If you were to ask anyone where they spent Labor
Day a year ago, or even 5 years ago, most people would be hard pressed to
remember. For me however, I can vividly recall exactly where I was 50 years
ago this past week-end. The events of that Sunday afternoon in Dayton, Ohio
are forever seared into my memory. This article is dedicated to the
brave and talented drivers who participated in the 1950's AAA Midwest Sprint Car
Championships, many of whom lost their lives.
Frank Funk's
Track Record
Winchester Speedway
Sometime around 1919 the track was built. By 1924 it
became known as "Funk's Lake Speedway". Around 1937 it
became known as Funk's Motor Speedway. Sometime in the
late '30's or early '40's it became the either Funk's
Winchester Speedway or Winchester Speedway. Ft. Wayne Speedway Sometime in the late 1930's Funk
operated , promoted or leased the track. Jungle Park Sometime in the late 1930's Funk
operated , promoted or leased the track. Dayton Speedway Sometime in the late 1930's Frank
Funk "remodeled" the track from it's original 5/8's
configuration to a half mile. Actually, it was 210 feet
longer than a half mile. He was, for a time, actively
involved in it's race promotions. Salem Speedway He was consulted by Messrs.
Summers and Roberts prior to construction by them.
Back then, Labor Day week-end always provided ample opportunities for promoters to
stage racing events. This was the last week end before the start of the
school year. And in 1952 the AAA National Championship "Trail" would make a
Saturday stop in Detroit on the one mile dirt oval at the Michigan State
Fairgrounds and then on Labor Day Monday return to the Duquoin State Fair
for the annual 100 mile "Ted Horn Memorial ". On Sunday afternoon, the AAA
Midwest Sprint Car set would run their annual "Dayton 100" on the
treacherous "high banks" of the Dayton Speedway for 100 laps of non-stop,
heart pounding and mind altering terror on a track built by Frank Funk, who
also built Winchester Speedway, America's first dirt track, which along with
The Milwaukee Mile and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, remain the oldest
speedways in America still in operation today.
These were the days before "Corporate America" discovered auto racing. The
days before drivers contracts and retainers; the days before NASCAR's
Marketing/Manipulation infected the purity of the sport. It was a time when
the AAA "National Championship" consisted of one mile dirt tracks and the
Indianapolis 500. It was a time when the "Road To Indy" wound its way
through the daunting half mile "High Banks" of Dayton, Ohio and Winchester
and Salem, Indiana. They were called "The Hills". In contrast to the
pastoral setting of Winchester's flat farm lands, and Salem's undulating
southern Indiana hill country, the Dayton Speedway was located on Germantown
Road in the more mixed use industrial section of Dayton's southwest side.
That was not the only difference. Dayton was 210 feet longer than a half
mile and, along with its 30-degree banked turns, made it even faster.
The Saturday race in Detroit was run in oppressive heat that made for a
hard, slick surface with huge potholes and ruts. There were 33 entries for
the 18 starting positions. Bill Vukovich won the race before a crowd of
9,582 fans and collected the winner's share of $2,400 from the total purse
of $9,600. Duane Carter, who was credited with 7th place, was involved in a
serious accident and suffered a broken jaw and shoulder.
In contrast to the 33 entrants at Detroit, the following day saw a mere 19
entrants for the "Dayton 100",which was billed in the program as the
"World's Richest Purse for Sprint Cars". Only the bravest of the brave made
the overnight trek from Detroit to Dayton. Included were Jim Rigsby, Mike
Nazaruk, Joe James, Bob Sweikert and Bob Scott. Nazaruk and James were
definitely "Stars" of the circuit. The event also featured past greats and
local Dayton heroes like Travis "Spider" Webb and Carlyle "Duke" Dinsmore. Star driver and fan favorite, as well as track record holder Jimmy Daywalt,
Gene Force and midget ace Leroy Warriner were also there in addition to up
and comers like Pat O'Conner and Eddie Sachs.
