WHAT'S NEW?
ARCHIVE 8
UPDATE:
UPDATE SCHEDULE NOTE…
Previously I told you that I would be updating DSL every two weeks during the racing season. According to that schedule, the next Update should be July 26, 2009. But…
I’m headed to Washington, D.C. for two weeks of DSL research at the National Archives where they maintain a complete collection of National Speed Sport News (among other publications) dating back to the beginnings of our sport.
Obviously if I return to Dayton on July 26th there’s no way that I can get an Update put together in time to publish on the same day.
Accordingly, look for the next Update on August 2, 2009, with additional Updates to follow every two weeks thereafter.
Thanks for your continuing support!
HALL OF FAME INVITES HAVE BEEN MAILED…
The formal invitations to our 2009 inductees and their families went into the mail this past week. Thanks to the efforts of a lot of FODS I was able to find either inductees or family members for all of our HOF honorees except for Milton “Buster” Blackford and Charley Engle.
Buster was the dominant stock car driver season after season at Dayton Speedway during the ‘60s and I am almost certain that he still has many family members living in the area. I just wasn’t able to track any of them down…yet.
Charley Engle, race car driver, owner, builder, mechanic, and tavern keeper, was an orphan and from all indications he never married. I think it will be very unlikely that we will be able to find any of Charley’s blood relatives for the induction.
With any luck at all I’ll be getting RSVPs back from the invitees over the next two or three weeks. Once I determine how many tickets the inductees and their families need, I’ll be able to put the remaining tickets on sale for FODS, fans, and friends. Tickets will be $10 and there will, unfortunately, be a limited number available based on the capacity of the Baum Opera House.
PLEASE DON’T SEND IN YOUR TICKET ORDERS YET.
There will be more information on ticket availability and ordering in the next Update (August 2, 2009).
OUR OTW CLUB GROWS BY ONE NEW MEMBER…
Our ace researcher Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) is still working on the results of the races run in the ‘30s at Dayton Speedway and he recently came across another Over the Wall club inductee.
The Dayton Daily News edition of May 26, 1935, reported driver Johnny Ritter’s Dayton Speedway adventure of the previous day. The track was soft, according to the article, and flying stones put out several drivers.
In Ritter’s case, a rock did put him out, literally. Hit squarely in the head by a flying rock, Ritter slumped over the steering wheel, and the car…well, it wasn’t pretty.
Read Ritter’s story here on the Over the Wall page.
PIC OF THE WEEK…
Check out my new Pic of the Week here courtesy of Jerry Wahl. It shows Walt Scherer aboard his #25 modified and even though the photo was reportedly taken at Shady Bowl Speedway we think that Walt also drove this car at Dayton Speedway.
The Scherer family has deep roots in local auto racing. Ray, Walt’s brother, owned Shady Bowl Speedway for a time and lost his life there when his tractor rolled over on him. Walt’s two sons, Wally and Dave, spent many seasons in the flagstand both locally, and in Wally’s case, as flagger for USAC’s sprint car division.
A SAGGING BOOKSHELF…
Our Rand Thompson (caprirand@comcast.net) has thrown another book on our already sagging bookshelf here at DSL. This time Rand reviews Herk Hurtubise by Bob Gates.
It’s a shame that for many of us our lasting memory of Jim Hurtubise is of a driver in a seemingly outdated front-engined roadster sitting in the qualifying line at Indianapolis and refusing to move the car or get out of it long after the gun signaling the end of the qualifying session had been fired. If memory serves, it took security guards to pry Herk out of his car. Sad.
The Gates book has long been resident on my own bookshelf and it ought to be on yours. Find a copy and you’ll soon remember a different Herk.
Thanks, Rand.
MYSTERY MEDIA MAN…
Rand Thompson sent along this photo (below left) of a mystery media man. I’ve studied the photo at some 
length and I must tell you that the guy really looks familiar to me. He could be…naw, it must be someone else. Cause the guy I'm thinking of doesn't have that great hair or snappy pants
Take a look and if you can figure out who the heck this guy is, send me a note here.
Thanks, Rand, for another mystery.
A NOTE FROM ANDY GRANATELLI…
I recently was copied on a note from Andy Granatelli. Yep, that Andy Granatelli. Mr. Indy 500. Or so the message leads you to believe.
I can’t say for certain that the message is real and it’s actually from Andy, but if you have something that would help his effort, send him an e-mail to the address in the body of the message and see what happens.
“I am looking for the following items for my Hall of Fame Museum, which will open late this year in Auburn, Indiana. I need information on anything speed equipment or cars built by Grancor Automotive Specialists (Granatelli Corportion) like Ford Flathead motors, heads, manifolds, etc. Also, looking for any racecars I owned or built, including Indy cars, street rods, Bonneville cars or a Fordillac. I would like to have any information on the whereabouts of any of the above. I will consider a loan, a donation or I will purchase the items. No matter what, I would like to know what's out there.
Contact Andy at mrindy500@yahoo.com. Thank you. Andy Granatelli”
NUTZ & BOLTZ…
…Loyal FODS Les Eder (les_eder@hotmail.com) wrote in to suggest that we ought to publish a year-by-year list of Dayton Speedway track champions. We’d love to do that, and we are working on it, but the process takes a very long time and involves looking at hours and hours of microfilm at the local library. It’s not always obvious who was named the track champion in a particular year and it appears that in some years there was no champion of any sort named. We’ll keep working on it, though, and eventually we’ll have something to report. Les, by the way, is the son of famous driver Dick Eder…
…Long-time FODS Alan Price (fixer7526@wmconnect.com) tried long and hard to get those terrific aerial photos (here) to download to his computer, but had to finally throw in the towel. I made sure that he received them in hard copy. All’s well that ends well…
…John Surges (vintagemodman@msn.com) and the rest of the vintage race car gang in Wisconsin 
continue to amaze with the number of shows and events on their vintage schedule during the racing season. Here’s a photo (right) from a recent show held at Champion Chicken, a long-time stock car sponsor…
…add this to your list of events at Dayton Speedway. Jerry Wahl (jlwahl1@hotmail.com) reminds us that promoter Lefty McFadden borrowed equipment from Kil-Kare Dragway and ran Wednesday night drag races down the frontstretch at Dayton Speedway. Jerry remembers that this was around 1959-1960. Considering that the frontstretch slopes sharply towards the infield once can only wonder what it was like to set up a drag car for a pass at DS. Jerry remembers, too, that they drew good crowds for these Wednesday night riturals. I know that somewhere out there are FODS who participated in these events. Drop me a line here and let me know what that was like!
…FODS Mike Etienne (mikeetienne@sbcglobal.net) checked in recently (as all FODS are required to do) with a great story told to him by his close friend Tim Ramsey. Tim’s driving career was not long, but he clearly remembered a frightening event at Dayton Speedway when his car bobbled on the back stretch and he tagged the front fender of another competitor with his own car. Tim remembers that when he looked in his rearview mirror he saw nothing but chaos and the other car had vaulted over the wall. From his description I would have to say that the other car was none other than OTW club member Max MacIntire! It’s interesting that the accident affected Tim almost as much as it did Max. Read more about Max’s adventure here on the OTW page, and look for more of Tim’s remembrances here with a future Update…
ANOTHER THIN UPDATE…
I’ve once again run out of time and have to end this Update way, way too early. I’m leaving in a few hours and will be away from the plush DSL offices for several weeks.
