Racing History Minute - June 18, 1955

Today we continue our Northern Tour of the 1955 season, which we began yesterday in Rochester, NY. Fonda Speedway, a half-mile dirt track located in the City of the same name, will host our 100 mile/200 lap event for today.

In one of those circumstances not likely to happen in the sport today, Fonty Flock qualified HIS Chrysler to start fourth and then jumped in brother Tim's Chrysler to qualify for a late arriving Tim. Fonty put his brother's car on the pole! Starting on the outside front row was Jim Reed's Chevrolet. Third was Lee Petty in his Chrysler.

The green flag waved and Tim Flock moved away from the field. The caution was thrown on lap 28 when Al Weber rolled his Ford in a spectacular accident but he wasn't injured and the green flag waved again after only four laps. Tim Flock maintained the lead but he was aware that ninth place starter, Junior Johnson in an Oldsmobile was working his way through the field at a steady pace. Suddenly, the mirror of Flock's Chrysler was filled by the Johnson Oldsmobile and on lap 96, Johnson took over the lead he would hold until the end of the race. In fact, he would stretch that lead to a full lap over second place and 9 laps over third place. This was Junior's third win in the past five races and was a very popular win with the Fonda crowd.

Top five finishers were:

1. Junior Johnson, B&L Motors Oldsmobile, winning $1,000.00

2. Tim Flock, Mercury Outboard Chrysler, winning $650.00

3. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Chrysler, winning $450.00

4. Buck Baker, Griffin Motors Oldsmobile, winning $350.00

5. Bob Welborn, Chevrolet, winning $300.00

Sixth through tenth were Dave Terrell, Harvey Henderson, John McVitty, Dick Hallock, and Russ Truelove.

Fonty Flock was 11th, Jim Reed 12th, Jimmie Lewallen 14th and Gwyn Staley 18th. Only 19 cars started the race.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.

I've  said it before & I'll say it again. Junior won at Fonda in his one and only race there as a driver in 1955. From what I can tell, he never fielded a car there as a car owner. So I guess you could could say ... (sorry 'bout this)... the man from Ronda was kinda fond of Fonda.

Continuing with our frequent but random study of the history of Julian Petty, Welborn's Chevy was owned and fielded by Lee's brother.

And apparently the race wasn't an absolute smash because another 11 years would pass before the GN cars returned for a 3 year run beginning in 1966.

Wow, Chase, very creative of you. Lol. I like that very much!!!!

You have certainly gotten my curiosity running wild on the Julian Petty matter. Funny how I heard so many things about him back in the day, yet never really knew anything. I think I need to round up Bill Blair and see if he is the one who told me all the stories. I'm thinking it was Bill,but I'm not absolutely positive. Would also seem Billy Biscoe would have a lot of information.

Especially interesting about Fonty Flock qualifying two cars. I don't think that would be legal today... would it?

Fonda is home of the famous graveyard that has been the scene of several off-track excursions over the years. Appears this event was not run on the graveyard shift!

Sounded the other day as though Mike Sykes knew quite a bit about Julian Petty, Tim.

Racing at Fonda Speedway started in September 1927 and they ran six events between then and 1939. The first race in 1927 was AAA sanctioned but with so few events it doesn't sound like they were at all successful. It wound back up by fits and starts in 1948 and things finally came together in 1953. A 1/8 mile drag strip operated in 1957, they upgraded to a 1/4 mile in 1959 and held runs through 1968. Shirley Muldowney's drag racing career started on the Fonda dragstrip in 1958. Tony Stewart plans to run a 410 sprint car race there next month. The owners have never threatened to move the track to Chemung if they didn't get a tax break. They still haven't paved Fonda, and as of 2007, there were still 32 dirt tracks in operation in New York state compared to only 12 paved ovals.

June 18, 2015: 60th anniversary

The race got some pretty good pub in the local papers.

Race preview - June 13 - Amsterdam NY Evening Recorder

Race preview - June 18 - Evening Recorder

Race report - June 20 - Evening Recorder

The race preview and results articles referenced the John E. Larrabee trophy. Larrabee was apparently a successful hardware store businessman from nearby Amsterdam NY - about 10 miles east of Fonda. If I've found the right one, he passed away in 1911. Perhaps Fonda Speedway and Larabee's continuing businesshonored his memory by naming the trophy after him. - from FindAGrave.com

The Larrabee trophy could have been a memorial tribute - or it could simply have been part of an ad campaign not unlike we've had in other aspects of racing for decades.

The Daily Gazette
Saturday, November 30, 2013
By Bob Cudmore

Larrabees a well-loved local business

Larrabees hardware store, located on Market Street in downtown Amsterdam for more than 80 years, was a beloved institution.

Born in the town of Amsterdam in 1851, John E. Larrabee began his hardware career working for merchant E. T. Leavenworth. In 1876, Larrabee went into partnership with L.L. Dean. Larrabee later partnered with W.G. Barnes in a store that lasted eight years, under the name of Larrabee & Barnes. In 1889, Larrabee married Louise Leavenworth. They had two daughters.

When the Sanford Homestead Building was constructed by carpet magnate Stephen Sanford on Market Street in 1891, Larrabee opened his own store in the new building. The John E. Larrabee Company sold retail and wholesale hardware and provided supplies for area industries. Located at 5 Market St., the firm expanded and took over 3 Market St., previously home to the Odd Figure Bazaar.

John E. Larrabees 1911 obituary said his store had become the most successful hardware business in the city. Larrabee was succeeded as general manager by his brother-in-law Warner Leavenworth, who died in 1940. Leavenworths son Thomas, who had joined the firm in 1931, became president in 1940. By then, the store occupied 3 to 9 Market Street on the east side of a busy downtown thoroughfare.

