@jack-walker10 years ago
I need some help finding the home towns of several of these drivers. If you know any of the missing towns , please leave a reply below.
@dave-fulton10 years ago
5th place DONNIE CAMPBELL is from Greensboro, NC . I saw him win some races at 311 Speedway, Madison/Mayodan, NC back in late 70s/early 80s. 22nd place TOMMY BAR E is from Rockbridge Baths, Virginia . He was a big winner at the track run by Rick Mast's father, Natural Bridge Speedway in Virginia. He is the father of racer Booper Bare and grandfather of racer Tyler Bare . 4th place NATHAN WRIGHT , a 3-time Chantilly Speedway champion (and the points leader when track closed in 1974) , was known as one of the "Four Horsemen" along with RR member Joe Dean Huss , Earl Arnold and Monk Clary. I know that Wright got his racing start, along with Huss, at Virginia's Brunswick Speedway. Don't know his hometown, but member, Joe Huss probably would.
@dave-fulton10 years ago
August 1992 By CHARLIE HALL - EditorBRINKLEYVILLE, NC -Joe Huss has been racing for 30 years, getting his start in an unusual way at the old Brunswick Speedway in southern Virginia. "Some local people built cars for a figure eight track and I asked everyone to let me drive one," he recalls. "One guy had a girl who was going to drive, but she backed out. I tried the helmet on. It fit, and they put me in the car." Huss, who worked in a paper mill and taught school for a time before opening his own shop, then began a racing career that has seen him race at 45 tracks in 17 states, as well as in Nova Scotia, Canada. He ran the small tracks and the big ones two, running in the old NASCAR Grand American Series in the earlier 70s, where he was runnerup for rookie of the year honors. Some of his fond memories of that era included leading at Jacksonville, Florida with four laps to go in a Grand American race, only to run out of gas and finish second to the late Tiny Lund. A better memory is finishing second to Jim Paschall at Raleigh Fairgrounds, making up three laps on the field, under green. At Dover, Delaware once, Tiny Lund's car crashed and burst into flames. Huss and a fireman pulled him from the car, but adds "we broke his ankle in the process." Huss' shop handles a little bit of everything, from race car chassis, engines, `48 Fords and even Mercedes. "We're scared to turn anything down," he laughed. In racing, he's always been his own car and engine builder, as well as sponsor. "A shoestring budget would have been high dollar," he said, again somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Still, the fact remains, he's won more than 300 feature events. He doesn't solicit sponsors, but does have plenty of friends and neighbors helping out, such as Gene Patterson, Randy Patterson, Randy Patterson Jr., Terry Strickland, "Popcorn" Burgess, Kenny Simmons, Jerry King and Jimmy King. As to when he might retire, he said that would come when he doesn't have fun anymore. "Right now, though," he says, "I'm just about as enthused as I was when I started."
@dave-fulton10 years ago
Charlie Hall - EditorAugust 1992Brinkleyville, NCNathan Wright has been racing 22 years and also got his start at Brunswick Speedway. He used to help out others, even though he was around 20 years old, because his mother didn't want him to drive. "I was taught in the old school. I respected momma and daddy," he says. "I still do. One is 80 and the other is 78." He says he's had "the best luck in the world to be a low buck racer." He won championships at Chantilly Raceway in Weldon, NC three times and was on his way to a fourth before it closed at midseason in the late 1970's. A special memory was starting on the outside pole from a field of 143 cars and winning the race from a field of 30 racers from 13 states in the old World Series of Dirt Track Racing at Saluda, Va. He was instrumental in getting the Late Model class started at Champion Raceway, bringing his car down to the track one night a couple of seasons back to run a few laps for show. The next week, a cousin brought his Late Model and the pair created some interest, leading to a division. He's never run asphalt. He thought about it a couple of seasons back, but looked at the fact his three engines and car were made for dirt. "I decided I've got what I've got and to stick with it." A couple of seasons back he turned the reigns of his Late Model over to his son Kent. It was the only car he had to lend and his son did well, winning four races in each of the two seasons he drove. Wright, in the meantime, kept busy, driving a Street Stock for a friend of his, winning 13 races. One thing he prides himself in is that he's never blown an engine, quite an accomplishment for 22 years. "I did blow one for someone else," he recalls. "I was driving their car, came into the pits and told them the oil pressure was low. They told me to keep driving." When asked how long he'll drive, he tells a story on Joe Huss. "Joe said he was going to win a championship at 65. I said "you're going to have to outrun me to do it." Like Huss, he has some close friends and neighbors who help out with the car and are considered crew. There are friends like Mike Evans, Leonard Clary, Darryl Clark, Frank Wright and his engine builder of 20 years, Tom Clary. Clary is retired now, but according to Wright, "he still sits in the chair and tells us what to do." Then, their are father and son neighbors William and Edward Wright. "When I've had to be at work, they've put an engine in for me, more than once." Now, that's neighbors.