Thanks for your continuing support of this website and your help in keeping alive the memory of a grand old speedway, Dayton Speedway.
Mickey
July 12, 2009
UPDATE:
THIS UPDATE A LITTLE THIN…
This Update isn’t as substantial as most of my previous Updates. I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for the Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame induction ceremony set for November 1, 2009, at the restored Baum Opera House in Miamisburg, Ohio. The event is shaping up to be the sort of event that our inductees and their families deserve.
I found former Dayton newspaper auto racing reporter Harvey Shapiro living in Massachusetts. Harvey is thrilled to have been elected to the HOF and is looking forward to attending the event.
Jim Booker, son of HOF inductee Elbert “Pappy” Booker, is planning to attend and will be bringing a host of Pappy’s relations.
We’ve even found, we think, Frank Funk’s grandson. If the gentleman is, in fact, Frank’s relative, that will leave just three inductees still unaccounted for.
And if you had asked me when we began this search which inductees’ families would be the hardest to locate, I would not have put two of the three names on the list at all.
Don Thompson. Don’s granddaughter contacted me over a year ago to tell me how much she enjoyed the website. I managed to lose her e-mail address (of course) and now I can’t seem to find any of the Thompson clan (I’m not related, in case you were wondering). Some one out there knows them. Please help! I need an address so that I can mail (not e-mail) a formal invitation to attend the induction ceremony.
Buster Blackford. Buster virtually owned Dayton Speedway in the ‘60’s. Buster winning was not a news story then; if someone beat him it was very big news, and gave the local racing fraternity something to talk about for the rest of the season and beyond. Buster passed away several years ago, but family members remain in the area. I just can’t seem to find them. Can anyone help?
Charley Engle. Has any life lived in the history of auto racing as glorious and at the same time as tortured as Charley’s? Respected race driver, Charley got the Vance ride in 1935 after Al Theisen’s demise. Brilliant car owner and builder, Charley’s cars carried a host of drivers to wins. And several to their deaths, including Gordon Reid at Dayton and Crash Crockett at Langhorne. And finally, Charley was shot to death during a robbery at his Dayton tavern. Charley was something of a loner and I don’t hold out a lot of hope that we will find a relative, but we are still looking, and Dale Huffman, the Dayton Daily News columnist has agreed to help us look. If we can’t find a relative, Dale has graciously agreed to accept the award on behalf of his old friend.
I am still working the details (and working them hard!) but I do have the date (November 1) and the time (starts at 1 p.m.) and the location (the Baum Opera House in Miamisburg) so that’s a good start.
We’ll start with a social at 1 p.m. with sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, and chips along with drinks. There may be autograph cards made for the event so attendees will be able to gather autographs from inductees and family members.
The induction ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will last about 90 minutes. By the end of July I ought to know how many tickets I have left after the inductees and their families get whatever they need, and at that time I will offer those to FODS. I don’t expect there will be many available. Ticket price will be no more than $10.
If you can help us locate the three missing inductees or if you have questions about the HOF induction, please contact me here. And to all of you who have asked me to hold tickets for you once they go on sale, I will do my best to remember your request!
FATHERS DAY MIRACLE…
Those of you who have been following along know the story of Aloysius “Al” Theisen. Al was the 1934 Midwest AAA Champion despite the fact that his season ended abruptly when he was seriously hurt at Dayton Speedway in September, 1934, and his injuries kept him in the hospital for somewhere between three and five weeks (reports vary). The 1935 season promised to be successful and lucrative for Al because he was going to be behind the wheel of the Vance Special, owned by Johnny Vance of Dayton.
In April, 1935 Al went to Detroit for an indoor midget race, no doubt to shake off some of the cobwebs gathered during his long absence from the cockpit. Sadly, he overturned his midget during qualifying and suffered serious injuries. Four days later he was dead. (Read more here.)
I wanted to write Al’s story, but the story lacked a definitive ending, although some would argue that there is no more definitive ending than death. But Al left behind a widow, Helen, and a two-year-old daughter named Beverly. Until I knew something about what became of Helen and Beverly, Al’s story seemed incomplete.
Ace researcher Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) has been searching for Helen and Beverly for over a year and with the sudden and unexpected help of Anita Short (dshort5@woh.rr.com) he was able to confirm that Helen remained in the Dayton area and sometime after Al’s death she married a sheet metal worker named Elmus Ellsworth. Elmus passed away on June 5, 1950 due to “coronary thrombosis.” And after that, Helen seems to just disappear.
Believing that if Helen was still in the Dayton area in 1950 Beverly would be nearing her high school graduation, Anita and Rick began checking local high school records and lo and behold there was a Beverly Theisen who graduated from Kiser High School in 1951. Could this be the Beverly we were looking for?
Appropriately enough, on Fathers Day I received an e-mail from an address I didn’t recognize. “Beverly” was a part of the address line. The subject was “Theisen.” The one word message: “yes.”
We’ve found Beverly Theisen, Al’s daughter!
Rick and Beverly are still sharing information on Al’s career and Beverly’s life and I will have more to report in future Updates. But let me tell you this: Al’s, Helen’s, and Beverly’s story has a twist and a turn that will surprise and stun you.
For now I’ll offer this discovery. According to Beverly, her last name, Theisen, is pronounced “Tyson” like the boxer.
My thanks to Rick and Anita for working so hard to bring this story to a close.
GREENVILLE SPEEDWAY RESEARCH…
Newly minted FODS Anita Short (ashort5@woh.rr.com) is researching the history of Greenville Motor Speedway. Greenville opened for business on July 4, 1930. In 1936, Greenville ran under Central States Racing Association sanction.
I get the impression that Anita is pretty far along in her research, but if you think that you have something that will help her, please get in touch with her.
PIC OF THE WEEK…
Check out the Pic of the Week here. I recently won this photo at an ebay auction and it comes from the collection of John “Shorty” Miller, Dayton Speedway HOF/2009. It would be great to put names to this gang of CSRA drivers all of whom look a little self-conscious in their matching CSRA sweaters, and if some of you older FODS recognize any of these guys, please contact me here. I expect to hear from our own Gene Ingram (harleygene@comcast.net) within minutes after posting this Update.
When I first saw the photo I thought that it might have been taken at an awards banquet at the end of the season. How else to get these guys into those sweaters and many in the crowd behind the drivers are wearing ties? But then I noticed the dirty hands and pants and have concluded that this photo op must have taken place at a racing event.
I sure hope that someone somewhere can tell us what color(s) those snappy sweaters were! Contact me here.
RAND THOMPSON PAGE POSTED…
Our Rand Thompson (caprirand@comcast.net) has been providing research and most notably book reviews (here) for many months now. This season he has also been writing for the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene. For the most part, his subjects are pretty far removed, at least geographically, from Dayton Speedway, but sometimes he writes about subjects that I think FODS would be interested in.
As is often the case, I wanted to share his writing with the FODS but couldn’t decide actually where to post his articles. So, with no other logical place to post his articles, I’ve started a Rand Thompson page here.
Check it out. You’ll find three interesting articles posted there, one dealing with speedway names, and two connected with veteran Joy Fair, a legendary driver who was a Dayton Speedway competitor.
