Chargin Charlie Johnson was my uncle.......Thats where it all started for me. I can remember when Eddie Dixon first started racing the area tracks and begun the rivalaries with don kliein and hammerdog. He was known even back then as the fastest man on a wet track but stuggled when things got dry. People seem to forget how grest a driver he is just because he now has gotten older but, i have seen him do things years ago that are amazing just as i used to watch my childhood hero kevin gundaker. Funny how life works I grew up worshiping Kevin and now have become good friends with him through my own racing. All in all I think the veterans of stl racing area have been very blessed and I could not think of a better community to be a part of.
Growing up at the track
- Thread starter Parts Gal
- Start date
Parts Gal
Linda Schaefer
I haven't seen Charlie yet this year,I know he goes to alot of cup races. He usually rides his bike to BC during the summer. It ia always good to se him. The last few cup races that we went to always seemed t be at the same track as him. You just never know who you will see when. We have convoyed home with him from the Carolinas before,his motorcoach is awesome.
Charlie Staub
"Big" Bill Pannier
Art Gross
Willie Gross
The Russells
Does anyone remember when they used to pay a dollar a lap to lead the feature??
Linda
Charlie Staub
"Big" Bill Pannier
Art Gross
Willie Gross
The Russells
Does anyone remember when they used to pay a dollar a lap to lead the feature??
Linda
PITDRIFTER
Motorsports
JERRY SONDERMAN, I'M SURE HE'S SLITHERING AROUND SOMEHWERE!
I ALSO REMEMBER WAHOO'S DAD RUNNING THE OLD ALLIED MODIFIED #31. REMEMBER IT BEING SOME KINDA BROWN COLOR. HE ALWAYS HAD A GOLD/YELLOW COLORED DRIVING SUIT.
STEVE SOLZIAK (sp) I BELIEVE PASSED AWAY.
I ALSO REMEMBER WAHOO'S DAD RUNNING THE OLD ALLIED MODIFIED #31. REMEMBER IT BEING SOME KINDA BROWN COLOR. HE ALWAYS HAD A GOLD/YELLOW COLORED DRIVING SUIT.
STEVE SOLZIAK (sp) I BELIEVE PASSED AWAY.
Track Man 91
Member
Good ol days
This is the best thread ever.Parts gal, and others ,what great memories have been rekindled.Texas Towing, standing starts,no ditch too deep,no hill too steep for the boys at Paule Towing,Glen Jacoby screaming "stop the races ,stop the races "when there was a bad wreck.Eddie Dixon going over the wall in 1 and 2 at Belleville,Don Kleins bad luck for a while at Belleville in the 100 lappers in the 70's.Yes Pevely ran on Fri. years ago but does anybody recall they ran on Sun.for a while. I starting going in the mid 60's ,I was 6 0r so and my parents took my brother and I.My dad suggested picking out a favorite driver to root for. It only took one night, I picked the blue and purple modified ,#91, Ray Eby.Ray had a very aggresive style which instantly won me over,plus his cars were always nice looking and very fast.He had one car with holes cut in the body and it was dubbed "the swiss cheese special.We became friends over the years, I even dated his step-daughter for several years. He now comes over to Belle Clair every Aug. for the fair race which my employer sponsors,St.Clair Bowl,along with Marathon Financial, and Ray brings Kenny Shrum and other drivers to sign autographs etc. and it has turned out to be a fun event.The fans love seeing the ex-drivers and the drivers get a kick out of this event as well.Announcers I recall were Al Brinkmeyer,who used to say, "he is down to the 3rd row, he is down to the 2nd row etc. on the standing starts which Leo Ladendecker flagged, Davey Lee who was great also, Don McGinnity announced in the 70's, then Glen Jacoby.Current guy ,the talker guy , Mike Muerer is awesome. We had Rich Furman flagging in the 70'2, who leaped in the air doing the double butterfly with the checkered flags, that was good stuff,Shorty Groff, from Mascautah I believe,Art Gross flagged for a while I recall also. He was a better driver.Yes I recall paul Grimm,him and Gervase Bassler always ran in the middle of the track and were hard to pass.Bob Robbins whom my father worked with at Monsanto,Leroy Rothmeier, who they said always wins his heat race,Bob Lueke, who ran modifeds and later started the mini stock div.Anyone recall the little Indian, Tince Wells. He had a bike repair shop in south St. Louis,one night he needed a part to run the feature,which Ray Eby ended up loaning him, and as payback Wells takes out Ray in the feature while Eby was leading. Rays daughter punched Wells so hard he flew over a stack of tires and then she pounded him some more.The days at the races are some of the best times of my life,without a doubt, becoming friends with Ray, my hero since childhood, meeting and becoming friends with so many people over the years ,it was so much fun. After my dad passed in 89 I hardly went for some years, I also got married during that time so that had something to do with not going also.In 98 I believe it was, I guess it must have been time to come back ,one night near the end of the season I went back to Belle Clair ,and I have been going ever since.I miss my dad not being down at the races but I think he would have wanted me to go back and I am sure glad I returned. I have met some new friends,Al Kreke and co. and I have seen some old faces also which has been a blast.
