During our tour of the Herbert collection we've bounced all over the place, from Victoria Speedway to Langhorne, to some of the early Capital area dirt tracks, and even to the Indianapolis 500. Hope you enjoyed the tour. The Herbert album has more photos yet unseen, and they will be used when needed as we proceed.

The Lee Wallard photos below were taken by Wallard's friend Jeep Herbert. Altamont NY's Lee Wallard entered four Indy 500's, finished 7th in 1948, 23rd in 49, 6th in 1950, and 1st in 1951 with an average speed of 136.244 mph in the #99 Belanger Special. Wallard was seriously burned several weeks later at a Pennsylvania track, putting an end to his racing carrier.

Pre race parade.



Moments before the start.



The Wallard pit.



The Wallard pit with the #99.



The #99 first across the finish line.



And the winner is.



Mr. Wallard doing some sponsor duties.



Jeep being inducted into the "Dirt Hall of Fame" with Sammy Beavers (R) and Ed Ortiz (L).



At Langhorne. (L-R, bottom row) Tom Kotary, Pete Corey, Jeep Herbert, George Baumgartner, Bob Fisk, and George Gallup. (Top row) Cliff Kotary, Bill Wimble, Dutch Hoag, Earl Maille, Pepper Eastman, Buck Holiday and Chet Hames. (click for a larger view).



The 111's. Ken Shoemaker in the #111, and Paul Marshall in the #111a. Click for a larger view.



Jerry Townley and "Pop" Wilcox with some hardware. I remember "Pop" walking into my shop one day wondering what it took to get into stockcar racing. Pop had always been a fan, and now he wanted to be part of the fun. I told him what I knew about getting involved, but really didn't take "Pop" serious, how wrong I was. "Pop" Wilcox and his New Berlin team became a force in the race game, starting out with Jim Luke as his driver, and ending with Jerry Townley behind the wheel. The Wilcox race effort took home a ton of hardware during their tenure and was considered a real threat at any track they went to.
 
How does one determine who the best driver of the 60's era at Fonda was? This can't be done without offending someone, as many fans have their own way of making that determination. Some would consider a driver that was balls to the wall all the time to be their choice for #1, others may consider number of races won in making their pick, or maybe a fan would pick a driver that was a friend and lived next door. Next week I'll give you my thoughts about the best driver category, who and why.

NEXT WEEK: WHO WAS THE BEST OUT OF THE GROUP OF DRIVERS THAT MADE FONDA SPEEDWAY THEIR HOME TRACK IN THE 60's.