Written by Bill Bowman

While most of my buddies were interested in drag racing my interest was in circle track racing. After high school graduation in 1954, I started a Tool and Die apprenticeship and hung around a race team on Six Mile near Woodward Avenue in Highland Park, Michigan, which was owned by "Old Man Nader". I went to several races with this team in the summer of 1955 and in 1956 decided to build and drive my own car. The class that I choose, mainly because of cost, was called Old Model Stock. The main rules were no Ford products and stock to the eye motors. This eliminated the Ford V8 flatheads, which had their own class called Hardtops. Since I was a GM fan, I decided I would build a Chevrolet car and power it with a Chevrolet 6 cylinder in-line engine.

Next project was to find a car. I borrowed a tow bar, installed a trailer hitch on my 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, picked up my buddy and headed for the back roads in farm country outside Windsor, Ontario. After several stops we spotted a 1936 Chevrolet coupe in a farmer’s field, outside the town of Comber about 25 miles from Windsor, Ontario. The car was in excellent condition except the farmer, who was the original owner, claimed the engine was bad and the car had been sitting there for several years.

After convincing him that I would not turn the car into a hot rod, he sold me the car for $25.00. Being recently married and living in an apartment, I rented a garage near Joy Road and Evergreen for $10.00 per month and that winter built the car for the 1957 season.

The motor in the car was a 206 cubic inch 6 cylinder in-line that I was advised to not waste my time rebuilding because the oiling system wasn’t suitable for racing. I obtained a 1948 Chevrolet 216 cubic inch 6-cylinder engine that we rebuilt and made the legal racing modifications.

Now it was time to go racing. I obtained a small sponsor, Moores Gulf Service Station at Seven Mile and Oakfield in Northwest Detroit, where I worked part time while I was going to high school, and they provided me with gas, oil, and entry fees. I joined the Michigan Modified Stock Racing Association (MSRA) and the first track I went to was the Motor City Speedway, a ¼ mile asphalt oval at Eight Mile and Schoenherr, in Warren, Michigan. Racing was very popular at this time and they raced there three nights a week. Old Models raced Monday and Thursday nights with the feature races on television with Fred Wolfe, the announcer. I went there three times before I qualified fast enough to make the program. The first time I ran well enough to be in the feature race on television. I called home to make sure my wife, parents and friends were all watching and sure enough on the second lap I joined Fred Wolfe’s Upside Down Club and after the race, was presented with a trophy on television. Not what I was planning on.

During that winter we changed the motor and this time used a 235 cubic inch 6 cylinder in-line Chevrolet engine. During the 1958 season rumors spread that Motor City Speedway was going to be sold and at the end of the season it was closed and a shopping center built on the property.

Next season, 1959 we went to Mt Clemens, Michigan to race on the ¼ mile dirt track, where I received my second Upside Down trophy. We raced several times at Mt Clemens and also at the M-59 Speedway near Pontiac, Michigan. At the end of the 1959 season the Old Model class was discontinued, so I removed the engine, transmission and other racing accessories and took the remains to the scrap yard. I wasn’t as successful as I would have like to have been but I had a lot of fun and was ready to move on.

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