This is the best thread ever.Parts gal, and others ,what great memories have been rekindled.Texas Towing, standing starts,no ditch too deep,no hill too steep for the boys at Paule Towing,Glen Jacoby screaming "stop the races ,stop the races "when there was a bad wreck.Eddie Dixon going over the wall in 1 and 2 at Belleville,Don Kleins bad luck for a while at Belleville in the 100 lappers in the 70's.Yes Pevely ran on Fri. years ago but does anybody recall they ran on Sun.for a while. I starting going in the mid 60's ,I was 6 0r so and my parents took my brother and I.My dad suggested picking out a favorite driver to root for. It only took one night, I picked the blue and purple modified ,#91, Ray Eby.Ray had a very aggresive style which instantly won me over,plus his cars were always nice looking and very fast.He had one car with holes cut in the body and it was dubbed "the swiss cheese special.We became friends over the years, I even dated his step-daughter for several years. He now comes over to Belle Clair every Aug. for the fair race which my employer sponsors,St.Clair Bowl,along with Marathon Financial, and Ray brings Kenny Shrum and other drivers to sign autographs etc. and it has turned out to be a fun event.The fans love seeing the ex-drivers and the drivers get a kick out of this event as well.Announcers I recall were Al Brinkmeyer,who used to say, "he is down to the 3rd row, he is down to the 2nd row etc. on the standing starts which Leo Ladendecker flagged, Davey Lee who was great also, Don McGinnity announced in the 70's, then Glen Jacoby.Current guy ,the talker guy , Mike Muerer is awesome. We had Rich Furman flagging in the 70'2, who leaped in the air doing the double butterfly with the checkered flags, that was good stuff,Shorty Groff, from Mascautah I believe,Art Gross flagged for a while I recall also. He was a better driver.Yes I recall paul Grimm,him and Gervase Bassler always ran in the middle of the track and were hard to pass.Bob Robbins whom my father worked with at Monsanto,Leroy Rothmeier, who they said always wins his heat race,Bob Lueke, who ran modifeds and later started the mini stock div.Anyone recall the little Indian, Tince Wells. He had a bike repair shop in south St. Louis,one night he needed a part to run the feature,which Ray Eby ended up loaning him, and as payback Wells takes out Ray in the feature while Eby was leading. Rays daughter punched Wells so hard he flew over a stack of tires and then she pounded him some more.The days at the races are some of the best times of my life,without a doubt, becoming friends with Ray, my hero since childhood, meeting and becoming friends with so many people over the years ,it was so much fun. After my dad passed in 89 I hardly went for some years, I also got married during that time so that had something to do with not going also.In 98 I believe it was, I guess it must have been time to come back ,one night near the end of the season I went back to Belle Clair ,and I have been going ever since.I miss my dad not being down at the races but I think he would have wanted me to go back and I am sure glad I returned. I have met some new friends,Al Kreke and co. and I have seen some old faces also which has been a blast.
