The history of auto racing in Haskell Texas

 

The history of auto racing in Haskell Texas

In the nineteen twenties, cotton farming was the major industry in the central Texas county of Haskell, named in honor of the Texas Revolution hero Charles Ready Haskell who died at the Alamo.       

Haskell County held fairs intermittently at various locations within the county, but that all changed in 1924. On May 22 1924, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published news from the city of Haskell, the county seat, that on that very morning, 25 men began construction of permanent buildings and a race track with a 4000-seat grandstand on 68 acres near the city’s business district recently purchased by the Haskell County Fair Association.

The finished 5/8-mile oval dirt race track featured 6-to-1 sloped turns (9.5% banking) “to hold the swiftly moving cars safe on their course,” according to an August 1924 article in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram.

The Haskell County Fair opened its three-day run at the new location on Thursday October 2 1924, with American Automobile Association (AAA) sanctioned automobile races set for Friday.  Before the scheduled event at Haskell, the AAA racers appeared in Abilene Texas on September 26^th, Amarillo on September 27^th and Wichita Falls on September 29^th.  The Fort Worth Record-Telegram newspaper listed drivers Phil “Red” Schafer “well-known auto ace,” and Dick Calhoun from Cleveland Oklahoma as entries for the Texas swing promoted by oil transport magnate D. H. Jeffries, the AAA area representative.  

Three accidents marred the September 26^th West Texas Fair race at Abilene, one of which killed a spectator. During the day’s fourth race, a wheel came off Lee Bammel’s machine, “hopped over the fence,” as described in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram report and struck farmer T. W. “Tom” Carlisle who stood on the running board of his father-in-law’s car watching the races.  Carlisle, 28 years old and married with three children, died later at the West Texas Baptist Sanitarium in Abilene from a fractured skull. 

“Red” Shafer, the July Abilene race winner, won the first 10-mile race in his Duesenberg after early leader Dick Calhoun’s ‘Cresswell Special’ broke a connecting rod and retired for the day.  Shafer, a native of Des Moines who lived in Fort Worth, won the day’s featured event, the fifteen-mile handicap race over Harry Milburn. Shafer took the lead during the eleventh mile after he overcame the one-minute starting handicap.   

Before the races on October 3, officials treated the new Haskell track surface with a reported 360 barrels of crude oil (over 15,000 gallons) to prevent dust. The afternoon program, attended by 5,000 fans, boasted seven races and a total purse of $1,100 but a sparse field of cars  Notably absent was the highly advertised “Red” Shafer and his Duesenberg racer as he raced that day in the inaugural AAA “Raisin Day Classic“ National Championship race on the 1-mile board track in Fresno California.  

Calhoun’s troubles continued at Haskell, as his car caught fire during a practice run before time trials, but with the fire extinguished and repairs effected, the ‘Cresswell Special’ set quick time as Calhoun completed two laps in 77 seconds (58 miles per hour) and won the silver loving cup.  

J. E. Larrick of Wichita Falls won the first five-mile race for the eight fastest qualifiers, then Calhoun won the ten-mile race. During the non-qualifiers race, the right rear wheel of H.V. Link’s machine collapsed and he “came perilously near to ending in a junk heap,” according to the Fort Worth Record-Telegram report.  In the day’s featured fifteen-mile handicap race, Calhoun edged Jimmie Reeder’s Chrysler Special and German emigre Johnny Mais in his “16-valve” Dodge. For his day’s work at Haskell, Calhoun won $375.

1925

Nearly a year passed before the AAA racers returned to Haskell County. On September 25, 1925 D. H. Jeffries announced that “Red” Shafer, Ralph DePalma, Frank Lockhart and Dick Calhoun were among the twenty-five drivers entered the October 2nd races.  Shafer and Calhoun were well-known to Texas race fans, as well as DePalma, the 1915 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, while young Frank Lockhart, a relative unknown, had experienced some success behind the wheel of Harry Miller’s 183-cubic inch dirt car.

The Haskell County Fair opened its three-day run on Thursday October 1, with the races held on Friday afternoon. Among the honored guests at the races were R.Q, Lee of the West Texas Chamber of Commerce accompanied by his wife and Hardy Grissom the president of the Haskell County Fair Association.

In time trials, five drivers broke Calhoun’s year-old track record of 77 seconds, led by John Gerber (misidentified as “Goerber” and “Garber” by some sources). Gerber completed his two qualifying laps in 72 seconds with an average speed of 62 miles per hour (MPH) while Calhoun could not defend his record as his car experienced engine trouble. 

