As Promised - JP's Racing Days

Hi there everyone.....well finally a post!!! It seems I have only been doing one post a week lately....sorry about that. Not much to talk about, I guess. Well, actually there is, but I have been lazy.....lol!

So as promised....Today's post is about JP and his racing days back in 1972 and 1973. The car above was a 69 Camaro. In the above picture he got to go around the track with the American Flag....while they played the National Anthem......no knee bending here.

In this above picture, he won the Trophy Dash on August 13, 1972. As you can see most of these pictures are part of the scrap book I have put together for JP.....it's still unfinished.....one of these days I will finish it.

In this picture above JP won the Waukegan Short Track 50 lapper. I think that night he collected $400 in winnings.....gosh we thought we were rich!!!!! And it all went back into the car.

The car 169 was recycled into the above car.....#7....pretty snazzy huh??? Yep, it was a good thing we had pictures taken of the car before we went out racing that night. Because it seems everyone was out  after JP Gatti and car #7, cause it got pretty beat up that night. As a matter of fact, one of the Drivers did not like JP and punched him in the eye one night. AND to top that off....his wife wanted to beat me up too......though, she never touched me. Good thing.....I had too much spunk back then.

Another Race Won on July 7.....how apropos.....#7 wins on 7/7/73!!!!!

Here we are....JP Gatti battling with #64 George Dukas the "EYE Puncher" I think this was the night JP got punched and was taken to the hospital. Dukas thought JP had deliberately spun him out....tempers flare on the track and in the pits!!!!

Here we are, JP and Louise. JP just won the Track Championship for 1973......weren't we a cute couple???? Yep, those were the days. JP ended his racing days that year....he saw one friend killed and another friend ended up in the hospital when a tire flew in the air from a racing car on the track, hitting him in the head.

So there you have it....a trip down memory lane. I do have lots more pictures that I could show you.....but these are the only ones for now that I have scanned into my computer.

I shall close here for now....you all have a great week and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

43 Years!!!!

Hi there everyone.....how you all doing??? Well, today is JP's and my anniversary....yep, we have been married 43 years!!! So hard to believe how fast that time went. We had a lot of good times and a lot of sad times, but we made it through, always following that light that shined at the end of the tunnel.

When JP and I got married, Monday, August 27, 1973....during his racing season. He did not want to take time out to get married the conventional way, in a church, white dress, reception afterward. I even had to buy my own ring. Yeah, so we quickly got married at City Hall in Chicago at 11:00am. Then at 3:00pm we were signing the closing papers for our house in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Moving into our new house that night....geez what a day!!!

His family and mine were not very happy about the plans we made.....but at that time, they were OUR Plans. Six months later, my mother threw a wedding party for JP and I. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited till he had time to get married the real way, a Church wedding, a white dress and reception and a Honeymoon to some far away place! We never did get that honeymoon....still waiting.

So the picture above is JP and I on "Awards Night" (September 22, 1973) JP won the track championship and "Most Popular Driver". This was the track championship trophy. Most popular driver trophy was a bit smaller. Yep the girls were always chasing after JP....and the men? not so much except on the track.

I just recently signed up with a group from Waukegan Speedway via Facebook and was surprised to find there were quite a few people that remembered the blue Camaro and JP Gatti. There were a few comments that said "JP used to be my hero when I was a kid". What's really funny is the kid that was JP's President of his fan club is now 47 years old. Gosh time does NOT stop for no one!!!

The evolution of a race car. The above picture was in 1972, see, no lettering or numbers....they must have just finished building this car.

Here we are....same car but the number is plastered on it.

After the 1972 season....JP and 2-3 other guys worked on and rebuilt the car to look like this....pretty snazzy huh???? The day we had this picture taken was the last time the car ever looked like this. Because that night at the races, it seemed like every single driver was out after JP and his new car trying to stop him from winning the race. She was pretty beat up that night....so glad we had pictures taken.

Yeah, those were the days with a lot of good memories. It is very interesting too, that some of the drivers JP raced against, commented or "liked" the pictures I posted.

This car went through quite a few car owners and drivers too. JP sold his share of the car to Bob W. (JP stopped racing after he won the championship, he saw a driver get killed and did not want to end up like him.) So, Bob got a new driver in 74-77. Then sold the car to Chuck B., he raced it for a couple of years (77-78) then he sold the car to Micheal M. (79-80) which ran the car at Wilmont. Then in 1980 Micheal sold the car to Don L. he had it (80-82). From there we are not sure what happened to that blue Camaro, but we know it made a lot more laps around a few tracks. Would be interesting to know how many races it won with all the owners and drivers and where it ended up.

Well, there you go, the genealogy of a '69 Camaro. Forever engrained in our minds....our wild and crazy years. Some things I wish could be done over, some things not so much....all in all, it was good.

I guess it is time to close for now, have to get an anniversary card made for JP. He bought me (actually I picked them up) a dozen red roses. I bought a pizza for tonight, JP will have lox and bagles tomorrow and maybe I will buy a piece of prime rib at Festival's tomorrow....my choice of meal if we ate out someplace. I also bought a Chocolate Cream pie from Schwan's (now that will be a real treat.) No we will not be going out to eat. Cooking at home as usual.

You all have a great day and keep looking up - better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise