Hot-rod reminiscing

Not about amplifiers for a change... What a deal huh?

I stopped of at the hospital to chat with my uncle a little bit tonight. He is (I believe) 78 and is getting ready to have a pacemaker pulled out of him that his system doesn't agree with. He looks like he was bit with an infection, but not bacterial.
Anyway.
This guy is the one that helped me develop my mechanical chops long-long ago.
More years ago that either he or I would care to admit, I spent my summers in a little VW shop he used to own.
I am sorta dicey on how he started this shop, but I do know he was pushed that way by a layoff.

Anyhow, back then he used to be sort of a local Guru with type 1 and type 2 VW's (Bugs and Buses, for the uninitiated), and about the time I was getting underfoot, he had become the builder doing aircraft conversions on these engines for the local experimental aircraft guys.
So I watched many engines come apart and go together on his bench, and soon after, had a few engine components dancing in my own shop.

Tonight we were talking about some of his old (read pre-truckboy) racing exploits. He had gotten into dirt-circle track racing in the late fifties, and by 1962 he was part owner in a B-mod which was stoked by a rather stout 261 Chevy six. This was a wild time in the sportsman classes, the Chevy V-8s were just then finding their voice in competition, and the Ford flathead V-8's were about developed-out. Folks were often taking highly developed stovebolts and proving competitive with them.
Built-up Chevy 261's, GMC 248's and 270's would run elbow to elbow with Flatheads and Chevy small-blocks, and often win. Within a few years, the Chevy had speed parts out the wazoo and the Windsor Ford (260-289) had debuted, and the oddball sixes had sang the swan-song, except maybe the odd 1/8th mile dirt-track in the Midwest.

I feel sort of envious that this era of automotive history blew by without my involvement. It sounds like good times for innovations and backyard blacksmithing.

My uncle was happy with the visit and to have the conversation.
Ever since I've known him, I've known that talking about engines and making them better made his eyes light up.