Midget 85

Denny, I had already been racing at the Gulfgate race track for a couple of years when you entered the world of Quarter midget racing. Matter of fact we sold my first quarter midget to you in your rookie days. There are a few more names to add to the list of Houston drivers. Coggie and Debbie Pearce, Jeff Lynn, Pam Miller, Chubby Chapman, Ralph Middleton, Joey Jordan, Freddy Taylor, Freddy Prior, Danny Gage, Jr.Wingo, Jim Sanders, that come to my mind. From Liberty, TX came Sonny Richardson, Galveston's Bruce Boenig and more. We need to have a Gulf Coast Quarter Midget Drivers Reunion to go over old times. How quickly time goes from being kids in Quarters to looking at AARP benefits! I will dig up some photos I have and post them as soon as I can find them. Good to hear from Freddy Taylor. We were chums in those days and recently have made contact. Here's a photo of my first Quarter Midget at the tender age of 6 which later would become your first race car we mentioned above. Pre roll bar days I might ad! This car was built with conduit tubing for the frame and we drove to Dallas, TX every weekend to race at the Quarter Midget track next to the Devil's Bowl big track. Sorry to hear Larry Schild wrecked this car after MJ and your Dad purchased this car from us in 1957. I must say, it was crude and handled rather poorly. The original engine didn't even have a gear box! We were learning in the early days of Quarter Midget racing. One night in Dallas, we were allowed to run them on the Devil's Bowl big track as an exhibition and the car screamed and maybe doing 60 miles an hour due to the high gear and no gear box reduction. Everyone thought I was some kid in that there little midget. Well, I might have been a little tart back then but I thought I was somebody making laps around the "Old Devils Bowl" race track at a fast speed..and in a little 1/4 Midget at that. I remember the track being so ruff my goggles were falling off my nose, and the wheels were actually bouncing off the surface. Awh, who needed a "Roll Bar" in those days! Bring on the Big Boys I thought.. Sadly, it would hardly run on the short circuits due to the reason above. It ran great on super sized tracks! Not long after that, we learned about the Continental engines and the gear reduction gear box.