Monday, June 6, 2011

Tribute to Barry Kettering, Local Hero, Fearless Racer and Fine Gentleman.....

     This coming Saturday, June 11, 2011 commemorates the 35th anniversary of the passing of our own local hero Barry Kettering, well known in racing circles locally and throughout the mid western USA.  As a young local boy, I had the privilege of meeting and talking with Barry on a number of occasions, at their service station, riding on the Kettering truck down to the races at the CLE, and a few times with his wife Rene( I don't believe they were married yet) at my grandmother's home on Heron St.  Myself and my little friends had built a number of push mobiles with the famous #47 and #57 on the side and proudly brought the car down to Kettering's garage to show Glen and Barry our car.  They always made us feel welcome and never discouraged us from our endeavours.
 As a tribute to Barry, "Hot Rods and Jalopies" is proudly reprinting an incredible article about Barry by the well known racing journalist Marsh Muirhead from "Open Wheel Magazine" originally printed in the November 1984 issue.  "Open Wheel" has since merged with "Stock Car Racing Magazine".  Please click on the article once then twice to enlarge and read the complete story below.....
More about Barry in this blog by clicking on each of the following two links:
http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2009/06/barry-kettering-stock-car-jockey-part-1.html  and
http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2009/06/barry-kettering-stock-car-jockey-part-2.html



A little video memory....
We still miss you Barry and will always remember you!  Thanks to all those who have donated photos to this website through the last two years as noted in the information to the side of the web page, and thanks to the former Open Wheel Magazine and Marsh Muirhead for the inspiring article.