To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

For sprint car info the IOW site is the place to go. You all are good friends and I appreciate everything you help me with - thanks. :6:

Sprint Car Driver info I am looking for the following:

Bob Pratt
Chuck Allen
Chuck Booth
Bill Koepler (did he ever drive a supermodified #18)
Bobby Black
Gil Hess
Dale Barton
Bill Brown
Don Brown
Frank Secrist
Chuck Engel
Dick DeBolt
Dale Reed
Dick Kelm
Jim Luebbert
Mickey Shaw
Lee Robinson
Charlie Masters
Danny Zimmerman

Any info would be greatly appreciated - thanks

NOTE: If I spelled any of the above drivers nameswrong, I do apologize for my ignorance.

Have a good day...see you at he races

Rich - Arnold, Missouri

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Dick Kelm was from the Pittsburgh, Pa. area and raced at local super modified tracks in the 60's. Raced with URC later years. He now lives in Arizona I believe.

Micky Shaw was from the Akron, Ohio area and raced supers there in late 50's early 60's. Later raced USAC sprint and died from a heart attack after a couple bad crashes in sprint cars. He was only 36 I think when he died back in the early 70's?

Gil Hess killed in a USAC sprint car at Salem in 1973 was from Cinn, Ohio.

Chuck Engel, Bob Pratt and Dick DeBolt came from Ohio and run super mods mostly. Both have passed away.

Bobby Black was an Indiana super sprint racer now gone.

Charley Master was from Kentucky and ran USAC sprints

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

By Danny Zimmerman, did you mean Denny Zimmerman?

If it's Denny, he was born on December 14, 1940 in Glastonbury, Connecticut. He was a URC Sprint Car driver in the 1960s who also qualified for the Indianapolis 500 on two occasions. In 1971, he started 28th and finished 8th. In 1972, started 28th and finished 19th.

After his retirement from racing, Denny became an airline pilot. He currently resides in in Suffield, Connecticut.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Dale Reed http://www.racingfromthepast.com/rem...gdalereed.html

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

richie - Denny Zimmerman it is, thanks for clarifying the spelling of his name. As I said in my original post some of the names I listed could be misspelled - and here is a good example.

A question for you richie - Do remember Denny Zimmerman driving the #11 W&W Toll Spl. sprint car in 1968?

A question for you okie - Do you remember Dale Reed driving the #43 Parker Oil Spl. sprint car in 1967?

Thanks

Rich

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Chuck Booth was from California - I think - don't know much more than that about him except to say that The Man only built one like Chuck and that he was the epitome of the " journey man driver ".

Don Brown was also a Californian and was probably better known as a fabricator and designer than for his driving. Don has been dead for several years.

Frank Secrist was a CRA guy. Don't know what his current statis is.

Jim Bob Luebbert opened a store accross from the speedway selling Simpson safety equipment. I'm pretty sure he is still around , but not sure what he is doing.

Duke should be able to go right through this list when he sees it !

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Originally Posted by Midwest Connection:
richie - Denny Zimmerman it is, thanks for clarifying the spelling of his name. As I said in my original post some of the names I listed could be misspelled - and here is a good example.

A question for you richie - Do remember Denny Zimmerman driving the #11 W&W Toll Spl. sprint car in 1968?

You're welcome!

Unfortunately, I don't go back that far to 1968; I was born about 18 years later. :2: Wish I could have had the opportunity to see the racing in that era. I was aware of the name Denny Zimmerman from his history in the Indy 500 and had read stories about him, but I have never seen him race.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

i remember back as a kid. denny zimmerman was eddie flemke`s team mate driving modified coupes at norwood arena. eddie drove the $ sign modified and denny drove the cent sign. the used to travel up and down the east coast winning everywhere they went. they were called the eastern bandits. that was in the early to middle sixtys. after that denny went sprint car racing and also raced at indy a few times. he was one hell of a race car driver!

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

dberrio - you are from Bentley Warren's neck of the woods or at one time anyway. Ah! yes! Eddie Flemke, I remember him well. I looked around today, and I did find a photo of Denny Zimmerman aboard the #59 sprinter at Williams Grove racing with #43 Gene Tallman. I have seen Eddie in the #$ Modified but the photo I have is, him in the 1CT Modified. Do you remember the #$ Modified that was driven by Danny Galullo at Riverside Park in Agawam, Mass., back in the 60's?

Have a good day...see you at the races

Rich

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Charlie Masters was always listed as being from Waddy, KY. (I always remembered that when I passed the Waddy Exit on I64 on the way to Lexington).

Checked the Carl Hungness USAC Sprint History
1968-16th in points-11 races
1969-25th in points- 7 races (1 feature win)
1970-33rd in points-10 races
1971-21st in points- 9 races
1972- 8th in points-22 races (2 feature wins)
1973-12th in points-29 races
1974-26th in points-10 races
1975-43rd in points- 4 races

Gil Hess was fatally injured at Salem IN-July 5th, 1970

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Rich that was before my time but I do have pictures of him in the 43 car.I scaned them but do not know how get them on here.I saw him race in the super mods in the 1970-80s.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Do you mean Bill Koepfer? He was from the Fremont,Ohio area and ran there. He also ran some USAC in the 60s and 70s.

Vern Plotts

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Charlie Masters has been known to visit Salem every now and then.

