DAYTON PLEASURE CAR CLUB

          The club name brings to mind casual weekend drives in the country, perhaps with a stop in some quiet spot for a picnic lunch beneath shady elms.  Ah yes, a pleasant outing with the rest of the lads, showing off their washed and waxed automobiles.

          The reality was quite different.  The Dayton Pleasure Car Club, or DPCC, was a stock car sanctioning body, and their cars for the most part never saw a casual outing, or a wash and wax for that matter.

          The DPCC was most active as a sanctioning body at Frankie's Forest Park Speedway in Dayton, Ohio, but its members raced regularly at Dayton Speedway as well.  What's not yet clear is whether DPCC "sanctioned" events at Dayton Speedway or whether its members competed there without DPCC involvement.

          So why would a bunch of young, studly racers who lived to push their modified stock cars to top speeds choose a name like the Dayton Pleasure Car Club?  I don't have the answer, but I can guess.  Hot rodders in post-war America didn't get the warmest reception from the establishment.  (Have young people ever gotten acceptance from the generation that preceded them?)  They were regarded as hooligans, dangers to themselves and others once they got behind the wheels of their butchered hot rods.  I think that the DPCC members were doing their best to appear organized and mature, and the name helped them "fly under the radar" of the establishment.

          In any event, DPCC's members played an important role in the development of stock car auto racing at Dayton Speedway.

          If you have photos or information about DPCC or wish to share a memory, please contact me here.

          Mickey

          The clipping shown above is from an early racing program and the text shows a distinct effort on the part of the DPCC members to demonstrate that they aren't just a bunch of young speed-junkies.  Note particularly "All meets are run under strict rules governing drivers' conduct and equipment."  It's hard not to believe that the members laughed when they read the last sentence: "Spectators can learn what to do as well as what not to do by studying these racers."

          The three photos below are from the 1951 DPCC awards dinner.  In 1951 most of these boys were just beginning their racing careers, but many would go on to become legends in Midwest auto racing.