In 1955 General Motors introduced the Bel Aire body style for the family type automobile, with the new V8 engine.

In 1956 the engine was made bigger with something like a 285 cubic inch motor.

These were great and became a very popular vehicle especially with young first-time car buyers. The 1957 was one of the most popular cars of the time and many were put in use. They were powerful, easy to drive and with the price of gasoline in the thirty and forty cent per gallon range, very economical for young couples trying to live on small incomes.

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These were the years when racing was a growing sport and many visited the racetracks on a weekly basis. It was also a time when many aspiring young mechanics were trying to "soup up" the engines by adding bigger and multiple carburetors , different camshafts and scoops that would bring more air to the engines. The local airport here in Bogalusa was a favorite place for weekly drag races, usually between Fords and the Chevrolets, with an occasional Oldsmobile with a big GMC engine. These were real sporting events and some worked all week trying to make their cars faster, just to go Sunday afternoon to find out if they had succeeded.

This was also a time when NASCAR was having really big races that were often televised. Many smaller tracks, one half or three quarter miles around came into being. Mobile had a really fast track that racers came from Texas, Florida, Mississippi and even the Carolinas to race each week. Pensacola, Florida was another half mile track that had a good turnout every Friday night, with some of the same racers going there on Friday nights and then to Mobile on Saturday night. These were called stock cars and these small tracks had very few rules as to size of engine, and the like. The only strict requirement was that the driver had to be strapped in and wearing a helmet. The doors were usually welded shut and the driver climbed in

or out through the window opening. A different class of racer that was much faster and smaller was a home built car called a "skeeter". These were really light vehicles with powerful engines that would travel at 130 or better miles an hour around a half mile track.

The torque of the engine often twisted the framework so the left front tire was often not touching the track. They were made to do that and when the driver slowed down to tire came back down.

A lot of dealerships sponsored both kinds of these racers and even paid the crews and the drivers. One of the prominent dealers in this type of racing sponsorship was the Muldoon Motor Company of Mobile, Ala. Their "skeeter" was one of the fastest in the group and often won the heat races and sometimes the main event, too.

There were more Chevrolet engines used in these "skeeters" than

anything else and they took turns trying to beat the Fords. Some of the drivers had three or four pretty young ladies with uniforms with the cars' number on the back and the driver' name on the front pocket. They went around through the audience trying to stir up support for their team.

Probably the driver with the best or prettiest young ladies was a driver named Sonny Black from way down in Florida that came every week. He was a winner and so was his team.

We still have some of the smaller tracks around with different kinds of vehicles racing every week. The closest one from here would be northwest of Pearl River, La. at the track west of Hickory. Now that General Motors has taken a back seat in the automobile industry, engines will become smaller and more efficient but the big rigs will still be on the tracks, trying to outdo each other. It will be a time when many of us will just have our memories of days gone by in a different type of entertainment. Thank God we have always had choices of what we liked. God bless you all.

Bill Woodward is a Bogalusa resident who writes a column of general interest.