What's your first memory of SFCR, originally Empire Speedway!

Millsey

Millsey

New Member
Just what are your first memories of Empire Speedway (aka St. Francois County Raceway)??

One of the things I'll always remember was that road on the back side of the track and seeing some guy go flying off the track and down to that road. There wasn't a whole lot of fencing up back then... LOL.. The grandstands were tiny compared to what is there now and it seems like everytime I went for some reason I ended with with both dust and mud on me... I went to see Tubby Black! And you know what, it's 35 years later and I'm still going to see Tubby Black!!! How cool is that. They need to put up a statue of him out there.. What an icon...
 
tubby black was god back then was there inthe 70's with a team could rember that ttrack was up and down hill and pitted on the infeild
 
I have two different experiences.
We went up to a tractor pull one night because we were having one in East Perry County shortly after that. We gave a flyer to the announcer and he told everyone about our pull. There was an old boy with an unusual nickname that helped with the 44 Magnum tractor and he invited us down to the track. I had never seen those bad boys pull and it was awesome being up close and personal. This was in the late 1970's.

My next visit was in the early 1980's. We were playing softball in a tourney in Bonne Terre and camping at Washington State Park. Several us went down to watch the races. I do not remember much about it, but there were not many seats and I thought the sprint cars were really fast.
 
Mine was 23 years ago.....

My cousin took us to the show to see Jaws that Saturday, and then after that we went to the Races.... Don't remember a whole lot about it but I do have a Dean Adams Jr. T-Shirt tucked away from that nite.... After that many years, I better leave it put up, cause it just might start falling apart... LOL
 
I remember cheering on Tommy Worley Sr. There isn't alot that I remember about that track since I was only about 4-6 years old but my dad used to race with Tommy and after he stopped I just kept cheering for Tommy I still have a picture of Ron Milton and a calandar from Empire Speedway I believe the year was 76 or 78. It's amazing how the cars have changed since then. I have alot of my dad's pictures and I get them out every now and then just to look at them. I do remember the mud and the road that Jeff talked about. I remember I fell asleep on the bleachers just about every night we were there just as alot of kids do now. For some reason, I liked getting hit with the mud. Now I hate it even though now it's usually dust. My how times change.....
 
I can't remember exactly what he used to say, but Mr. Greif the announcer always would talk about the old lady at home with the wart on her nose and we were the only air conditioned racetrack around. He had three or four different lines he used every week. He was quite a character and a real enjoyable PA announcer for the track.
 
live long

hey my first memory of sfcr was 7 years old watching with my dad. i thought man those guys are so cool! i would of never thought in my wildest draems i would ever be out there driving.
 
My first and only memory came last year when I took my 4 yo daughter to the fall Late Model and sprint special on a Weds. night. She really loved the races. The 4 way battle for the win in the sprints was one of the best races I have seen in along time.
 
If my memory serves me right Tubby & Tommy sr. are one of the original few still racing on a weekly basis at the track if im not mistaken tommy started racing there the year it opened and yes the back road was the country club road and when a driver would go off the back it would make it very exciting as to what was going to happen when he came back up on the track. i can remember that they used to call Dean Adams jr. "Captin Crazy" he used to have a car with the cave man painted on the hood? and Tommy sr. was called the "Little Giant"it is still nice to see the veterans still doing this thing
 
My first memories of SFC was Henry Nash and Charlie Savage charging in the Late Models for Championship!!! Woooooohoo what racing that was back then!!!
 
