[flagboy55]

I saw this morning that the great Rick Ferkel has passed away. He truly was one of the sport’s best. I remember him on many occasions, but a couple that stick out was the last race of the inaugural WOO season going into Eldora. He and Steve both could win it and I believe Rick lost a tire and put him out of contention for the title. Another good one, might have been the same year, but definitely when the Outlaws were more legit and ran Sprint Cars like God intended and the other way. Anyway it was the old Santa Fe Park, Outlaws properly run, and Rick spun twice and still finished second I believe to Johnny Beaber. I hope my old memory is accurate. Either way we lost a great one

[Vookie]

Originally Posted by flagboy55 I saw this morning that the great Rick Ferkel has passed away. He truly was one of the sport’s best. I remember him on many occasions, but a couple that stick out was the last race of the inaugural WOO season going into Eldora. He and Steve both could win it and I believe Rick lost a tire and put him out of contention for the title. Another good one, might have been the same year, but definitely when the Outlaws were more legit and ran Sprint Cars like God intended and the other way. Anyway it was the old Santa Fe Park, Outlaws properly run, and Rick spun twice and still finished second I believe to Johnny Beaber. I hope my old memory is accurate. Either way we lost a great one

Johnny Beaber won a non-sanction sprint car feature at Santa Fe in 1977. Ferkel was there along with Danny Smith, Fred Linder and several others.

[flagboy55]

Vookie, that might have been what I was thinking. Thanks for the correction

[1121]

Rick Ferkel was one of my heroes. It all goes back to about 1977 or 78. I was 15 or 16 years old (lied about my age to get in the pits) and I was with my dad up at I96 Speedway in Michigan. Dad was struggling to keep his car in gear. Back then, cars still had In & Out boxes and Dad’s was pretty worn out. We were locked into the feature, and we were working diligently to figure out how to keep the car in gear.

The track was having an Australian Pursuit race. For those of you who don’t know what one of these are, they take the top so many qualifiers (in this case, the top 10), line them up in single file, with the fastest in the rear. When you get passed, you are out. If they have ten cars, they go 10 laps or until only one car is left. Rick had set fast time and was starting on the tail.

We were pitted up against the fence and just as they were getting ready to take the green, Dad looked up and said, “I’d kind of like to see this.”

They took the green and the field roared past us. Everybody went low and Rick went high. Coming out of two, he was leading! He passed them all in a third of a lap.

For anyone, it was amazing. For a kid that wanted to be a race car driver, it was even more amazing. In my mind, I can still see it like it just happened.

Fast forward several years. I was now driving my own sprint car. I was racing a sprint car on less than a street stock budget. I was struggling to finish races, let alone winning anything.

We were at Shady Hill Speedway. It was one of the few times that I actually got to race against my dad. As I was walking through the pits, I noticed Rick was there. He was no longer driving; he was the crew chief for somebody. To this day, I can’t remember who. I’ve always been pretty shy, but I gathered up my courage and approached him. I told him my story and he got a big smile on his face. About all he said was, “Yeah, that was a good day.”

I was in my driving uniform, and he asked me what car I was in. I pointed over to my car and said, “that one.” He shook my hand, wished me luck and I went back over to my car.

I don’t remember how many cars were there that night, but there was a B-main. I missed transferring through the heat race and had to run the B. I was starting on the pole of the B and Dad was outside me. Dad got the jump on the start, but I got around him through the corner. 12 laps later, I was taking the checkered. I just won my first race!

The first one to meet me back at my pit was Rick. He congratulated me and made a big deal poking at my old wore out tires and asking my what compound I was running and how much air pressure. He made a couple of suggestions to me for the feature and went back to his pit. It still brings a smile to my face.

It a sad day that he has passed, but I’ll always have the memories.

Tom Paterson

[jdull99]

Had a big impact on the sprint car careers of many, including Doug Kalitta and C Bell! -

https://tjslideways.com/2024/01/01/t...ce-car-driver/

https://www.speedsport.com/sprints-m...ick-ferkel-84/

[Vookie]

Stan Kalwasinski Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...29135469190350

[cornerthree]

Was lucky enough to see him race a few times. Never the best looking car but always fast. Always remeber he never ran nerf bars always saving weight.

[Kinser11]

Got to ride travel with him from, Ohio to California, before the Outlaws. Racing on the way out and back. Lots of great memories. Especially rolling in to Ascot, and spanking them with a Firestone Drag Tire.

[kendirt]

Originally Posted by cornerthree Was lucky enough to see him race a few times. Never the best looking car but always fast. Always remeber he never ran nerf bars always saving weight.

A while back I saw a picture of one of his cars. No nerf bars, stubs for a right side header. He'd crushed the header the night before and had just lopped it off leaving just an inch or two past the header flange.

[Charles Nungester]

Only got to see him race a few times in person, When I went to Attica or Fremont. Millstream. This was after he stopped traveling so much.