The articles appear here through the kind cooperation of Rand at the fine folks at MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene. Thanks guys!
FRANK FUNK…
As nearly as we can tell from our research, the original builders of Dayton Speedway, then a five-eighths-mile slightly banked dirt track, ran into problems early in their efforts to operate the track. Crowds were reasonably good, but drivers would often be no-shows even after filing entries.
And then Frank Funk arrived on the scene. Funk had already scraped what would be Winchester Speedway out of one of his pastures and was doing well. He was by all accounts a natural promoter and his efforts at Dayton proved successful.
I must admit to knowing absolutely nothing about Funk other than a few stories I’d heard that focused on his shrewdness. Through the kind assistance of Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) and Anita Short (dshort5@woh.rr.com) I was provided a newspaper column written by a man who knew Frank Funk. I’ve retyped the column here on the new Frank Funk page under “The People” tab.
You’ll be surprised to read about Funk’s view of auto racing. I was.
STEVE BENOVICH RETURNS…
The outpouring of concern and sympathy that must have gone to USAC sprint car owner Steve Benovich when Claire Lawicki killed Steve’s beautiful, brand new #54 in 1970 at Dayton Speedway might have actually been eclipsed by a host of FODS who wrote in after reading the story in the last Update!
You probably remember the details. They are just too painful to forget. Benovich finished the engine for the $12,000 (in 1970 dollars) machine the night before the Dayton event. The car was painted a brilliant candy apple red with gold leaf lettering. Lawicki started the car 14th in the field but began to bobble heading into the first corner. He hit the guardrails just past the end of the concrete foundation of the grandstand and submarined in between the strands of railing. The accident tore the front end off the machine and sheared the valve covers off. It was quite an accident and it finished the car off before it had even run one feature event.
Afterwards a distraught Benovich told reporters that he was finished. Done. Out of racing. He described himself as a simple garage mechanic who couldn’t afford to buy or build another car.
All of us who have been involved in auto racing as participants for very long know exactly how Benovich felt that day. My partners and I once signed a contract to run five NASCAR Cup events and had just one car to do it. That meant that for the first four races I was rolling the dice that the car would come back in good enough condition that I would be able to fulfill the terms of the contract. They don’t have gambling like that in Vegas!
But I have good news to report. Steve Benovich was able to return to racing with the USAC sprint series. The accident with Lawicki happened early in 1970. By 1973, at least, Steve Benovich was back with another #54. In the photo here, provided by FODS Brian Norton, Daryl Harrison is behind the wheel.
We’ve not been able to gather any more information on exactly when and how Benovich was able to return to the sprint wars. If you can help fill in the details, please contact me here.
NUTZ ‘N BOLTZ…
… Dick Dunlevy, Jr. isn’t letting his election to the Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame slow him down. On June 26, Dick drove buddy Dick Ater’s modified to the feature win at Kil-Kare Speedway near Xenia, Ohio. And he started on the tail. A great drive!
… I’ve been furiously bidding, along with Rick Patterson, on Dayton Speedway memorabilia, some from Shorty Miller’s collection and some from other collections, and if this was professional baseball I would have been sent back to the minors long ago. I think that I am winning about one in twenty items I bid on. And someone, or several some ones, out there bidding against me must have hit the lottery. The prices that some items are going for is simply remarkable…
… Of course I have looked at every photo posted on this site. I had to look at them during the posting process. But several recent incidents have convinced me that while I looked at the photos, I didn’t really “see” them. Long-time FODS Paul Holley told me that his uncle, Eddie Camp, was able to determine which of the two well-smashed stock car front ends on the Over The Wall (OTW) page here went with the rest of the Paul Stapleton OTW crash photos. How? He looked through the rear window of the car that was most certainly Paul’s and saw that the front window was broken. Only one of the front-end photos showed a car with a broken windshield.
And then Rick Patterson e-mailed me about the photo third from the bottom on the Barnett Collection page here. It’s shot from the pit area looking across the track towards the fourth corner and shows a couple of officials and a race car, #34, sitting with its tail towards the pits and its nose angled towards the first corner.
Rick pointed out that the car was carrying Elbert “Pappy” Booker’s number, but more importantly it was sporting dual rear wheels! Take a look. We have no idea if the car was ever driven by Booker, but those dual wheels (and they are wire wheels to boot) are something you don’t see very often.
So while I look at a lot of photos, I don’t apparently see them very well…
… I keep getting recorded voicemail messages telling me about a wondrous new casino, the “Hollywood Casino.” The guy rattles on for some minutes about how fabulous this place is and I must admit that it sounds pretty interesting. Shame though that he never does get around to telling me where the heck it is…
… Joey Logano, aka “Sliced Bread” as in “the best thing since…”, recently won his first NASCAR Cup race and he did it shy of his 21st birthday. With any luck at all he stands a great chance of racing at the professional level for 15 or 20 years, or more. What might his career have looked like if he had started in 1935 or perhaps just after WWII? Just wondering…
… The “This Week in Dayton Speedway History” continues to generate nice comments from the FODS Nation. Rick Patterson puts in a lot of time coming up with these items of interest, culled from newspapers spanning the 75 years since construction was first started on the track.
MORE TO FOLLOW…
I continue to muddle through the scanning of Ralph Bray’s photos. He loaned them to me over a year ago and I am still working on them. What can I say? And I hope to have Scott Solem’s pix finally scanned and posted soon. I’ve been holding them hostage for months and months. And on top of these, I have lots of other great stories and photographs that you folks have kindly shared with me. I promise that eventually I will get everything posted. Stick with me.
The next Update will begin a new What’s New? page and this page will become Archive 8.
As always, thanks to each and every one of you who are doing a marvelous job in keeping alive the memories of family and friends, of heroes, and of Sunday afternoons spent long ago at the wonderful old Dayton Speedway.
The next official Update will be July 12, 2009, but items are added constantly.
Mickey
June 30, 2009
UPDATE:
THOSE AMAZING AERIAL PHOTOS…
Lots of you have commented on those Dayton Speedway aerial photos (here) provided by Alison Hudson (achudson1226@sbcglobal.net) so it’s only appropriate that you get to know something about Alison. Here’s what she told me in a recent e-mail:
Hi Mickey,
I am an avid race fan! I am born and raised in Dayton and grew up in a family that followed open-wheeled racing, specifically the Indy 500. We have a group of family and friends that gather each year on Memorial Day for a picnic on Saturday evening and then on Sunday we board a charter bus, eat breakfast at the track and watch the race. This has been happening since the late '50s. Harlan Fengler was one of the original members of the group. I remember him attending the parties and visiting us in our seats at the track when he was the Chief Steward.
Unfortunately, I am too young (44) to have attended any races at Dayton Speedway, but I do remember hearing stories of the track, am fascinated by its history and continue to follow Sprints and Modifieds by attending races at Eldora. My brother tells me stories of the track and the drivers that raced at Dayton Speedway. What a glorious time that must have been! I hope to be able to interview some of my parent's friends soon that both raced cars and probably knew some of the same people that raced at Dayton Speedway.
The aerial photographs are on disks that my company purchased from the Montgomery County's Engineers Office. The disks have historic aerial photographs of all of Montgomery County for the years I provided to you. We use these photographs in our historic research of properties that are bought and sold within the county to determine if there may have been any environmental impacts in the past. I love my job, but especially this portion when I can look into the past and see the historic and exciting places and events that occurred in Dayton. Thank you so much for keeping Dayton Speedway alive. I hope to be able to help you more in the future! As I come across more information, I will send it your way!
