tri-city speedway

R

racingdave

New Member
does anyone remember back in the 70's when they had the marty robbins 100, marty actuly raced in that event
 
Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl...
 
I was there for that event it was an NDRA show too if I remember right. "Marty Robbins' Midwest 100". I don't think he ran all that many laps before dropping out with a problem but he did race.
 
If I remember right Larry Phillips won that race. Enjoyed watching Rodney Combs come from the back after changing tires to finish in the top 3. Also remember Kevin Gundaker having a good run and Kenny Schrader have a pretty bad wreck. Good times.
 
I was curious about Tri-City's NDRA history so I checked the Dirt-on-Dirt archives for more info. They show a race on 6-21-80 won by Rodney Combs and a race on 6-23-81 won by Pete Parker. Would have loved to see those races!
 
illinilmfan said:
If I remember right Larry Phillips won that race. Enjoyed watching Rodney Combs come from the back after changing tires to finish in the top 3. Also remember Kevin Gundaker having a good run and Kenny Schrader have a pretty bad wreck. Good times.
Click to expand...

That's right, Schrader tried to knock down the fence in between one and two with the Mustang. Rodney Combs was a heck of a good dirt racer. Those guys were the best of the best at that time.

I remember the big rumor at one of those races was that some of those cars weighed as little as 1800lbs or something like that. When you're 11 years old a lot of times you can sneak around and get a look at things that other people can't so I went over and checked out a car, I think it was Buck Simmons'.

I really think it probably was down there at least close to that weight because there wasn't anything on the car. Small block Chevy with aluminum heads, wet sump, one gauge, no real dash, Camaro with a leaf spring rear. It was the first car I had ever seen with an offset chassis, a straight 2X2 frame rail on the right side. Very little in the way of anything else. It went fast that's for sure.
 
Last edited:
back in the 70s I ran there a lot--was running Godfrey in my Camaro (setting on a 57 frame) the first night I went to TCS that year a car spun out in 1 & 2 I ramped him and got a good 15 feet in the air--that old car was tough-just bent the tie rod---
 
You must log in or register to reply here.




Back
Top