[HD] 1957 Daytona Beach Race 335 Mercurys, Supercharged Fords, Fuel Injected Chevrolets

In 1957, the U.S. automotive manufacturers competed to show their latest models and performance. The Stock Cars raced north on the actual beach, turned in the sand, and raced south down a two-lane highway. In this video, you will see Mercurys, Fords, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and Pontiacs debut their latest high performance goodies.

[@josephg41]

Those supercharged Ford 312's are crazy. And the coolest thing about early Nascar is these cars were very similar to what you saw in the showroom. Wow how Nascar has fallen

[@josephmac2386]

Agreed

[@jayrowe6473]

"Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." How far it has fallen, indeed.

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

NASCAR had to make changes, virtually all the street cars had changed to front wheel drive and were considerably smaller. NASCAR doesn't call the cars stock cars now, because they aren't. Surely the stock cars were great, greater in some ways.

[@marvinmurakami8828]

I have no doubt my father watched these races back then because he was a stock car racing fan and he bought a 1957 Mercury Montclair that resembled exactly the Mercurys here but was a hardtop and had long rear louvers that went half way down the rear wheels. It was white with greem accents. Beautiful car.

[@mrspeeddemon727]

Agreed. NASCAR sucks these days my wife and I stopped watching about 10 years ago. A few years after Rusty Wallace retired. All the annual rule changes, "playoffs" and driver's acting like babies are the main reasons why we left the sport.

[@markmark2080]

I was 10 years old in 1957 and our family car was a 1946 DeSoto, in the late 50's with the "styling wars" well underway, almost every little boy knew almost every car by make and year, what a great time to be a kid. My first car in 1963 was a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 with the 312 Thunderbird Special engine, single 4 barrel.

[@jamesglavich1426]

"Mark" I'm the same age, and back then we could what year model a car was across a parking lot. Today its hard to tell what country the car was made in, they all kind of look a lot alike from a distance. If all else failed remember the little deal with the tail light, had the car year cast with the lens most of the time.

[@samp7003]

My friends and I used to mark down on a sheet of paper how many of each brand went by back then. Ford and Chevy were always the most. Now you don't even know what these things are that go by.

[@oldautos251]

I was 10 years old as well!

[@cmf1965]

That would be the 312/245 horsepower engine...

[@bigsparky8888]

MY BROTHER BOUGHT A 57 FOR $150.00...BODY/INTERIOR STRAIGHT W/NO RIPS IN SEAT...RAN PERFECT BUT SMOKED...LIKE CRAZY...(YEARS LATER I FOUND OUT IT WAS THE VACUUM MODULATOR VALVE... $2.85 PART!!!) FRUSTRATED...LESS TGAN 80,000 ON THAT FAIRLANE 500...SAD...OLD MAN SOLD IT TO MY BROTHER & I WAS THE WRENCH BACK THEN...OH WELL HELL...

[@victorm.photovic9983]

Oh man, what a privilege it is to have grown up watching these gems! Thank you for these memories!❤️😸👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@TheNextGoogification]

That must have been interesting when it all got started. Watching a lot of these youtubes, you could see how they drifted away from individual ownership - and got forced to go to sponsorship. However it must have been interesting when all these methods of getting cars to go faster was new. Also they seem to have zero safety considerations. Can't imagine going racing around in a car with no seat belts and wearing short sleeve shirts. - certainly was a lot more dangerous, those guys are sort of like gladiators - chances of getting seriously hurt or killed were way much more then, than today. It certainly seemed like the cars went faster then - no comparison to being on the oval tracks when they're going 220 and it looks like they're going 20. What was the main thing you noticed when you watch them race?

[@michaelashby4036]

Yes because today is more like NFL than racing?! Over

[@2098elk]

The good old days! Cars looked like stock cars.

[@GottliebGoltz]

They were.

[@xmo552]

Air lift spring nice product placement

[@kenthompson4967]

Spaceships!

[@roywilliams7229]

With 0 safety features. Yea…. Good thing we don’t do stock anymore

[@jasonstrout4502]

@@roywilliams7229 Hahahahahahaha

[@craigpennington1251]

These old races are a hell of a lot better than today's stuff. 58 Mercs are super cool no matter how they're done up.

