December 27, 1985 - Sad NASCAR News
Stock Car Racing History
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
December 27, 1985 - Sad NASCAR News
Stock Car Racing History
Lots of old Rhodes Brother photos on the Facebook page maintained by one of John's sons:
December 27, 1985 - Sad NASCAR News
Stock Car Racing History
The article below ran in the Miami paper when Eddie Rhodes passed:
Eddie Rhodes, member of singing group, dies
By Theo Karantsalis
For The Miami Herald
Eddie Rhodes and his brothers started out singing Christmas carols to family and friends. The Fabulous Rhodes Brothers Ruey, Johnny, Tommy and Eddie would go on to perform on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Eddie Rhodes died Nov. 1 his 66th birthday following surgery for cancer.
They have something special, something different, Carson said as he introduced The Fabulous Rhodes Brothers in 1969. They have an electricity about them that literally turns the audience on.
A lot of this electricity came from Eddie, the youngest brother, and perhaps the most playful. He was known for sporting a watermelon grin while poking fun at his brothers on stage and picking up the tempo by pumping his arms and shuffling his feet.
My father knew how to pull the audience into the show, said Bobby Rhodes. When you left, you felt like you were part of it.
The brothers were known for their silky smooth three-part harmony and slapstick comedy on stage.
While wearing matching suits and waving their banjoes and trumpets, one of the brothers would begin picking on another usually Eddie or Ruey and the others would jump in.
Aside from singing, and without ever taking music lessons, Eddie Rhodes learned to dance and play the banjo, guitar, trumpet, trombone and drums. Though he finished middle school, he never went on to high school.
He learned everything through life lessons, said Bobby Rhodes.
The Fabulous Rhodes Brothers spent the early 1960s playing hotels and casinos across the country.
Their big break came in 1968 at the Crossway Inn in Miami.
One audience member really liked watching four guys sing and dance while holding banjos, said Johnny Rhodes, 70, of Daytona Beach, the second-oldest. His name was Roger Ailes and he signed us up the Mike Douglas Show.
Ailes is currently the president of Fox News Channel.
Mike Douglas called them the singing Kennedys because they closely resembled the Kennedy brothers. He also pointed fun at the fact that there was an 18-year age difference between Ruey, the oldest, and Eddie.
Douglas once joined the foursome on stage dressed in matching straw hats and canes to sing and dance a Vaudeville performance of Cabaret.
The brothers appeared a total of 21 times on the Mike Douglas Show.
In 1971, the brothers were booked by the Ed Sullivan Show, but just a week before they were scheduled to go on air, the long-time show was cancelled.
The brothers continued to travel the country, but returned to South Florida where they sang cover songs like Sonny, Broadway and The Impossible Dream at local hotels.
By 1972, they set up their own show club at the Miami Merchandise Mart, in what is now Doral, and entertained special guests that included Tom Jones, Milton Berle and Art Carney.
Eddie liked to mingle with guests after shows, many of whom later became his friends. Among them, Tom Curtis, publisher of the Miami Springs-based River Cities Gazette.
Curtis formed an instant bond with Rhodes when they first met at after a show in the 70s. Until recently, the two often met to play golf at the Miami Springs Country Club where Rhodes was a staple performer. Afterward, they would head over to Stadnicks historic pharmacy on the towns circle for lunch.
Eddie wasnt very good at math, Curtis recalled. He would leave a $5 tip on a $10 tab.
Ever the showman, even Rhodes funeral Saturday at Miami Springs Grace Lutheran Church was a performance.
Excuse me, I just got a call from heaven, said Johnny Rhodes, as he eulogized his brother. Its Eddie and he wants us all to sing My Ding-a-Ling.
Johnny Rhodes then called on the hundreds of mourners to split into two groups and form a chorus.
When it was over, after a long pause, the Rev. David E. Imhoff searched for the right words to end the service and restore order.
Eddie was a rascal, the minister said. God loves rascals.
The Chuck Berry novelty song, Imhoff added, was a metaphor for the way Eddie Rhodes lived his life: he entertained while pushing some boundaries along the way.
In addition to his son Bobby and brother Johnny, Rhodes is survived by wife Karen Rhodes; sons Eddie and Ricky Rhodes and daughter Stacy Lynn Duncan.
Brothers Tommy and Ruey predeceased him.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/06/3084997/eddie-rhodes-member-of-singing.html#storylink=cpy
December 27, 1985 - Sad NASCAR News
Stock Car Racing History
The December 27, 1980 Daytona paper featured a "Soldout" ad for the New Year's Eve Party at the Showboat in Port Orange - right at the end of the Port Orange bridge. That venue in less than two months would be the site of my first ever Wrangler Racing party on Thursday night of 1981 SpeedWeeks. The party was hosted by the Showboat operators John and Eddie Rhodes of the fabulous Rhodes Brothers Revue. In the ad that's John's caricicuture on the left and Eddie's on the right. Eddie passed last year in Miami Springs and John is the last survivor of the four performing brothers. His son, J.R. is partnered with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the Whisky River nightclub chain and for many years was the lead publicist for Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
Bill France, Sr. always requested we reserve tables near the stage for he and the Daytona Beach City Council at our Wrangler / Rhodes Brothers SpeedWeeks party. We also took the Rhodes brothers to Talladega and Darlington to entertain. The owner of the Thunderbird lounge in Florence booked them for a long running gig in his showroom on I-95 one year.
