RACE TRACK SUPERSTITIONS

[Olen McGuire]

Most people are superstitious in one way or another. Auto racing has it's own line of superstitious things.Some of the things that I have heard about include:
Eating peanuts in the pits.
Eating fried chicken the day of the race.
Wearing of anything with the color green on it.
And of course the number 13.
Putting the 'right' glove on first before the left.
Putting on the helmet before entering the car.
Click on the little race car to see what some pro's say::sportsman: (http://www.airwaves-pro.tv/airwaves-pros/getting-in-the-zone/rituals-and-superstitions.aspx)
There are many other things that people do or know about that can make the superstitious list, including women being in the pits (no offense Miss Peggy). Some will wear the same article of clothing that they won the main in, and that includes some wearing the same (sniff) underwear again as long as they are winning. Jerry Lee gave me the idea of starting this thread, so let's see what others can add to it.~Olen

[Jerry Lee]

Some other superstitions I've heard about were avoiding numbers that looked the same upside down (88, 101, 181). And a lot of guys won't shave on race day. Joe Lehman (and others) always had a St. Christopher medal mounted to the dashboard of all his cars.

[webby]

Do you guys remember Pete Brandenburgs midget, it was a green number 13 with peanuts painted on it. :D

[Olen McGuire]

Yeah Webby, I remember that. I think it's called reverse superstitious.:rain:

[Thomas E]

Lakeside . . .
CARC - Green #7 and a Green #42
RMMRA - Green #6

Ted Horn AAA National Champion would walk the entire track before getting into his either of his cars. Except for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ted started at Indy in 1934 DNQ, 1935 DNF, and 1936 to 1948, and never finished less than 4th place.

Several at Lakeside would not allow photos taken of their cars until the first official race of the season.

[VintageBuzz]

Back in the mid-to-late 60's and the early '70s, Kenny Clark was a multi-year track champion at Intermountain Speedway in Cheyenne, WY who drove his wickedly-fast '55 Chevy that was always: green, #13, and sponsored by the Spirits Lounge which was located right across the street from the city cemetery on Pershing Blvd. ~VB

[Olen McGuire]

NASCAR drivers rival baseball players for superstitions.
Here's a few from the NASCAR Drivers. (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/24/bad-luck-by-the-truckload/?printer=1/)

[JRKracer]

Here were 2 of Earls: never pose for a picture before hot laps. Never enter the car on the right side only the left side.

[Olen McGuire]

This thread is just right for Halloween.:jawdrop: Any one remember the Talladega Jinx?

[Terry Von Tilius]

Green? Keep that away!
Then there's don't wish a driver "good luck".

When I'm karting. I will keep wearing a shirt that I wore when I had a good day... Until I have a bad day... Then I better switch to an other good luck shirt.

[indybigjohn]

Interesting, Terry. Reminds me of Joe Amato when he was winning a lot in NHRA. He said he had a pair of Snoopy undershorts he always wore, but he never let anybody see.

[Terry Von Tilius]

Snoopy underwear... I'll have to try it. Too bad the karting season is over. I will have to wait till next year to see if it works.

[parrot]

Love this thread, perfect for the season. Triskaidekaphobia, that's the fear of the number 13, but couldn't find a word for the fear of #7. That's supposed to be a lucky number, but from 1953 through 1964, that number was not only not used, it wasn't even in the CARC program at Lakeside Speedway. Never really did hear a reason, just some superstition about using it. The number 13 was used from time to time, and in fact, during the early to mid fifties, the #13 car at Lakeside said "Lucky 13" on the side. I think CARC7 (another seven!) has a photo of it. Don't know if it had green on it or not.

At any rate, the CARC #7 did reappear at Lakeside Speedway in 1965, driven by Sam Sauer early in the season. And it was GREEN! Guess Sam wasn't superstitious after totaling the green #42 the previous season. I've included a photo of that wreck. I have a photo of the #7 somewhere also, but darned if I can find it when I need to. Somebody else probably has a better one anyway. This was the car sponsored by Colorado National Speedway with the CNS shield logo on the door.

Finally, shown here are two green cars from the '52 season at Sidney, NE, with those supersitious numbers; #7 is Chuck Lafler, and #13 is Heine Westphalen.

[Olen McGuire]

Love this thread, perfect for the season. Triskaidekaphobia, that's the fear of the number 13, but couldn't find a word for the fear of #7.

Very informative Bill, the only thing that I could come up with for the fear of #7 is "heptaphobia". Hepta (being the greek word for seven), and phobia (being the fear of). Don't take that as being a sure thing 'cause it might come back to haunt me.:ha: ~Olen

[carc7]

Got the Jack Graham (Al Starr-owned) #7 but not the one sponsored by CNS; the Lakeside National Bank one. I remember Jack running SO hard to try to beat Don Wilson in the #19 (John Pachello-owned). One night, he finally passed Don on the OUTSIDE and pulled away through traffic. Then, as he crossed the start/finish line with about 10 laps left in the Main, THE BATTERY FELL OUT of the bottom of the car! He went on to win the Main the next week. :applaud:
By the way, notice the orange #13 behind the green #7. Great coincidence!

