Cowtown Drivers

[nascarchuck]

I have been out of the loop for about 15 years and am starting to get the bug again. I have seen some old pictures and posts about some drivers that are really bringing back some old memories.

 

Was wondering what has happened to the following drivers.

 

Eldon Dotson (Is he deceased?)

James Pack

Tim Gibbons

Sonny Hoke (not a driver, but sure could set up a car! Heard he passed away. True?

Curtis Pierce

[97car]

Eldon passed away around 97 or 98 from what I read on here, James Pack I think is still around.

I don't know about the others you mentioned. The last time I saw Curtis Pierce was when he was the promoter,but I've been away from there for a while.

[racer-x]

Eldon did pass away right after a race. I have the obituary. Not sure about Tim Gibbons. Sonny did pass away. Really liked him. Curtis's son is racing at Cowtown now and I understand Curtis is in the pits with him.

I saw your other site with the programs and the points. I used to help Claud Estes back in 83 and went to school with him. Danny Barr which was 1st in points for Economy Late Model passed away about a month after his Wife Melissa did.

[nascarchuck]

What did Eldon die from? Do we know? I assume that it must have been something sudden. Man, that guy was a top notch driver!

 

What about Sonny? Do you know what got him? I always liked Sonny. He was a really good guy. I remember when he had that shop off of Dick Price Rd. Thats when I first started really gettin into racing.

 

Curtis has kids old enough to race? I cant remember the last time that I saw him. He was a character back then and I sure that hasnt changed any!

 

Heard anything about Dike? Last I heard he got divorced from Debi and that has been years ago.

 

Thats sad about Danny. I think that I remember that, but not sure.

 

Thanks for the info!!!

[racer-x]

You're welcome.

 

I think Eldon had a massive heart attack. I'm looking at his obituary. It says he passed away on 11/09/97 at 52 years old.

 

I think a heart attack is what got Sonny too. I used to hang out at his shop and Skidrow which was Darrell Smithermen's shop. J.R. Askins was in Sonnie's shop. His dad and my dad we're in the service together. He came to my Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary which was almost 10 years ago. That's the last time I have seen him. I remember Hutch was in there too. I think Marvin Lough kept his car there back then.

 

Your right Curtis was a character!

 

I'm haven't heard anything about Dike or Curtis Hoke.

 

I was pretty good friends with Danny thru Claude. He had went thru a barbed wire fence on 4-wheeler years before he passed away. Supossedly it damaged his organs and the medicine he had to take did as well so his liver played out.

[nascarchuck]

Racer-x... It sounds like that we hung around at Sonnys shop at the same time. I started going there the last year that Dike had the purple 18. The folloing year he started driving for his F-I-L.

 

If I remember right, Marvin, Curtis Peirce, Phil (?), JR and another one or two were in the shop with Sonny.

 

I remember when someone broke into the shop one night and assaulted Sonny.

 

I think the Smithermans took over the shop when Sonny moved out.

 

Man, I sure miss sonny. He was a great guy. Same with Eldon. That guy was a heck of a driver. He just seemed so comfortable in the car. One arm hanging out the window opening while driving one handed! Wow!

 

If you have the ability to scan Eldons obit, I would love to see it.

 

I'm gonna send you a PM if you dont mind.

[racer-x]

Yep,

Sounds good. We probably know each other. I'm not sure how to scan the obit and it's really small. I'm going to learn how though because I have some pictures I would like to get on here.

 

I remember Sonny getting assaulted. That had to be scarey for him to be woke up in the dark to something like that and then not be sure why they did it or whether they were coming back. Thing is I don't know anybody that didn't like him.

 

I don't remember Curtis Pierce being in that shop. Curtis Hoke was in there. Was Phil Bryant in there?

 

I remember that orange glove of Eldon's hanging out the right window. It said in his abituary that he was in one of the Firecracker 400's at Daytona. I googled him a while back and it said he drove the 23 car in Winston Cup once. I have some slides of him at a USAC race at Texas World.

[txtom]

Dotson drove that #23 in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona in July 1985. It was owned by Dick Bahre and James Stoner.

 

Before that, he also drove at Darlington in April 1985 in a #96 owned by James Stoner.

He finished 38th in both races.

[nascarchuck]

Yeah... I remember Curtis Pierce being there.

 

Phil Bryant... Was he the guy that looked kinda like Jesus? Has a blonde headed wife, I think her name was Terri? He drove Figure 8 cars. I am sure his name was Phil, but not sure of his last name.

 

Weird how all of this stuff come back to memory.

 

About Sonny getting assulated, I believe that it was someon that knew him. I dont remember anything getting stolen, but I could be wrong. I agree. Everyone like Sonny! I sure miss that old man!

 

Thats interesting about Eldon. I never knew any of that about him.

[garrettracecars(grc)]

claud estes was in waco this past friday night with his sprint car running with ascs southregion. still halling the mail.

[racevw112]

What about Bill Bloss?

[nascarchuck]

Now that another name that I forgot about.

 

Man did he get mad it me one time when I told him that he had a s****y job. (He was a plumber) thats when I learned that he didnt have a sense of humor... He used to live down the street from a friend of mine.

[racer-x]

Didn't Bill Bloss do some fabricating out of a shop by the Cedar Creek Reservour?

 

I remember somebody over there with a big block. Robert Burrows drove their car one night and put Eldon in the wall.

 

 

 

Phil Bryant... Was he the guy that looked kinda like Jesus? Has a blonde headed wife, I think her name was Terri? He drove Figure 8 cars. I am sure his name was Phil, but not sure of his last name.