Gerber, the original ‘outlaw’ racer from Meriden Kansas, won the day’s first 10-mile race for the eight fastest qualifiers in his Chevrolet-powered “bobtail” over Shafer, then George Souders won the second race and Harry Milburn won the day’s third race, each of which were 5 miles in length. W. R Hayes won the day’s third five-mile race, then he captured the day’s featured 15-mile event and its $250 purse. J.E. Larrick finished second and George Souders (misidentified as “Souder” in some reports) originally from Lafayette Indiana but then living Abilene finished in third place and won $75.  

1926

As in 1925, the Haskell County Fair races were part of a series of Texas fair races along with races in Abilene and Amarillo.  Peter DePaolo the 1925 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, received top billing and was joined by Elbert “Babe” Stapp, Dick Calhoun, George Souders, Fred Fame, Roy Meacham and Chester “Chet” Gardner. Frank Lockhart originally signed to appear, but after his brilliant Indianapolis 500-mile race victory, he chose to concentrate on the AAA National Championship trail, much to D. H. Jeffries’ annoyance. 

The September 22nd West Texas Fair races in Abilene were marred by the death of Freeman Minyett, a welder by trade, who suffered a fractured skull when his Frontenac-powered racer overturned.    The other racers, including Chet Gardner, the feature race winner, donated their portion of the purse to Minyett’s widowed mother.

The three-day Haskell County Fair opened on September 30^th, with the races scheduled for October 1 and 2^nd.  On the opening day of races, Fred Frame, in a Miller Special, won the first 7-1/2-mile race while Souders, who would win the 1927 Indianapolis 500-mile race, in a similar machine in third. 

Roy Meacham won the second 7-1/2-mile preliminary race, then finished second in five-mile dash behind Roy Gardner of Denver. Fred Frame won the 15-mile finale to claim $250, as Meacham in second place won $140, while Souders finished third and won $90.     

We do not have the results from the second day of races in Haskell, but during the day’s third race, Meacham of Pawhuska Oklahoma died instantly from a broken neck after his Chevrolet racer veered out of control and plunged over the embankment.  Meacham, a World War one veteran, had been a motorcycle officer in Tulsa and Pawhuska before he started racing motorcycles then graduated to racing cars in the three months before his death.  

1927

1927 saw the introduction of motorcycle racing on the Haskell 5/8-mile track on July fourth.  The fourth annual Haskell County Fair held from October 6 through 8, 1927 featured two days of automobile racing on the 7^th and 8^th. Again, results of the races are nonexistent but during the second day’s featured fifty-lap race, H.S. Fortner’s car crashed into the disabled machine of Joe Miller and overturned several times.  An ambulance rushed Fortner to the Stamford Hospital, 15 miles south of Haskell.  

Fortner who hailed from Okmulgee in east central Oklahoma reportedly passed away the following day, with the news of his death distributed widely on the Associated Press wire service. On October 12, many Texas newspapers, including the Austin American, reported that Fortner had not only not died, but was in fact “rapidly recovering.” After his recovery, Fortner relocated to the Houston area and raced briefly during the 1928 season before he started a sewing machine sales firm. 

1928

Motorcycles returned for the July 4^th races, and attracted a large field of riders and 5,000 spectators. Perrett Austin “E. A.” Kathcart from Waco established a new track record as he rode two laps on his Harley-Davidson in 77 1/5 seconds then went on to win the day’s five-mile and eight-mile events.

The AAA Contest Board granted sanction #2085 to Henry Alexander (of the Fair Board) for two days of automobile racing on October 4^th and 6^th 1928. In qualifying on the 6^th, Vic Felt, a standout driver from Colorado in his Marathon Special, lowered the track record for two laps to 68 3/5 seconds. Felt won the first event, a 7-1/2-mile (12-lap) dash over Tulsa’s John Bolling, but Bolling swept the other two races on the program, the 2-1/2 and 5-mile races in a program marred by numerous accidents but thankfully no injuries.

After 1928, horse races on the 5/8-mile track replaced automobile races during the Haskell County Fair but auto racing would return to the fairgrounds track eight years later. In the intervening years, large oil deposits were discovered in Haskell County which transformed the local economy.

