Owner/driver Phil Salerno once taught the young Ed a hard lesson on the track. He and Ed subsequently became friends and Ed then drove the “Banana Wagen” to a win at Riverside.
Category: Other cars driven by Ed at least once
53
At Riverside on August 8, 1959, Ed’s own car (#61) crashed in the semi-final after its throttle stuck. For the feature, Ed borrowed Fred Beaulieu’s car, shown above.
53
Eastern States Fairgrounds, with owner-driver Fred Beaulieu.
5
This is the Suffield Auto Center #5. Although in this picture the driver is Benny Germano, Ed drove this car at Norwood on August 26, 1961, finishing 5th in the feature. Image from Racingthroughtime.com.
Deasey & Wolfe 707
According to owner Paul Deasey, Ed drove his #707 in at least one race. Although he provided no further details, my guess is that that would have been at either Wall or Vineland between 1961 and 1963. This photo from Langhorne by Bob Farlee.
Deasey & Wolfe 707
1963 – Nazareth.
Deasey & Wolfe 707
Wall Stadium.
J-2
1962 (approximately). The J-2 was usually driven by Red Foote. Noted racing historian Bruce Cohen was told that Ed bought and briefly owned the car. Although that has not been confirmed, it seems that Ed drove the car but did not like it and either declined to buy it or, if he had already bought it, sold it soon afterward.
Jerry Humiston
This was another Garuti car that Ed drove, as confirmed by Richie Garuti’s nephew Tony Daddabbo. The driver pictured here is Jerry Humiston. Photo by John Grady, from Racingthroughtime.com.
2
During the winter of 1963-4, Ed built two cars for Ed Ackerman of New York. Ackerman numbered them #1 and #2. The Ackerman #2 was often driven by Sal Mauro, but Ed drove it to victory in the Southside 400 on September 4th, 1964.
1
The #1 was built by Ed for Ed Ackerman. It was first driven by Gene Gamache, shown here. After Gene was killed, the car was renumbered #3 and usually raced by Rene Charland. Ed drove the car as #3. I don’t know whether he ever drove it as #1.
1
43
Ed once drove Bill and George Greco’s #43 in a long-distance race at Seekonk, but retired with about 25 to go because he wasn’t happy with the car’s steering. Regular driver Bill Greco is shown here. (Information from The Number 43 by Sarah Greco).
43
I believe the Seekonk race was on October 20, 1964.
9
The first car that Ed helped Pete Hamilton sort out was the ‘Flying 9’ owned and run by Ray Stonkus.
10
The Center Auto Sales #10, built and run by Bob Oliver, is shown here being driven by Buddy Krebs, but Ed raced it at least once.
10
An earlier Bob Oliver #10.
10
Riverside Park.
25
This car was originally run by “Black Jack” Dubrul, who sold it to Dooger Jones of Poultney VT. Don Miller Sr has said that he was told by the next owner, Stan Durrum, that Ed drove the car for Dooger at Malta. The driver in this photo is Russ Shaw.
Wright-Zautner #24
Ken Shoemaker is shown here. Ed Zautner, son of the car’s co-owner, has said that they asked Ed to help them improve the car by driving it at Malta.
3
Ed drove Rene Charland’s #3 at Utica-Rome on May 8th, 1966, less than 3 weeks before Ed pulled Rene from the same car as it was engulfed in flames at Albany-Saratoga. Robert Clock informs us that Ed himself built this car for owner Ed Ackerman, who ran it first for Gene Gamache as #1 in 1964 and then, after Gene’s premature death in early 1965, renumbered it as #3 and ran it for Rene.
69
Ed drove Pete Hamilton’s #69 a number of times in order to help Pete get the car set up.
38
At Utica-Rome on June 19th, 1966, after he had qualified his own car in the first heat, Ed qualified the #38 of late-arriving Jerry Cook in the second heat.
1, 3
At Utica-Rome on April 30, 1967, Ed drove both of Pete Corey’s coupes. In the feature he drove the #1, finishing 9th.
59
On May 12, 1967, after Ed’s car had a mechanical problem, he drove the Russ Betz #59 to a second-place finish at Malta. This photo, with regular driver Rene Charland, was probably taken by John Grady at Malta.
$
Following his famous $ coupes of 1960-65, John Stygar built this Falcon. Here is Ed in the Norwood pits. In this same car (but painted blue) Fats Caruso had a huge crash with Bill Slater at Thompson in 1968. Thanks to David Bentley.
$
We think this is Ed in the yellow Stygar $. Thanks to David Bentley for the information.
5
This is Pete Hamilton with the Rocky Hinton #5, in which Pete competed in NASCAR Grand National in 1968. On July 9th, 1968, Ed drove the car in practice and helped Pete to set it up prior to the Maine 300 Grand National race at Oxford Plains Speedway.
15
Often driven by Leo Cleary, Ed drove the Koszela #15 (and also the V4) at Thompson on 09-22-1968. Photo by Mike Anop.
XL-1
The famous XL-1 (eXperimental Lincoln – 1) was owned by Don House of New Jersey. In this picture the driver is Red Farmer, although at other times it was driven by LeeRoy Yarbrough, Don MacTavish, Wally Dallenbach, Joe Kelly, and frequently Tommie Elliott. David Bentley has written that Ed drove it in a race at Martinsville and Tommie Elliott Jr, whose father often drove the XL-1, has confirmed that Ed drove it. Photo by John Grady.