2008
NASCAR, Back In The Day!
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
In 1965, the opening race of the NASCAR season was the Motor Trend 500 at the now-defunct Riverside International Raceway road course in California. Check out this awesome video from back in the day featuring the legendary likes of Junior Johnson, Parnelli Jones, and AJ Foyt battling for the lead in wildly body-rolling stock cars—like, real stock cars! Lots of wild spins, grass rides, and end-over-ending. Watch the No. 5 car of Gene Davis get epic air and then keep driving, and see Jarret narrowly escape a burly pit-lane fire! Hey, I think NASCAR today is great the way it is—as fashionable as it is to believe otherwise—but around about 40 years ago, things were really wild. Enjoy!
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Steve
Jul 25, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Now that’s seat of your pants racing. I really enjoyed that.
Don
Jul 24, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Back from the days of run-what-ya-brung. Wrench, race, wreck, repeat. Thanks for sharing, Jen.
Jay
Jul 24, 2008 at 7:44 pm
the old school nascar racing was good but now what is the point on going around in a circle over and over its just GAY…GAY
Dufik1992
Jul 24, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Thank YOU a lot for this video. Its best racing-video I viewed!!!!! It was THE racing ant it were THE cars… I am hurt, it will never be same again…
Dufik.
Mon
Jul 24, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Improvements in racing safety came up from many lessons learned in accidents through the years. Too many to mention here. But hey, the excitement level has been the same ever since. Great vid, Jen.
GTwildfire
Jul 23, 2008 at 11:57 pm
WOW… WOW… they were real cars. real turn signals and bezels to be knocked off when contact is made with the wall… no crumple zones (other than the driver’s bodies)… actual doors on the cars although welded shut so that they wouldn’t become flying debris and to shave weight from these massive beasts… no fire suits… no simple oval track… noticeably fewer and more rudimentary barriers… brakes that FAIL…
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A lot has happened in 43 years. I’ve gone from newborn to over-the-hill and NASCAR has evolved into something completely different. Not a matter of better or worse, simply a matter of inevitability… for both NASCAR and myself.
Anonymous
Jul 23, 2008 at 4:44 pm
That way better than today
Its so cool how even if they go off the track they keep going like if nothing
Oafman
Jul 23, 2008 at 4:37 pm
That must have been exhausting driving those boats like that. And to think, some fo the current drivers complain about driving the road courses…
Junimrox
Jul 23, 2008 at 4:35 pm
thats very cool, but very dangerous too… and it looks like drift gp
kap0w
Jul 23, 2008 at 3:12 pm
That is fun to watch – I could really get into a NASCAR race that looked like that. Its nice that the drivers are in much less danger these days, but danger makes things exciting!
What are those guys wearing, by the way? I’d be more surprised that those guys are dressed to race cars than if they showed up to paint my house in those white jumpsuits.
artie99
Jul 23, 2008 at 3:22 am
No window nets.
I wanna see the other videos – that Daytona tease intrigued me.
Stewart
Jul 22, 2008 at 11:49 pm
That was a fun video to watch.
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Too bad racing evolved into today’s NASCAR.
I don’t really dislike NASCAR, but seeing
mostly “stock” cars was a lot of fun.
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It has definitely lost something in the growing process…