Jerry Lee
08-04-2009, 12:14 PM
A top ten contender in Late Models at both Englewood and Lakeside Speedways, plus a racing veteran of 20 some years and a super-cool dude will always add up to a great conversation in my book.
Digging through the ol' box of cassettes I found this 1997 interview with the late great Dave Swan.
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JL: "Who was it that got you started in racing?"
DS: "Y'know who really got me started was Herb Green. He used to race when Englewood was a dirt track and I used to go hang around him as a kid. In fact, I still got an Englewood program with a picture of his car. Just a souvenir I kept."
JL: "Didn't Herbie Green used to drive that 8 ball Stocker in the '50's?"
DS: "Right, with that big 8 ball painted on it. They called him "The Eight Ball"! (laughs) He lived in Edgewater and I just lived down the block, so I used to go over and help him."
JL: "Edgewater! I went to Jefferson High there."
DS: "I went to Jefferson too!"
JL: "Really?"
DS: "Yeah, in fact they kicked me out of school there 'cause my hair was too long! (laughs) So I went in the service."
JL: "What was your first stock car?"
DS: "I had an old '55 Ford that I started with. I wanted to run a Late Model car and no one else was running them around here on the oval at the time. The only place you could run one in '64 was Englewood in the Figure 8's. And of course, the pits were full of them. There were so many cars they were pitting in the parking lot. Probably a hundred of 'em or better, they way out numbered the Modifieds. They didn't have a Late Model class around here yet."
JL: "Right, it was all Modified shows on the local tracks before Erie came along in '65 with a class for Late Model cars."
DS: "That's right, do you remember Larry Dechant? He was the instigator in that. He started them running the Late Models on the oval out there because the fans really did like to see those kind of cars on the oval as opposed to the Figure 8."
JL: "So you went with the oval."
DS: "Yeah, we started running Late Models at Erie in '65 and changed out all the rear ends of the old Figure 8 cars to run on the dirt. A bunch of us went from Figure 8 to Late Model then. When Englewood finally started their Late Model class we ran there for years. (laughs)"
JL: I know our family always enjoyed watching you at Englewood, do any races stand out to you?"
DS: "I'll have to go downstairs when I get off the phone with you 'cause I've got some trophies down there I can look at."
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R.I.P. DAVE SWAN.
Digging through the ol' box of cassettes I found this 1997 interview with the late great Dave Swan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
JL: "Who was it that got you started in racing?"
DS: "Y'know who really got me started was Herb Green. He used to race when Englewood was a dirt track and I used to go hang around him as a kid. In fact, I still got an Englewood program with a picture of his car. Just a souvenir I kept."
JL: "Didn't Herbie Green used to drive that 8 ball Stocker in the '50's?"
DS: "Right, with that big 8 ball painted on it. They called him "The Eight Ball"! (laughs) He lived in Edgewater and I just lived down the block, so I used to go over and help him."
JL: "Edgewater! I went to Jefferson High there."
DS: "I went to Jefferson too!"
JL: "Really?"
DS: "Yeah, in fact they kicked me out of school there 'cause my hair was too long! (laughs) So I went in the service."
JL: "What was your first stock car?"
DS: "I had an old '55 Ford that I started with. I wanted to run a Late Model car and no one else was running them around here on the oval at the time. The only place you could run one in '64 was Englewood in the Figure 8's. And of course, the pits were full of them. There were so many cars they were pitting in the parking lot. Probably a hundred of 'em or better, they way out numbered the Modifieds. They didn't have a Late Model class around here yet."
JL: "Right, it was all Modified shows on the local tracks before Erie came along in '65 with a class for Late Model cars."
DS: "That's right, do you remember Larry Dechant? He was the instigator in that. He started them running the Late Models on the oval out there because the fans really did like to see those kind of cars on the oval as opposed to the Figure 8."
JL: "So you went with the oval."
DS: "Yeah, we started running Late Models at Erie in '65 and changed out all the rear ends of the old Figure 8 cars to run on the dirt. A bunch of us went from Figure 8 to Late Model then. When Englewood finally started their Late Model class we ran there for years. (laughs)"
JL: I know our family always enjoyed watching you at Englewood, do any races stand out to you?"
DS: "I'll have to go downstairs when I get off the phone with you 'cause I've got some trophies down there I can look at."
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R.I.P. DAVE SWAN.