Carl
Russell, left and brother-in-law Ray Stanchfield, right with "Angle Annie"
a 1941 A.G. Grader. Dad and Ray restore and show these old pieces of equipment,
that mechanical "tinkering" paid off with a 2nd place ribbon at the Miami
County Fair Parade in August of 2001.
RUSTY'S
RACE RAMBLINGS I am the 71 year old father of the 3 great ladies of 3 Sisters
Racing, Carla, Kathy and Judy Kay. Little did I know when I named my first born
Carla, she would end up as NasCarla! I have spent a good part of my 71 years
behind the wheel of a truck, 29 years of it over the road. As it was mostly
hauling construction equipment I was able to spend a lot of time at different
race tracks, with lots of different types of racing. I went to my very first
race at the age of 14. It was at Kansas Free Fairgrounds 1/2 mile at Topeka,
Kansas in 1949. Me and 11 other Boy Scouts from Osawatomie, Kansas were on stage
in the infield as lap counters. I was the counter for Wild Bill Harrison, who
won the race in a 1948 Nash, on fuel mileage. I also went in 1950 but Wild Bill
didn't fair too well, tore thing up pretty badly. When they built the track
in Paola, my younger brother and I decided to build a car. Judy Kay will like
this! Our first car was a flat head Ford. It was a light blue #24. We ran Ottawa
on Saturday and Paola on Sunday, and work on the car all week. We won a couple
of times, tore up a lot of the time, blew up a few times. Everything went pretty
good until we were invaded by the Kansas City and Topeka Super Modified boys.
We didn't have the money or the time to stay with them, although we tried. We
had a modified for a couple of races. We ran a couple of times at Lakeside with
a 111 modified Chevy. I have to say, of all the tracks I have seen or been to,
the 1/2 mile at Lakeside has to be my favorite. I ran with some great racers,
Jerry Weld, Greg Weld, Ken Weld, Tiger Bob WIlliams, Virgil Chapman, Al "The
Orchid Boy" Manning, and probably the greatest Chevy machine, Pappy Weld. I
remember the night AJ Foyt and Jud Larson came up to run with us. Whenever Mark
Martin talks about respect I always think about what AJ said in the drivers
meeting,"We are all friends here now, hope we are when it's all over. Respect
is a great thing, but R doesn't mean Respect, it means Race! And I came here
to win." I don't remember if he won or not, but I always have remembered what
he said. I was never into the full body cars. My favorite is the Super Modified.
We had a full body car for 2 races, one at West Line, Missouri and one at Butler,
Mo. As far as I know the old car is
CARL
"RUSTY" RUSSELL
Well well well - here's the man that pretty much started it all for the 3
Sisters, genetic proof that there is a Race Gene! Thanks Dad - for the genetics,
and for taking the time to write down some memories and observations!
still
at Butler, we tore it up real bad so just left it sitting there. The signs of
the times are coming. I think Nascar is going to suffer before it's over. The
top 35 drivers is a stupid rule is my opionion. Sooner or later the big time
sponsors are going to get tired of their cars not making the race. Watch what
NASCAR does about that. I think that is what has happened to allot our tracks
around here. The track owners expect too much of the money. It is easy to make
all these rules as long as somebody else is paying all the bills. I've seen
it happen here at home. I think NASCAR needs to cut the teams down to 2 cars,
give everybody a chance to compete. The need to stop the Buschwackers. And stop
Jack Roush from trying to buy the Championship with too many cars. My thoughts
on the girls favorite drivers, Carla's being Tony Stewart. I think he is a great
as a driver, but very overbearing as a person. My main knock on him is his taking
away from the little dirt tracks. When you have enough money to buy the entire
field you are racing against, and then brag about winning is a little bit too
much. As for Kathy's driver, Jimmie Johnson, he's as good as they come. Reason
I like him is because I have a nephew with the same name! Judy Kay's driver,
Jeff Gordon, I mean what can you say about him? He has done more in a time span
that no one in NASCAR can match. Not Tony, Jimmie or Junior. You have to give
him his due. Talk about the competition being more now! People say Dale Earnhardt
was the greatest. I will admit he was great, but I think 3 of Jeff's Championships
came against him. I really think the greatest driver hasn't come to the front
yet. I think right now all the drivers are all the same, all laughing on their
way to the bank! One thing I really dislike is someone who has never tried driving
or owning a race car can sit on a couch and bad mouth a driver because your
driver didn't win. I mean really, do you expect your driver to win every race?
The racing world would really get into to that I think! I saw Richard Petty
win his first Daytona 500, saw Jimmy Clark win the Indianapolis 500, saw the
Unser boys run at Sportsman Park in Albuquerque, NM. I've been to the Little
500 at Anderson, Md. I saw Mark Martin win at Benton, Ark. Back when he was
just getting started, and don't remember him showing too much respect to the
older drivers at that time! I think maybe getting away from Jack Roush might
be to his advantage. He knows by now that nice guys don't always finish first.
I saw Bill Elliott win at Riverside, CA. He was, and still is, my favorite NASCAR
driver. I've been to tracks in Salt Lake City, Knoxville, Iowa, Dallas, Texas,
just don't remember all of them. For certain if there was a race near where
I was, I managed to go to it! The one that stands out most in my memory has
to be the race in Terre Haute, Ind. That is where I met my friend and the greatest
driver in my opinion, Jim Hurtubise. He was a modified driver, also ran the
Indy 500 and some NASCAR races. I think he won one, don't remember which. It
was a sad ending to a friendship as Jim lost his life in a race car. I guess
I will stop this now. Only thing left to say is if you think you can do better
than the guys that are doing it, get your rear in a car and see if you can!
It's not as easy as you think. One other thing...driving or owning a race car
can cause a divorce! Carl "Rusty" Russell Paola, Kansas
Dad is the biggest race fan, ever. It's obvious the 3sisters come by our passion
naturally. Dad was a truck driver, and he's been to every state in the US, except
Maine and Hawaii, I think. And he made a point to go to the races, any race,
wherever he could. From Superspeedways to the small county fair dirt tracks,
he's seen them all. Don't ever compete with him in a NASCAR Trivia game, because
he would flat out win. It's kind of ironic that my Dad's racing career was one
of the reasons for his and Mom's divorce. Women either understand the racing
passion, or they don't. Of course, when you have 3 little babies at home, and
your husband is spending all the money on a car, you might get a little irritated.
But know that I know racing, and racers, I realize that they can't help it.
Right or wrong, it's an itch they have to scratch! by Judy Kay
