6/1/2025
Postman 68
Bubby
Penn can Speedway (one of my original home tracks) honored Carl "Bubby" Nagel on Friday. He was a significant part of my racing youth.
To be fair, I was a Pete Cordes (No. 68 -- the reason for 68 here in Postman68) man; but racing was a father-son thing for my dad and me. The old man was a tried-and-true Bubby Nagel fan. Many nights after the races, we would go chat with Carl.
Carl was a great racer, and I feel like that is an understatement. Very few matched his abilities, and he has the trophies to show for it.
I remember great Penn Can battles with him and Stubby Stephen, George Watson, or Lynn Highhouse. There was the time when the folks from Moc-A-Tek Speedway operated Penn Can and that gave us Ed Strada (in his immaculate maroon coach-bodied car) versus Bubby.
And the career-long battles with Chuck Akulis at tracks all over the area were such a big part of racing in that time and place.
Nagel started racing in 1959 at Penn Can and Five Mile Point. He won his first feature in 1962 and his first track championship in 1965. From that point forward he became one of the dominant drivers in the area for nearly 40 years.
The record books show 112 career feature wins and four track championships. He is a member of the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame, Class of 2005.
Nagel's style was popular not only with fans but fellow competitors. He was smooth and raced very clean; it was rare to see Carl Nagel in conflict with another driver. Clean, smooth, and found his way to the front quite regularly.
But there is more to the story than just a fabulous race car driver.
As I grew out of my youth and into the racing business in the region I was able to get acquainted with a Carl on both a personal and professional level.
Truth is that the great hero-racecar-driver is an even better man.
Always low-key with that Bubby Nagel smile, he remains active attending local racing functions and always has the time to talk racing. He is a kind, good-hearted, and wonderful man who loves a good laugh with friends.
Off track he is the person we hope our racing heroes truly are.
Not only did Carl enjoy a long and successful driving career, his son Mike also has had a lengthy career with many stops in victory lane. And the next generation races – Mike Nagel Jr. races in the Sportsman division at Penn Can.
Weekly racing is the foundation of all motorsports, and weekly drivers are the lifeblood of that foundation. There are the heroes, the mid-packers and the ones barely getting by -- all three equally important.
We celebrate the heroes, like they did Friday night at Penn Can Speedway
Take a bow Bubby....a well-earned bow.
--Postman
Submitted By: Steve Post