Larrabees was sold in 1960, and Tom Leavenworth pursued other business ventures, including his work as treasurer of Amsterdams Inman Manufacturing, which made machinery for the box-making industry.

The new owners of Larrabees, Ailing Beardsley and Mary Louise Rossiter, began an expansion of the firm in 1961, putting more emphasis on selling hardware to new industries that were starting in the area as the large carpet mills exited. Beardsley and Rossiter retained Samuel H. Anderson as store manager and said they were expanding appliance sales along with Larrabees previous retail emphasis on hardware, housewares, gifts and toys.

Beardsley and Rossiter apparently were related. Beardsley, a World War II infantry veteran who had operated an industrial supply firm in New Jersey, was married to Carol Rossiter. She was originally from Albany, presumably related to Mary Louise Rossiter, who lived in Slingerlands, headed an Albany real estate firm and was treasurer of Livermore Chevrolet.

Beardsley and his family moved to Amsterdam. In 1965, Larrabees celebrated 75 years in business. In 1972, Beardsleys son, also named Ailing, was retail manager of Larrabees and up for a young business award from the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Larrabees apparently closed in the 1970s, but it is not clear exactly when. Historian Jerry Snyder found that the 1973-1974 city directory has the professional plaza replacing the Sanford building on Market Street. Furs by Gus was at 3 Market St., Hays and Wormuth Insurance was at 7 and there was no listing for 5 Market St.

Just as Schenectadians loved the former Wallace Armer Hardware on Erie Boulevard, Amsterdamians loved Larrabees. An ad from 1886 had Larrabee & Barnes selling stoves, nails, blacksmiths supplies, saddlery, wheels, horse blankets, halters, whips, guns, gunpowder, hay wire and carpenter tools.

Larrabees offered Ike Walton fishing boots for $6.95 in March 1937 as more than a thousand hunters and fishermen attended the annual Sportsmens Show in Amsterdam.

In the 1950s, Larrabees sold toys, especially at Christmas, including Lionel and American Flyer model trains. Each brand installed a model train layout in the store. A 1958 ad offered an American Flyer guided missile train for $33.88 that could fire toy rockets.

According to history scout Emil Suda, former Larrabees owner Tom Leavenworth and his assistant Nick Canale would travel to the New York City Toy Fair each March to decide what products to stock at the popular Amsterdam store.

Bob Cudmore is a freelance columnist. Opinions expressed in his column are his own and not necessarily the newspapers. Anyone with a suggestion for a Focus on History topic may contact him at 346-6657 or bobcudmore@yahoo.com">.

CHASE,
WHAT WAS THE DATE OF JOHN E. LARRABEE CO. INC. AD?
IT HAS NEW SHAKESPEARE ALL-PURPOSE FISHING REELS & ROD, USED OUTBOARD BOAT MOTORS IN IT'S ADS.
MAYBE JOHN E. LARRABEE HARDWARE STORE WAS AN MERCURY OUTBOARD MOTOR DEALERSHIP AND SELLING CARL KIEKHAEFER'S MERCURY OUTBOARD BOAT MOTORS.
===================================================================
THE TROPHY AND AN ACCOMPANYING KISS WILL BE PRESENTED BY PRETTY MISS JANA LARUE OF MEMPHIS,TENN., MISS MERC-ELECTRIC OF 1955.

MAYBE MISS JANA LARUE OF MEMPHIS,TENN., MISS MERC-ELECTRIC OF 1955. WORKED FOR CARL KIEKHAEFER AS AN TROPHY QUEEN TO ADVERTISED THE 1955 Hurricane Merc Electric 18hp MERCURY OUTBOARD BOAT MOTOR FOR FISHING BOATS.

1955 Hurricane Merc Electric 18hp (877979 thru 906751)
http://store.oldmercs.com/category_s/135.htm

===================================================================
IN THE BOOK "TIM FLOCK RACE DRIVER BY LARRY FIELDEN", ON PAGE 139 IS AN ARTICLE ON TIM FLOCK'S 1955 RACING SEASON.
IT APPEARS THAT RACE DRIVER TIM FLOCK HAD USED OF CARL KIEKHAEFER'S MERCURY OUTBOARD MOTOR COMPANY RACE CARS, MERCURY OUTBOARD RACE CAR HAULERS, MERCURY OUTBOARD MOTOR COMPANY AIRPLANE, AND MERCURY OUTBOARD MOTOR COMPANY MONEY.
WITHIN MINUTES AFTER THE HICKORY,NORTH CAROLINA RACE, TIM WAS IN KIEKHAEFER'S PLANE ON HIS WAY TO PHOENIX.
LEE PETTY COMPLAINED TO CARL KIEKHAEFER FOR UNFAIR COMPETITION. HE TOLD MR. K. THAT IT WAS UNFAIR FOR TIM TO BE ABLE TO RUN ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, WHEN HE COULDN'T GET THERE.

KIEKHAEFER TOLD LEE THAT IF THE SAME SITUATION AROSE, HE COULD GO ALONG ON THE MERCURY OUTBOARD PLANE.

THAT WAY THERE COULD BE NO COMPLAINTS.
===================================================================
MAYBE CARL KIEKHAEFER SPONSOR OR INVENTED The John E. Larrabee TROPHY, June 18, 1955 RACE TO HELPED TIM FLOCK WITH THE RACE POINTS TO OVERTAKE LEE PETTY'S NASCAR CHAMP POINT LEAD.
WAS THERE AN The John E. Larrabee TROPHY RACE IN June 1954 OR JUNE 1956 ?
===================================================================