Track Man 91
Member
Linda's age
Parts gal, er Linda,You can not be that old to rememberthose days we are talking about. Yes,this is Mike and you are also correct about TinceWells. He was # 3 and I wish I would see him at Belle. to chat.rAlso I just left a track here in Tenn. tonight, Sat the 18th, Tenn. Motorr Speedway. The track was awesome,about the size of Pevely with the orange clay. The surface was great and you could park down in 3 and 4 for an extra $2 and bring in coolers. They had sprinklers set up right outside the outside walls to hit the track if it got dry during the nightThat is where the good new ends..The car count usually is around 5 or 6 late models,steel blocks, and a dozen or so mods. The sound system was really bad and the show drug on forever, there were o officials on the infield,and it was run very disorganized. It was nothing like the show you folks at Allied put on back home. The next time folks complain about something they should go elsewhere and see how other tracks are run. Thanks to you guys and gals for all that you do. Looking forward to Aug. 12, should be fun, Mike Mineman
Parts gal, er Linda,You can not be that old to rememberthose days we are talking about. Yes,this is Mike and you are also correct about TinceWells. He was # 3 and I wish I would see him at Belle. to chat.rAlso I just left a track here in Tenn. tonight, Sat the 18th, Tenn. Motorr Speedway. The track was awesome,about the size of Pevely with the orange clay. The surface was great and you could park down in 3 and 4 for an extra $2 and bring in coolers. They had sprinklers set up right outside the outside walls to hit the track if it got dry during the nightThat is where the good new ends..The car count usually is around 5 or 6 late models,steel blocks, and a dozen or so mods. The sound system was really bad and the show drug on forever, there were o officials on the infield,and it was run very disorganized. It was nothing like the show you folks at Allied put on back home. The next time folks complain about something they should go elsewhere and see how other tracks are run. Thanks to you guys and gals for all that you do. Looking forward to Aug. 12, should be fun, Mike Mineman
Parts Gal
Linda Schaefer
Mike..Yea,I am old enough to remember those days...Thanks for thinking that I'm not....(Ask Al he'll tell ya how old I am)......(Be careful Al I still owe you one or two).....Makes me feel good, for a little while anyway.....Sorry you had a bad nite Sat.....It's nice to know that we don't always mess up that bad ...Sounds like you have some stories that are worth hearing...Keep them coming....We'll have to talk at the track some nite....I'm always there...Aug 12th should be a good time...It was last year..
Linda
Linda
DandyDonFan65
New Member
Memories
Grew up at St. Charles, Belle-Clair, Lake Hill, Pevely, etc. My memory goes back to the late 60's - early 70's and of course the King will always be "Dandy" Don Klein. Man, the duels with the likes of 66/99 Kenny Shrum at St. Charles in the early 70's; Ray Eby, Carl Springer, Hammerle, Mosier, Dixon, etc.
I guess the best night of all was at St. Charles Speedway in the early 80's (?) when Dandy Don won the "Grudge Match" against Hammerle ("booooooo") and Mosier. Boy, I can still remember the excitement in the stands! Here he was hanging on the to old '38 Ford Coupe while the others had the "newfangled", aerodynamic cars in a Chevette and Gremlin. Classic! You showed 'em, Donny!
Yes, money and technology may have passed Don Klein by, but there isn't one racer over the past decades who can honestly say they do not respect the man and his influence on countless drivers. He is wha the sport is all about in my opinion.
Limited Sportsmen division was great also. "Mighty Mel" Kinnaird, Reuttler, Rick Bayer, etc. raced in a very competitive division.
I say bring back the good old days!
Grew up at St. Charles, Belle-Clair, Lake Hill, Pevely, etc. My memory goes back to the late 60's - early 70's and of course the King will always be "Dandy" Don Klein. Man, the duels with the likes of 66/99 Kenny Shrum at St. Charles in the early 70's; Ray Eby, Carl Springer, Hammerle, Mosier, Dixon, etc.
I guess the best night of all was at St. Charles Speedway in the early 80's (?) when Dandy Don won the "Grudge Match" against Hammerle ("booooooo") and Mosier. Boy, I can still remember the excitement in the stands! Here he was hanging on the to old '38 Ford Coupe while the others had the "newfangled", aerodynamic cars in a Chevette and Gremlin. Classic! You showed 'em, Donny!
Yes, money and technology may have passed Don Klein by, but there isn't one racer over the past decades who can honestly say they do not respect the man and his influence on countless drivers. He is wha the sport is all about in my opinion.
Limited Sportsmen division was great also. "Mighty Mel" Kinnaird, Reuttler, Rick Bayer, etc. raced in a very competitive division.
I say bring back the good old days!
Parts Gal
Linda Schaefer
Ok...Now... who was at Belle Clair the night that Darvin Weatherford dang near landed in his wife's (Bonnie) lap going into turn 3???? That was when all the drivers wives & families sat on the back straight. Not to make light of the acccident it was very scary.I think you can still see where they had to replace the concrete. If memory serves me right he landed upside down.
Art Gross actually went though the turn 3 & 4 wall one night also. Had to go get stitched up afterwards.
Linda
Art Gross actually went though the turn 3 & 4 wall one night also. Had to go get stitched up afterwards.
Linda
28jracer
Joe Prince
What about the Belleville riot?
