Rambler late model

[Greg Birky]

Hi guys, some of you may be familiar with the car I'm going to show...I have reentered the Facebook world in very limited way and have joined a few stock car groups...one being All Late Models From Yesteryear to Today.  Sweet looking Rambler that deserves to be modeled.  Apparently it was a race winning car driven by Jimmy Insolo in its early days.  I would love to hear more history if anyone here is familiar with this car.

[sentsat71]

IIRC, Jimmy Insolo raced the 1/3(?) mile short track in Saugus,CA...a small community several miles NW of downtown LA, CA....as they ran this type of car.

The story on that track was  that if you poured water on the inside of the turns, it would run to the outside wall....
Around 1972/73 went to a NASCAR-WEST race there....Don't remember how many cars started, but try and picture the Dodge Chargers and other cars of the late '60's and early '70's racing on that track

Insolo raced primarily in the NASCAR WEST series, along with short track appearances when not racing with NASCAR...
I'm gonna' guess that this car was raced before I moved to SoCal....as I don't remember seeing this particular car the very few times I made it to that track....

Story was that when the property owners of the track were told that the old wooden grandstands were unsafe, they did not want to spend the money replacing them. The track raced on Sat. nights and on Sundays, they had a huge swap meet. Owners felt they no longer needed the racing to draw people to the swap meet. Again heard, that attendance to the swap meet after the track closed, dropped immensly....Don't even know if the track and surrounding property still exist today...

[Greg Birky]

Thanks for the information l, Ed!!!  It seems that some great racing was going on at Saugus back in its heyday!!!  I recall hearing Jimmy Insolo's name frequently in racing magazines in the sixties and seventies...the demise of the track seems that race tracks have been closing for decades due to owners and promoters who were horrible managers and probably not very people oriented as well.  It's too bad that everyone suffers that loss, fans and racers.  Freeport, I'll. was a track that was alive with action in that same time period but sadly closed due to inept city officials who didn't recognize what they had right in their own yard!  From what I read the current city fathers are still against a new track on the edge of town to the dismay and anger of citizens of Freeport...I guess people who aren't racers or fans don't get it!!!

[sentsat71]

I have a strong feeling that the LA Metro area, as well as a track in Riverside County may not be around too much longer.....
Irwindale Raceway, a half and third mile paved track is basically fighting for its life. Someone thinks that SoCal needs another outlet mall where the track is located. It is next to a huge gravel pit, not suited for housing....
Perris Auto Speedway is somewhat better off in that sense, as it is on a fairgrounds, what was out in the middle of nowhere when the current track was built and opened in 1996, but not housing is encroaching on the fairgrounds, not to mention, fairgrounds charges, IIRC $18 to park on the grounds....not to mention the cost of the ticket, around another $20 (estimate)(at least for the USAC/CRA sprints). And not to mention concession stand prices....Not sure if it is just for the sprints, which run ONCE maybe TWICE a month at The PAS, or all racing at the track, Some company is going to air the races live from the track, but, get this, a 250 MILE blackout!!!!!

While sprints don't run that close to me, as 60 miles is a bit far for me these days, plus they run mostly WINGED (Yuck) sprints. Know they are supposed to run 360 sprints (as in without wings), but don't know if they run weekly. Mostly winged 410, 360, & 305 sprints.....

So, yeah....I don't complain too much about the IMCA Mods/stocks/hobby stocks that are the primary around Fenton....(as in Algona, Britt and Fairmont, just over the state line in MN....

Went to a Sport Mod Nationals at Britt last night (Tues)... only 103 cars in the pits, of which 48 were Sport Mods (B-Mods). the rest were split between A-Mods, Stocks and Hobby Stocks.
Kelly Shryock was there with his A-Mod and a stock car he drives, but does not own. Kelly came close to winning both the Stock car and Modified Main events, but Austin Wolf, from Algona, not only passed Kelly late in the Modified main, but actually pulled away from the veteran driver....