Waddy, KY is between Shelbyville and Frankfort.

Bobby Black's parents lived across the street from us during the 50s in Columbus. I was quite young and it was a much smaller town then. his dad was a fireman, maybe even chief, perhaps the old East Columbus FD. Dave, Bob, or other Columbus residents may recall.

He died of cancer several years ago.

I was at Lawrenceburg the night that the announcer said that Gil Hess had gone to USAC. Wasn't too much later when he was killed.

Jim Bob shows up at a race every now and then. He's a super nice guy. I recall him racing a homemade looking #60 at the 'burg in the early to mid 60s. Marv, help!!

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

i worked for bentley gack in the eightys, at his trucking co. he is a real character. hes down in daytona, florida freezing,ha,ha. its warmer in gloucester than it is down south. presently working with the santos team with there usac effort. having fun.

---------- Post added at 10:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------

midwest connection.....if you go on www.near1.com. denny zimmerman was inducted into the new england hall of fame class of 2001. look at the front row little bobby santos III is sitting beside denny zimmerman. little bobby was representing his grandfather in the photo.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

I was a t Salem the day Gil Hess was killed. They had just repaved turns 1 & 2 and the track was wicked fast. Gil Hess was driving the #60 car, which I think had been driven shortly before by Bill Puterbaugh. I believe it was the third heat, Hess was running second or third and made contact with another car in turn 2. The car snapped upside down, struck the guardrail and continued to flip outside the track, landing in the trees which used to grow right off of the backstraight. The guardrail stripped the cage off of the car and cost Gil his life. Pretty much everyone who saw the accident knew he was dead instantly.

It rained before the feature, resulting in about a 2 hr delay, cooled off the track and we eventually saw one of the best pavement races I think I've ever seen before or since. Gary Bettenhausen, Larry Dickson and Rollie Beale put on a tremendous show, racing at high speed inches apart and outbraving one another (today we call it a "slider") in every turn.

It was a sad day, losing Gil Hess, but an amazing feature.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Just found this post(late reply). Don't know if you're still looking for info for these drivers. If so Bob Pratt is my uncle. I might be able to help.
BTW that is him to the left in Dale Doty's sprinter at New Bremen 1968.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

DWPRATT3,

Greetings, & thanks for responding. Yes by all means, any info on your uncle Bob Pratt would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rich

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

I believe the car Gil Hess was driving was the #73 Mauri Amerling car and it was Puterbaugh he tangled with. Mickey Shaw had chest pains and pulled in at Eldora speedway on July 26,1969, he died hours later in a Greenville, Ohio hospital of an apparent heart attack.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

I believe Chuck Allen was from California - ran CRA with an occasional Midwest visit.

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

Originally Posted by bruce harrison:
i believe chuck allen was from california - ran cra with an occasional midwest visit.

san diego!

---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Originally Posted by midwest connection:
for sprint car info the iow site is the place to go. You all are good friends and i appreciate everything you help me with - thanks. :6:

Sprint car driver info i am looking for the following:

Bob pratt
chuck allen
chuck booth
bill koepler (did he ever drive a supermodified #18)
bobby black
gil hess
dale barton
bill brown
don brown
frank secrist
chuck engel
dick debolt
dale reed
dick kelm
jim luebbert
mickey shaw
lee robinson
charlie masters
danny zimmerman

any info would be greatly appreciated - thanks

note: If i spelled any of the above drivers nameswrong, i do apologize for my ignorance.

Have a good day...see you at he races

rich - arnold, missouri

booth black hess d brown engel debolt reed shaw robinson are all in the big race track in the sky! Allen in san diego bill k in fremont dale burton is in indy b brown was from urc and east coast? Frank s was from northern ca? Jim bob l is in indy d kelm in pittsburg? c masters is in waddy d zimmerman in conn.:22:

---------- Post added at 09:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Originally Posted by stevee:
i believe the car gil hess was driving was the #73 mauri amerling car and it was puterbaugh he tangled with. Mickey shaw had chest pains and pulled in at eldora speedway on july 26,1969, he died hours later in a greenville, ohio hospital of an apparent heart attack.

puterbaugh was driving the nieble 60!

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Originally Posted by dwpratt3:
just found this post(late reply). Don't know if you're still looking for info for these drivers. If so bob pratt is my uncle. I might be able to help.
Btw that is him to the left in dale doty's sprinter at new bremen 1968.

last time i seen bob he was running a car lot in ft.wayne?:18:

Re: To my IOW friends - I am needing help with sprint car driver info - thanks
 

No problem MC. Bob is from Union City, Indiana. He lives in Ft. Wayne now, and Superduke is right. He did have a car lot. I know he drove for some notable car owners like Ray and Cissy Smith, Dale Doty, Ron Hart and Gene Beseker to name a few. To get some race results I have spent hours looking at this site http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/drivers.php some of it is incomplete, but very interesting none the less. I've also come across some good stuff in these forums. Go to the search tab and type in PRATT. Bob is my great uncle so a lot of his racing done before I was born or I was very young, so I don't know a lot of details. I was more of age when his nephew Richard "Genie" Pratt drove a few seasons in the late 70's at the "Hills". If there is anything specific you want to know I can try to find out from my dad. I think there are some guys on here that can help also.