The Gentlemen Who "Started Their Engines" .....part 2

Here at Hot Rods and Jalopies, most of the vintage racing photos are of cars.  This time the concentration will be on drivers...some well known and many are unsung hero's of the day.....with a few other tidbits here and there.
For the original or "Part 1" of The gentlemen who started their engines you can click on this link then return to read this post.  http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-gentlemen-who-started-their-engines.html
....and again....be sure to click once or twice on all these photo groups for enlargements, and enjoy the memories....hopefully some of you will remember these guys as I do.

The two little panorama photos above are taken along the back stretch at the CLE track...the top one showing a brill bus at the Port Arthur/Fort William turn around bus terminal.

Some  of these guys are quite well known even today, but many gave their time and effort to have fun and also to entertain the thousands who came out each Wednesday night to the best entertainment our cities ever had.....

In the top right photo as noted, you see a well known local driver Louis Tocheri with a very talented young man Lorne Hay (they made an incredible team)...who went on in later years to help Lyn McIntosh with his modified race car.

The top left photo of Tom Dow was taken in about 1953.  Tom along with Barry Kettering were instrumental in resurrecting jalopy racing in Murillo and at the CLE track in the very early 1950's

We lost many of our local racing celebrities through the years such as Barry Kettering shown here, however many are still with us today to detail numerous stories of our racing past such as Merv Dove shown above.

A few unsung hero's shown here!!

I took great joy in building the vintage modified car shown above using Cye Kehoe's and Norm Addley's old #12 with the help of many friends and acquaintances.  I hope to do a more lengthy story on the building of this car in the near future.

HR&J hope you enjoy these blog pages, and by joining and following blogger, you won't miss any posts as they come along.  Thanks for the continued support and interest....Dave

Barry Kettering, Stock Car Jockey.... part 2 of 2

Part 2...

During the sixties, Barry would blossom into one of the top open wheel racers in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area winning several big events, and he would take "ownership" of the supermodifieds at Princeton ,MN. There he would win the title seven times with three others coming at North Star Speedway near Blaine. In the year 1973, Barry was again part of a racing club formation as he was one of the co-founders of the Midwest Sprint Association (MSA) just as he had been with the Lakehead Stock Car Club. Throughout the next three years, Barry served as the association's President as well as its goodwill ambassador, dominating driver and fan favorite. In the first year of the clubs existence, it was dominated on the track by Kettering as he won 14 features and took the initial title. On the way to the title, Barry won the unsanctioned Invitational Championships at Riverview Raceway in his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Barry again took the MSA title in 1974 and 1975. While Barry would rarely travel too far from home to race, when he did he was often rewarded with a win or a top finish, such as starting at the rear in a 22 car field in Minot,ND and crossing under the checkered flag first. In 1976 ,Barry co-drove with Ron Larson in the famed Little 500 in Anderson, IN running second when an oil leak close to the finish required repairs relegating them to an eighth place finish. He was on his way to the 1976 title on Friday June 11 of 1976 when he lost his life as he was thrown from his red & white #57 in a roll over on lap 13 in corner two at Fairmont, MN.

Barry Kettering was always a highly respected racer both on and off the race track, popular with not only the fans but fellow competitors alike, and he was always willing to help the rookies or lend a needed part to a fellow competitor. The Sunday night race at North Star Speedway in Blaine, MN following Barry's accident was green flagged with the pole position left open in memory of the great racer. Always one to give for the betterment of the sport and being one who raced for the love of it not the glory or prize money, Barry was a great goodwill ambassador for racing! Barry would gladly hand out schedules at winter car shows, let kids sit in the sprinter, tow to Austin, MN to promote an upcoming MSA race for the small fee of gas money, and in a dispute regarding a scoring decision at an MSA race at North Star Barry offered to pay the $100 difference out of his own pocket. Always well spoken, clean cut Barry was very businesslike in his efforts to make the MSA a viable and successful club. He would meet fair board representatives in an effort to book MSA race dates. On that June evening racing lost one of its greats. Though not nationally known, Barry Kettering took on all comers in his area often sending the visitors home empty handed. Both on and off the track, Barry gave his all to make racing better. From the stock cars in Fort William to the sprint cars in Minnesota, he was a true racer and he is missed by both those he raced with and those who watched him. Having given so much to the sport, it was perhaps best said by fellow Fort William sprint racer Lyn McIntosh, when Riverview track management decided not to hold the Barry Kettering Memorial in 1981, Lyn and his partners Murray Robinson and Pat Slivinski chose to host it themselves with Lyn saying " Barry gave too much to the sport for his memory to be forgotten".

