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Photo ID # I02.09.12_002_SCH_VIN_0056S_1
Car #: #2 & #44
Driver (s) : Frankie Schneider and Al Tasnady
Location: Vineland (top photo) and Nazareth (bottom photo)
Date: (as marked)
Photographer: William Curley (top photo) and John Reilly (bottom photo)
Photo provided by: Russ Dodge
Comments: Senior Moment From Russ Dodge:

Respect!

The "Old Master" Frankie Schneider on the inside, "Mr. Modified" Al Tasnady on the outside, doing what they did best, putting on a thrilling  wheel-to-wheel driving exhibition!  An active discussion on the 3wide message board recently about  3wide contributor  Ned Stite's dad sponsoring  his business, Stite's Take-Out,  on Frankie's car, brought about this Senior Moment.  It should be noted here that the Stites ad appeared 2 years later on Paul Deasey's "Big Donkey" and  "Gypsy",  707's driven by Tasnady.

This type of racing action could only exist because of respect and having faith that the other guy is going to race  you as hard as he can but keeping it "clean"!   The front wheels on the 44 and the 2, tell the story.  Check the "body English"!  Frankie with his head tilted to the left a little and he holds his coupe down low, Al with his hand up on the wheel angling slightly into the slide.  It just don't get NO BETTER than that.

Now, let's go back to Vineland Speedway 5 years before.  What do we have?  The same two guys doing their thing, running side-by-side, taking the checkered flag.  Yes, on Sunday afternoon June 3, 1956, while they were working their way up to earning their widely known and respected "nick names", the tie was recorded.  They may have called the race a draw, but the real draw was in the grandstand as the finish "drew" the crowd to its feet.  Check out the way the standing spectators were dressed back then.

For some of the participants there that day there was another cloud, besides the dust, that covered that finish.  There was no question in anyone's mind these two drivers were the class of the field, which is supported by the record books for that year.  However, the promotional value of this "Tie" was "Outstanding", which made some people think.

Thanks for listening.
Senior Moment By Russ Dodge 

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Comment:

02.11.12 George Perkins  What great pictures, the shot from Nazareth is unbelievable. Sadly, trust in one another and racing that close seems to have gone the way of the coupes and coaches. Nowadays it's bump and run or just drive through somebody.
02.11.12 Marian  I agree with the last guy.  This was real racing.  Today I call it sissy racing.
02.13.12 3-Wide I've learned not to try to change people's mind so I'll just say that I like that guys used to build their own stuff and the rules were open enough to allow for a lot of ingenuity... and the cars also were a lot more dangerous.  That being said, there's nothing "sissy" about today's racing that I can see.  I watch guys like Billy Pauch and Jimmy Horton climb into their machines at New Egypt every Saturday night and do what they do... and a lot of words come to mind like "determined", "brave", "focused",..... But not "sissy."
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

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