In the late 80's or very early 90's, I remember an incident at Belle-Claire that Stu "Boo" Springer took out a car (Danny Oliver I believe) in the heat and then wiped out Jimmy "Flip" Maly in the Dash.
Nothing was done to "Boo" and all the Limited Sportsman drivers stuck together in one of the largest acts of Sportsmanship I ever seen. When it came time for the Feature, the drivers were given the three minute time limit to get lined up. "Boo" was the only driver that went out on the track - in his car anyways.
The rest of the drivers simply walked out onto the front straight and refused to compete with "Boo" unless something was done. The beer cans that were thrown at "Boo" as he circled the track could have paid for one heck of a party. The fans went nuts in support of the protesting drivers. The Belleville Police had to be called to control the situation.
Now, this is not a bashing post. I actually like watching "Boo" drive when he shows up. I even talk to him on occasion and do respect his dad and what they BOTH have contributed to the sport.
The newspaper article I wrote for the local newspaper almost got me banned from AARA events!!!
It was quite an event.
There is only one other thing that stands out as one of my best memories - at least in the act of Sportsmenship.
Danny Haynes was driving a Limited Sportsmen car at I-55. He was the only other Ford driver in that division other than my brother Tom. Tom was leading the points at the time and had a fuel pump go out in hot laps. Danny had just got his car unloaded and came over to see what was up with our car. Keep in mind that Danny didn't own the car he was driving and didn't even have the chance to hot-lap his car yet. We were loading our car up since we had no spare pump with us.
Without saying a word - Danny went and took the fuel pump off his car and brought it to us and said "keep it as long as you need it." We hurried and put it on the car and made it in time for the heat - we were first up.
Danny simply loaded his car on the trailer. We assumed he gave us a spare not the one off his car! That was quite a class act by Danny Haynes. I heard that his car owner wasn't too pleased. I will never forget that. It's this type of stuff that I feel is lost from the good ole days!
Not too many people would do something like that nowadays! We weren't even real close to him. We knew him and all - but that was it. We didn't pit next to him or spend anytime after the races with him or anything. It blew our minds that he or anyone else for that matter, would give up their whole night of racing so we could try and maintain our poits lead.
I guess that's it for now.
In the late 80's or very early 90's, I remember an incident at Belle-Claire that Stu "Boo" Springer took out a car (Danny Oliver I believe) in the heat and then wiped out Jimmy "Flip" Maly in the Dash.
Nothing was done to "Boo" and all the Limited Sportsman drivers stuck together in one of the largest acts of Sportsmanship I ever seen. When it came time for the Feature, the drivers were given the three minute time limit to get lined up. "Boo" was the only driver that went out on the track - in his car anyways.
The rest of the drivers simply walked out onto the front straight and refused to compete with "Boo" unless something was done. The beer cans that were thrown at "Boo" as he circled the track could have paid for one heck of a party. The fans went nuts in support of the protesting drivers. The Belleville Police had to be called to control the situation.
Now, this is not a bashing post. I actually like watching "Boo" drive when he shows up. I even talk to him on occasion and do respect his dad and what they BOTH have contributed to the sport.
The newspaper article I wrote for the local newspaper almost got me banned from AARA events!!!
It was quite an event.
There is only one other thing that stands out as one of my best memories - at least in the act of Sportsmenship.
Danny Haynes was driving a Limited Sportsmen car at I-55. He was the only other Ford driver in that division other than my brother Tom. Tom was leading the points at the time and had a fuel pump go out in hot laps. Danny had just got his car unloaded and came over to see what was up with our car. Keep in mind that Danny didn't own the car he was driving and didn't even have the chance to hot-lap his car yet. We were loading our car up since we had no spare pump with us.
Without saying a word - Danny went and took the fuel pump off his car and brought it to us and said "keep it as long as you need it." We hurried and put it on the car and made it in time for the heat - we were first up.
Danny simply loaded his car on the trailer. We assumed he gave us a spare not the one off his car! That was quite a class act by Danny Haynes. I heard that his car owner wasn't too pleased. I will never forget that. It's this type of stuff that I feel is lost from the good ole days!
Not too many people would do something like that nowadays! We weren't even real close to him. We knew him and all - but that was it. We didn't pit next to him or spend anytime after the races with him or anything. It blew our minds that he or anyone else for that matter, would give up their whole night of racing so we could try and maintain our poits lead.
I guess that's it for now.
ex
I remember you lady’s I pitted for Racer Rick in 77 they called me Schu
