 Lakeside Speedway was home to many beautiful modified stock cars. One of my personal favorites was this gorgeous 'Vicky'. The 'Golden Chariot', as it was known, was shoed by veteran driver Ed Mailo. The car was built and owned by Ernie Reese and Pat VanDyke. If my memory is correct, Ernie was some sort of engineer. Pat owned and operated A-1 Truck and Auto. Both men were talented mechanics and it showed everytime this beauty entered the track.
The tragedy of this car came in the same year of its existence. Early in that year, and I believe it was in hotlaps, the radiator of the #40 car of Doug Plue ended up sitting right behind Ed Mailo's seat. The car was a total loss.
In this photo, (below) taken in the pits at Lakeside, probably for the next weeks program, shows the car and crew shortly after arriving at the track for this Sunday nights event. Left to right are: Unknown, Ed Mailo (who is sporting his CARC Officials shirt), Pat VanDyke, Ernie Reese and Unknown. One of the Unknowns may be Ed Mailos son, but not sure. Also in this photo, you can pick out the #88 of Dick and Dan Day, the "Torch"#53, and Joe James Jr's #54 (Where are You?) Sorry...I was compelled.
Standing up to the far right on a tire or something is a very young Harry Stone.
Those were the days my friends.......I wished they'ed never end.......
Other features on this car included candy apple red fogged stripes which gleamed against the gold paint job. The hubs were also painted candy red.
Those unique old English style numbers were hand lettered by John Hedburg. His sign company, located in the 4900 block of Lowell was known as Hed Sign Co. Mr. Hedburg was responsible for many beautiful lettering jobs including some of my favorites, Sam Sauers-Boots Texaco #28, Sam Sauers-Ralph Youngs #60, Wayne Stallsworths-Scotties Drive-In #1. I studied his work and tried to copy it through my career. Mr. Hedburg had three Studebaker pickups, all painted in two tone red and black, and lettered on the door was his famous Hed Sign Co. logo. You can see this logo in this picture, just above and to the right of LaBates Standard, which was on the N-E corner of 49th and Federal.
This next picture was taken at the Sabre's Auto Show. The show was held at the Denver Coliseum (stock show) before it eventually made it to Currigan. I can remember you could still smell the cow manure when you made the rounds at this show. It looks like the car had taken a few trophies already, and maybe the forward trophy had just been won at this show. Check out the pinstripes on the rear bumper and kickoffs. Another "cool" feature on this car was they had taken a full sheet of plexiglass, rounded the corners and cut it to fit over the escape hatch on top of the body. If you look real hard you can see the rivets holding it in place above the steering wheel. This proved to be somewhat dangerous when Ed Mailo needed to escape the formentioned crash.
Discuss the Golden Chariot and Ed Mailo Profile here .
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