NASCAR NOTES: Our recent note on the 1958 NASCAR race at
Bradford Speedway has drawn some interesting feedback including
this note from Sharon Andress of Erie:

“Long-time Bradford resident Jerry Rexford, who now resides in
Lewis Run, is a first cousin to NASCAR’s 1950 Grand Champion Bill
Rexford who still maintains the record of the youngest driver to
ever win a NASCAR championship.

“Bill’s title was in part due to the misfortunes of three
drivers, Fireball Roberts and Curtis Turner, who had late season
slumps, and Lee Petty, who was stripped of over 800 points for
racing in a non-sanctioned race, but what’s important is he
competed and won.

“Bill was born in nearby Conewango Valley, N.Y., in 1924. He
passed away in 1994.

“In 2007, Jerry and Janet Rexford traveled to Birmingham, Ala.,
to visit daughter Janell. During this visit, Jerry witnessed from
pit road at Talladega Super Speedway, his oldest daughter, Sharon,
and youngest, Teri, experience as passengers, laps at 175 mph, an
opportunity provided by the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

“Jerry and his family are proud to part of NASCAR’s
history.”

We also heard from Greg Larson of Mars, Pa., who tells us he
witnessed that 1958 NASCAR race at Bradford Speedway which we had
written about.

“I saw that race with my dad. I agree that Junior Johnson won
the race, but he was disqualified because his battery had been
relocated (I think into the trunk). My dad said ‘NASCAR will never
return here after this kind of treatment.’ Dad was right.”

FUNNY PAPERS: Susan Perry of Bradford writes: “The note from
Jim Bryner about the ‘funny papers’ brought back memories. When I
was a little girl, my father and I used to read them together and
we especially liked Jiggs and Maggie. Maggie used to try to get
Jiggs to take her to the opera and a lot of the episodes dealt with
him trying to get out of going so he could play cards with the
boys. One of her favorite lines was, ‘Jiggs, you worm!’ They had a
daughter – does anyone remember her name?”