Troy Ruttman, the 1951 Midwest
Sprint Car Champion and winner of the 1951 "Dayton 100" was not there
because of serious injuries sustained two weeks earlier at Hawkeye Downs in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ruttman, 1952 Indianapolis 500 winner, and Carter had been the "Senna and Prost" of the Midwest circuit from
1949 through 1951. Other drivers that day included, 1950 Indianapolis 500
veteran Jackie Holmes, Red Bales, Red Renner, G. Falor, Bob Denny and Paul
Howe.
Rigsby at Winchester in June 1952, months before his
death.
This was my very first AAA sprint car race. I was 9-years old. My parents
allowed me to travel with a close family friend and neighbor. We boarded a
Greyhound Bus in Indianapolis after midnight and arrived at the Dayton bus
terminal early Sunday morning. From there we took a taxicab to the track. To say
that I was excited was an understatement. I was going to see my heroes race
at the famous (or infamous) Dayton Speedway in one of the biggest races of
the year.
When we arrived at the track, the cars were already running warm-up laps and
I could barely contain my excitement and enthusiasm. The track was very
intimidating to say the least. It was very rough and bumpy with 30 degree
high banked turns that had a sheer drop-off outside the retaining walls; it
also had only a single-tiered wooden guard rail, less than two feet high, to
contain the careening cars; the old covered grandstand and the billboards
along the outside backstretch made for an eerie and foreboding venue.
The atmosphere was "electric." It almost seemed like a traveling circus or
carnival. Simply stated, it had that air of anticipation where sudden and
fortuitous things could occur at any second. After all, in the opening event
of the 1952 AAA Midwest sprint car season held at Dayton on April 20th,
Gordon Reid had the misfortune of losing control of his car coming out of
the 4th turn and catapulting into the north edge of the spectator
grandstand. It was a grisly affair costing both Reid and 3 spectators their
lives.
As the drivers took their warm-up laps and time trials, my anxiety and
excitement did not abate. I simply crossed my fingers, held my breath and
prayed. Despite a few baubles with the cars trying to maintain traction
while slithering around those high banks, qualifications and the heat races
went off without incident as had the prior two events on June 1st and July
6th. I was starting to gain some composure.
The safety of tracks, cars and equipment was not a major issue. Tracks and
drivers did what they felt necessary. Sprint cars were considered a
hazardous activity. Beside the single tier guard rail, the cars did not only
lack "Roll cages" they didn't even have "Roll Bars". You knew that the
slightest mistake could have devastating consequences. The track record set
in May of 1951 by Jimmy Daywalt was 19.808 (98.09 MPH). Considering that the
1952 Indianapolis qualifying mark was 138 MPH, set by Freddie Agabashian's
Cummins Diesel, the Dayton track was very, very fast. That's why the
Indianapolis car owners believed that if a driver could master Dayton's high
banks, he could surely handle the speeds at the Speedway.
13,000 people packed the stands for the start of the race on August 31st
with Gene Force taking pole position with a time of 20.405. Alongside in
the front row was Jim Rigsby in the Dale Estes Spl.# 37 (owned by his father
Bob Estes - see related article, "Remembering
Bob Estes"). Joe James and Mike Nazaruk were in the second row. My memory
today is a series of images and
flashbacks because at that time my heart was pounding and my nerves were standing on end.
The start of the race was a blur of speed and noise...the fury, the
chaos...the bravado! It was indescribable. Somehow they made it through the
first turn...the first lap, the drivers got a little more breathing room.
Rigsby hooks Force's wheel, the car digs in (top
photo) and goes airborne (bottom photo) like nothing I
ever saw before or since.
Then IT happened! During the 5th lap, the leader Gene Force got "loose"
going into the third turn. Jim Rigsby, following closely, dove to the inside
to attempt a pass for the lead. Rigsby's right front wheel climbed over
Force's left front wheel which unsettled Rigsby's car. It bounded left, then
righted itself. In the process, the underpan hit the foot throttle and bent
it, causing the engine to race wide-open.