 

Weird how all of this stuff come back to memory.

 

About Sonny getting assulated, I believe that it was someon that knew him. I dont remember anything getting stolen, but I could be wrong. I agree. Everyone like Sonny! I sure miss that old man!

 

 

 

That was Phil Bryant. He always drove in figure 8. So did Ricky Braddock. I forgot about him. He dated the girl that drove back then. Her name was Tracy Dorough I think.

 

 

 

I went to school with Claud and helped him for years. I wish Daniel was still driving. I enjoyed watching him. Claud and him both have their own driving style.

[racevw112]

I knew Bill Bloss from when he lived down in the Beaumont area, I knew he moved to Fort Worth and now that I'm up here, just curious on what is doing now days.

[racer-x]

I haven't heard about Bill Bloss in years. Darryl Campbell might know. He used to hang around at his shop quite a bit back then.

[jumbo]

Eldon did die of a heart attack. He had it over at North Texas after one of those big end of the year shows.

[nascarchuck]

I havent been active in this forum for awhile but wanted to update a couple of names mention.

 

I have found out recently that Curtis is currently behind bars (surprise?) and Tim has fairly recently as well. Both guys were basically the same charges.

 

Sad deal...

[koab26]

NASCARCHUCK YOU SEEM TO BE GETTING AROUND SINCE COMING BACK ON THE SCENE. DARRYL CAMPBELL IS THE OWNER OF DESTROYERCHASSIS.COM IN KENNEDALE. PEOPLE THAT THAT CAN GIVE YOU PROBABLY GIVE YOU UNLIMITED INFO ABOUT ANYONE THAT YOU MAY BE LOOKING FOR IS RICHARD SNIDER WHICH IS TRACK PROMOTER AT KSP. ANOTHER PERSON IS FORDMAN YOU'LL FIND HIM ON KSP AND ELBOWS AND COWTOWN'S WEBSITES. GOOD LUCK WITH YOU SEARCHES.

[nascarchuck]

NASCARCHUCK YOU SEEM TO BE GETTING AROUND SINCE COMING BACK ON THE SCENE. DARRYL CAMPBELL IS THE OWNER OF DESTROYERCHASSIS.COM IN KENNEDALE. PEOPLE THAT THAT CAN GIVE YOU PROBABLY GIVE YOU UNLIMITED INFO ABOUT ANYONE THAT YOU MAY BE LOOKING FOR IS RICHARD SNIDER WHICH IS TRACK PROMOTER AT KSP. ANOTHER PERSON IS FORDMAN YOU'LL FIND HIM ON KSP AND ELBOWS AND COWTOWN'S WEBSITES. GOOD LUCK WITH YOU SEARCHES.

 

I assume that this is the one and only BBQ King Willis P, huh? I came down to the pits Sat (8/29/09) after the races but there was alot of folks around your car so I figured that you were busy.

 

I did talk to Daryll. I have known Daryll for many years. Told him that someday I was gonna swing by his shop and BS for awhile.

 

One of these days I'm gonna figger out who Fordman is...

 

Thanks for the reply and that was some good drivin Sat night!

[TexPete]

Eldon did die of a heart attack. He had it over at North Texas after one of those big end of the year shows.

Yep. I witnessed it. Probably the craziest thing I have ever seen at a racetrack, although I really didn't realize the gravity of it at the time. Honestly, I haven't thought about it in years.

 

It was a Sunday afternoon/night show, as I recall. I was pitting for Allan Essenburg at the time. It was either at the end of hot laps or after a heat race, but Allan was coming off the track and Eldon was right behind him, ramming him repeatedly. Allan pulled out of the way because he had no idea what was happening. He thought someone wanted to fight him, and he stuck his arm out the window as if to say, "What's up?!"

 

Eldon pulled past him, climbed out the window, and collapsed on the ground. That was all she wrote.

 

I was in my early 20's at the time, and we had raced against Eldon quite a few times. We aren't from the Dallas area, so to us, he was just an old guy who was pretty fast. We didn't really realize what a great racer he was.

 

That's how I recall everything in my fuzzy memory. I think the fact that we still had a race to run kept the whole thing from really sinking in. I'm not sure we knew Eldon actually died until the races were over. I just don't remember.

 

I wish I had gotten to know the man as more than just the guy who drove the 72 car.

[racer-x]

ELDON PUT ON A GOOD SHOW. HE DROVE WITH HIS LEFT HAND AND HAD HIS RIGHT HAND RESTING ON THE RIGHT PANEL WITH THAT RED GLOVE ON. HE EVEN HAD T-SHIRTS WITH THAT ON THEM.

[TexPete]

ELDON PUT ON A GOOD SHOW. HE DROVE WITH HIS LEFT HAND AND HAD HIS RIGHT HAND RESTING ON THE RIGHT PANEL WITH THAT RED GLOVE ON. HE EVEN HAD T-SHIRTS WITH THAT ON THEM.

Like I said, I wish I had gotten to know him. As many times as we raced against him over a few short years, I certainly had the opportunity. I really didn't watch him race that much because I was focused on my own car. You just don't think about people dying like that at the racetrack.

[TexPete]

Another weird thing I remember is that less than a month after Eldon died, we were down at Rio Grande Speedway in McAllen for their big year-end show. Lots of big names: Logue, Noble, Paul White, and lots of the best drivers from Texas were there. I don't remember anyone saying a word about Eldon's passing. It may have happened, but I didn't hear it.

[Beno]