Sincerely,
Alison C. Hudson
And speaking of those aerial photos, take a look at the 1938 aerial here. Can that possibly be a bridge near the backstretch over what appears to be an infield road course? What on earth would a bridge be doing back there? And if that’s not a road course, what is it?
It’s also amazing to notice that the original five-eighths-mile backstretch is still visible from the air as late as 1968, and a portion still can be seen in the 1980 aerial!
My final discovery, with the assistance of sharp-eyed researcher Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net), is that the grandstand was never centered on the frontstretch, but was always closer to the first corner. I think that the reason for the offset was the need to fit the pit access road into the real estate plot, but I wonder what the result would have been if the grandstands would have been centered on the frontstretch the day that Gordon Reid went into the crowd. It’s reasonable to think that he would have gotten into the grandstand fencing, but perhaps not into the standing crowd that had gathered next to the grandstand.
DAYTON SPEEDWAY AND FLEA MARKET SNOOPING…
Recently I took a break and went to a flea market in search of something related to Dayton Speedway. And I was successful. I found… Greg and Cindy Chamberlain (acmeold@yahoo.com) ! Greg is a long-time body man who spent time working on the Bobby Jacks ARCA entries. But Greg’s first introduction to the Dayton high-banks came in the ‘50s when he attended sprint car races at the track with his dad. In the early ‘60s Greg raced go-karts on the Dayton track when they set up a road course configuration on the front stretch. Greg remembers that there was a huge hole in the speedway surface that they raced around.
Later, in 1979-1980, Greg and Cindy enjoyed watching the Late Models hammer around the Dayton track.
All things considered, the Chamberlains are well-rounded Dayton Speedway fans; between them they cover multiple decades and multiple types of race vehicles. But they had never checked into DSL via e-mail.
So that’s my new policy: if you don’t hold up your hand (electronically speaking) and check in I will track you down to add your name to the list of Friends of Dayton Speedway!
LITTLE 500 – DAYTON SPEEDWAY CONNECTION…
A recent bulletin that crossed my desk announced that driver Claire Lawicki was going to be inducted into the Little 500 Hall of Fame in August. The Little 500 has been run at Anderson Speedway for as long as I can remember, and it is one of the premier auto racing events in the nation. And Lawicki has a strong Dayton Speedway connection…of sorts.
I’ll pause here to say a word or two about poor Lawicki. His name has been spelled with every conceivable combination of letters. Claire, Clare, Clere Lawicki, Lewicki, Lawicky; google any combination and you’ll get a hit or three about Lawicki’s racing career. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure that “Claire Lawicki” is the right spelling, but that’s what I’m going to use every time to try to be consistent. Lawicki ran a single NASCAR event in 1954, and all he got for his trouble (eleventh place finish in a 200-lapper at the Grand River Speedrome in Grand Rapids, MI) was an inclusion on a list in a book titled “Fixin’ to Git” by author Jim Wright. It was supposedly a list of all the women who had ever raced in a NASCAR sanctioned event!
(And to add insult to injury, the brain surgeon character played by Nicole Kidman in the annoying “Days of Thunder” was named…you guessed it…Claire Lewicki.)
When I and my adolescent teenage friends first heard Lawicki’s name in the ‘60s we snickered and guffawed. The name conjured up an image of a skinny, pencil-necked mama’s boy with thick glasses and an aversion to getting dirty. I’m not proud to tell you that we had a lot of fun at Lawicki’s expense, that is until the day we actually saw him.
If memory serves, Lawicki stood at least six feet tall, had dark wavy hair, and could have mopped the floor with my entire skinny teen crew at the same time.
His connection to Dayton Speedway consists of two memorable USAC sprint car incidents.
First, it was Lawicki’s spin on May 30, 1969 that triggered the melee in which Jimmy Smith crashed over the guardrail and onto the DSL Over the Wall page (here). Smith landed in a boggy area and except for losing his $110 watch was none the worse for wear. Smith retired on the spot, afraid that he had just used up all the luck a sprint car driver was likely to have in a lifetime. Sadly, Smith was right. He couldn’t stay away and returned to racing, only to die in a crash at Eldora Speedway.
Second, it was at Dayton Speedway where Lawicki debuted Steve Benovich’s new #54 sprint car on April 12, 1970. That race car is described even today by race fans who saw it as the most beautiful sprint car ever. It was painted candy-apple red and shone like the sun itself. Benovich had “Steve’s Little Red Wagon” lettered on the nose in gold leaf. The numbers were done in the same fashion.
Lawicki started 14th in the day’s 40-lap feature event, but in short order smashed the Benovich car into the first turn guardrail, completely destroying the machine. The car hit with such force that it submarined between the railings, destroying the posts that supported the guardrail.
Fragments of the car, railing, and support posts flew into a restricted area that had been cleared of spectators before the event, but several fans had snuck back. Two fans were injured. Daytonian Robert Irvin was hit by part of the car’s front suspension, fracturing his jaw and giving him severe cuts to his face and hands. James Bubt of St. Mary’s was standing behind Irvin and was dazed from a blow to the head.
Lawicki was trapped in the wreckage, but was finally extricated and taken to a hospital. He miraculously survived with a broken wrist and leg lacerations, though his career ended there.
The car was so thoroughly destroyed that the valve covers were sheared off by the force of the crash. Benovich told reporters “This wipes me out of racing. I’m just a garage mechanic. I’ve saved for years for a car like this. I’m out of business.”
What happened? Merle Bettenhausen was following Lawicki just before the accident and saw the car begin weaving. “Nobody was around him, “ Bettehausen said at the time. “He 
was going straight, then he started bobbling. Suddenly the tail pointed toward the infield and he headed straight into the wall. Looks like something broke.”
(By the way, Larry Dickson won that day in the black #2 Kenny Lay Chevy with Jack Steck as the mechanic. Steck’s wife had hired a sign painter to letter “Deuces Wild” on the front. The painter wrote “Duses Wild.” It was win number 23 for Dickson and it tied him with Roger McCluskey for fifth on the all-time win list.)
So the next time you’re hanging out with your racing buddies, raise a glass and toast the racing career of the driver with the unforgettable name…Claire Lawicki, Little 500 Hall of Fame, Class of 2009.
(My thanks to Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) and Rich Gilberg (fgilberg@woh.rr.com) who helped sort out the story of Lawicki’s mishaps at Dayton Speedway!)
WOT? WHAT? WOT!
Winchester Old Timers (WOT), that’s what! I hope that you’ve marked your calendar for this year’s Old Timers’ weekend reunion at Winchester Speedway, October 3 – 4. Besides the vintage cars (and drivers), the USAC sprints and midgets will be competing.
Visit www.winchesterot.com for all the details about the Old Timers’ reunion. You can also find schedule information at www.winchesterspeedway.com.
HEY, THAT’S THE DOCTOR!
I’ve received lots of comments about the Barnett collection photos posted here at the last Update. Our own Gene Ingram (harleygene@comcast.net) noticed that one of the men in 
the photo of the drivers’ meeting looked familiar. He checked his own photo collection and found this photo of Doc Bowles and sure enough, the man on the far left of the drivers’ meeting photo is, in fact, Doc Bowles.