In a split second, to the stunned horror and disbelief of the amassed
crowd, the car abruptly shot up the 3rd turn banking and like an airplane on
take-off, sailed over the single-tiered guard rail by 20 feet and landed in
a cabbage patch some 200 feet from the track. Then came the tell-tale plume
of black smoke that signaled the hushed crowd of the obvious. The crowd's
collective sigh was now interspersed with mumbled inaudible gasps. There was
nothing to say. I gathered up what was left of my 9-year-old emotional
defense mechanisms and went into denial over what I had just seen. But I
knew that no one could possibly survive that accident. The law of physics
would prevail.
After the race, which was won by "Iron Mike" Nazaruk, we went down to the
pit area. I saw Jimmy Daywalt and got his autograph. Daywalt, unlike Rigsby
who was groomed on the California dirt tracks under the auspices of the
California Roadster Association (C.R.A. as were many west coast drivers of
his time) was weaned on the Midwest high banked asphalt. Daywalt had a soft
spoken, quiet reserve about him. Many women considered him a heart throb
because of his baby face good looks. On
this late afternoon, I saw a very reflective, contemplative and far off gaze
in his eyes.
When we reached the bus terminal that evening, no amount of my self denial
could change the news on Dayton's WLW-D TV news. Rigsby, the 28 year old
commercial lobster fisherman from Lennox, California had lost his life in
the crash.
The Greyhound Bus trip home for me was subdued and painfully sad. I had seen
the dark side of the sport that I loved. The next morning's Indianapolis
Star erased any of my remaining self denial." Jim Rigsby, Speedway Racer,
Killed in Ohio". The article did not even mention that Mike Nazaruk had won
the race. However, it did bring forth some strange and cruel ironies. Rigsby
had been the slowest of the 33 qualifiers for the 1952 "500". The 32nd
slowest qualifier, Johnny McDowell had been killed in a practice crash for
the June 8th "Rex Mays Classic" held at The Milwaukee Mile. Ironically,
The Milwaukee Mile track was paved for the first time with a layer of crushed
limestone topped with bituminous concrete in 1954. Surprisingly, however,
the track record of 102.13 MPH, set by Jim Rigsby on that June 8th, 1952 day
on dirt,
stood until June 7, 1959, five years after the track was paved. Johnny
Thompson broke the record on that day with a lap of 34.775 seconds, an
average speed of 103.521 MPH.
It further pointed out that on June 29, 1951,
the slowest three qualifiers for the 1951 "500" had all been killed
on the
infamous "Black Sunday." Cecil Green and Bill Mackey in successive
qualifying accidents at the Winchester Speedway, and Walt Brown at the
Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania.
I had just experienced my own Black Sunday and I would soon learn that
racing, as well as life, goes on. It was Monday September 1, 1952 and the
"Championship Trail" had to make their date at the Duquoin State Fair for
the annual "Ted Horn Memorial". The fans were awaiting their heroes. Chuck
Stevenson won the race on his way to the 1952 AAA National Championship. He
would retire in later years. Mike Nazaruk, Joe James , Pat O'Conner, Bob
Sweikert and Bob Scott made the overnight trip from Dayton. Oh yes, Bill
Vukovich, Jack McGrath, Bobby Ball, Bill Schindler, Manuel Ayulo and Jimmy
Reece also participated at Duquoin that day, but not Jim Rigsby.
The 1950's have often been described as a time of innocence in America. But
in racing, it was a dangerous and sometimes cruel period in the history of
our sport. Sadly all of the drivers (listed in the paragraph above) lost
their lives in racing accidents.
There are a few select drivers like Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford,
Gordon Johncock, Parnelli Jones, AJ Foyt and Steve Chassey, who raced at
Dayton during the 1960's and 70's with USAC and are still alive to talk
about it. If you ever have a chance, stop and ask them
what Dayton Speedway was like. There was nothing like it prior to its
construction, and nothing like it since. The track closed years ago,
and today has been converted into a dump site, but it still remains hallowed
ground and a field of dreams and memories
of the brave and talented drivers who participated in the 1950's AAA Midwest Sprint
Car Championships.
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