Sam Gallo #15 D Lakeside Modified

[superstroke]

Another great shot from the Bruce Rhoades collection. This photograph, copied from Lakeside Speedways official program dated August 17, 1975, shows Sam Gallo and his crew posing in the parking lot of Colorados tough little 1/5th mile asphalt oval. 1966 was about the time when I started going out to Lakeside. Sams driving career was approaching its end. I got to see him drive, but it was Sam Sauer, Don Wilson and others who were catching the spotlight at this time. I could not get enough of Lakesides terrific "set on the edge of your seat "action. It was sooooo much fun watching Sam Sauer pass three deep, or seeing Bill Streeters orange #66 pulling its left front tire off the ground as he accelerated from the corner. It was even more fun to go to the Chicken King after the races in hope of being able to be seated close to one of my many racing heroes. I cannot argue how many cars there were on a given night, but I can tell you that there was no limit to the excitement that Lakeside provided. I have been to 50 or more race tracks in my life, including Daytona, but none, and I mean NONE even come close. I miss that old track....its a shame that it sits the way it does today.

[parrot]

The #15 D was a favorite of mine, owned by Mike Wall (I believe he's the gentleman kneeling on the right in the photo from Superstroke) who always fielded cleanly built cars. The photo below is from the 1965 season. Note the Chromed grill shell that Mike usually had on his cars. This car gets my vote for best sounding Ford 6 ever! Most six cyl cars had shorter header systems that may have been more noise than sound. (There is a difference) Not so with the 15 D. This photo from the left side shows three extended exhaust pipes that were paired 1-6, 1-5 and 3-4 at the exhaust ports emitting a tone unlike any other. You had to be there.

This car, with Sammy at the helm, was also involved in a little CARC history trivia. One Sunday evening they arrived too late to time in and since Sammy regularly timed in the Fast A class, he had to forgo the heat race, but was allowed to be in both the A Losers and A Main events, but required to start at the rear of the pack. Normally the Losers race was a 16 car field and the Main a 24 car field. Not sure if it had ever happened before or since, but for the first time in my memory, car count for each of those events were 17 and 25 respectively.

[kpsmcoy]

Yes, that is Mike Wall kneeling on the left.