by Doug Haney
Flamboro Speedway
Once again the super modifieds return. There is always a great air of excitement that surrounds any big super modified race and of course to those of us who got our start in racing in the days when the supers were number one always remember with a certain amount of nostalgia.
Whenever you see the supers come out on the track you can think back about ten years ago to Bridgeport and the C.N.E. You remember names like Ted Hogan – who could ever forget him. Hogan was one of a breed that seems to have disappeared today except possibly among professional wrestlers. Hogan was one of the breed of true showmen. He wasn’t out there to argue all night over petty grievances or cry for a month over a blown engine. The show was the thing. Hogan knew that the crowd came first – they had to see a show in order to return and by hook or by crook, he was going to give them a show.
It was because of the tremendous drawing power of Hogan’s that promoters everywhere were falling over him to get him to race at their track. Stories have it that he received up to $500 a night in appearance money from certain promoters and he was worth it.
Not everyone came out to cheer Hogan – they came to boo him and he wouldn’t have it any other way. One of his favorite tricks was to get up behind the local track hero and with about a half a lap to go in the race, push him over the end and take the checkered flag. Needless to say, this did not make him a favorite with the local fans but whenever it was announced that he was coming back again, the stands would be filled just to see that dirty driver so and so get his. Many drivers have tried to emulate Hogan but they just couldn’t do it.
Harvey Lennox tried to be the bad guy for a while but he just couldn’t Get the people to hate him the way they hated and respected Hogan. Granted they threw apples at Lennox at Delaware almost every night one year but it still wasn’t the same.
As far as we know, Hogan was one of the very first people in Canada to have a four by four Chev. That is one of the ’57 or ’58 283 Chevs opened up to 401 cubes. That was one of the secrets of Hogan’s success – his fantastic engines. Behind the scenes, the man who made it all possible was a quiet Doug Duncan, a true genius with the wrenches. Doug is still at it today – as a matter of fact, his brand new rear engined #07 should be here tonight. After Hogan was killed, (in a plane crash) Duncan was very quiet for a few years until he started building the great cars that Joe Hlywka drove for the past three or four years. Hlywka didn’t run too often but wherever he went he burned up the track. He set a record at Delaware that will stand forever.
Jack Sharp had held the track record on the quarter mile Delaware oval at 15.24 for two or three years when about three years ago, Hlywka came down one night for an International and brought the record all the way down to 15.01. Duncan and Hlywka told promoter Ross Cockwell that they could easily beat that if given the right incentive so Ross publicly bet them $100 that they couldn’t. The next week car #23 came out on the track with Cockwell’s $100 on the line and set the first new record at an unbelievable 14.76 seconds then came right back in the next lap and lowered it to 14.74.
Now of course the quarter mile track is gone at Delaware and a big new half mile is in its place so the fantastic record will stand forever. Jack Greedy tried it earlier this month before the quarter mile was torn up but the best that he could do was 15.18. This was on the same night that Greedy won the heat, semi and feature for the second week in a row, so you couldn’t say that Jack’s car wasn’t running right. There was only one Ted Hogan and one Doug Duncan and they just had to be the greatest combination that ever hit the speedways.
Who will be the next great team? Laugh as you may but we feel that the team of Bernie Reddick and Howie Scannell will be around on top of the heap for a long long time and that eventually, they could become the same type of superstars. Unfortunately, Howie isn’t a dirty driver, but, you can’t have everything.
This article was originally written by Doug Haney back in the late ’60’s or early’70’s! (Doug wrote the text, I added the photos)
