Don't know if the origin of a race car's number was ever discussed on 3Wide in the past.  I helped 60-70s limited sportsman race Chic Ronan with his hot rods.  I know his first car was number 35 since that was his age when he started racing.  He then went to 16 when his older daughter Kathy turned 16.  I recall he went to R2 when his kids had all moved out of the house (R for Ronan, 2 for Chic and his wife Cathy).   I'm pretty sure that Mr. Kevin Eyres used the number 2 on his Wall hot rod due to his affiliation with Avis Car rental.  Kevin, like Avis, always tried harder.  Now back to my question.  Do you 3Widers know the origin of the number on any hot rods out there, past and present.  Scott Ely 

I know two Scott.  My brother Norm's K-9 novice car from 1959-1960 got itds number from sponsor Ed Hagaman who predicted the car would be a dog on the track but Norm fooled Ed and won some races with it.  Norm's two modified cars bore number 21.  That was the combined ages of his three children.  His coupe (model posted recently) had his wife Doris' and kids Barby, Danny and Eddie painted on the side.  And by the way, a Happy and healthy New Year to all Three Widers!

Ray Lemasters

When I was a kid, I used to draw pictures of my imaginary racecar, often with a different number. In my early teens I decided to figure out the average number, came up with 61 1/2, I rounded it off to 62. My good friend Jeff Hanna started racing same time as me, he picked 63 in succession with me. When we went to sprints I had to change because URC didn't allow duplicate numbers, so we dropped the 2 and became 6. Went back to 62 when I got into karts years later, except for 2017 when I was 55. That in remembrance of my Dad, his favorite car was his turquoise and white '55 Chevy, I painted kart that color.

My Dad ran a Sunoco station in the 50's. When their new grade of gas came out, Sunoco 240, that became his stock car's number. The 1940 Ford coupe was painted blue and yellow with company paint and black 240 on the doors and trunk.

Drove the 14 being a Foyt fan and the 22 Fireball fan. I drove a U2 which was shorten from FU2 after the officials realized the joke we tried to get away with when they announced the car number. We almost pulled it off but after the first race the owner was asked to change it so it became the U2 from then on.

My dad numbered his1938 Nutley Velodrome midget #C4 ... I don't know where that came from ,,, but when my brother and I raced in the early 1980's #C4jr was the only way to go, plus my dad did a lot of the rebuild on the car.  

Joel

My Birthday Sept 8

# 73-THE YEAR I STARTED DRIVING FULL SEASON AT WALL (IST RACE 1972)

# 7G-SAW BUDDY GRIFFIN'S CAR AT NEW SYMRNA NUMBERED 7G,

 THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY COOL , AS MY LAST NAME STARTS W/ G !!

BLESSINGS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MY FELLOW 3 WIDERS !!!!

BILL---------

Stan Bozowski, Sr. sportsman at East Windsor. 1960's. 24-9/10 because that was the price of gas at a station on Route 1 in Lawrenceville, N. J.  "Carroll's Muffler Shop" painted on side of car.

I raced the number 2 in the late 70's in Go Karts. My first car at Wall was a Modern Stock, so I used the number 2, because like Scott said, Avis was number 2 in the rent a car world.

If I remember correctly, Chubby Hower's 34 1/2 at East Windsor was because he used half the parts from the number 69 car.  

My first Modern Stock was a Chevy 2, numbered that car #2  when I got to the track there was another 2 there so I added an X. Never changed my number after that.

A few that I have heard of:

#659 (Parker Bohn/Tom Skinner Coupe) was a fan belt #

#713 (Bob Fisher)  Bob's father's Air Force Squadron #

#704  (Trenton Mack)  # of the O'Shea's house address in Ewing (?)

7A of Chic Cossaboone - Seven A__ holes

84 of John Wyers - The 8 and the 4 are the last digits in two of the crew members phone numbers

My #was 25H dec.25 bday and H for Horner Phil's was 21H bday and H for same reason Tonys was 50+ turned 50 and wanted to try racing

I was part of the Grbac racing all my life my dad Emmett lived with them so when dad built me a car in 1972 I wanted the number that sammy beavers ran for them. Also #7 was first car that Mike grbac drove for his brother after Sammy left the car So I ran the 7JR

See if the 303 was the Polish Air Force in England??

303 was the cubic inches of the Oldsmobile engine in my first race car. Not a lot of thought went into the number selection LOL

My first car was a 67 Mustang  I painted my sportsman the colors of my Mustang. Then when there was multiple 67 I added the S for spirit of. After the bicentennial it work. The Spirit of 67 (S67)

I've always been interested in the origin of race car numbers. When our childhood dream came true, my best friend and I chose #56  for our car since we were both born that year.

557 address and 58 year born

Wanted to use the year I graduated high school, the number was already taken. Instead chose 84 because if I went to a 4-year college. I would have graduated in 1984.

Thank you to those who had a chance to let us know the story behind the # of the cars you owned/drove.

It's something that I give thought to from time to time, and find it interesting that for some there's a strong reason behind the number, and for some owners/drivers I've spoken too, it's "just a #."

Bob Rossell is one of those guys who seemed to change #'s somewhat.  I always associate him with the #56, but I know that he drove the #36 and the #4 which I think were cars that he also owned.  I think I asked him why the change in #'s and I don't think there was a whole lot to it...  Guess Bob was thinking more about how to make them go fast and how to handle, and maybe was all "thunk" out when it came to figurin' what to to number it....