I was there that day. I was 16 years old, and drove down with one of my buddies to see our neighbor Howard Parks run his 426 Hemi Powered '67 Plymouth Belvedere. He won his class, but the whole day took on a different slant when this guy R.L. Peyton pulled up to the line. We didn't pay much attention because his rail job didn't look nice, like Tom Hoover's and Don Garlits. Next thing I know, R.L. pulls his rail crossways in the middle of the track, and then got out and pulled his Riviera into the other lane as you can see in the photos on the video. Everybody started booing R.L. because he was holding up things with his protest. From where I stood I don;t think anybody there was supporting R.l by their actions. We were all pissed because of his presumably bogus protesting. I could tell by the appearance of the car that he was a low-budget racer. About Ten minutes went by and the beer cans and bottles started flying onto the track by the thousands. The photo shown doesn't really reflect the true amount of glass and cans that were thrown that day. I took a picture of it, but haven't seen it in years. The bottles and cans were a foot deep in some places, and had to be removed with a front-end loader! This very event was forever more the reason that glass bottles were not allowed anymore at sporting events. Especially in Bristol!

These stories make today's drag racing sound pretty boring. Thanks for sharing this history with everyone.

I can not express how much i love learning about this side of drag racing! Thank you, Brian, for all your hard work!

I’m 73 and followed racing since I was a kid and never heard this story. Your narration and info is priceless. Thanks for preserving the history.

Love those stories from the "wilder" times of Drag Racing.. Running on the proverbial shoestrings and having a wild time doing so, much like NASCAR of the time NHRA and IHRA were a sport of run what ya brung, and however you got it there.. Way more fun than the semi-corporate PR controled Automotive Sports of today... Thanks Brian as always... such great story telling

I am pretty sure those beer cans on the Bristol Drag Strip were pull tab steel cans. Aluminum beer cans didn’t enter the drinking scene until the late 1970’s. I missed the steel cans. I always felt beer stayed colder in steel cans rather than aluminum.

Early Drag Racing was a golden era, but also a Wild West! At the early California Hot Rod Reunions, some of the stories I heard where way too crazy to be true, but, as time went on and I learned more, they where true! Thanks Brian, for keeping the History alive! Warts and all!

Another incredible story Brian! Love it, keep 'em coming!

The characters in drag racing are not all boy scouts. What a great story. Goodfellas meets Heart Like a Wheel. Thank you for this fabulous piece of history. Keep 'em coming.

Thank you Brian, I have been a fan since 1965 and this was a fun story new to me.

Gotta hand it to ya. Your enthusiastic storytelling on the podcasts brought me here. They helped to make my jobs go better when doing tedious stuff, but the visuals on KZfaq are like icing on the cake! Great job and continued success.

Wow! Brings back old memories. Came across your channel as recommended. I'm hooked. Liked and subscribed. Looking forward to watching more of your videos. I learn so much from the great comments on here. Great bunch of people with similar interests and stories. Thanks for doing this. I know it must be a lot of hard work and time consuming. Thanks!

Great content, as usual. Thank you for keeping drag history alive

Hey Brian, I've been following drag racing since 1967 at age 10 & I never even heard of this guy. Great story! Thanks & Happy New Year.

Wow!! I had never heard of this!! Unbelievable!! 'Transporting restricted substances'.... sounds like Gary Balough and the Whittington bros of the roundy round set!! Happy New Year, Brian! Fantastic as always! You never disappoint!

Thank you for the amazing stories from the past as always!!!!!!!

Awesome. Thanks for ur hard work!

Thanks for these historical videos Brian, it helps with the long New Hampshire winters!

Wow that's a crazy story! Keep them coming!

What an incredible story! I've never heard of this guy to my memory, and I'd not seen the beer can-littered track photo either. What a great job coming up with this story and all the information surrounding it. Excellent work once again, Brian!

One of the better stories I've heard so far this year, thanks!

Man, this was awesome. Never would've known about this if I hadn't clicked on it. Thanks!🤘🏁

This was excellent, im amazed at how much research you must of done. Great channel. Thanks..

Awesome story. Thank you!

Super cool to see advertisements for New London Dragway and EastSide Speedway. Two tracks close to me. Both now closed. Never got to race at New London but have spent many weekends at EastSide

Now that is an interesting and unusual story about a guy I never heard of !! Very well done . Many thanks Brian for another wonderful and entertaining story. PS : I always wondered about all those cans.

Wow. That was an awesome piece of history that I had never heard of! Thanks!

Never gets old listening to a great storyteller !! Thanks Brian !!

Great story! Drag racing in it's infancy was the wild wild west! Loved seeing the Grove! Thanks Brian! More please... (How about a Broadway Bob story?)

Another awesome story! Thank you again!!

Another great one. Thanks for the hard work.

Great watch! Thanks Brian 👍🏼

This is a fantastic episode! Thank you!

Brian, this was a great story/video. Thanks for sharing. Just about any successful adventure (like the NHRA) has a variety of "personalities" that help make it what it is today. It takes all types - right? LOL! Looking forward to seeing yourself and Tony on Sundays and getting the 2024 season underway! Praying for Robert Hight's health and recovery.

Glad you do these stories... lots of the original licensed fuel drivers are passing away faster the mile markers on the highway.. their stories need shared... On the "Fueling cards" most of the gas companies required a "authorization" number over $25 in the early 70s.. no idea when it started... I wasn't a petroleum transfer engineer till my HS days in the mid 70s..

Totally Awesome Video,Thank You Brian,That Was Fun Stuff !!!

You should be nominated as one of the all time greatest story tellers. Yet again I had heard of the cans and bottles being thrown on the Bristol track. But had no idea of what circumstance it was centered around.

Amazing story. Thanks for sharing Brian.

Another great story! Thank you Brian!

This was AWESOME 😊!! .Thank you for sharing this content

Hey man I’m not into drag racing. Really don’t know much about it but I really enjoy good content… and this was really interesting. I’m going to sub Keep em coming

I'm 77 years old and raced nationally in the seventies. I don't remember R.L. Payton but there were quite a few marginal cars running Top Fuel back in the day. At the NHRA Nationals they has 32 car fields because of the roller starters. It was cool to watch Top Fuelers make run after run with little delay between runs. I used to have a friend that would travel with me to National events to crew on these budget fuelers. Some of these cars could law down reasonable qualifying passes usually expiring at the end of the quarter. Several would qualify and some would actually go a couple of rounds. I remember a few names ( Dick Lahie from Michigan, Chris Karmasines from Chicago, John Logenecker from Ohio and Grant Stoms from the east coast. Be nice if you could do an article on these back end qualifiers. Lot's of neat stories.

What a story! I don't care much for drag racing but this channel is way more than that. Great stuff! 👍

It just kills me that this channel doesn't have millions of subscribers. I mean it's Brian Lohnes delivering cool drag racing history for dang sake, how can any self-proclaimed "car guy" not be watching these?!?

Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Cool stuff! Boy, when you started talking about some of the unsavory characters in the early days of drag racing I was almost frozen with fear. Thank you for not mentioning Gene Snow.

That's a well put together story!...very enjoyable.

Love the Jack Approved Decal on the scoop at 29 seconds!!

Great story, thank you for sharing !!

My god that was awesome . What an amazing story. I got addicted to this channel after stumbling onto your great expo on art alfons. This is the greatest channel period thankyou for creating it 👍👍👍

Wow, what a story! I followed drag racing closely back then so I recalled this character's name but somehow missed (or maybe forgot) the Bristol incident. And I definitely didn't know about Billy Stepp's background! Thanks!

Brain keeps you on the edge of your seat while telling the most amazing stories ever! 😎 💯 😎

This was awesome but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do one of these stories on Brooklyn Heavy!

Great story. Thanks for the video.

Great job Brian! This reminds me of some of my dads stories about hot rodding while growing up in the 50s and early 60s. Dad would tell some of the craziest stories and swear they were true. Dad was an honest man and never ever known to tell a lie, yet some stories seemed too crazy to be true. I began to wonder if they were simply embellished to a point where maybe things didn't happen the way he said they did. I heard all the stories many times. They always remained the same, no detail varied. Well later in life something weird began to happen as dad got older. We might be at a family reunion on top of a mountain in eastern Kentucky. Dad would be far away in his wheelchair, as dad became permanently disabled from an on the job accident and lived his last 25 years this way. First time this phenomenon happened i remember walking up and hearing somebody else telling one of dads stories, as this particular person was there for that particular story. I was floored when every detail matched dads story! It was crazy things like some feller had a new 1957 chevrolet 4 door hardtop. With 4 guys in it they were going too fast and left the road, rolling the car 4 times. Dad was in passenger front seat when the car landed on all 4 tires...but dads rear end was stuck between the seat and the crushed roof. After getting out with help nobody was hurt. They decided the best thing to do was take the bumper jack and raise the roof enough to drive the car home, which they did. Of course they went home 4 wheel drifting the curves in the same way that got them in that mess in the first place. In the end, since the car was almost new, insurance cut the top off, welded a new one on and car was "just like new" again. It was endless stories like that which dad told. And more time went on i would hear other peoples accounts of dads stories, again giving complete confirmation of every one. Later in life dad said "i should write a book about my life, but nobody would believe it. Id have to call it fiction. Dad died in March 2016 at 75 years old and life has not been the same since i lost my best friend and father, both being the same man. Im 54 now and disabled myself, going blind and then MS, now heart disease with a minor stroke. It sucks still having your wits about you but the old body can't do what it used to. As a life long mechanic and drag racer and overall "car guy" its getting rough watching people do what i can't do anymore, but one must go on and i wish the very best for all y'all out there doing your thing with vehicles and having a good time doing so amd making their own true stories! I happen to have a few of my own...😎

Hoover’s car is a beauty, but then every car he had was ! Wonder how far out the engine was on this car ? Great post as always,thanks!

That is a cool story, thanks!

Good stuff Brian, i've only read little bits of the RL Peyton story.

This was a good one man. Thanks Brian? Duck race anytime soon? You know, just to hang out? See you in Kenny's pit...😉🤪

,,,,,,,,,thanks again as always , for the work , research , and dedication to drag racing.......As a kid,,,,,Richie Di Nome was a friend of mine,,,,,He told me racing stories involving his older brother,,,,,Freddie ,,," Broadway Freddie " ....

This was awesome!!! Thanks for sharing!

You have to think. Ww2 ended not long before Nascar and NHRA got started up. Most of the guys that started both series are ex military men. Still looking for the adrenaline rush like the war.

Great to see the flyer from Great Lakes in Union Grove,Wi probably only track but Bristol still in operation. Broadway Bob is gone but not forgotten

My momma warned me about these dirty drag racers. This is why businesses literally cut-up credit cards if declined or rejected 🤔😳😎… And I met Billie and he was a hoot and charming too. What about the Chicago Tuff Rabbit group ?

Great story, well done.

Brian you are so good at your job and amazing story teller sucks I’m so young cuz I’d love to see this stuff happen thank you for all you do for the sport and keeping it alive

Wow. Now that was a history lesson. Thanks Brian. Another great video.

Great story, Brian. Thank you!

I remembered that picture of their pro stock with them dressed up as gangsters! I always wondered Billy the Kid was a cowboy. Why are these guys dressing up as gangsters?!

US 13 Dragway is my home track. I love the old clippings from there. I would love to know where you found them. Thanks for a great video

👍 Terrific documentary! Thanks

I was born in 1965, my Uncle, Billie Chapman robbed pharmacies in the Cincinnati Tri state area. He claims to have worked with RL on some "transportation" jobs. He did say RL was a wild man, Billie was fearless and enterprising in his own right. RIP, RL truly lived fast ...

Flipping EPIC! Thanks Brian.

Awesome! Thanks Brian. You do such a great job.👍👍❤

Buddy your really good with the history of this sport....an I thank you deserve more credit an appreciation 👍👍👍👍

Awesome stuff! 1960s and ‘70s drag racing has always fascinated me. The Surfers were my heroes as a kid and would make a great story.

I read his book, given to me by a friend of his brothers, here in Orlando. My friend says all these stories are true and he was a legit wild man. My last trip to the Garlits Museum, about 2 months ago, I wanted to ask Don, about R.L., but his hearing is so bad, hard to have a conversation with him. Thanks for sharing JT: Orlando Fla Florida Dragstrip Riot LLC

Great story, Thanks Brian

You just can't make this stuff up. Keep the great stories coming.

Another one I never knew! Thank you Brian!!

Excellent content. What a story this guy was.

That was AWESOME. First time I heard the complete story.

Awesome story! 7:25 RL Hoover was credited with steeling Hoover’s fuel. I’m not sure if there is a way to edit that 😉

Can we do a video on Brooklyn Heavy , the name alone sounds like a great story waiting to be told!

I loved see the New London flyer, I spent many a Sunday there in the 70's and 80's. By then no T/F cars would come there, but some Alky funny cars did. Good memories

Brian - You have found your calling in life !! - Thanx for your Voice

In the early 70's a pro stock car from a the states turned up in the uk🇬🇧 called the LONDON HEAVY it was far and away the fastest pro stock car in the country and won just about every event it entered. My father was racing in pro stock( big john 289 mustang fast back) and was gifted a pair of new slicks by the heavy's driver as a thank you for help during a race weekend. My dad (sadly passed) told me years later, any favour asked or given by the cars driver was accepted with out question as the guy who owned the car in the states, was not a man to mess with. The London heavy was the same body/ trans and engine,and painted identically to the Brookland heavy.

I stopped this at 1:12. I was born in 1965. My father, like all of his friends were drag racers and car club members. My parents were no different than my friends parents but they were in motorcycle clubs. I always wondered why 'car clubs' never got a bad rep like the 'bikers'. Same people back then just different ways of going fast on pavement. (edited for this) Liked and subscribed.

Thank you Brian for giving substance to the sport from an angle that should never be forgotten and thank you for mentioning my company name at national events that I sponsor in Top Fuel (Nelson Trucking)

wow. great story - and well told! thanks!

Wow! What a character! Thanks Brian for the great history lesson.

Another Great Story.... Thanks Brian...

lol, that's just plain CRAZY, thanks Brian

That would make a great movie 😂could u possibly do a video on the two midwest classic drag strip's of Great Lakes Dragway in Wisconsin and US30 Dragstrip in Indiana please, such a big part of being a 1970s kid

And that is why all cans and bottles were banned from drag racing events. I remember late 70's and early 80's going to SIR and they would search your cars for alcohol. Now days you dont get to park close to the fences, and they look in all coolers and such to enter the event.

First 5:10 58 Top Fuelers capable of 200 MPH 1n the late 60's is one hella show boys and girls. Second 15:37 Thats one sick ass groove they be lay'n down. Thank you for your hard work and passion BL . Appreciate you!!

Great writing, excellent presentation.

In the early 80s I worked with a old guy, he went by the name POPS. He was retired LAPD. He told me about the time he had arrested DON (THE SNAKE) PURDOME. He did mention that Don had got caught up in a bum wrap.

Awesome stuff. Thanks Brian.

Great bit of investigation. Awesome story. Even better a NED official is in the mix.