Rich Morganti's
Crusin' Western Pennsylvania Page
Rich Morganti...he's from the western Pennsylvania area...remembers some of his many racing heros from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Join Rich in a "ride on the wildside"...remembering those racers who "made our weekends so exciting"!
Rich's favorite photo is probably this one...the Don Martin owned ex-Indy roadster driven by Dick Swartzlander back in the middle 1960's as a supermod and as a cageless sprinter with the URC club. This car sat on the Indy pole in 1959 with Johnny Thomson behind the wheel. Paul Goldsmith drove the car at one time and Don Davis would put it in the Indy race in 1962 and finish 4th. In this photo the car remains basically as it appeared at Indy for the last time...red and black...only with a Chevy power plant in place of the Offy...dirt tires and beefed up bumper...even the decals are still there and of course the Don Martin Trucking logo on the side.
Ed Lynch in his Don Edmunds style coupe supermodified.
A great looking old late model of Frankie Choura.
Another western Pennsylvania favorite through the years...Bob Wearing Sr.
Posing in his red and white #61 Trevis Craft sprint car is Chuck Engstrom. Chuck was a threat to win anywhere back during the late 1960's.
This is Rich Bonnell in his Music House sprinter in the late 1960's.
This 1957 Chevy belonged tp Don Crownover and the drivers name on the roof is Don Luffy. These last six photos came from the Norb Rayko collection courtesy of Rich Morganti.
This is what the Ron Pivision stock car looked like after two coal trucks got finished with it on the way to the Morgantown, West Virginia race track . Looks like Ron's car came out the loser on this deal!
Dave Hoffman and Bob Wearing testing each other at Lernerville, Pa.
Lou Blaney putting the Crash Maxwell car to the test.
Jim Netterblade and Neal going at it.
Lee Kothera coming out of the turn at the Tri-City Speedway near Franklin, Pa. back in the early 1970's...and that's quite a bunch chasing him...can you ID any of these chasers?
Little Ed Murphy #42 (RZ Special) racing with #11 Ralph Quarterson? and Johnny Lewis. The Trevis Craft RZ Special has been restored and remains in the western Pa. today.
Modified action in western Pa. Lutz and Toth being "wheeled" by Quarterson...what a shot!
The Bruce Taylor driven and John Fleming owned Pinto after a crash at the Lernerville Speedway. The story is...John had this car sold after the nights program but wanted to race in the nights events...rumor has it the buyer didn't return after the nights events.
Another version of the John Fleming owned and Bruce Taylor driven modified.
And...still another version of the modified owned by John Fleming...John is a service station owner in the Indiana, Pa. area.
And...one last look at this one.
One of the all time greats to come out the western Pennsylvania area is Blackie Watt.
Here's Blackie Watt in a later version modified #1 racing with #3 Jack Sodeman (car owned by John Fleming) at Lernerville, Pa. Speedway.
Dick Swartzlander in the Tim Temple owned Vega modified run on western Pennsylvania tracks.
Another Dick Swartzlander photo...this time posing with the Buick powered sprinter #22.
Blackie Watt posing at Pocono Raceway with the Frank Conway owned Vega modified.
A great shot of Jerry Matus at Lernerville Speedway.
"Mr. Invitational" Bob Wearing's famous #1 Camero. Bob recently announced his "retirement" from racing.
Lou Blaney #10 and Buddy Cochran in one of there duels in western Pennsylvania in the late 1970's.
This car was once owned by Ed Boyer...was sold to Larry Rayko and Denny Strick. Bruce Taylor "the flying mailman" is in this photo...Bruce would one day drive for John Fleming to championships at Jennerstowen and Clearfield, Pa.
We'll be adding to this page as time permits.
Many thanks to Rich Morganti for sharing these great old western Pensylvania racing photos with us. And...Rich is always looking for old movies or VCR tapes from the western Pa. area. Anyone who can help him out send Rich some e-mail here...Rich Morganti.