Trivia: California Connections Edition
With Daytona just around the corner I thought this week’s Old Timer’s Trivia would head to the opposite end of the country.
Just who is at the wheel of the #77 1956 Chevy, and what long dead dirt track is he blasting around?
This driver once held a record now held by F1’s Fernando Alonzo as the youngest man to win a Formula One Grand Prix.
His open wheel exploits include both the old AAA (both Sprint and Championship divisions) and USAC Championship Car series. In 12 Indy 500 starts he had one win with 2 top fives and 2 top tens.
In stock cars he competed in the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) series finishing in the top ten 5 times with a best finish of third.
This drivers family tree has strong and deep roots in racing. A son was killed while testing an Indy car and a brother moved to the mid-west to first compete on Michigan short tracks and later moved on to have a distinguished NASCAR career.
The race track featured in the photo was originally built on the site of a city dump. While in operation the half-mile track featured tight semi-banked turns, long straightaways, and a tacky surface that was conductive to excellent sprint and midget racing.
Three NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) events were held at the track, the first won by Eddie Pagan. The second NASCAR event was a 500 lap event won by Parnelli Jones. In the final event Eddie Gray lapped the entire field for the win.
So… who’s the driver and what track is he racing on. And who’s brave enough to admit they’re old enough to remember any of this?
Present Old Goat excluded of course. I must admit I was lucky enough to have attended several events over the course of the tracks last nine seasons.
That’s Troy Ruttman toolin’ around Ascot Stadium in Los Angeles. I gotta admit, it took a lot of work to figure that out.
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Jeesh John!
My modem hasn’t even cooled down after posting this and you’ve smoked both parts of the question already.
I gotta do better. (Maybe something from the 19th century will do it)
And it was a tricky one, because, though I figured out the Ascot Stadium answer from your hints, I couldn’t find any connection between Joe Ruttman and that track or with the #77 in any NASCAR reference I researched. The picture was meant to throw us off, wasn’t it?
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In a way yes Jim, but moreso noting the Alonzo record combined with an old stock car driver/picture.
To the young “whipper-snappers” the two would never meet so to speak.
Ascot Stadium was the easy part. I call “trick clue” with the Formula 1 Victory though. Whaaa!
Great Quiz!
How can it be a trick when it’s fact?
It might be rather arcane, but fact non-the-less.
John kicked our ass so bad I had to whine about something!