[@toml.1408]

We would get these films of the beach stock and modified Daytona races on television in Southern California in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I was born in 1956 but I remember these races. In my youth these were so cool. My heros were Darel Dieringer and Paul Goldsmith.

[@JRLong-wl6fm]

Went to one of the beach races with my dad, sat in the north turn. Nothing like it today.

[@leeroyholloway4277]

What a delightful time capsule. This makes the NASCAR of today look like a bunch of school girls.

[@cliffordgill9052]

Because they are!!! Back in those days their safety package was a helmet, and a package of cigarettes! 😎

[@dbj1941]

The last frame of the video shows Tim Flocks' brother Fonty Flock on Tim's left in the white shirt. I have a photo o Fonty dressed in black Bermudas and a black shirt just after getting out of his car. Nobody wore Bermudas in probably what was about 1950. I think the photo was taken at Warner Park Fairgrounds track in Chattanooga.

[@michaelashby4036]

Yes, that’s why stopped watching nascar about 10 years ago when it went with the NFL theme?

[@danielsmith5023]

Bloody oath mate 👍

[@cliffsokolosky8002]

No kidding. When racing was racing. Bring your best and hope your best was enough. Well built car and a good crew. Not like the kids today with million dollar sponsors. These men do make the guys of today look like school girls. Having caviar and Perrier water at pit stops. Just kidding. But yea no comparison to the old school drivers. Could you imagine making the drivers of today run on the beach. I bet half of them would wet their pants and quit or just wouldn't do it . Out of fairness though the cars today are running a lot faster. But even it up put today's drivers in these cars and I don't think half of them would be able to handle these beasts. Maybe a few of the hard core younger guys but not all of them. Just my own opinion.

[@utjp7077]

Haven't seen a race that exciting in years.

[@sorshiaemms5959]

LIKE TO SEE TODAYS DRIVERS HANDLE THIS TRACK AND ITS CONDITIONS

[@GeorgeMcKinley.]

There’s a lot of things I don’t like about nascar today but the drivers abilities aren’t one of them , make no mistake these guys can drive.

[@tjohnson9051]

NASCAR should have put this on TV during the shut down!

[@uppastdawn7627]

They would never have gotten viewers back!

[@perry92964]

they would have lost the little respect they have managed to cling to

[@davanmani556]

Bill France wasn’t exactly friends with Mr. Flock.

[@vernwillis9793]

I had a super marauder ,bought it at Pendergrass chevrolet in the fall of 1959 ---The fastest car at top end of all of the cars I have owned.

[@arkhsm]

Who would sell that beast just a year later and by a slug Chevy ? Must have been to manly a car for him !!

[@dannycalley7777]

@@arkhsm A.F . .............. Momma's Boy ???

[@f4udhorn]

The supercharged 312 Fords were the ones to beat. We had one of them in our high school. Unbeatable!

[@PFay]

Now that’s racing! If only NASCAR could return to that kind of competition and mad ass driving.

[@falcon6995]

These were real cars💪

[@jeffpiatt3879]

It's amazing how things used to be. Cars going 150mph and passing other parked cars and spectators less than 50 feet away.

[@darkhorseca]

Have you ever seen a rally race?

[@TS-ef2gv]

On sand, no less.

[@jayswarrow1196]

@@TS-ef2gv On *wet* sand, right smack to the sea line.

[@dannycalley7777]

J.P. ..............they had those good bias ply truck tires ........?????

[@johncarl5505]

@@darkhorsecaI don't think rally cars reach 150mph.

[@tomjefferson3148]

Wow! what fun, so much excitement! much better than NASCAR today

[@kennethwallace4338]

Just hearing that sled cut corners makes me miss the old cars.

[@dbj1941]

We went to what I think was the first stock car race on this course in 1948 0r 49. My dad had gotten into racing after the war and he took us our kids and mom to Daytona, what a trip. Most of the cars racing was 39 Ford Coupes though there were some different. I have some old photos somewhere and the one I remember most is of several cars piled on top of others where they came off the asphalt into the turn and went over the edge. In this film, the Ford slammed into the sandbank and stayed there throughout the race. Obviously, a lot more sand had been piled up there from what it was in the race in the late 40''s to prevent this from happening. I also remember a lot of races at Lakewood in Atlanta.

