Quarter Midget Racers from Late 50's/early 60's

[Midget 85]

Racing in the Mile High City / Denver promotion

 

courtesy of Doug McBride - San Antonio, TX

 

[KGB911]

I see Lonnie Carruthers was the AA track record holder. His Dad Red was quite a guy and his Uncle Doug owned Viking Trailer Co. in Anaheim California. The Jelly Bean Bowl was on the property and that property would latter become Disneyland. I was at Danny Carruthers last race at Corona Speedway, it was a crazy night at the races. I have never in my life scene such dusty conditions as that day! Jimmy, Danny's brother and cousin of Lonnie was also a Great midget driver, and all of them won hundreds of 1/4 midget races. That family put their mark on 1/4 Midgets that will never be surpassed.

Danny Ruth

[KGB911]

Danny,

 

All I can say is we ordered ours straight from California and it arrived at the Houston International Airport as it was then off Telephone Rd.

 

I remember picking up the car at one of the loading docks at the airport / Houston.

 

There were two more with mine. My midget was the only one that didn't have a white circle painted on the nose and we had special ordered the paint scheme.

 

Ask your dad if he remembers this one?

 

-Randy

You stated your car had a special ordered paint scheme and that brought up this memory.

Dad was Lucky to have the most famous of all Pinstripers stripe and letter most of the Pacemakers in the 50's and early 60's. None other than Von Dutch !!!

 

Dad would take a quart of mineral spirits and a bunch of rags with him when he went to pick up a body from Dutch and after leaving he would swing around the corner and pull the body out of the truck and remove most of the Crazy extra stripeing as Dutch would do what he wanted to do regardless of what you requested.

 

His work was incredable and always perfect. Dad said many cars were delivered with the numbers on the tail and nose and the drivers name all done by Von Dutch.

 

Danny Ruth

 

[Midget 85]

Awesome!

[BruceBoening]

Howdy Danny from Bruce in Galveston, TX.

 

Welcome to the forum. Sorry, I'm a late responder but as the others know I chase NASCAR around the country as time and money is available and I'm often gone for extended time periods.

 

Wow, I read all you're posts and what an honor to "know" someone from one of the famous families of early Quarter Midget racing.

 

Personally, I never liked Pacemakers for a couple selfish reasons. One, I was stuck in my Kurtis 500 for my career and my dad wouldn't buy me a Pacemaker. Secondly, and most importantly I could never beat the local Pacemaker's... namely Randy and his buddy Coggie Pierce even after I upgraded to a Solt engine. - ha

 

Curious, I saw you mention ya'll had a shop in Van Nuys, CA around 1956. My uncle Joe Boening was very instrumental in establishing QM racing in SoCal about that time, or so I'm told. His sons, my cousins Eddie Boening and Bill Boening both raced and did very well in the SoCal area.

 

They lived in Van Nuys and raced out of Van Nuys all during the 1950's and was wondering if you or your dad recall the name. I think they moved to Reseda in the early 60's but I know they raced out of Van Nuys during the 50's

 

Again, welcome to the forum and keep the memories coming.

 

-Bruce

 

ps - It's hard to tell on the photo but I also had a lot pinstriping done on my two-tone blue Kurtis. The front nose and rear turtle back were very elaborate. You can also just see some of the striping surrounding the external kill switch just above the hand brake. It was all done by a guy in Galveston who went by the name of Bobo. Wish I had some better pictures but Hurricane Ike took care of that.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2011 by BruceBoening

[BruceBoening]

How about a Pacemaker with headers and side-pipes ????????

[Midget 85]

Another Semi Reunion of Quarter Midget Drivers

 

Just recently I received a call from Denny Burton of Houston with an invite to a birthday party for his Mom Dodie.

 

So, I grabbed my camera and made my way down to the local scene.

 

Surprisingly, I haven't seen Dodie since 1961 during the Quarter Midget years and it was a wonderful opportunity to see her and wish her a wonderful birthday. She has just turned 80 and still going strong.

 

While visiting I also ran up with a few quarter midget drivers again and also a few legends of Playland Park and Meyer Speedway.

 

Thought I would share a few here with the Quarter Midget drivers.

 

Randy (Coon)Shannon, Larry Schild, Denny Burton, Larry Robertson

[BruceBoening]

Great to see all the "old" faces again.

 

Looks like ya'll are leaning and barely holding on to each other for the picture. Did somebody take ya'll's wheelchairs and walkers away for the picture?

[jakdad]

Thanks Randy, Greatful for the pics. Great looking group!

[Midget 85]

Some Questions Answered

 

While visiting with the old drivers of quarter midgets I did have an opportunity to ask Larry about the mishap at Meyer Speedway with Jerry Mann.

