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Car and Track was America's first nationally syndicated auto racing and car test television show. Produced by Car and Track Productions, it was hosted and produced by Bud Lindemann, a famous race commentator of the time. After the TV series ended, Bud and his son David Lindemmann continued to film many types of racing. They compiled one of the most important film libraries of the early days of NASCAR. Car and Track was based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This allowed them to have close relationships with Detroit automotive manufacturers and suppliers.
It is believed to have run from 1967 to 1975, with 80 or more episodes originally airing on CBS. In later years, the cable television station Speedvision (which in 2002 became the Speed Channel), aired re-runs from approximately 1996 to 2002. In 2005, network executives revamped the old program, turning it into a primetime NASCAR history highlight show retitled Back in the Day, and hosted by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.[1] It now had a modern, more mass appeal look, though only highlighting select NASCAR racing footage the show carried. The ending of the show does pay homage to the original ending, showing the original host Bud Lindemann's goodbye quote. The quotes varied among episodes but usually stated, "...and drive safely, won't you? All the pros do."
Aside from the show's large attention to NASCAR racing, it also included various other American racing including NHRA drag racing, USAC stock car and Champ Car racing (Champ Car at that time implied USAC) and sprint car racing on paved and dirt ovals. Also featured were IHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel drag racing events. One or more new-car road tests per episode were also featured. The racing library was not limited to automobiles, they even filmed snowmobile racing.
The series used stock music cues, most of them also used by NFL Films, for its varied features, such as in coverage of the 1974 Daytona 500, which used the Jack Trombey track "Military Attache," a cue that opened NFL Films' 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers season review film. The show's 1968 opening theme (using footage from Rockingham and Daytona shot in 1965 and footage of one of Andy Granatelli's turbine Indycars at Milwaukee in 1968) was a variation of Trombey's track "Rhythmical Interruption No. 2." A track used frequently was the Peter Reno track "Recoil." In the later years, the original music came from numerous southern sources with everything from country to styles that are reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett.
Footage was also shot from the 1974 Yankee 400 that was used in the show's main title sequence indicating sponsorship of the series by Blue Max automotive products.
From time-to-time, other features, such as safety reports and driver safety education segments, would be included. In one 1971 episode actor James Garner was accompanied for high-speed safety training at the Skip Barber Racing School behind the wheel of an Oldsmobile Cutlass. Footage of other events, such as stunt and arena shows or conceptual auto displays, was often used to close the show.
New car testing in the show did not focus exclusively on one particular type of vehicle. Although "muscle cars" seemed to make up the bulk of the reviews, and Bud Lindemann seemed to express extra enthusiasm for them, economy cars, Jeeps, and even motorhomes were also occasionally tested. Vehicles were shown in their original forms. As in today's car testing methods, the vehicles were usually the highest level furnished of the model, or in some instances prototypes. Many of the tests were filmed on the Waterford Hills Road Race Course in Clarkston, Michigan (just north of Detroit). Most tests filmed at Grattan raceway near Grand Rapids.
Prototypes included:
Production vehicles tested included:
