'62 Lark Stock Car

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

I can't provide the link, but if someone would go to www.donhallracing.com and go to the photo gallery #23...the second photo down in the third row is a red white and blue '62 Lark. I've been around Northwest short track racing for a long time and I do remember seeing this driver race before, but I had never known the existence of this particular car.

[Studedude]

[Bob Andrews]

I'm so old, I remember when race cars looked like that! LOL

Puts me in mind of this beauty:

[Steve T]

Good heavens, the Mosquito Speedway Lark sign...and that's doubtless one of my pix of it. It was still there in 2010 when I visited that area for a wedding in Thunder Bay. The speedway is in Nolalu, which is a locality, really, rather than a town, dead centre in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The speedway has been closed for years but several old vehicles are still littered around the property.

When my dad and I drove out there in 2010, we came across an utterly surreal scene en route: an open-ended Quonset hut in the woods by the road, out of which was sticking the aft end of a green Wagonaire; at the other end, outside in the bushes were two or three Subaru Legacy sedans...one of them painted in the same race livery as the Lark out at the speedway. After finding the Lark et cetera at the speedway we stopped at the Quonset hut and peered inside...to see five Studebakers, a Chevelle and a Fargo truck. One of the Studes was a fascinating '59-61 Hawk stock car. The whole thing looked and felt like a dream sequence, wacky and illogical, but there it was, in the woods near Nolalu, Ontario! Apparently the owner of the (former) race team lives nearby, but we saw neither person nor dwelling...just the Quonset and its strange amalgam of vehicles. One of my favourite Studebaker memories.

Oh, and it goes without saying re the patriotically-liveried '62 at the top of the thread...Love That Lark!

S.

[Dick Steinkamp]

Steve,
Great picture and even better story.

Thanks!

[wolfie]

http://donhallracing.com/photos_23/photos_23_5.html

[clonelark]

Nothing against the guy but he tore up a lot of valuable cars.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

There is a lot to explore on the donhallracing site. Go to the "programs" page. The 1972 Eugene Speedway Program lists a '60 Studebaker Super Stock and a '62 and a '55 Studebaker Hobby Stock.

[JRoberts]

I believe this was posted on this forum a long time ago:



Check here:http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/nolalu.htm

[t walgamuth]

I remember a gran turismo Hawk racing at Raceway park back in the mid sixties. It looked handsome but ran at the back mostly. While the other cars all sported 427 cu in it said 301 or 302 (whatever it takes...!)

[BobPalma]

Thanks, Dave; at least we now know what Studebakers would have looked like with mid-70s battering-ram, railroad-tie front bumpers! BP

[BobPalma]

I remember a gran turismo Hawk racing at Raceway park back in the mid sixties. It looked handsome but ran at the back mostly. While the other cars all sported 427 cu in it said 301 or 302 (whatever it takes...!)

'Look familiar, Tom?



The autograph says, "To Bob, (s) Dick Passwater."




That would have been a 304.5 cubic-inch R3.

I watched it race when I attended the 1964 (IIRC) Yankee 300 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. It never seriously threatened the front-runners, but I wouldn't say it was in the back of the pack. Midway was more like it, most of the time.

It sure looked odd against all those comparatively-huge 1963 Galaxies and Pontiacs rounding the corners. BP

[WinM1895]

Thanks, Dave; at least we now know what Studebakers would have looked like with mid-70s battering-ram, railroad-tie front bumpers! BP

10 MPH front (1973) and 5 MPH rear (1974) collapsible bumpers mandated by the NHTSA for passenger cars.

Behind the chrome bumpers were massive steel reinforcements. The front and rear bumper brackets were designed to collapse at these speeds.

[t walgamuth]

'Look familiar, Tom?



The autograph says, "To Bob, (s) Dick Passwater."




That would have been a 304.5 cubic-inch R3.

I watched it race when I attended the 1964 (IIRC) Yankee 300 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. It never seriously threatened the front-runners, but I wouldn't say it was in the back of the pack. Midway was more like it, most of the time.

It sure looked odd against all those comparatively-huge 1963 Galaxies and Pontiacs rounding the corners. BP

I attended a number of yankee three hundreds back about then. It was a great time. I attended the race that Hurtubise came back in driving a 65 Dodge IIRC....a coronet I believe.

I also was there when Mario won his first Indy car race on the road course....and I wsas there in 64 or 65 for sports car races on the road course and got to see Bob Johnson run the factory cobra #95 IIRC. Some great moments there and at the Indy 500 track.

[t walgamuth]

Yes, that does look familiar. Thanks for posting that. Wonder if that car still exists?

I attended a number of yankee three hundreds back about then. It was a great time. I attended the race that Hurtubise came back in driving a 65 Dodge IIRC....a coronet I believe.

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