[Thomas E]

Love this thread, perfect for the season. Triskaidekaphobia, that's the fear of the number 13, but couldn't find a word for the fear of #7. That's supposed to be a lucky number, but from 1953 through 1964, that number was not only not used, it wasn't even in the CARC program at Lakeside Speedway. Never really did hear a reason, just some superstition about using it. The number 13 was used from time to time, and in fact, during the early to mid fifties, the #13 car at Lakeside said "Lucky 13" on the side. I think CARC7 (another seven!) has a photo of it. Don't know if it had green on it or not.

At any rate, the CARC #7 did reappear at Lakeside Speedway in 1965, driven by Sam Sauer early in the season. And it was GREEN! Guess Sam wasn't superstitious after totaling the green #42 the previous season. I've included a photo of that wreck. I have a photo of the #7 somewhere also, but darned if I can find it when I need to. Somebody else probably has a better one anyway.[/SIZE] This was the car sponsored by Colorado National Speedway with the CNS shield logo on the door.

Finally, shown here are two green cars from the '52 season at Sidney, NE, with those supersitious numbers; #7 is Chuck Lafler, and #13 is Heine Westphalen.


Here is the CNS Green #7 (http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/showpost.php?p=157&postcount=3) from a previous Thomas E post.

[Thomas E]

Love this thread, perfect for the season. Triskaidekaphobia, that's the fear of the number 13, but couldn't find a word for the fear of #7. That's supposed to be a lucky number, but from 1953 through 1964, that number was not only not used, it wasn't even in the CARC program at Lakeside Speedway. Never really did hear a reason, just some superstition about using it. The number 13 was used from time to time, and in fact, during the early to mid fifties, the #13 car at Lakeside said "Lucky 13" on the side. I think CARC7 (another seven!) has a photo of it. Don't know if it had green on it or not.

At any rate, the CARC #7 did reappear at Lakeside Speedway in 1965, driven by Sam Sauer early in the season. And it was GREEN! Guess Sam wasn't superstitious after totaling the green #42 the previous season. I've included a photo of that wreck. I have a photo of the #7 somewhere also, but darned if I can find it when I need to. Somebody else probably has a better one anyway. This was the car sponsored by Colorado National Speedway with the CNS shield logo on the door.

Finally, shown here are two green cars from the '52 season at Sidney, NE, with those supersitious numbers; #7 is Chuck Lafler, and #13 is Heine Westphalen.

The fellow wearing the CARC shirt standing front of the cruched #42 is Gene Gallo.

[parrot]

Here's another racer who was superstitious about the color green. One of my early racing heros, Curly Doggett from Sidney, Nebraska, moved up from stock cars to sprint cars in the late fifties and began racing with the Big Car Racing Assoc. He always painted his cars purple, so with a fresh paint job on his sprinter he asked me to stripe it. With the popularity of the "Purple People Eater" song at the time he also wanted a small mural of that character on the hood sides. My buddy Tom had that kind of artistic talent to I enlisted him to do the mural. I was busy on the tail section and Tom was about half finished on one side when suddenly Curly got all up tight about the mural. Tom had used the dreaded green for part of the background and that was a no no! Started over and everything was fine. Didn't have a camera in those days so didn't get a photo, wish I would have. Early sixties photo below is from the Pueblo Chieftan newspaper so isn't the best quality. I've spoken to Curly recently and even he doesn't have any photos of that car. Should be someone out there with BCRS photos, just haven't run accross many.

[Jerry Lee]

Ahhh! I almost forgot the Polish brothers Green #13 "Scootin' Cuda" Late Model at Englewood from the mid-'70's. I don't think they had much luck with it though. Seems to me I remember it being in the wall more than in the race.

I know of a couple drivers who seem a bit freaked out about anything green in their pit area, yet they will carry a folded $50 bill in their pocket. Now that just don't make no sense!

And then there was another driver who always had his wife's panties tucked up into his helmet when he raced. One would hope they were washed.

[Flagman]

As mentioned before, Kenny Clark had a green car and ran 13. He won many races and championships with that scheme. Darrell Stewart also ran a green car, a Vega wagon if I remember correctly. However, his number was always 66. When I raced at BCS (Intermountain Speedway) there was another green 13 driven by Gary Howell. Always a tough competitor.

[Thomas E]

Here are couple of photos of Loren Embree's green 42 at Lakeside Speedway.

[Olen McGuire]

With Halloween falling on a Saturday night this year, will all the superstitious drivers stay home?...Let's hope not, so let's all go out that night and support your local race track.~Olen



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