Thanks, Gene, and well done!
MORE HURTUBISE OVER THE WALL…
Author Buzz Rose was kind enough to give us permission to post any of the photos from his fabulous auto racing history books here on DSL.
I’ve posted a couple of Buzz’s photos of Jim Hurtubise’s July, 1960 OTW adventure here on the OTW page.
The photos were taken from Rose’s book “The Rim Riders: the World’s Fastest Racing Circuit.” The book features Dayton Speedway, along with the other high-banked Midwest ovals that comprised the world’s fastest tracks.
If it’s not on your bookshelf, it should be.
A NEW FODS CHECKS IN…
New FODS Ron Morgan (jmorgan102@cox.net) checked in recently. In an exchange with Dave Sceva, Jerry Wahl, and Earl Isaacs he asked whether anyone remembered a driver by the name of Red Findley, a friend of the Morgan family.
Here’s Jerry Wahl’s (jlwahl1@hotmail.com) reply:
Yes, I certainly do remember Red, a very friendly likeable guy. If I
remember correctly after he gave up his race car driving days he operated a
wrecker at Kil-Kare. I doubt if I have any photos of him though as back in
those days I wasn't much of a photo collector. I do have of those drivers
mentioned and I am sure my good friend Earl Isaacs probably has a trunk full
of them.
Yes, remembering the good ole days certainly does bring back a ton of
memories.
Jerry Wahl
…and Ron’s response:
Jerry, Dave, Earl,
Thanks for letting me know about Dayton Speedway Lives and memories
of Red. He was a good friend of my family and childhood hero of mine. Came
natural for what would make a better hero to a little boy than a Kil-Kare
driver who also drove the street sweeping machine?!!
I attended several races at Dayton Speedway with my Dad and
somewhere around here I have a program autographed by AJ. Must have been
about 1961 or so.
All the best to you guys.
Regards,
Ron
If you remember driver Red Findley, drop a line to Ron and share a memory. And thanks Ron for checking in at FODS Central.
HENRY MEYER’S DAUGHTER CATCHES A BOO-BOO…
Jane Meyer Gerhard (jmgerhard@cox.net), the daughter of legendary car builder Henry Meyer, found DSL and caught a poorly worded caption in the Pic of the Week collection (here). Here’s what she wrote:
Hello
My name is Jane Meyer Gerhard, daughter of Henry Meyer (Dayton, Ohio) the designer, builder, chief mechanic of the Iddings Auto Parts (and Glass) Spl. The owner of the car driven by Sonny was incorrectly listed as John Vance. The owners of the car were John and Howard (Spike) Iddings of Greenville Ohio.
Your site is quite interesting, I have just found it. I have spent many a Sunday at the track sitting in the infield at turn 4.
Keep up the good work in keeping the memory of Dayton Speedway alive.
Sincerely Jane Gerhard
Thanks, Jane. I knew that Johnny Vance didn’t own the Iddings car, but for some reason when I was typing that caption I called Vance the car owner (perhaps out of habit) when I’m pretty sure that he was the USAC Sprint Car Supervisor at the time.
I’ve fixed the caption on the photo here on the Pic of the Week page. Thanks for checking in!
DONNIE RENNER BENEFIT PLANNED…
Folks in the Midwest are still talking about Donnie Renner’s crash at Columbus Motor Speedway a few weeks ago. Renner survived, but faces a lengthy recovery.
His many friends have organized a benefit to help the Renner family through the mountain of bills and other expenses that collect after an accident like Donnie’s.
The benefit will be held on Sunday June 28th at Bill’s Other Place, 733 Harrisburg Pike, Columbus, Ohio. The phone number there is (614) 274-3599. Check out the Word document here for all the details on how you can participate in this worthy event.
Our best wishes go out to Donnie and his family for a quick and complete recovery.
SNOW ON THE ROOF, BUT STILL A FIRE IN THE FURNACE…
Nothing makes guys my age happier than hearing about some senior citizen putting it to some smart-alecky youngsters, and in that regard 71-year-old Hank Lower is my new hero.
Lower from Angola, Indiana, showed up at Anderson Speedway with the winged-sprints for a show the week before the Little 500. The competition was stiff to say the least. Jeff Bloom, whose name is frequently mentioned here on DSL, signed in. Dave Steele set a new track and
world record for quarter-mile tracks of 10.344 seconds.
Things started badly for Lower when he tangled with another driver in the third heat. He came back, though, and won the semi to advance to the feature event.
And in the feature, Lower led from flag to flag, surviving a late-race restart shootout with Ryan Litt and Steele.
What could be finer than using some of your Social Security to buy a new firesuit? Our congratulations to Hank Lower who once again is proving that you are never too old to strap into a sprint car!
Thanks also to our ace researcher Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) who hipped us to Hank’s achievement.
A NEW EASTERN EUROPEAN FODS…
I can say, without fear of contradiction, that our newest FODS is the first from Hungary, and the only FODS named “Attila.” Richard Attila Salamon (sramoa@gmail.com) recently communicated with our Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) and here’s what he said:
Hello!
I am Richard from Hungary, East Europe. I looking for some info (and if possible) profile picture for Jim Mayes. I making a Formula 1 weblexicon for Hungarians and these drivers entered the Indy 500 in early 50s years. The Indy 500 was event in Formula 1 from 1950 to 1960.
Jim Mayes (Listed Hometown: Princeton, IN) raced in Dayton race in 1951 (I think NASCAR) Sept 23. And he was 13th in this race.
Thanks for your infos.
Regards
--
Salamon Richard Attila
+36 70 704 89 71
sramoa@gmail.com
Rick did a little research and provided this to Richard:
Thanks for contacting us. The only thing new I have for you concerning Jim Mayes is that he won $25 for his 13th place finish in the NASCAR race on Sept 23, 1951. I do have the results for this race. Tim Flock won.
I checked from 1950 - 1955 and 1951 is the only time I have him listed as racing at Dayton.
He finished 34th at DAYTONA BEACH in 1952 driving for Lloyd Schoenheit in a 1951 Chrysler #39.
I will surely keep Mayes in mind and if I come across any more information or a photo I will send it to you. We can also put your request in the next update. Maybe someone else will be able to help you more than me.
Good luck with your web lexicon. Send me a link when you get it going. It will be fun to look at.
Thanks for checking out our website!! It is great to hear from a race fan on the other side of the world!
Best Regards
Rick Patterson
If you can add something to the information that Rick’s found on driver Jim Mayes, please drop a line to Richard. By the way, Richard is also looking for info on a driver that we believe raced midgets at Dayton Speedway. That driver’s name is Bill Doster. We know Bill won a midget race in Toledo in 1955. He also entered three champ car races and qualified for one of them. If you can help Richard with information on Doster, please do so.
And welcome, Richard, to the increasingly wide world of FODS!
ANOTHER HERO GONE…
I’ve posted the announcement that veteran driver Bob Christie has passed away here on the DSL home page.
On behalf of FODS around the globe, I extend our sincere sympathies to Bob’s family and many friends.