1936   

The four-day Central West Texas Fair in Haskell hosted automobile racing on the first two days of the fair October 21 and 22, promoted by Eugene Tonn (the local Farm Bureau agent) and sanctioned by the Southwestern Automobile Racing Association and part of the six-race series to determine the 1936 Southwestern dirt track champion.

The Haskell race on the 21^st counted towards the title, along with races at Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Meridian Mississippi. Morris Musick, one of the five racing Musick brothers from Dallas, won the feature in a 17-car program that also featured entries from Joie Chitwood, Leonard Musick, and Augustus “Cotton” Grable, the “Blond Blizzard from Texas.”

1937 

Haskell hosted a two-day meet on July 3^rd and 4^th 1937 again promoted by Tonn, as each program featured time trials and five races - three eight-lap heat races, one five-lap handicap and the 20-lap feature. “Wild” Bill Morris of Lincoln Nebraska had great success on July 3^rd, but could not race on the 4^th as his “DO Hal” racer had reportedly “thrown a connecting rod.”

On July the fourth, 2,000 fans watched Herschel Buchanan set quick time with a 33.4 second lap. Red Hodges won the first heat race over Buchanan, but Herschel came back to win the day’s feature race over “Tex” West of Junction City Kansas.

Automobiles raced again at Haskell on October 23 1937 on the last day of the Central West Texas Fair with a scheduled field of fourteen cars. “Wild” Bill Morris led qualifying with a 38-second lap and won his heat race, then captured the feature event over Leon Fondoble and Buddy Rusch.  

1938

In 1938, the 5/8-mile dirt oval in Haskell then known either as “Fair Park Speedway” or “Haskell Speedway” hosted a two-day racing program held over the Fourth of July holiday, promoted by Oklahoma-based Joe Ziobro with the sanction provided by the Southwestern Auto Racing Association. 

On Sunday July third, Joe Termin of Dallas Texas dominated in his blue double overhead camshaft “DO Hal” powered machine, which used a conversion cylinder head built by Harold “Hal” Hosterman for the four-cylinder Ford model B engine.  Termin set quick time and new lap record of 33.3 seconds in qualifying, won his preliminary six-lap heat race and the twelve-lap feature as he finished ahead of Johnny Holland and Gene Fredrick.

William “Red” Hodges of Dallas won the second “slow” heat race despite that his car limped around the last two laps of the race on a flat tire. Lex Newbill of McKinney Texas won the day’s four-lap consolation race.  

Promoter Joe Ziobro promised the 1,200 fans a better show for Monday the fourth of July, with three new cars scheduled to arrive from Oklahoma City that included Waldo Parnett and Posey Reeves together with a possible visit by Texas Governor James Allred.

1,000 fans turned out on July fourth and saw Termin qualify second fastest.  As Termin entered the first turn on the third lap of the preliminary heat race, the right rear tire on his “DO Hal” racer failed, and the out-of-control machine went through the wooden fence and disappeared over the embankment. Termin, a 35-year old auto mechanic married less than a year, suffered fatal injuries when the car rolled over him. According to fellow racing historian Bob Lawrence, Termin’s death was the first fatality in Ziobro’s twelve years of racing promotions  

Herschel Buchanan, the 31-year old driver from Shreveport Louisiana, won the six-lap heat race which was completed under the caution flag after Termin’s crash. Oscar Coleman won the second heat race which was marred by a crash by rookie driver Arthur Rhodes in the same place as Termin’s earlier fatality, but Rhodes escaped unhurt.  “Red” Hodges captured the third heat race, then Buchanan, who years later became a two-time champion in International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) late model stock cars, won the Haskell 12-lap feature event ahead of Hodges in a time of six minutes and nine seconds.  

There were no races presented as part of the two-day 1938 West Central Texas Fair, and reportedly there were “stock car” races held in Haskell on the 5/8-mile track in August, September and October 1939 but the author has been unable to uncover any details.

There was a second Haskell Speedway which began operation in 1966 located approximately 4 miles west of the town of Haskell on farm land owned by T C Redwine and promoted by Redwine and CW McKelvain. The first two seasons the track hosted stock car races on Sunday afternoons, but for 1968 and 1969 presented races on Saturday nights.  The track apparently closed after the 1969 season.

The author has been unable to find information about the exact locations of the either the Fairgrounds 5/8-mile or the later “Haskell Speedway,” and welcomes any leads from our readers.   

