This thread is dedicated to the guys that weren't the stars. These are guys that never had the money or the equipment and if they did they didn't have the Luck to win big but they had fans none the less. List your favorite underdog drivers from your track heck you can even go up to ASA Indy and NASCAR or whatever if you want. post some and if you can tell us a little about them.

A few of mine

V8 Don Ironman Riethmeier. My Dad he told me once that the biggest highlight of his racing career was signing a kids program right next to Gary Fedewa's signature. He said he wanted to tell the kid he should frame that page and not let anybody else sign instead of signing it it but he signed it for the kid anyways.

Muskrat, I have no idea what his real name is anymore but he showed up with lots of cool old sheet metal rides. He ought to sue whoever came up with the name Rat Rod because they definitely stole it from him.

76 Virgil Morgan, If you didn't love Virgil's Spirit of 76 red white and blue cars, I am reporting you as a commie!

47 Ron Shamel, If Ed Howe was in a street car and "the Sherriff" was in an interceptor, Mr. Howe might have ended up in handcuffs!

32 Cliff Pulley, Pulley Racing Enterprises gave the big boys plenty of fits over the years.

07, 072 Ray and Joyce Derminer, they may have scored a few feature wins since I left home but before I left they hadn't. I have never met anybody that loves racing more than Ray and Joyce.

87 Johnny Hubbard, the man that made Zilwaukee famous had some feature wins but by the time I became a fan of his he was fairly over matched by the big guns.


More to come from me but fire some names and stories out there for us if you can!


Jake

for me it has to be joe romeo. late model #80. mostly won against all competition on dirt and asphalt. in cars he built himself and always built his own engines. always a big block chevy. may be the last driver in mich to win a feature in a big block late model on asphalt. won in ohio, indiana, and michigan. never won a championship, mostly because he raced against don taylor, the pink panther. the best ever as far as i'm concerned for quality workmanship in cars he built. also, a great engine builder of big engines on a limited budget. also, one of the smoothest drivers i've ever seen.

rest in peace sneaky snake. you certainly belong in the michigan motorsports hall of fame

steve "pops" pastorino

I'll second that driver. One car, no pit crew(just his wife?), and still had enough to run mid to front pack every week at Owosso for years.

And he actually won two or three features.

Cliff Pulley was a contender every week in what was a very competitive Super Late Models division at Owosso. He even won a Feature in 2002 and again in 2004!

He's also won Features at Kalamazoo Speedway (back in the Mid-90s) and was the last Super Late Model Winner EVER in the old MSPA Series!

Definitely the definition of Underdog!

With no sponsors.

He had one sponsor and wanted to make sure I announced it every single week:

Pulley Racing Enterprises.

31 MG Moll. MG was so fast I had no idea he even was an underdog when he raced supers with his MG Moll engine service motors and Davis chassis. I figured it out a few years later.

I would have to say Bob Flinn. He was an idol of mine as I started to go to the track.It seemed like he was always a threat at the end of the night.

Ken Love was always a good driver back in the day driving the original Silver Bullet Coors car. He was a contender in the Dirt super late models, modifieds and sprints. The guy always had a smile on his face.

Fred Lytle always was a top contender. He was an underdog in my eyes. Never had real good equipment, but would compete as if he had top notch equipment.

Not to many people will remember this name but Virgil Lyndsey was a head turner. His cars never looked good but he would compete like they were top notch.

The Under Dog of lately is Mark Welch. That guy can drive the wheels off his car at any track he shows up at.

I would have also agree on Cliff Pulley you never knew when it was his night to win.Always a tough competitor.

Heck yeah I remember Virgil he was a good friend of my dads.

Jim Pastour. #37

Great friend to Mike Lovejoy who was a family member to me for quite a while, during my first marriage. Mike was killed in Canada. Just a few months ago, our club (Mike Wines) helped me get the phone number for Muskrat, so Mike's son, Billy, could get in touch with him, which he has done. Thank you Mike!!!

But your right Rocky, no one has ever done more, with less, than Muskrat!!!

"Zoom Zoom" Harold Morence! The Ironman had over 20 years of perfect attendance at Owosso Speedway and a very loyal crowd followed him. He was a fan favorite! (and still is!)

The "Hot Dog Champ" George Harris! He is always the underdog until the hot dog feature. I can't wait for Saturday's race because if George successfully defends his title, the crowd will erupt! I can't wait to see it on U Tube off the Taylored Art web site!

David Grosjean! This young man has been an underdog for his entire adult life. Not just on the track, but every minute that he lives and breathes. I witnessed a huge crowd at Whittemore give him a standing ovation after the Factory Stock Feature. He is a fan favorite. I'm hoping to see Dave get his car done and get back on the track. Fan count will go up wherever he chooses to run!

Just three of my favorite underdogs.

There is a big name dirt LM driver that has one, maybe two person pit crew and his wife, I can't think of his name though.

1* Chub Frank, he started traveling with the STARS now (WoO) Late models in the 90's with a used car used tires an open trailer and a Suburban with 200,000 miles on it . Chub gave them such fits as "the shoestring traveler" it's no wonder now that he has top notch stuff "Chubzilla" has since won the World 100 and the Dirt Track World Championship among other honors. Also he had that cool Godzilla theme car at the world last year that everybody loved.

Ken Love was a low buck guy? I never would have guessed, he was AWESOME!!!!

Cliff Pulley's sponsor is still Hogan Auto Sales in Midland. I think that place has been closed for a good eight years, the same amount of years that those skins have been on Cliff's car. I MISS TRI CITY!!

you are correct that he is sponsored by hogan auto sales but hogan auto sales is still very much open and is in flint. it is owned by another former superlate driver duane titmus.