Footnote by Dave: I had the privilege of meeting Barry and Glen on a number of occasions when I was a young boy. I hung around the Kettering garages(they were always gracious and glad to see their young fans), and built push mobiles of Barry's cars. His wife Rene was a friend of my grandmother Catherine Jarvis and my aunt Lorraine Jarvis.  My uncle Bob Jarvis was also good friends with Barry.  Both Barry and his wife had visited my grandmother and my aunt and uncle on many an occasion when I was there. I would be in awe of him and all those stock jockeys that raced at the CLE. They were famous in their own right(just as much as any movie star) and we owe them all a huge vote of gratitude for keeping our young lives busy by entertaining us with their daring-do at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track. We will always miss you Barry. Thanks again Jeff for the great Bio, and for letting me use it.......Dave.

Barry Kettering, Stock Car Jockey.... part 1 of 2

With permission from Jeff, I am posting this bio of Barry Kettering that he wrote a few years ago. This is part 1 of 2. I will leave a footnote after part 2.

Barry Kettering by Jeff Caldwell, Thunder Bay, Ontario Part 1.....
Barry Kettering would start his racing career match racing Tom Dow at the Murillo Fairgrounds behind the wheel of the Kings Special, a 1920-30's vintage speedster in 1951-52. Barry was one of the founding members of the Lakehead Stock Car Club in the fall of 1952, and the first stock car he built was a 1934 Plymouth numbered 00. It was called "The Snitch Special" as apparently that's how some of its parts were obtained. He would then move into Bud Heidrick's #47 "Bud's Thing" '37 Ford in 1953 and later a '32 Ford until 1957 when he drove the Provincial Stock Car Club #57. In 1958, Barry and brother Glen, with whom he was partners in a local service station, built a 1934 Ford coupe powered by a 312 C.I. Ford. This car would carry Barry to his long sought after track title. Barry, always the tough but fair competitor, would again win its title in 1959 in the '34 Ford and a cut down version of the same car carried him to the title again in 1960. Though Barry was leading the points & defending his title in 1961, he sold his share in the service station and moved from Fort William to Rice Lake, Wisconsin so that he could race more often.

Barry had first ventured stateside to "see how they raced" in 1958 and left a souvenir for the meeting room of the Indianhead Stock Car Racing Association, a check in the amount of $15.00 for tow money which he refused to accept. Upon his return to Rice Lake, WI in the spring of 1959, Barry "cleaned the boards" and started to leave his mark south of the border. Barry Kettering's gesture of refusing the tow money was a precursor to several others gestures he would make through his racing career for the betterment of the sport. Barry continued racing in modifieds, and the '34 Ford was retired with a new car being built based on a '49 Ford frame with a Crosley body and a 390 C.I. Ford powering it. Upon its completion in the spring, Barry was looking to give it a test run. Finding Raceway Park in Shakopee, MN running, Barry and his crew headed for the track to discover that it was asphalt. Undaunted and though the car was built for dirt and Barry having no previous pavement experience, he threw the car sideways through the corners as if he was racing on dirt thrilling those in attendance. Barry returned to Shakopee for its opening day show, won his heat, and ran out of gas on the white flag lap of the feature while leading. Soon the calls were going out "look out, here comes the Bear Cat!!". Through the years whenever Barry towed into the pits, he would be regarded as one of the guys to beat. click on photos to enlarge. Thanks for the Crosley photos Jeff!!

Ray Charles Texaco #57

Here's another photo of Joey Cooper on the right and myself on the left.....graduating from push mobiles to the real thing(See the picture way down "Summer of 1958"). We had just painted and lettered our friend Charlie Miller's '57 Chevy Hobby Stock to be ready for racing the first year at Riverview Raceways here in Thunder Bay(formerly Fort William), Ontario. The picture was taken in front of "Ray-Charles Texaco"(what a cleaver name!). Co-proprietors were (Ray)mond Joseph DeFoy and Charlie(Charles) Miller. "Ray Charles Texaco" was located at 906 Victoria Ave., the present site of Knight Optical. This picture was taken in the early summer of 1967 about one month before my own car was ready to race. Charlie took on the number and later colors of Barry Kettering's car....the famous Red/White #57. Barry's unique racing career and untimely death while driving his sprint car in 1976 in the United States will always be remembered by racing enthusiasts all over the Midwest but mostly here in Thunder Bay. Charlie is still doing great and we meet with mutual friends about once a month for lunch....oh yes, and still no mustache on Joey yet!....we need a mustache photo.

