JeepSnake
March 24th, 2007, 07:06 PM
Guys, thought I'd share a great experience with you from yesterday...
For those of you who are interested in automotive & racing history (in addition to going fast!), I highly recommend visiting the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Library at Talladega Superspeedway. I'd been thinking of going down there to browse through period articles on Cobras from various magazines. Well, I took a vacation day, and Dad & I went yesterday - WOW!
The library is not big, and you're not going to find Dewey or his decimals in attendance. What you will find is Ms. Carlan, the librarian, and a room that might remind you of your grandparents' attic. Tables are covered with photo albums full of NASCAR drivers' snapshots, black & white flecked filing boxes fill the shelves, adorned with carefully hand-lettered labels: "Road & Track Box #1," "Sports Car Graphic - Misc," "Car & Driver - 1970," "Winston Programs - 1968," etc. Be ready to hunt for what you want, and be ready to get utterly sidetracked when something else catches your eye.
We spent a little over an hour in the library, and literally had to force ourselves to stay on task. We dug out and copied Cobra articles from Motor Trend, Sept 1963; Road & Track, June 1963; Road & Track, Sept 1962; Road & Track, June 1964. And we got tied up reading other articles such as:
- in depth look at the engineering of Pontiac's Tempest transaxle from 1961
- debate over how stock car racing is no longer stock - from 1963!
- various ads for Cobra & general British sports car accessories
- ads for custom bodies for British chassis, Corvette chassis, etc.
- towing an 8000# camper with your 1961 Lincoln
- hotrodding the Corvair engine (a HUGE wealth of articles on this!)
- the NEW Ford 427 engine (painted red-orange in the photo!)
- inside the Pontiac 421 NASCAR engine
A lot of fun if you get the chance! The library is only open on weekdays (museum is open on weekends, though), and Ms. Carlan said do NOT come during race week if you want to be left alone to browse. Obviously, the material is geared more toward NASCAR, but they do have a good archive of Road & Track and Motor Trend magazines going back to the '50s.
Anyhow, now I've got to read through the articles we copied!
For those of you who are interested in automotive & racing history (in addition to going fast!), I highly recommend visiting the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Library at Talladega Superspeedway. I'd been thinking of going down there to browse through period articles on Cobras from various magazines. Well, I took a vacation day, and Dad & I went yesterday - WOW!
The library is not big, and you're not going to find Dewey or his decimals in attendance. What you will find is Ms. Carlan, the librarian, and a room that might remind you of your grandparents' attic. Tables are covered with photo albums full of NASCAR drivers' snapshots, black & white flecked filing boxes fill the shelves, adorned with carefully hand-lettered labels: "Road & Track Box #1," "Sports Car Graphic - Misc," "Car & Driver - 1970," "Winston Programs - 1968," etc. Be ready to hunt for what you want, and be ready to get utterly sidetracked when something else catches your eye.
We spent a little over an hour in the library, and literally had to force ourselves to stay on task. We dug out and copied Cobra articles from Motor Trend, Sept 1963; Road & Track, June 1963; Road & Track, Sept 1962; Road & Track, June 1964. And we got tied up reading other articles such as:
- in depth look at the engineering of Pontiac's Tempest transaxle from 1961
- debate over how stock car racing is no longer stock - from 1963!
- various ads for Cobra & general British sports car accessories
- ads for custom bodies for British chassis, Corvette chassis, etc.
- towing an 8000# camper with your 1961 Lincoln
- hotrodding the Corvair engine (a HUGE wealth of articles on this!)
- the NEW Ford 427 engine (painted red-orange in the photo!)
- inside the Pontiac 421 NASCAR engine
A lot of fun if you get the chance! The library is only open on weekdays (museum is open on weekends, though), and Ms. Carlan said do NOT come during race week if you want to be left alone to browse. Obviously, the material is geared more toward NASCAR, but they do have a good archive of Road & Track and Motor Trend magazines going back to the '50s.
Anyhow, now I've got to read through the articles we copied!