[@sorshiaemms5959]

back when stock cars were stock cars motors were factory equipment

[@chadakoin1]

The 300 hp supercharged Ford motor could be ordered in any 57 Ford that year. It was banned by NASCAR mid way through the year after Ford won a bunch of races with it.

[@joefell7845]

Figures.

[@pyrodon5773]

Any thing to screw Ford for nascar Precious Chevy just like today that is why I don't watch anymore.

[@GeorgeMcKinley.]

First banning the Paxton then the cammer then the 429 was to much so no more big blocks, seems like nascar had it in for ford the whole time and now the way the season is structured is an absolute joke. We the fans need a whole new circuit.

[@johnwilliamson2707]

Similar to what NASCAR did banning those original Hemi Chrysler 300's in 1955-56. Nobody could catch 'em. The good thing about these technologies is they would trickle down to consumer models.

[@CJinSD1]

@@johnwilliamson2707 Did NASCAR ban them, or did Carl Kiekhaefer just stop racing the Chryslers because they won so much that they were getting booed, when the point of the exercise was to attract buyers for his Mercury Marine outboards?

[@alwaysopen7970]

Over the top commentating is cool.

[@PhaQ2]

When you consider these cars are running on bias ply tires and drum brakes... The men that drove these machines must've carried their jewels in a wheelbarrow.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

bias Plys have always driven straighter than modern days ugly cartoon tires. Stop belittling the era you convict.

[@tedecker3792]

I got to see a 58 mercury race at pikes peak in 57, the logos were taped over but it was obviously the new mercury. I was 10 years old and falling in love with racing. Started racing myself in1960 in go-karts.

[@grantperkins368]

Oh my dog! I was on the edge of my seat with a big grin on my dial the whole race ! :-) How many tons of steel(?) being chucked into corners, powersliding 100 metres through sand inches from each other, now that's racing! Sort of like a combo of drags, drifting and Paris to Dakar. The world could do with a bit more of this and a bit less of the other!

[@billfeld5883]

Watched these clips at a movie theater in the 1950s, damm how cars have changed, today you can buy a car off the showroom floor faster than these race cars!!! Always loved the 1957 Ford!!!! 2022

[@pyrodon5773]

Hell you can buy a showroom car nowadays that has more hp than Restricted nascar's

[@bwtv147]

Today you can’t buy a car like the ones raced on NASCAR. All the cars in NASCAR races are cookie cutter NASCAR creations decorated with decals to resemble stock cars.

[@pyrodon5773]

@@bwtv147 didn't say you can buy the exact same car I said you can get a motor with more HP you haven't been able to buy a car the same for 50 years.

[@robertklein9190]

Those 57 Fords were notorious for rusting out in a couple years, speed up if it was running at the beach too.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

​@@robertklein9190 right, you would know.

[@GottliebGoltz]

In the later sixty's I had a 57 Ford Fairlane that was titled from Victora, Canada. It had a yellow V-8 that said Mercury on the valve covers. It had a Montana title that said it wasVictora. I wish I could have saved it till now - I could retire in Hawaii.

[@larryeoberry5018]

Them boys will stand in.

[@charliebay9441]

Richard Petty's dad Lee. Priceless.

[@MajTom-wd2yt]

Love it....unlocked rear diff's, one wheel spit'n sand down the beach.

[@trevorcrane5386]

If Nascar really wants a publicly race they should have some type of race on the beach at Daytona. Going back to actual stock cars would also be fantastic. Nascar should at least have a series with actual production cars because there is no "Stock" in modern stock car racing.

[@friguy4444]

This is awesome to watch! Many commenting about how the cars are similar to what you could get from the dealer the next day. So true. Drifting wasn't just born out there. The snow and ice of Canada is a great proving ground as are other countries that have snow and ice etc. So COOL!

[@c-57d55]

Wonderful Post!!! Amazing to see these monsters sideways at 100mph!!!!

[@billpetersen298]

This explains, why dad loved driving on the beach. Like Jack Nickolas. With the old purple, 58 Oldsmobile.

[@cagr4249]

Fantastic video. Not just the ancient cars but also the narrator!

[@George-ph6qo]

It was fun remembering seeing the races in the news. Seeing those old cars again. Great memories from so long ago

[@jimgoff1170]

Just 2 years after chevy’s first v8, and 3 years after fords first overhead valve v8!

[@erwinschmidt7265]

Wow! Tim's the winner with a flawless performance to celebrate the victory!! The rest of the field loaded up their sht and headed home after having been thoroughly Flocked!!!

[@alvinprettyman1802]

thanks for the memories

[@travelwithtony5767]

They should revive beach racing over the Daytona 500 weekend as a separate shorter race and call it the Nostagia 100. 😄👍

[@arkhsm]

Ye Haw ! watch those MIGHTY Mercury's drift beautifully at the sharp sandy corner, and on to a well earned win. BILL STROPPE is the man !!

[@kurtkazim8086]

perfect track: two straights and two U-turns 👍

[@CoyoteFTW]

All Ford show like it should be

[@f4udhorn]

I was lucky enough to be able to buy one of the last of the factory "stock cars' for public consumption: The 1969 Ford Talledega. Had a 180mph speedometer from Ford. Very fast car because it was light!

[@jerrydillon9436]

1st on race day increase sales on Monday wonder how many mercs that win sold??? 🤔🤔🤔

[@user-hb8be5wb4q]

Definitely “NotAnyStockCarsAreRacing(NASCAR) of this day and age!

[@BentleyTypeR]

From the thumbnail, it looks like it's the NASCAR Convertible Division.

[@ronsnow2015]

Great video , these guys were special back then.

[@ronsnow2015]

Wow great stuff, thought i knew most about those days. Go Curtis Turner. Thanks for posint.

[@roblake602]

ke lived around the corner from me in Charlotte

[@stevedriver1476]

You could do them sppeds in a Hyundai diesel these days,, BUT what a great piece of History and THANK YOU for posting this incredible piece of motoring insanity. LOVE AMERICAN CARS. Steve in Australia. I bet them engines got hot back then on the sand stretch.

[@napoleoneinstein2487]

NOW that's racing! NASCAR lost me when they made so many rules that every car is virtually the same. Richard Petty #43 blue 426 Hemi Plymouth..that's what I'm talkin' about..

[@87mini]

Same here - people say they had to on account of the front wheel drive cars and all, but I think NASCAR just wanted to simplify it for themselves because technology was growing faster than they could adapt.

[@Ogsonofgroo]

Love the background music, trumpets and everything, reminds me of an old Errol Flynn movie or something. Fantastic cars and great old footage and nice to have the original sound intact, thank you (albeit belatedly) OP!

[@mdogg1604]

Amazing performance from such heavy cars. Before the days of big engine in smaller car; no Chevelles, Fairlanes, GTOs, Darts, etc.

[@rodcoulter997]

Fantastic video……..best I’ve ever seen on that era of NASCAR. Thanks for posting…A+

[@jeffcoomer8680]

Be cool standing on backstretch listening to em sing.

[@USNVA-yn6cp]

real racing,,what nascar used to be.....today its a yawn fest

[@alecfleming3213]

You know what is probably the most advanced piece of technology we are looking at right now, is the film production. There is a load of details here ahead of its time!

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

No, there's a load of details here 'you' alone doubted were going to be in the video. It isn't ahead of its time, the 1950s is ahead of what you ignorantly assumed it was.

[@olbear9984]

This is racing as I knew it in my youth. Dad took me to Daytina. No millionare s cars. All the same bodies, badges differently. Waste of time to see. Real men, real cars. 86 now, good ol days.

[@XBOXShawn12thman]

WOW ... That was fun to watch!!! 😍

[@DaveEarly1]

Some great footage. I'm surprised at some of the 'in car' footage and camera angles.

[@mii747]

Drifting those 2 ton land whales on skinny radials back in the day would have been a hoot!

[@markreisen7038]

Yeah, not so much.. These were Firestone bias ply Stock car racing tires.. No radial tires here...

[@stevehetrick2676]

Radial tires were Not even invented yet...

[@87mini]

@@stevehetrick2676 They were invented right after the car was invented. They used them in Europe for decades, but the US makers took forever to get into the market. I remember in the 60's when Michelin tire were theses expensive super tires that lasted for 40,000 miles. In another 10 years, all the US brands were making them.

[@douglasneat9147]

This is back when nascar was great I stead of woke garbage

[@zippyt.libertine3787]

Along with Ponce De Leon Inlet, much of this is at the old Samsula Navy air base which is now Spruce Creek Fly-in Community. John Travolta is often seen there flying his jets.