Sure do miss those guys. They were awesome. The late Eddie Rhodes' son at one time headed up racing operations for CITGO.
December 27, 1985 - Sad NASCAR News
Stock Car Racing History
The December 27, 1985 edition of the Daytona Beach Morning Journal carried the sad news of the passing of part time racer, Dr. Charles Ogle, a Knoxville, Tennessee businessman whose only career NASCAR DASH Series victory came at my hometown Southside Speedway in Richmond. Ogle succumbed to injuries in a crash of his DASH car during Daytona testing.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
2014 FASTRAK World Dirt Championship Moves to Virginia Motor Speedway - $20,000 to Win - $50,000 Total Possible to Winner
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
I thought immediately of your new project, Johnny, when I saw that release. That track of Bill's just looks like it needs some vintage modifieds! Here's a little on-track action at Virginia Motor Speedway:
2014 FASTRAK World Dirt Championship Moves to Virginia Motor Speedway - $20,000 to Win - $50,000 Total Possible to Winner
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
The FASTRAK Northeast Regional Race-Off will be contested at Tyler County Speedway, above, in Middlebourne, WV on September 18 20, 2014
2014 FASTRAK World Dirt Championship Moves to Virginia Motor Speedway - $20,000 to Win - $50,000 Total Possible to Winner
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
Just saw a joint Christmas Eve news release that the 2014 FASTRAK Racing Series Dirt World Championship will be held in 2014 at old friend, Bill Sawyer's Virginia Motor Speedway.
$20,000 TO WIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HELD AT VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN OCTOBER 2014!!
$20,000 TO WIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HELD AT VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN OCTOBER 2014!!
December 24th, 2013 Jamaica, VA Officials of both Virginia Motor Speedway and FASTRAK Racing Series are proud to announce that Virginia Motor Speedway will host the 2014 $20,000 to win FASTRAK World Championships III on October 2 4, 2014.
The success of the FASTRAK Racing engine rules package was the main reason we have introduced the Pro Late Model division to our weekly line-up and we are excited to bring the divisions marquee event to our facility for 2014, commented track owner Bill Sawyer.
Sawyer added, Adding this event should also help in growing our new Aarons Pro Late Model division and offer our competitors a chance to compete for a large paycheck at the end of the season.
This years FASTRAK World Championships will have a new and improved format that will include a $10,000 to win FASTRAK Northeast Regional Race-Off as well as a $10,000 to win FASTRAK Southeast Regional Race-Off before heading to Virginia Motor Speedway for the final $20,000 World Championship event. Should someone win all three events that person will pocket an additional $10,000 bonus, making it a $50,000 total payday. All three events will be paid each night of the World Championships.
It has already been announced that the Northeast Regional Race-Off will be contested at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV on September 18 20, 2014. A venue and date for the Southeast Regional Race-Off will be announced in the next few weeks.
This Championship deserves a venue like Virginia Motor Speedway; it is second to none of any venue in the United States. We look forward to working with Bill Sawyer and his crew because we know that they are well equipped to handle an event of this size and magnitude, stated FASTRAK CEO / Founder Stan Lester
For more information on the 2014 World Championships contact Stan Lester at the FASTRAK Corporate Office at (678) 935-7304 or Brian Haynes at (706) 340-4781.
For more information on the $20,000 to win FASTRAK World Championships III at Virginia Motor Speedway call (804) 758-1867 or visit www.vamotorspeedway.com .
Bill Sawyers Virginia Motor Speedway, an ASA Member Track, is a mile dirt oval track is located on U.S. Route 17, eight miles north of Saluda, VA and 25 miles south of Tappahannock, VA in Jamaica, VA. The speedway is just a short drive from Richmond, Fredericksburg, Southern Maryland and the Hampton Roads area. To learn more about Bill Sawyers Virginia Motor Speedway fans may call the Speedway office at (804) 758-1VMS or visit the tracks web site at www.vamotorspeedway.com .
2014 is certainly going to be BIGGER and more EXCITING than the 2013 race season. Thats all we can say for now but theres a lot of things into works even before the end of the year. We would like to extend a special thank you to all the FASTRAK drivers, teams, track promoters, sponsors, contingencies and most of all the fans for supporting the Nations First, Premier and Most Prestigious Pro Late Models Series in the Country FASTRAK Racing Series.
Stay tuned to www.fastrakracing.com and/or www.fastrakne.com as well as the FASTRAK Racing Series Fan Page on Facebook and/or follow @FASTRAK_Racing on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.
FASTRAK Companies International would like to thank all of its marketing partners for their great and continuing support. Those 2013 FASTRAK sponsors include: Hoosier Race Tires, VP Racing Fuel, City Chevrolet, Chevrolet Performance, Arizona Sports Shirts, TNT Race Cars, Rocket Chassis, High Velocity Heads and RockAuto.com to our line-up of product sponsors. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the Premier Pro Late Model Series in the Country please contact Stan Lester at the FASTRAK Corporate Office at (678) 935-7304 or Brian Haynes at (706) 340-4781.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:09:31PM
Racing History Minute
Stock Car Racing History
Tim, you've done a tremendous job with the History Minutes. Really look forward to your upcoming Riverside posts.