Not a car racing fan these days, but...
 

... it was great fun watching these at Spencer Speedway when I was a kid. Neat looking cars!



This is Maynard Troyer in his White Lightning car. Anybody else enjoy modified car racing?

My family and I used to go to the local track every weekend in Yuma, they would have about 4 hours of clay track racing in different classes. Modified, Super Stock, and Sprint cars.. It was always a good time. I don't know if they still run races on weekends there, but I enjoyed going despite not being a fan of racing myself. Something about watching a car "slide" around a turn rather than drive normally was a lot more fun.

I guess its called Cocopah Speedway now, looks like they have really improved the facilities.

By the way, Maynard Troyer survived this incredible crash at the 1971 Daytona 500.



Troyer achieved one top-five finish (at the 1971 Yankee 400), three top-ten finishes, and 3259.1 accumulated miles (1767 laps) of racing experience.[1] Maynard was a runner-up for the 1971 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award (Walter Ballard won the title because he competed in more races than Troyer did).[1]

He was a competitor at the 1971 Daytona 500, on lap 9 of that race he lost control in turn two. Troyer's bright orange-red Ford hit the flat sideways at full speed and began tumbling so fast, it was almost impossible to count the number of flips. press estimates ranged from 5 to 18 flips. It was at least a dozen. Troyer was seriously hurt, but recovered to compete again in 1973. Troyer finished his career with a total amount of earnings set at $14,940 ($77,264.66 in today's money).[1]

Intermediate tracks were Maynard's best racing experiences; giving him an average finish of 22nd place. However, Troyer had difficulties at the tri-oval tracks where he would finish in a lackluster 31st place.[2]