Some of my earliest memories would be in the early 70s as a real young 6 yr.old Hustler. My uncle Ray "Paddlefoot"Harris and my Dad as crew racing at Empire Speedway in his B class blue #27 coupe. Back then the size of the tool boxes was more impressive than the cars (ALMOST). I remember names like "Tiny" Gregory, Jr. Geiles,Gene Burch, Gene"Tubby"Black, Dale Resinger,Larry Cooper,Sid Bloom, Buckley Racing, Tommy "The Lil Giant"Worley.I bet this makes some of these guys feel old.LOL I can vaguely remember a driver that would flip the car per car owner if they weren't able to win the feature to collect more money than if they had won.Maybe pinocha15 can help with this one.I also remember the announcer always talking about the old lady with the wart on her nose. How about Bomber Brown, he was the main flagman that would run out on the front straight during the races to flag. The memories that I have from SFCR from being young to today have been some sad ones and some very exciting ones. I could go on and on but I will stop here and read some more fondest memories of SFCR. I wish Tubby had internet access !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kenny
 
I remember when you got your hand stamped it use to be a clown. And i think there was someone dressed up like a clown that woudl walk around during the races. But i also remember "The Summer of The Worley's" the year that Tommy Jr. and Tommy Sr. won something like 19 of 23 features. That was an amazing race season. The names that i remember from growing up were Dean Adams, Doc Propst, Standridge, Kenny Harris, Stoopey, I believe it was also Tim Montgomery's first year in a sprint. When I was 3 or 4 all I could ever see myself doing is racing out there. It was always sprints for me, and that is all that I've ever wanted to do. Now that I race at SFCR it is like a dream come true.
 
My first race at SFCR was in August of 92. I think Ronnie Standridge won the sprint feature. Don't really know who all was racing there at the time. I remember thinking "man this is a tight little track here!" I didn't make it back for 8 years. I went back in July of 2000 to help out a guy named Andy Holden from Dudley, Mo. who ran a black #3 sprinter (he was a big Earnhardt fan). Tim Montgomery won that night. He was fast! Then I came back in May of 01 and saw Rob Crabdree beat a hard charging Dickie Gaines. It'd be nice to Dickie come back and run some more here sometime. Then the next year was when I started going kinda regularly.
 
I had a big reply typed about the races I watched my Dad drive there, about the races I have one there, the races Bohn one in the first car I built in 95, the races others have one in cars I built or made capable of winnin that others built, and it sounded arrogant, so I deleted it. I thought how can I thank those guys for the great things they have shown me without talking about the fact that I was so proud becasue it was in my cars, or I had made the cars others had built them fit them better. I realized that it wasnt possible. SO I will thank Myself, John Bohn, Randy Forester, Shannon Burch, and Kent Nations for winning in cars I built there, Kasey Nations, Jeromy Greenwalt, John P Reando(rams), Donna(powderpuffs), and others for winning in cars I set up or fixed that others had built. Especially Kasey, Jeromy, and Jon P, because when they started winning Jesus they just kept on and on and on. Then we go back to when I was a kid and loved to see Tubby Black, Chack Amati, Mike Thrurman, and Dean Adams Jr race. I never really liked sprints even then, and loved to see them race, back then they treated the stock cars pretty bad, and caused me to be anti sprint.
 
harris69 said:
Some of my earliest memories would be in the early 70s as a real young 6 yr.old Hustler. My uncle Ray "Paddlefoot"Harris and my Dad as crew racing at Empire Speedway in his B class blue #27 coupe. Back then the size of the tool boxes was more impressive than the cars (ALMOST). I remember names like "Tiny" Gregory, Jr. Geiles,Gene Burch, Gene"Tubby"Black, Dale Resinger,Larry Cooper,Sid Bloom, Buckley Racing, Tommy "The Lil Giant"Worley.I bet this makes some of these guys feel old.LOL I can vaguely remember a driver that would flip the car per car owner if they weren't able to win the feature to collect more money than if they had won.Maybe pinocha15 can help with this one.I also remember the announcer always talking about the old lady with the wart on her nose. How about Bomber Brown, he was the main flagman that would run out on the front straight during the races to flag. The memories that I have from SFCR from being young to today have been some sad ones and some very exciting ones. I could go on and on but I will stop here and read some more fondest memories of SFCR. I wish Tubby had internet access !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kenny
Click to expand...

:p (was it the 17 car or the 55 car !!!!! :p )
 
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