Early Thunder Road

 

I've been getting requests for the real, real old pictures, so here's a few. I got these out of a 1972 Northern Nascar program that Wilbur Martin very graciously loaned me. There was a section of the program that referred back to "the old days" and had these pictures. Btw, I had always thought that Thunder Road in Barre, VT started in the fifties, or maybe even the late forties, but Bill Ladabouche's excellent site on the Catamount Speedway says the place started in 1960. This fellow is Tony Colluchio. At least, I think that's how you spell his name. I remember this car, but even moreso I remember its predecessor; a jet-black Hudson #0 that everybody called "The Big O." I also remember the night he destroyed it. We still rooted for him, but somehow it was different seeing him in a flathead Ford instead of the big Hudson.

Tony was my brother, Butch's hero. Everybody remembers Butch now as "the Duke" driving the # 01 patterned after the Dukes of Hazzard. Before that, his car always was #0 and black, after Tony's Hudson.

This is the great Paul Martell, in his most famous Thunder Road car. I saw him mostly at Keith Bryar's 106 Midway Raceway in Loudon, where he was all but unbeatable in the blue-and-white #444. To be honest, I can't tell you much about this car outside of the obvious, but mister-man could this ol' boy drive a racecar.

Ronnie Marvin was always Tony C's arch-enemy. We would boo him just as hard as we'd cheer Tony. In truth . . . well, Ronnie may have been a little rough, but he was a real nice guy, and a great driver. And that 13 car would really fly!

The Ingerson brothers used to race at the Legion Bowl and Loudon as well, although their cars were never this pretty after an evening of racing on dirt. As I recall, Doug was probably the better driver of the three. Russ was nicknamed "the Wild Child." I'll have to steal that for somebody at the Legion Speedway. The trouble is, there's so many it could apply to. ;>

Well, that's about all for now. More later, of course. Enjoy.

And, if anybody out there has any pictures, or wants to share a story, about any of these guys, go right ahead. I'm especially interested in anything you might have on Tony Colluchio, who seems to be the forgotten man of old-time racing.