 

Larry did confirm that he was driving the # 2 winged modified formally driven by Bill White the night of the accident.

 

Jerry was driving the orange # 12 sprinter modified that was heavily damaged.

 

I will post some of the legends of Meyer Speedway and Playland on the appropriate threads.

 

stay tuned..

[KGB911]

Bruce, I remember losing to Kurtis cars many times and as you know those times were dominated by those two brands. You said you lost pictures in Hurricane Ike and I know how hard that must be. My story about our memories is just that "Memories"

I am sure all of you remember the late sixties movie "On any Sunday" Well here is the Sadddd Story!

Dad's shop was in North Hollywood California and many of the Stars of the days with children would stop buy the shop and check out the rides. Bing Russel the father of Kurt Russel bought a Pacemaker from Dad and stiffed him and Dad has never forgot!

A Hollywood producer whom worked on On any Sunday came by one day and told Dad he was going to produce a 4 wheel version and needed some old pictures and 8mm film to get it started and Dad made the mistake of giving him all of our family pictures and we never saw him or the pictures again. I have two pictures of our Walborg and one of the Pacemaker #1 and that's ALL.

If I could find that guy I would Kill Him!

It almost led to a divorse and Mom has never forgiven Dad.

Trophies are another Story!

I won hundreds of trophies during my 1/4 midget days and since there was so many between my brother and I, we would sort through the trophies and take off the brass and wrap and pack them and ship them to new clubs across America. Recycling at it's Best!

I have my 1st. Novice Fast Time trophy from Panorama in 56 and my last "A" Trophy Dash from San Fernando in 59 and thats all. I have a few trophies from my Stock Car days and my Go Kart days and they all bring back fond MEMORIES! Dad will be here next weekend and I will ask him if he remembers the Boening family.

Danny Ruth

Pacemaker #1

[KGB911]

As I stated in an earlier post my brother and I quit racing in 59 after a real bad fire in a AA main Event. We both wanted to continue racing but Mom would have nothing of it. We started raising Hell in the neighborhood with our Mini Bikes and StingRays and I became a Wheelie Champion and once rode an exhibition at a Drag race the full 1/4 mile. The Mini Bike, of course a Pacemaker, was powered by a Reo 2hp. with a belt clutch and halfshaft and it was Candy Apple Red and very cool. I saved all my paper route money and bought a Yamaha 60cc 2 cycle rotary valve motor with a 4 speed tranny and Dad and I installed that in the MiniBike and it flat Hauled the mail. I sold that for $200 and bought my first car at age 14 and that kept me busy for a few years. I sold the RPU and bought a wrecked Vette when I was 16 and then met my wife whom has put up with this Car Guy for 38 years.

Dan Ruth

[Midget 85]

Dan,

 

This sounds like the path we all have taken in one way or another.

 

Once a car guy always a car guy!

 

Thanks for the updates and photos

[KGB911]

Pacemakers

 

Fred Ruth aka Dad sold Trackmaster in 77 and went Indy Car racing for a few years until the money tree was picked clean.

 

In 77 (AJ's last win) he worked for Shorty Mosley with driver Jerry Sneva and in 78 he bought a couple years old Rutherford team McClaren with an Offy to campaign with Jerry Sneva again at the wheel. In 79 they hired Dana Carter to drive and also had Larry Dixon shoe the car to 3rd at Texas Word Speedway. It was a beautiful car with a very Trick body by Don Brown "The Prince of Darkness." It had tons of downforce but not enough ponies from the outdated Offy to go down the straightaway with the Cosworth's and Foyt's.

 

I was not allowed to drive it so my younger brother and I built another Pacemaker to compete at a local Saturday Night track. That's another story in itself!

 

Here is a pic of Dad's car and the first Pacemaker Stock Car.

 

Danny Ruth

 

 

 

[Midget 85]

Awesome cars posted here!

[txtom]

I was not allowed to drive it so my younger brother and I built another Pacemaker to compete at a local Saturday Night track. That's another story in itself!

 

Danny,

Is that pic of the Stock Car taken at Saugus?

[BruceBoening]

Danny,

 

Did a little research and saw that Johnny Parsons also drove for your dad in 1979. He was another great quarter-midget racer from back in our day along with his half brothers Dana and Pancho Carter. They mainly raced in the Indianapolis and Terre Haute areas as kids.

 

Also see that Jerry Sneva was the 1977 Indy Rookie of the Race / Rookie of the Year beating out other notable rookies as Janet Guthrie, Danny Ongais, Bobby Olivero, etc.

 

What a charmed life you had growing up around all the various types of racing. Fantastic.

 

-Bruce

Edited April 17, 2011 by BruceBoening

[KGB911]

I was not allowed to drive it so my younger brother and I built another Pacemaker to compete at a local Saturday Night track. That's another story in itself!