@jack-walker10 years ago
Excellent Dave - Keep the hometowns coming !!! lol
I need some help finding the home towns of several of these drivers. If you know any of the missing towns , please leave a reply below.
5th place DONNIE CAMPBELL is from Greensboro, NC . I saw him win some races at 311 Speedway, Madison/Mayodan, NC back in late 70s/early 80s. 22nd place TOMMY BAR E is from Rockbridge Baths, Virginia . He was a big winner at the track run by Rick Mast's father, Natural Bridge Speedway in Virginia. He is the father of racer Booper Bare and grandfather of racer Tyler Bare . 4th place NATHAN WRIGHT , a 3-time Chantilly Speedway champion (and the points leader when track closed in 1974) , was known as one of the "Four Horsemen" along with RR member Joe Dean Huss , Earl Arnold and Monk Clary.
August 1992
By CHARLIE HALL - EditorBRINKLEYVILLE, NC -Joe Huss has been racing for 30 years, getting his start in an unusual way at the old Brunswick Speedway in southern Virginia. "Some local people built cars for a figure eight track and I asked everyone to let me drive one," he recalls. "One guy had a girl who was going to drive, but she backed out. I tried the helmet on. It fit, and they put me in the car." Huss, who worked in a paper mill and taught school for a time before opening his own shop, then began a racing career that has seen him race at 45 tracks in 17 states, as well as in Nova Scotia, Canada. He ran the small tracks and the big ones two, running in the old NASCAR Grand American Series in the earlier 70s, where he was runnerup for rookie of the year honors. Some of his fond memories of that era included leading at Jacksonville, Florida with four laps to go in a Grand American race, only to run out of gas and finish second to the late Tiny Lund. A better memory is finishing second to Jim Paschall at Raleigh Fairgrounds, making up three laps on the field, under green. At Dover, Delaware once, Tiny Lund's car crashed and burst into flames. Huss and a fireman pulled him from the car, but adds "we broke his ankle in the process." Huss' shop handles a little bit of everything, from race car chassis, engines, `48 Fords and even Mercedes. "We're scared to turn anything down," he laughed. In racing, he's always been his own car and engine builder, as well as sponsor. "A shoestring budget would have been high dollar," he said, again somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Still, the fact remains, he's won more than 300 feature events. He doesn't solicit sponsors, but does have plenty of friends and neighbors helping out, such as Gene Patterson, Randy Patterson, Randy Patterson Jr., Terry Strickland, "Popcorn" Burgess, Kenny Simmons, Jerry King and Jimmy King. As to when he might retire, he said that would come when he doesn't have fun anymore. "Right now, though," he says, "I'm just about as enthused as I was when I started."
Charlie Hall - EditorAugust 1992Brinkleyville, NCNathan Wright has been racing 22 years and also got his start at Brunswick Speedway. He used to help out others, even though he was around 20 years old, because his mother didn't want him to drive. "I was taught in the old school. I respected momma and daddy," he says. "I still do. One is 80 and the other is 78." He says he's had "the best luck in the world to be a low buck racer." He won championships at Chantilly Raceway in Weldon, NC three times and was on his way to a fourth before it closed at midseason in the late 1970's. A special memory was starting on the outside pole from a field of 143 cars and winning the race from a field of 30 racers from 13 states in the old World Series of Dirt Track Racing at Saluda, Va. He was instrumental in getting the Late Model class started at Champion Raceway, bringing his car down to the track one night a couple of seasons back to run a few laps for show. The next week, a cousin brought his Late Model and the pair created some interest, leading to a division. He's never run asphalt. He thought about it a couple of seasons back, but looked at the fact his three engines and car were made for dirt. "I decided I've got what I've got and to stick with it." A couple of seasons back he turned the reigns of his Late Model over to his son Kent. It was the only car he had to lend and his son did well, winning four races in each of the two seasons he drove. Wright, in the meantime, kept busy, driving a Street Stock for a friend of his, winning 13 races. One thing he prides himself in is that he's never blown an engine, quite an accomplishment for 22 years. "I did blow one for someone else," he recalls. "I was driving their car, came into the pits and told them the oil pressure was low. They told me to keep driving." When asked how long he'll drive, he tells a story on Joe Huss. "Joe said he was going to win a championship at 65. I said "you're going to have to outrun me to do it." Like Huss, he has some close friends and neighbors who help out with the car and are considered crew. There are friends like Mike Evans, Leonard Clary, Darryl Clark, Frank Wright and his engine builder of 20 years, Tom Clary. Clary is retired now, but according to Wright, "he still sits in the chair and tells us what to do." Then, their are father and son neighbors William and Edward Wright. "When I've had to be at work, they've put an engine in for me, more than once." Now, that's neighbors.
Excellent Dave - Keep the hometowns coming !!! lol