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Lynn Grabill
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I raced at Playland park for a part of 1958 with a 1939 ford flathead powered coupe, and again in 1962 with a 390" caddie powered modified 33 ford sedan. I'm told that I set a track record with the sedan beating the best midget time ever recorded. I believe this was the night I lapped everyone up to 4th place with the second place fellow 1/2 lap behind me. That fellow's name happened to be Lloyd Beckman. I don't have proof of this other than my memory.
I have inserted a picture fron the World Herald. I had won the "Good Fellows Plaque" race that was presented by Mr Hoery of the World Herald. This was in 1962 and I don't remember the exact date.
Left: Here is a
picture of three of us racers before the running of the annual Goodfelllows
race which I later won.
Right: Here is a picture of me after I had won the opening day feature in 1958.
Left: Here is a copy of a
couple of point standings from 1958. One has the date of June 1st and
the second is undated but later.
Since you first added my stuff to the Playland site, the following has taken place: We moved to Savannah, MO in 2003 to be close to our son Kerry and his family. They live in Saint Joseph. We continued to race our 360 sprinter locally against the 410 sprinters (and win fairly regularly) I had lung surgery to remove what turned out to be a non malignant growth in late 2006 I retired from racing (for about the 4th time) after our first sprint car race in the spring of 2007 ( too pooped from my lung surgery to keep up with the strenuous demands of a sprint car team operation) After I moped and whined around the house for a couple of months that summer, my wife Donna suggested that maybe I should return to racing I picked up a used micro sprint, motor, trailer and all the "stuff" needed to go racing in this class again ( we raced micros from 1994 to 1999) We started racing it in the spring of 2008 with our son Kerry, again driving, and me crew chiefing. We are running a less strenuous schedule, 8 to 12 races a year ( Grandkids and family are now coming first, then racing) We continued racing the micro this summer Out of the 16 or 17 features we have actually finished over these past two summers of racing, we have won 9 (not bragging just excited again, like when I was a kid, that we are enjoying some success). I'll be 70 years old next April. At this time it has now been 52 years since I first started racing and I am enjoying it as much now as I ever did.
Attached is a picture of Donna, Kerry and his wife Connie, and me last summer at the now defunct I-70 Dirt Track at Odessa, Missouri.
And a picture montage of our micro and Kerry in action this summer at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley MO. Lynn Grabill P.S.
Thanks for keeping the Playland web site going and adding to it from time to time. Even tho it has been 51 years since I first raced there I can remember it like it was yesterday. I would be interested in obtaining photos of our cars that raced during this time at playland, if possible. Do you know of anyone that might have been a track photographer and that might still have negatives. Also, who might have kept any "official" records from the track. I would like to contact them also, any help there would be appreciated. Would really enjoy talking/visiting with anyone about the Playland days. They were great!!!!! Lynn Grabill 308-389-3414 Grand Island Nebraska Ford Coupe # TV2 and Modified Ford Sedan #12
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