HAROLD SMITH’S FAMILY CHECKS IN…
Harold Smith was named to the Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame, Class of 2009, and I recently heard from his daughter-in-law. Here’s what Janet Smith (smith72@tampabay.rr.com) had to say:
We found out about your site from our son. We have enjoyed looking at the site and reading a lot of the articles. To our surprise, my husband’s father has been named in a lot of the articles. He is the late Harold Smith. It was nice to know so many people have remembered him after all these years. What nice things they had to say about him. We were all very happy to read that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
My husband and his two brothers followed in their dad’s foot steps by racing as well. My husband’s two brothers have since quit the racing scene but my husband has not. Harold’s younger son Dan, my husband, races a mini stock at a local track down in Florida called Citrus County Speedway. We all enjoy it very much and so do our three grandsons. Maybe one day they will continue the trend that their great-grandfather and grandfather have started.
My husband can remember his mom loading all the kids up in the car to go watch their dad race. His mom remembers when the fans voted his dad “Most Popular Driver.” She also remembers when Harold broke the track record and came in complaining about his car to the guys, [telling them] that it was running bad. Their answer was what do you mean, you just broke the track record.
We have njoyed the articles as well as the pictures. Keep up the good work.
Dan & Janet Smith
Thanks for checking in, Janet!
BRICKYARD TIX AVAILABLE…
Constant contributor and DSL Bookmeister Rand Thompson (caprirand@comcast.net) has a pair of Brickyard 400 tickets for sale for the July 26 event. These are great tickets, in the first corner (Stand E, Row M) and under the overhang so you have shade to boot. Those seats offer a great view of the front stretch, pit road, turn 1, the short chute, and turn 2. Face value of the tickets is $90 each.
If you are interested, you can contact Rand at his e-mail address (see above) or you can call him at 517-688-3729.
Everybody needs to go to Indy at least once in their lives!
FODS BRIAN NORTON…
Brian Norton is an ARCA historian and has contributed photos to this site from time to time. Our Rand Thompson (caprirand@comcast.net) is our usual liaison to Brian and Rand 
knows him because Brian usually runs Late Models at Flat Rock Speedway, Rand’s stomping grounds.
I thought that you would like to see what Brian looks like, and he is shown here with what I think is his ARCA truck entry.
Thanks to Brian and Rand for keeping those photos coming to DSL!
DON’T FORGET POTTS ON THE FRONTSTRETCH…
Our erstwhile DSL flagman John Potts (indybigjohn@roadrunner.com) continues to post interesting stories from auto racing’s past every Friday just like clockwork. I hope that you visit regularly. I know I do.
You can find John’s tales at www.frontstretch.com/jpotts. Every Friday there’s a new one. Just like clockwork.
MOST COMMON QUESTION HERE AT DSL?
You’re probably wondering what’s the most often asked question here at DSL. Or maybe you’re not. No matter; I’m going to tell you anyway.
The most common question is “Where exactly was Dayton Speedway?”
This inquiry from new FODS Sandra Webb (skwebb45356@hotmail.com) is typical:
In the 70’s a friend took me down to the Dayton race track and I have tried for years to remember where it was and what sits there now since it’s gone. I love the pictures and all the information. Would you tell me the address whre it was and what sits there now??? Thanks You!
Sandra
The “official” address of Dayton Speedway was 1550 West Carrollton Road, Dayton, Ohio. The address was sometimes reported as 1550 Old Soldiers Home-West Carrollton Road.
And what sits there now? Pretty much the same thing that was there in 1982, only more so. The site has been used as a landfill and that started actually before the last races were run. The natural topography of the site lends itself to a landfill. The grandstands along the front stretch sat on a slope that dropped dramatically from the elevation of West Carrollton Road down to the level of the pit area. It was the perfect place to dump construction refuse (no garbage!).
Someone much smarter than I am will have to figure out how many tons of material can be dumped at the old speedway site to bring the level of the entire site up to the elevation of West Carrollton Road, but I suspect that the number is spectacular. From all accounts the dumping continues to the present time.
Take a look at some of the most current aerial photographs here. What they don’t show of course is how far up the slop the landfill has crept.
MYSTERY NUMBER SIXTEEN BEGINS TO UNRAVEL…
Three of our regular contributors, staffers Jerry Wahl (jlwahl1@hotmail.com) and Gene Ingram (harleygene@comcast.net), and Melanie and Dick Dunlevy (luv2race11@aol.com) have taken close looks at our Mystery Number Sixteen photograph here and have come up with some additional names for the drivers who are posed at Shady Bowl Speedway just before a 200-lap grind. These are the same drivers who were frequent competitors at Dayton Speedway.
You can see the additional ID’s posted at the photograph here.
Among those drivers is Bob Daniels. Daniels was a regular at Dayton Speedway’s weekly shows and the results columns show that he held his own, even during the period when Buster Blackford (DS/HOF 2009) was unbeatable.
Daniels was entered in one of the Shady Bowl 200-lappers (though not, I think, the one run after the photo at Mystery Number Sixteen was taken). Before the event he told Shorty Miller (DS/HOF 2009), the flagman, that his doctor had told him to get out of racing before it killed him. “I’m going to win this race,” he told Shorty, “and then I’m going to quit.”
Afterwards Shorty told the newspaper reporters that for the last twenty laps Bob was clutching his chest as he rode under the flagstand, well in front of the field with a commanding lead.
What happened next? You’ll just have to read the newspaper clipping that I’ve posted here at Mystery Number Sixteen.
NUTZ & BOLTZ…
**Thanks to our Gene Ingram (harleygene@comcast.net) who provided some captions for several of the fantastic photos from the Harvey collection posted here. Take a look and check out Dick Frazier, Tom Cherry, and Spider Webb.
**Gene also provided this photo taken at Sun Valley Speedway in 1965. Drivers (left to right) are Bud Smith, Chick Hale, Tubby Mullins, Earl Smith, and Briar Johnson.
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN…
That’s it for another Update. As usual I didn’t get half the pix posted that I thought I would. I can honestly say that I am working almost as hard right now as when I used to have a race car or two in the shop.
The next Update will be in a couple of weeks. We have an apartment in Washington, DC at the moment, so I’m planning a trip to the National Archives where I’m confident that the answer to every question concerning Dayton Speedway can be found. Now…all I have to do is figure out where to look.
Thanks for your continuing support of DSL and memory of the grand old Dayton Speedway!
Mickey
June 15, 2009
UPDATE:
HALL OF FAME INDUCTION DATE ANNOUNCED!
The Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame Class of 2009 induction will take place on Sunday, November 1, 2009, at the Baum Opera House,
15 S. 1st Street, Miamisburg, OH 45342. The Opera House, built in 1884 and now restored, provides a perfect vintage setting for the planned festivities.
The afternoon will begin with a social from 1 – 2:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The formal induction ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. and is expected to last about 90 minutes.
We’re still doing our best to get in touch with some of the inductees or their families. If you can help us contact the inductees or inductee families, please contact me here.
After we provide the inductees and their families with the tickets they require, remaining tickets will be offered for sale to FODS. Ticket prices will be very modest, but unfortunately the number of tickets available will be small.
I’ll be announcing additional details as they are available here. Stay tuned!
A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD...
When folks talk about the basic essentials of life, a roof over your head is always right up there near the top of the list right along with food and clothing. Fortunately roofs are pretty durable. A good roof can last a very long time, but like everything else in life a roof will eventually need repaired or replaced.