 

Danny,

Is that pic of the Stock Car taken at Saugus?

 

Yeh ! That is Saugus! 1975 I believe, It was really kinda funny at the time. My younger brother Larry whom drove a 1/4 midget only once and he took a brand new Pacemaker thru a chain link fence at the pit exit at Panorama and he bit his tongue and never drove again. As a teenager he thought he could drive,but all he did was crash his street cars "many". We joined forces after spending a season crewing for Jim Thirkettle whom was the track Hot Dog. We learned alot and thought it was time for us to build a car and go racing. We found that perfectly good 65 Chevelle convertible and proceeded to cut it up. We had a plan of swapping week to week the driving chores and the first week we drew straws and I won. I was in the Trophy Dash "Top 4 in Qualifying" and did not finish the feature due to overheating.The next week was Larry's turn and he did not make it through practice as he would hit the wall and wad up the car. We tried that program a couple more times and then he finally realized he was not a driver! We had a Ball and built everything ourselves. Here is the same car rebodied for 76 where we finished 3rd on opening night. It was a very pretty car! It was the 1st car to run disc brakes at Saugus.

 

Dan Ruth

 

Edited April 18, 2011 by NickHolt

[genesurrency]

Just found site. Nice stories. I started racing as things were winding down. Had a couple races at Gulfgate. Remember Uncle Bert Lynn the announcer and his tv show. Stopped in and visited with Jeff a few years back at the sailboat company. Remembered racing awhile at the Allendale shopping center in Pasadena.I remember a meeting at the auto parts store and Larry and I went to his house for a drink of water and he showed me all his trophies. His kitchen table was a display table. His house looked like a trophy shop. The racing days seemed like yesterday.Time flies by just like the car of lead foot Larry's flying 1. I had the rose colored car number 4B. My cousin drove car # 4. Enjoy this site. Gene Surrency

[Midget 85]

Gene,

 

Welcome to the Quarter Midget forum and to Lonestar Speed Zone.

 

Your contribution is greatly appreciated!

 

-Randy

Moderator

[Midget 85]

Hall of Fame member Chris Yoder in 41 (1957 Wahlborg 400).

 

Chris was a very successful driver in the early days of Mac O Chee Racing. This picture would have been 57-58 vintage. First, he was number 4 and then the club ruled you had to have a 2 digit number so his car became 41. ------But that made it lopsided so it became 141. -------But that was against the rules also as you could not have a 3 digit number. A little paint over the left 1 and presto it was 41 again.

 

A driver could really see well in those days. I wondered about today’s drivers peripheral vision when I put the modern style helmet on and drove a (large) quarter midget last year with the body coming up so far around the driver. I know, safety. We never got hurt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I later drove this same car to win the “B” class 5 states regional feature at MOC the same day Shoji came to town and won the A in 59. (I had to get that in)

 

Thank you HOF member Dick Smith for the photo.

 

2011 Mac O Chee Hall of Fame Event July 30

 

Doug Plank

[genesurrency]

Anyone seen this car around. My dad sold it to a family that lived in Garden Villas by Hobby Airport in 1969. Great pics of the reunion. Spent all day reading the posts. What fun Thanks for the work done to keep this site going. There is hardly a time that I do not pass by Gulfgate or the Allendale shopping center that i do not think about those days and thank my parents for the chance to race.

 

Gene

 

[BruceBoening]

Howdy Gene and welcome to the forum.

 

Keep those great stories and pictures coming.

 

I'm like you.... everytime I pass by Gulfgate I look over at where the track used to be and memories start buzzing around in my empty little head.

 

I even think about the cafeteria Picadilly's I think that used to be adjacent to the track. We ate there after every race and I loved their chocolate ice box pie boy.

 

Randy,

 

How in the world was I able to get away with that crazy 1/4 (one slash four) number I had on my car the whole time. I've often wondered about that also.

 

-Bruce

[Midget 85]

Bruce,

 

Not sure, but I used to wonder also about that number configuration?

 

Didn't really matter, it was the fun we had that quickly went by us.

[genesurrency]

Thanks, Bruce

Another Indy 500 coming up. I remember when we would sit around listening to it on radio and wait for the announcer to utter a word about A.J. I always figured some of you guys would be there someday. My Dad went into building drag boats with the original 7 astronauts and I remember Gorden Cooper and Gus Grissom invested in an Indy car and were experimenting with turbine engines and Dad went to Indy with them. That was the closet I came to the 500. The car never made it out of pratice as the driver crashed it and they had no back up. They decided to stick with boat racing. Those fun times did pass too fast. Has anyone thought about putting together a group to bring 1/4 midgets back here so other kids can have great experiences like we did.

Gene