[@jesuslovesu5508]

Wonderful old time america

[@79tazman]

I wish they would still have races on Daytona Beach. Like with old historical cars that would be awesome.

[@cmf1965]

The races took place north-of Daytona Bch. - in Ormond Beach... CHEERS! AL

[@Mentott]

When stock car racing was within the reach of the average guy. Drive them during the week and race on the weekend.

[@markiewodi3371]

Watching this reminds me why I switched over to my local (Fairbury Il.) dirt and local NASCAR sanctioned (Rockford Speedway) race tracks. The action is spectacular, it’s a bit easier on the wallet and you support the local community, so wins all around.

[@a.j.carter8975]

❤😁🇬🇧brilliant post. Pure mental.

[@dane-xxx-8713]

wauw...i was there in 2006...sure looks different now...amazing vid

[@taylorsutherland6973]

Back in the days when aerodynamics was at the top of the list lol!

[@STEVENFRYFRY]

Hehe the aerodynamics of a brick

[@Jupitermustangmike]

I am glad you posted this! Al scheirer/ harleys/helped start daytona/ ended up in a,cement mill in ormrod pa with his dogs and his collection / I hope I see him in a video some day! Thanks again

[@johnhrichak3451]

national STOCK (what part of stock do you not understand) car racing association. Today NASCAR is less than a bad joke. A pitiful pun of the past!

[@sorshiaemms5959]

seems like old y block MERC S and FORD had more power than any one gives them credit for .

[@xmo552]

I have a 292 that still stomps on lightly modded 350s. My uncle had a 272 that would do the same to 283s and 327s. Both our Y blocks were dead nuts stock, just tuned correctly.

[@jimmyhawkins5357]

@@R.U.1.2. FE engines 352 came out in 58. All these 57s are y block 312 . 390 didn't come out until 1961.

[@sorshiaemms5959]

@@R.U.1.2. the MERCURY S HAD 368 FNGINES

[@blautens]

The first time I drove our car on Daytona Beach back in the 90s at whatever the speed limit was (5, 10, 15?) I was wondering how insane it must have been to drive at 150 MPH. The surface never looked smooth and hard enough to do anything like that. I get that beaches have changed over time, but still, impressive - I kept thinking one small twitch and you'd sink a tire in a flip over and over.

[@dh2360]

When Nascar was worth watching and following, not woke!

[@ckryses3962]

Do yoi know i am 90s born but feels so relaxed but entertaining while watching this!! I don't understand Curtis supercharged should have left others to dust!! I wonder what happened??!!

[@MichaelRHull-wy7wg]

Yes should of been 368’s in the Mercury’s. In a Turnpike Cruiser would of been 300hp with a single 4bll. I wondered about Chrysler and a few other makers?

[@vernwillis9793]

The 368s were a little later.

[@peteloomis8456]

The Chrysler 392 Hemi was the first engine to make 1 hp per cubic inch stock from the factory but this wasn't until 56 or 57 if I remember .

[@markreisen7038]

@@vernwillis9793 The 368's came out in 1956 or 57.. So they were running these engines in 57...

[@ludicrous7044]

This is where it all started. They didn’t even have a speedway or a top on their car!!🙀 They had leather helmets and were blasted by sand at over 100 mph!! Tough guys!! 300 HP was a lot back then. Now funny cars have 10,000!! 😳 They were truly stock cars. Now they are not close to stock! People saved their money for a year to see the Daytona 500!! Then they drove into their sixties. Now it’s a young mans game.

[@jamesleone5468]

The 312 was underrated it really made 340 360 hp that’s was nascar was scared of it so they banned it

[@johnnysechrist6313]

I was there even though I was only five.

[@ci3008]

How close those flagmen and spectators were to the cars, wow.

[@dannycalley7777]

C I ................it seems like they were wagering how close they could get .........all these old Indy , nascar, road race , are that way ?????

[@markwilliams5606]

Mercury did so good! . Ford's. Chevrolet . Fuel injection.🤠🇺🇸🏁🐎

[@AzTrailRider57]

12:45 did anyone notice the car is out running the photography plane???

