More Coke Bottle Chargers of the Northwest

Mike Sproule, chief instructor at Okanagan Racing Experience, sent us two great pictures of NASCAR Dodge Chargers in action on the Vancouver track. Here you see his dad, canadian racing legend Larry Sproule, in a Petty built Dodge. The one below is Ray Elder in the famous other Olympia Charger.

Comments

[Terry Grimes]

Good morning gentlemen,

It was with a great deal of excitement I accidentally discovered your website yesterday, and I've been reading it ever since. My home is in southeast Alabama in the U.S. and have been an NASCAR fan since 1970. As a newspaper editor, I got my foot in the door at Talladega Superspeedway during the mid-80s working on Richard Petty's pit crew during a race for a feature story. I was later lucky enough to work with the speedway during race weeks for a number of years. My all-time favorite stock cars were the 1971-1974 Chargers (my dad had a '74 street Charger) and was terribly excited to find the Oly car on your site. I'll be keeping up with your team and wish you the very best luck in your upcoming endeavors and also thank you for bringing back memories of true "stock cars" in a time where many feel that time has passed. Have a great day.

Terry Grimes
Headland, AL

[Christophe]

Hello Terry,

thanks for your kind words. I think that there is a similar USAC Charger at the Talladega Museum. Do they take it sometimes for a spin of your famous Alabama track ?

Cheers,

Christophe

[Dick Pierson]

Terry,

Thank you so much for your e-mail, it is so nice to hear from a true NASCAR fan and one that remembers when NASCAR was "not" what it is today. I get excited about today's NASCAR but nothing compares to the times when we would run 30 cars on a half mile track with all of 15,000 screaming fans and call it a Winston West Championship Race. I remember borrowing a coil from a fan in Coos Bay, Oregon after he went out in the parking lot and removed it from his street car so we could run the race (we had to take it off the race car after it was loaded before he could go home). Those were truly the "good old days". You should think about coming to Le Mans and watch as we break Hershel's record. If you are a Charger fan you would love watching as that huge American muscle runs next to a Ferrari. It is serious fun that can only be had at a place like Le Mans, a track that the Dodge Charger "loves". You could come and write a story for your publication, both Christophe and I would be happy to help furnish material for interviews.

Dick Pierson