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| Tim Benford with #273 - notice fancy cut-out hood motif. | Danny Lombardi, Tim Benford and Tex Faulkener. |
BARNSTORMIN' DAYS:
TALES OF TIM BENFORD & STOCK CAR #273
by Tom Benford
In the years after WWII ended but before the Korean conflict started, America had a "can-do" attitude, and exuberance and prosperity made life good. My dad, Tim Benford, had a reputation as a pretty good "wrench" and he also had a used car lot, Tim's Auto Sales, located in Bayonne, NJ. (The slogan for the car lot was "Bring in a lemon - take out a peach"). To promote the car lot, my dad got involved in oval-track stock car racing, which was the rage in those post-war years. He was a regular participant in the night events held at Veteran's Stadium in Bayonne, at Dover, Lodi, and Henchcliff Stadium in Paterson. The car was jointly owned by my Dad, Danny Lombardi and Tex Faulkener. Tex also drove the car occasionally, and he owned Tex's Texaco at the corner of 34th St. and Broadway in Bayonne, where the car was garaged and worked on.
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| Tim Benford with #273 - notice fancy cut-out hood motif. | Danny Lombardi, Tim Benford and Tex Faulkener. |
Dad and his buddies raced the car with moderate success from 1947 through 1949, winning some, losing some, but having fun in general. My mom warmed the bleachers on Friday and Saturday nights with my brother Tim Jr. who was about 7 or 8 at that time, but she never liked the idea of my dad driving around like a crazy man, as she described it. Then in August of 1949, while she was seven months pregnant carrying me, my dad flipped the car one Friday night and rolled it over 5 or 6 times. He emerged unharmed except for a slight scratch above his left eye (you can see the band-aid in these pictures), and the car survived relatively unscathed, too, except for some dents and broken glass. Largely due to the full roll cage (a real innovation in those days) the car was still driveable - buy not by my dad anymore. Nosiree - my mom put the keebosh on that but pronto! She went into false labor and passed out when the car started to roll over, thinking she was going to be a widow for sure with one kid already here and another on the way. She made my father promise he would give up stock car racing, and he did.
My dad died on January 27, 1961, at 42 years of age from heart disease. I was only 11 then, so unfortunately I didn't get to know him real well. But I do remember he was a great guy, fun to be with, a loving family-oriented father, an excellent provider and a very hard worker. I wish I could have gotten to know him better.
A full view of #273 after rolling over several times at
Veteran's Stadium in Bayonne.In later years Dad got involved in antique cars.
This 1933 Pierce Arrow 7-passenger sedan, one
of about a half-dozen classics he owned at the time of
his death, was his pride and joy.
