Studebaker Childhood dream car
When I first started racing Jim Oddy was a local racer running a D/G 37 chevy couple,(of Pro Mod fame now),there was a guy named Frank Brown running a 62 chevy running a 409 in A/S called the Mongoose that I think won a Indy,and one stand out in the group from Lancaster Speedway was Peter Magel.It was a bullet nosed all white Studebaker coupe running at first m/stock.Well why??.It took me yrs to realize that each week Peter's car called Magel's Maggot was either one of two at the end of the day either at Lancaster or Niagara standing in the payout window line.Just very quietly making his money and gaining fans wherever he raced as what was thought to be a underdog,but was a well planned race car.It was just some of the simple things that if you looked at it made sense after asking Peter what something was for.As a example,long before anyone else Peter made a cool can with a gas line coil to cool the gas.I remember asking him why white??.He just smiled and said what color is going to be the most cool to drive in the hot summer race days??.And Peter's cool demeanor was a fan builder too.Once you met him,you could tell he just knew what he was doing.Now Jim Oddy or Frank Brown has maintenance costs that would in those days drive most nuts,Peter's car just kept wining with some occasional spark plug changes and oil changes.While Jim and Frank had to buy a trailer to get to the tracks,Peter just flat towed his car.Bottom line Peter's car surely wasn't the fastest,but didn't cost nearly as much as those
who where a lot faster and surely was always at the payout window every week.
I learned a lot form Peter and he over the yrs became the standard for me to try to achieve to do things on race cars that just common made sense.Yepper,my childhood hero.
Now their was one other.............It was Peter's bother named John.He raced Hudson Hornets and a Hudson Jet.Yeah.........that is a whole another thread some other time.:LOL::LOL:;)
