"Dirt is for racing,
asphalt is for getting there !"


After WWII, there were thousands and thousands of GI's returning home from the war. Most were very young men, many of whom had left high school for combat overseas. When they finally arrived back home, they were changed people.  They no longer found it thrilling to just ride a bicycle to visit friends.  Instead they bought motorcycles, built hot rods from old Ford Model A's, often removing fenders, hoods, and exhausts; and sometimes replacing those tired old four cylinders with the Ford and Mercury V8 flatheads.  In some areas of the south, those same flathead V-8's powered the cars carrying illegal corn liquor and outrunning the "feds".  Others just took some of the more beat up, worn out, and cheapest cars they could lay their hands on and started racing in the fields just for"braggin'rights".  In Maine and many other states,  these cars were often the old discarded family sedans that had been resting down behind the barn, or hiding out back in the woods.  This friendly "field racing" competition soon became more than just a way for these early young daredevils to blow off energy; it began to look like a spectator sport as well !  This did not escape unnoticed, and as it began to grow, local promoters saw opportunity, and early dirt tracks began to pop up all over the country.  Nope, it wasn't called NASCAR back then, but NASCAR came as a result.  The early days of stock car racing had been born.

Back then all you needed to go racing was an old car, a little welded-in pipe, and lots of nerve.  An old pickup. or even the family car was just fine to tow these "jalopies" as they were called by some, to the dirt tracks every week.  It was exciting to do, and exciting to watch, and actually very affordable.  Of course, even the winners were lucky to make enough money to cover the cost of their gas.  That wasn't the issue.  The issue was they were doing it "Just for the fun of it".  Soon many a gas station and many a back yard boasted a "jalopy" that could be seen sliding through the turns at the local dirt track each weekend.  Who would have expected that these young men in their battered old racecars were laying the foundation for what would become one of the biggest, most popular sports that ever existed.   Who would have believed that these discarded and nearly forgotten hunks of iron and tin would have launched the evolution of stock car racing experienced here in Maine over the decades.  Who would have believed that these same "jalopy" style race cars would somehow find their way out of the Maine woods over fifty years later, and once again begin making beautiful music on that good old Maine earth !


  The "Wicked Good" Vintage Racing Association's  Bomber Division, is based on that very first generation of  jalopy style "stock car", as the sport named them.  Even today, the term "stock car" is still used, even though the term originally referred to the early factory stock racing car, pretty much as it came off the road.

So, what does a "Bomber" look like?

Let's take a look and see what one looked like back in about 1956.




Now the same car as it looked when found just about 50 years later--





 



Not even a differential under the rear, just a piece of pipe and a couple of wheels to help drag it out of the woods and get to it's new owner. This new owner had been a loyal young fan of this car in it's glory days and had been trying to track it down for a long time.  Now he had it, and begain an extensive restoration process for a year or so.

He succeeded in putting the old # 11 back into racing condition and once again, her single exhaust pipe was barking out the tunes that only a 6 cylender flathead can do. After many years, # 11 was again making those same left turns right back where she left off, back at the now paved Unity Raceway. (second car from the right below as they head down pit road) 




The Bombers on a fast exit from turn 2, and making a run down the front stretch--

--and # 11 right in the middle of the action, just like in 1956!!

HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY MORE FUN THAN THIS!!   
(Well Done Barry)