[@roryschweinfurter4111]

I think it'd be great to have todays drivers use these classics retro fitted with today's technology at special anniversary races. I brought it up before and it seems like a lot of the drivers think it's a great idea. How could we the fans get NASCAR to authorize it

[@WynnofThule]

That's Goodwood Revival in a nutshell

[@roryschweinfurter4111]

@@WynnofThule Who's Goodwood?

[@WynnofThule]

@@roryschweinfurter4111 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gITOo4VsdrODaZY kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4PGaKduraiYiKM

[@markshoemaker65]

How can you not know what the Goodwood speed Festival is

[@87mini]

@@markshoemaker65 Easy, he's never heard of it, like me. You like belittling people, eh? Just remember that ignorance is our natural state, and we learn while we live. Ignorance is curable through teaching; bad manners, less so.

[@paulross9287]

Great video, thanks!

[@Alientraveler003]

Verry nice

[@thisguy2720]

Way more interesting than todays nascar

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

Makes me miss NASCAR racing at Riverside Raceway. Not a high-banked oval track, but a road course. Of course, Riverside Raceway no longer exists, it became a subdivision...

[@Zekais]

Yeah, what a shame. Where Dan Gurney ruled whenever FoMoCo asked him to work his magic there. My fave outside of Gurney at Riverside and T/A races was Parnelli. Man how this graceless age makes me miss that age.

[@JaysDiecastCreations]

Now that was cool 😎

[@jeffjacobson3388]

Lol back when men could pull a trailer with a big car without a Ford f 450 diesel.men of the old days co I ld get it done

[@dockey6942]

Good stuff

[@bigsparky8888]

109MPH AVERAGE...BLAZING SPEED...I APPRECIATE THESE TIME CAPSULE...THAT 300HP MERC WAS AN "FE" ENGINE EARLY ENGINE...GREAT DURABLE AND CAME AS 330 Cubic Inch(Trucks and Industrial applications)...351 shown here in full race form...300HP was a gob of power back then...390, 427, 460, FRANKLY FOR HEAVY DUTY POWER WAS A STANDARD POWERHOUSE...DIESELS WERE NOT SO AVAILABLE BACK THEN...BUT CLOSE...DIESEL BECAME THE DEPENDABLE POWER HOUSE WITH LESS MAINTAINANCE OVER GASOLINE BIG BLOCKS...

[@agoogler1887]

So cool 🤓

[@xxxYYZxxx]

Daytona was akin to a rally race, with both dirt and tarmac, and fans just off the side of the road.

[@deandee8082]

why they dont bring this back is a mystery tome, what a hoot, they could have many styles and ages the same weekend..

[@f4udhorn]

I can tell you why. It's because the insurance companies have mandated out of existance anything that is in the least bit dangerous. Minimize liability till it no longer exists!

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

​@@f4udhorn as my father is still saying in heaven, "allegations ruin aspirations"

[@safetymikeengland]

Wow. That was a different era, allright. I like it that you can recognize a mercury and a Ford from the shape. . . todays NASCAR cars are all the same shape. I don't know - how can you call them "Stock cars" any more?

[@williambutler7312]

imagine a modern day Trophy trick truck lapping everyone several times to win it all during a time travel / back to the future lol

[@cagr4249]

What was the distance of this race? (I am from Germany...and not familiar with this kind of races...and in my opinion (although German) no car engine needs more than a single camshaft for all purposes) :-)

[@foch3]

You must be my brother from another mother, I love pushrod engines. The course was 4 miles long according to the narrator, 2 miles of it was the beach section.

[@bam_henry]

4 miles/6.4 km

[@herbienbrian2]

What the heck, those guys were tandem drifting and door banging at 120mph in the test track? Those look like lower profile tires... Those experimental cars are witchcraft for that time!

[@Motor-City-Mike]

That's back when drivers were REAL drivers! Now we have pretty boy celebrities that also drive race cars.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

"...for that time." Is that what you say every time an era subverts your primitive expectations for the time. You people give me a headache, that was an advanced time, just covered typically by B&W cameras and little footage of life.

[@ralphaverill2001]

"...abandoned military airport..." in Florida. Sebring?

[@DonTruman]

Looks like it was a lot of fun, to race and to watch. And totally dangerous. Any rollovers and they'd be dead. What were those helmets supposed to be good for -- keeping the hair out of their eyes? Still, with all of the refinement of the technology, the broadcasting, the racecourse, etc of today, it's not nearly as interesting.