[Amatiforever]

Today would have been Chuck Amati's Birthday. Please help me celebrate his life, by telling me just one or two stories you have of him. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him. I know he had fans all over this country. Let me here from you today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK AMATI. I miss you.

[Al Soran]

I called Chuck when I was just getting started in sprint cars. The frame of the old Gambler I had was tweaked just a bit, and I wanted to know if this was a big deal. He said to me (talking 100 mph), "I won more features in 1976 than I ever did in my life in a car that was so bent, you could look down and see it. The wheels don't know what the frame looks like or what direction it's pointed in. Make sure your bars are free, bolt it all together and go win yourself a feature." Straight talk from the man.

[ronmil]

I don't necessarily have a story to relate, but I remember how friendly Chuck was and the many times I visited with him during intermission at Haubstadt back in the day when fans could go into the infield.
I miss him, too. Happy birthday, "Rhinestone Cowboy", "One Armed Bandit"!

[cowboyhar69]

Back in about 1982 or 1983 Chuck was staying at the same motel as me and a couple of my buddies in Tampa. The All Stars were running at East Bay. We befriended Chuck in the motel parking lot as guys were working on their cars and one buddy of mine told him he wanted to buy an All Star jacket that they were selling in the pits. He told Chuck he had already bought grandstand tickets in advance and was going to but a pit pass that night so he could buy the jacket. Chuck said "Will, don't do that...I'll just get you the jacket and give it to you tomorrow". The next morning their was a knock on the motel room door and it was Chuck with my buddies jacket. He wouldn't even take the money up front...Chuck said "no, you can give me the money back after I get the jacket" He was quite a guy!!

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy

[RoyaltonMiniSprint]

I can remember Chuck Amati as a kid growing up here in Southern Illinois I only live about 10 miles from his hometown of Freeman Spur. My dad drag raced with Chuck before he really got into sprint car racing. After his career was winding down I used to run into him at Ace hardware in Herrin. It always seemed to me that he wanted somebody to come up to him and talk about racing. But by this time he was just some guy buying bolts. I knew who he was but by then most people didn't. When somebody did recognize him he seemed real happy. The last time I talked to Chuck was right after he was inducted into the hall of fame. I congradulated him on his induction and he said it was about time. I always wanted to ask him who he thought was the greatest sprint car driver ever. He probably would have said himself.