If you’ve started to notice a drip in your kitchen (and we don’t mean your unemployed brother-in-law) during a rainstorm, or a discoloration on your ceiling, or gaps there on the roof where there used to be shingles it’s time to call in some experts and spend a little money. Hey, if you wait it will cost you even more to repair the additional damage, right?
As you all know, there is no advertising on my website, but I’ve got to tell you that when I have an issue with my roof I call the Pfeiffenbergers, Barney and Becky, over at Maxim Roofing. They’ve been in business in the Miami Valley for a very long time and their list of satisfied customers would fill a phone book.
On top of having a great, reliable company, they are also nice folks and good friends. I’ve known Barney for at least 85 years (Becky for something less than that since she is still just 29). Plus, I feel a certain obligation because Barney was a young racing virgin when I first met him. I dragged him into the sport and he was all about stock cars until Becky converted him to an open-wheel guy.
If you have a problem with your roof, or think you might have a problem, give the Pfeiffenbergers a call over at (937) 256-4240, or visit their website at www.maximroofing.com.
And tell them that you, too, are a FODS. I guarantee that they will treat you right!
Special Note to Bob Gilberg, SoCal FODS Chapter President, and Alvis Upitis, Aloha Chapter President: Maxim doesn’t service the West Coast or Hawaii, but they could. “Slight additional charge” would apply.
THE BARNETT COLLECTION...
FODS Terry Barnett (kntbarnetts@yahoo.com) is one determined Dayton Speedway fan.
Terry originally contacted me way back in 2008 when DSL was just getting underway. He told me that he had some photographs that I would find interesting and would want to post at DSL. I promised him that I would get back to him just as soon as I had time. And, as you might guess, I never did find the time to call Terry back.
So he tracked me down. Terry showed up at the Piqua Mall car show with a briefcase bulging with photos and clippings. Fortunately I’d remembered to bring my scanner with me to the show and I was able to capture some of Terry’s treasures. And now I finally found time to post at least a part of his collection.
You can find the photos here on the Barnett Collection page, and the photos are indeed fascinating. All were taken during the earliest days of racing at Dayton Speedway.
My thanks to Terry for his persistence in sharing his photos with the rest of the FODS Nation!
ANOTHER OTW CLUB MEMBER…WITH A TWIST...
I’ve added yet another Over the Wall club member here on the Over the Wall Page, but this driver doesn’t fit the usual pattern. Instead of launching his race car over the outside guardrail, this driver smashed through the inside fencing!
The date was July 4, 1934, the first operating season for the then-new five-eighths-mile Dayton Speedway. On the fifteenth lap of the 40-lap feature race driver Kelly Petillo lost control of his car heading into Dayton’s fourth corner.
The car turned and rocketed into the foot-high wooden fencing separating the track from the infield. Before Petillo was able to regain control the errant racer managed to mow down twenty feet of the fencing.
I’ll admit that I hesitated before adding Petillo’s adventure to the OTW page, until I found out that Petillo not only got the car headed in the right direction, he went on to win the feature!
Enough said. Kelly Petillo is our newest OTW club member.
SON OF ANOTHER OTW CLUB MEMBER...
Travis McIntire, son of Max McIntire who became a member of the Over the Wall club at Dayton Speedway on has checked in with this note:
My name is Travis McIntire, son of Max McIntire. He is the unlucky driver who received the trophy you speak of. He still has it to this day. I have some pictures of his car from the wreck that I am willing to share. However, you will have to give me time to get them to you. I will also try to get a picture of the trophy to you as well.
He is still racing as a car owner not a driver. He quit driving around 1982 and has helped others from then on. I never got to go to the speedway because of my age, but I've heard many stories about the place. The website brings the racetrack to life for those who were there and those of us who can only wish that they had been there. Thank you so much.
I look at this site many times a week. I really enjoy the photos, they are amazing.
Thank You,
Travis McIntire
As soon as Travis has time to round-up those photos we’ll post there here at DSL.
By the way, there is at least a slim chance that we already have a photo of Max’s wild ride here on the Over the Wall page. Several Updates ago I told you that some sharp-eyed FODS had pointed out that there are actually two separate cars shown under the Paul Stapleton Over the Wall entry. Take a close look a the two photos that show the engine compartments. You’ll notice that one car has a smashed windshield and the other does not. One car has an air cleaner intact, the other does not. One appears to have lost the entire right front corner, the other does not.
I’ve asked for someone to check in and let us know which of these photos actually belongs with the Paul Stapleton story and which should go somewhere else, but so far nothing but silence.
If you can help provide some answers, please contact me here.
EVEN MORE OTW...
Three additional drivers have joined the OTW club with this Update. Our lead researcher Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) found that the September 23, 1951 NASCAR event at Dayton Speedway produced a pair of OTWs along with a third driver who did his best to get out of the speed plant but failed.
On the 91st lap, driver John McGinley of Chicora, PA blasted into the fourth corner, smashed into the outer rail and tore out at least twenty feet of the barrier. Somehow he managed to stay in the track, but since a portion of his car did clear the guardrail boundary, I’ve decided to give him partial credit and add his name to the OTW page.
On Lap 139, Frank Carlini from Detroit, MI chose the same spot that proved McGinley’s undoing to launch his 1950 Studebaker up and over the wall and out of the park. The sturdy Stude landed wheels-down some fifty feet below the track. (There was no word on whether he was able to drive it back to the speedway.)
And finally, on lap 184, Jim Delaney of Lyndhurst, NJ popped a tire going into turn two. The car rolled up to the guardrail and went over. According to a contemporary newspaper report “Again the NASCAR boys showed their ability to drive while in mid-air with Jim making a four-point landing for no serious damage except for scuffing up his car and a shaking up for himself.”
Taken at face value the Delaney flight does some damage to the Dayton Speedway’s ferocious reputation. He crashed over the guardrail at speed and just “scuffed” his car? I suspect that the scuffing was much more than just paint scratches!
By the way, Fonty Flock set fast time for the event and then went on to win, leading wire to wire. Neil Cole, Lloyd Moore (read about Lloyd here) and Lee Petty trailed Flock to the checkers.
Thanks to Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) for this information.
PIC OF THE WEEK...
Most of the Dayton Speedway photos we see from the late ‘30s and early ‘40s are black-and-white. Color film technology was not yet available. But you could have your black-and-white photo hand-colored by a professional, and that’s exactly what happened, I think, with the photo we’ve selected for our Pic of the Week(s).
It’s a great photo from the collection of Terry Barnett (kntbarnetts@yahoo.com) and it’s posted here as the Pic of the Week. I believe that the photo was taken at Dayton Speedway in the late ‘30s or very early ‘40s, but we’re not sure who the driver is.
If you can identify the driver, car, or car owner, please contact me here.
Thanks, Terry, for a memorable Pic of the Week(s)!
A NEW SITE MAP PAGE...
DSL started life as a skinny little website that was easy to navigate with pages that were easy to find. Now, like a lot of us, DSL is big and fat, a website so large in fact that even I have trouble remembering where pages (particularly second level pages) are located.
So to make it easier for you (and for me) I’ve posted a Site Map page (here) that lists, in alphabetical order, every page at Dayton Speedway Lives.
CONTACT US...
Here’s a reminder that we love to hear from FODS on any subject related, no matter how slightly, to Dayton Speedway.
Check out our Contact page here for information on how to reach us.
SOLEM PIX POSTED...
