Put 66 Comet in winners circle

[Jim Clayton]

Guys last Sunday( Sept. 2 ) at the Benton Co. ( Iowa) Speedway I made history . I put a Mercury in victory lane, not just a Mercury but a Comet ! It was a classic FORD vs. Chevy shoot out , of course I'm the only FORD powered car ( big surprise). Started second row inside and had a heck of a race with a 68 Chevelle , I chased him for 4 laps made the pass then held him off for 8 laps. That good FORD power and FORD chassis was running on a rail this night. I told everyone after the race that night that I told the Crowd during my victory interview " THIS IS ONE FOR THE FORD GUYS " and 3 guys stood up to cheer ( not really but it seems like it sometimes). If anyone wants to check out the pictures of that night go to the photo guys site www.actiontrackphotos.com look for Benton Co Speedway then the date 9-2-07 I race against the vintage cars pictured on a regular basis, only about half of the club showed up JC

[SASSY]

Jim! Congrats, its always great to hear that the big Blue Oval
is alive and well on the lesser known tracks.
Why am I not suprised, With your son you 2 make an awesome
team.
Did they come by and say that they race them because the're
cheap?
Please rub it in every chance you get!
Fred

[Jim Clayton]

Fred , I hear it all , we run a Chevy because :
They are cheaper to build
There are more parts available
The FORD can't compete
All my buddies run Chevys
I'm not smart enought and too lazy to try something different
I couldn't stand the constant razzing I would get from the bow tie guys

The list goes on and on. Fred did you ever get your package?

Keeping the big blue oval alive in nostalgia racing JC

[SASSY]

Jimmy!,got it today!I have watched a little of the hotlaps.
What an array of classes of cars!
I'm gone on a small holiday for a few days to Spokane and
surrounding area. So it'll have to wait till the weekend.
Thanks, now I have to get serious about finding that tape
of my late model days in the 80's. (In a Ford!)
The only other cars I've seen at Knox are the outlaws on TV,
you guys take a little longer,What Gives(hehe).
Fred

[SASSY]

Sorry couldn't figure out how to delete one of the entries!
Fred

[lavron]

Got it for you Fred.

See Ya,
Mike

[scarelane]

Congratulations! In world of drag racing and car shows it's refreshing that there is some old school, old car roundy-round going down. . The pics look great. .

[Jim Clayton]

Scarelane , the vintage stockcar thing is very much alive in Kansas , a buddy of mine lives in Wellsville, Ks tried to get me to bring a couple of cars down last weekend to Mayetta Ks to run with his group. I think they all like to take turns whipping up on the FORD guy. I'm planning on replacing the front fender and bang out the bumpers this winter. 3 years of close racing has been tough on the old girl. JC

[scarelane]

that would be a blast, I live about 30 min from mayetta. I would do that to my Cyclone but i'm afraid i wouldn't have the guts to cut up an original GT. I might have to go check it out none the less. . .thanks for the heads up. . .! -Kevin

[Jim Clayton]

Kevin , If your Comet is any good at all I would build it , my Comet was way far gone . No floor pans anywhere no trunk floor anywhere and the rockers were gone as well as the bottoms of the doors and rear quarters. I really don't feel bad about building a stock car out of the Comet as it was about to be crushed. Funny thing after the races at Vinton that night a guy came up to me and asked me a lot of questions about the car and who did I get it from, come to find out the guy had owned the car for 30 years and sold it to the guy I bought it from . Guess he approved as he was telling everyone that would listen " that's was my Comet" or at least part of it anyway. JC