#62 Lyn McIntosh

Top Corner is a rare photo of Lyn McIntosh's #62 car taken in 1962. Lyn is the brother of an old friend of mine Dwight McIntosh(who was my best man). This was Lyn's first modified(which I had the privilege to letter when I was only 18). By the early '60's guys were cutting up the bodies of their cars to be more streamlined and lighter weight as well as adding high performance V8 engines. Lyn went on to live in the United States and race Super Modifieds in the midwest until his retirement. The bottom left photo is of Merv Dove (early jalopy jockey, and later flag man at Riverview Raceways) and my friend Dennis Winko. Dennis is re-creating the McIntosh car and these photos show how far he is along(I think you nailed it, Den). The body was a cut down truck cab and the deck was made from a couple of old car hoods. You can scroll down quite a ways to see Dennis's cool blue model "A" coupe. I think Dennis is one of those "blue" guys...LOL.

Summer of 1958

Here's a picture of my old friend Joey Cooper on the right and myself on the left taken in the summer of 1958. Joe was always my driver in those days. This picture was taken behind where we lived on Arthur St. in Fort William(now Thunder Bay). Joe has been a auto mechanic all his working life and has built a cool early 50's Chevy, which I don't have a photo of yet. I'm working on that! Anything from birth with 4 wheels was cool.

The Reason Why...

Instead of telling the story in detail, you
can click on the picture and read it right
from part of the poster I used when the
car was put in a local show. Off to the
right you can see how rough the body
really was. It was great fun, but it's over
now.

Bye Bye

It broke my heart to see it go, but
it went to a good home and is being
raced which is was meant to do.
Paul, who purchased the car is a
great guy and is having a ball with
it now. It would have been over a 200
mile plus trip for us to run it anywhere else around this area.
I also had to make room in my
shop for another project, my '28 Ford
Sedan....Oh Well!...and on we go!

Down and Dirty

Here is photo proof that I did
race it, and shortly thereafter
they closed the only dirt track
left in these parts, ending nearly 75
years of racing here in Thunder Bay.
The car went on to a very deserving
owner in Syracuse, New York, and
he still races it to this day. They
are very lucky to have a number of
tracks in his area that support
vintage dirt track racing.

Looks Fast standing still.....

Here is the first photo of #67
just before it hit the track a few
years ago. It was such a fun
project and something I had
to get out of my system for
years.

Jalopy to Modified

It only took 50 years. As per photos
this car was restored to better than
its original splendor. A labour of love
that will be explained in the above
photos.

And how they look now!

Here is Louis and Merv taken
a couple of years ago holding
models of their respective cars
that I built.

How they looked then!

Louis Tocheri and Merv Dove
local Stock Car Jockeys mid 1950's.

A bit more of what it was like(these are not local films)

A bit of what it was like!!

Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Track circa 1958

Here's an aerial view of our track which was in mid-town(Intercity). It gave way in later years to a huge golf dome and a Cineplex movie theatre. It was a half mile track with turn 2 bordering on a street and turn 3 and 4 along a river. Many jalopies climbed the street side ripping out yards of wooden fences and many others ended up in the drink at the other end. The fence was put up to stop onlookers from saving their 50 cents but the fence was never high enough as people would view the races from roof tops or their pickup trucks for free. Cheapskates or what!! The present city of Thunder Bay was actually 2 cities( Port Arthur and Fort William). They amalgamated in 1970 to form the new one larger city. To this day a 2 city rivalry still exists.

Typical #19 controversy

Here's another photo of one of my favorite drivers of the era #19 Louis Tocheri. Louis is the only one with a white drivers helmet in the picture. There was always some kind dispute with the judges, some staged for entertainment value and some for real, which consequently would cause a huge gathering at the spectators fence. Note the hundreds of fans that came out every Wednesday night for the incredibly great entertainment for about 50 cents for adults and two bits for kids. I rarely missed a race back then, with or without my Dad.

Dirt Track Jalopy

Here is a rare colour photo of Barry Kettering, a local driver taken in the mid 1950's. He was one of my personal favorites. He drove #47 for a few years then changed his number to #57. Barry was a great guy that went on to fame in the sprint car world in the US. Sadly he was killed in his sprint racer years ago. These guys were daredevils in their own right and as a kid I remember going to the local exhibition track to view all the excitement with my dad. My love of dirt track racing in the late '60's brought me to do a little racing myself and also to restore a vintage '32 Ford Modified dirt track car a few years ago....more photos to come.