Months ago Dayton Speedway Super Fan Scott Solem (kb8zcb@netzero.net) made the long drive from Washington Court House to the plush DSL offices in Springboro to drop off an armful of photo albums with tons of photos of stock cars and open-wheel cars he’d taken at the Dayton track. I’m still in the process of scanning Scott’s photos, but I’ve finally gotten around to posting at least a few of his stock car photos here.
I’ll be posting more of Scott’s stock car photos as time allows, and there will soon be a page dedicated to Scott’s photos of open-wheel racers as well.
And, Scott, I promise you that I will finish scanning your photos and get the albums back to you soon! Thanks!
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS...
FODS Alison Hudson (achudson1226@sbcglobal.net) has provided an amazing series of eight aerial photographs of the Dayton Speedway site beginning in 1938 and ending in 2005. You can see them here. Like other documents on this site, the photos are in .pdf format and you will need an Adobe reader to view them. Most of you will already have the reader installed on your computers. If you do not, visit www.adobe.com/products/reader/ for a free copy that takes just a few minutes to download and install.
We usually think of the Dayton Speedway as just one track, but Alison’s photographs show that over time Dayton Speedway was many different tracks in a variety of configurations.
Thanks, Alison!
DAYTON PLEASURE CAR CLUB...
The Dayton Pleasure Car Club served as a sanctioning body that brought some rules, regulations, and organization to the chaos that was stock car racing in post-war Dayton. To be quite honest, here at DSL we don’t know a lot about DPCC. We do know that they sanctioned racing events primarily at Frankie’s Forest Park Speedway on Dayton’s north side. We have no evidence that they sanctioned events at Dayton Speedway, although there has been some suggestion that the DS management let DPCC run some companion stock car events when open-wheel races were top billed.
While DPCC’s official involvement at Dayton Speedway is the subject of some conjecture, there’s no denying that the DPCC members played a huge part in the history of the west Dayton speed plant. Their names still ring loud across the decades since they last turned a wheel at Dayton; Dunlevy, Hale, Smith, Green, Stapleton, Sceva.
In an effort to recognize both the organization and the individuals, I’ve posted an official DPCC page here. If you have more information or photos or memories of DPCC activities I’d sure like to hear from you. Contact me here.
SOME HELP AT LAST...
Weeks ago I posted a photo here on the Help! page that shows a car apparently hit be a meteor, or so I guessed since the front of the car is smashed down onto the track, the rear end is up in the air, and the rear glass is shattering. I asked for you to nix the meteor story by revealing what is actually happening.
And what I heard was…nothing. The sound of crickets in the night.
I was beginning to think that the photo simply captured a moment in time that simply wasn’t very memorable for the folks who were there that day (although it certainly looks like it ought to have been particularly memorable for the driver of the #71).
Now, at last, someone speaks up. Lee Raymond (j.leeraymond69@gmail.com) a 2009 Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame inductee, reports that he seems to recall that the #71 was actually launched into the air and the photo shows the car returning to earth. Lee doesn’t remember what launched the car into the air to begin with, but his notion that the car was airborne just prior to the photo being taken at least makes more sense than my idea that the car was hit by a meteor.
Now all we have to do is find the rest of the story, i.e. how did the #71 find itself airborne.
Any ideas? If you can help finish the story, contact me here.
OUR BOOKSHELF IS STARTING TO SAG...
Loyal staffer Rand Thompson (caprirand@comcast.net) has provided yet another book review for our DSL Bookshelf.
This time, Rand offers us The History of America’s Speedways, Past & Present, by Allan Brown. For those of us who are doing our best to keep up with Rand and add the books he finds to our own libraries there’s good news; this volume normally sells for $35 but is currently on sale for just $20!
Read the review and find out how to take advantage of the sale by visiting the DSL Bookshelf here. You’ll find the book filed under the author’s name.
Thanks Rand!
DOC MacKENZIE’S WIN LEFT HIM EMPTY...
Rick Patterson (elvis334@att.net) uncovered an interesting story about the May 26, 1935 race at Dayton Speedway. It was the very first race of the season at Dayton and just six weeks since Al Thiesen (read about him here) suffered fatal injuries while attempting to qualify a midget at an indoor event in Detroit.
Doc qualified fastest at the May race with a time of 30.51 (remember that Dayton Speedway was, at the time, a five-eighths-mile flat dirt track), then won his heat race in 5:26.12. He was first to the checkered flag in the forty-lap main, easily outdistancing his rivals. Yet for all that he wasn’t satisfied. Here’s what a contemporary newspaper account said:
“Coming up to the judges and timers stand after the races, MacKenzie, who has enjoyed usual success on the dirt track this season, declared that he won just a little too easy to satisfy his lust for close competition. Imagine that. Complaining because he won too easily.
“Never would I have won as easily as I did,” Doc declared, “if poor Al Thiesen had been around.”
Later he would say, “Although I did not get the competition today, I’ll bet I don’t do this well next time. That fellow Charley Engle is going to be tough from here on in. He’s driving Vance’s car, you know, and this was the first time he sat in it. He didn’t look so good in the qualifying or in the first heat, but he certainly learned how to pilot that baby in the 25 mile race. When he gets the feel of his new mount, which is one of the fastest in the world, he ought to be as tough as Thiesen, Bob Carey, and Mauri Rose ever was!”
Carey and Rose had moved on to “big-time” racing after running the Vance sprint car.
As we know now, Doc was right. Charley won the very next race he entered in the Vance car.
And that’s how it ended on May 26, 1935 at Dayton Speedway. MacKenzie won, Charley Engle finished second, and Maynard Clark finished third.
THE SOUND OF SILENCE...
I’m more than a little disappointed that no one has offered any answers to the Chick Hale (Dayton Speedway HOF 2009) trivia quiz. It’s been posted here for weeks now and I’ve received zip.
I’ll wait a bit longer to reveal the answers.
You can test your knowledge of one of the best drivers to ever turn a wheel at Dayton Speedway by clicking here for the quiz in .pdf format, or here for the quiz as a Word document.
THE FIRST GUESSES RECEIVED ON MYSTERY SIXTEEN...
We’ve finally received the first guesses on Mystery Number Sixteen, a photo of a gaggle of young men about to take on Shady Bowl Speedway for a 200 lap grind. (You can see the photo here.)
Lee Raymond (j.leeraymond69@gmail.com), Dayton Speedway HOF 2009, thinks he knows the identities of eight of the twenty drivers in the photo. You can see his answers here.
If you know any of these drivers or want to provide a guess, send it to me here.
Thanks, Lee!
By the way, for those of you who might be thinking that 20 cars is a pretty small field for that time, you might be correct. I recently spoke with Bill Chambers (coincidentally one of the drivers Lee identified in the Mystery Number Sixteen photo) and he said that he seems to remember that there were so many drivers for that event that the photographer divided them into two groups for the photo.
That would make the starting field about 40 cars or more strong. That’s just about right for a big race of that era but it must have made for an amazingly crowded third-mile track!
HAPPY TRAILS...
That’s it for another Update, FODS. I hope that you’re doing your best to support your local race tracks during this season.
The next Update will be on or about June 14.
In the meantime, as always, thanks for your continuing support of what was once America’s finest high-banked half-mile race track, Dayton Speedway.
Mickey
May 31, 2009