The notorious ‘Tiny’ Wainwright

Part one - 1946 racing season

Since its beginnings at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento California on June 4, 1933 there have been some nefarious characters Involved the sport of midget auto racing, such as Diego ‘Dee’ Toran, but none the author is familiar with came close to approaching the level of criminal activities conducted by racer Branch Milton “Tiny” Wainwright.

Wainwright, born August 31, 1912 in the small town of Delmar Maryland, came of age in the Kansas City area as a stout young man of less than average height - feet five inches tall.  His nickname of “Tiny” was ironic, as he weighed at least 250 pounds though period press reports varied; some articles stated that he weighed 275 pounds, while some pieces listed his weight as high as 300 pounds.  

When Wainwright enlisted in the United States Army at Fort Leavenworth Kansas on March 24, 1944 he claimed that he was married and listed his occupation as an “actor.” Military records reviewed by the author have not provided any answers as to Wainwright’s duties in the Army or the length of his service.

Fellow historian Bob Lawrence found the earliest record of Tiny Wainwright’s racing career via a photograph that showed him as the driver of Carl Oliver’s #3 Ford V8-60 powered rail-frame midget at CeJay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas on Sunday September 16, 1945. That date was less than a month after the Office of Defense Transportation lifted the wartime ban on automobile racing. CeJay, which took its name from the initials of the track promoter Carl Johnson, was a 1/4-mile dirt oval track that was located on the southeast side of Wichita that operated until 1949.

‘Tiny” was not related to the famed Texas pioneer midget racer and later Texas-Oklahoma Racing Association business agent and promoter Mel Wainwright but both competed in some of the same events in early 1946.  In a promotional article prior to that start of racing San Antonio Texas Pan American Midget Speedway, ‘Tiny’ was billed in the San Antonio Light newspaper with “a weight of 275 pounds, the biggest midget race car driver in the world.”

Wainwright is credited with a second-place finish in the February 24 “B” feature ahead of ‘Dee’ Toran, then he earned a fourth-place finish in the “B” feature on Sunday March 10 in a program that also featured California drivers Jerry Piper, Cal Niday, and Bill Vukovich.

The following week, in the Sunday afternoon show on March 17 on Pan American’s 1/5-mile clay surface, ‘Tiny’ scored another third-place finish in the ‘B’ feature. On March 31, which was the final scheduled Sunday program for the 1946 racing season, “hard luck” Wainwright was unable to compete due to what the San Antonio Light reported as “a lack of parts for his red midget.”

In the debut of Friday night racing under the lights at Pan American on April 5, 1946, ‘Tiny’ was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 16.36 seconds but his car “threw a shoe” in the third heat, and the San Antonio Light reported that “his masterful driving brought cheers from the crowd as he steered into the pits on three wheels without injury to himself or other drivers in the race.”  After the incident, Wainwright’s car was done for the night, so he did not appear in the evening’s 20-lap feature which was won by Californian Johnnie Parsons in an elapsed time of five minutes and six seconds.

While there is a bit of confusion as some reports of his early racing exploits identified him as ‘Tony,” a week later, on April 12, at Pan-American Speedway, Wainwright finished sixth in the ‘A’ feature as Parsons won again. During the April 19 racing program ‘Tiny’ ran into trouble twice in the same evening.  Just after the start of the consolation race, ‘Tiny’s’ car tangled with those of Jimmy Hicks and ‘Red’ Dowdy.

All three cars restarted after their spins and ‘Tiny’ transferred to the night’s feature race. On the ninth lap of the feature, Dowdy spun in front of ‘Tiny’ and 'Tiny's' car crashed into Dowdy’s then rolled over, with both drivers taken to the hospital where they were checked and released.

Tiny was listed as a competitor in the Sunday afternoon midget racing programs on May 12 and the Tuesday night races on May 14 held on the 1/4-mile clay oval Wichita Falls (Texas) Speedrome along with ‘Red’ Dowdy, Emmett ‘Buzz’ Barton, Dick Sharp, Elmer ‘Rabbit’ Musick (one of five Texas racing brothers), Ted Parker and a pair of local brothers, Tommy and Dale Mendenhall.  

‘Tiny’ also was entered in the AAA (American Automobile Association) sanctioned midget auto races held at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds track in West Allis. These races were held on the big one-mile flat dirt track, not the smaller track in the infield that was used for weekly midget races. A series of AAA races on the Milwaukee Mile were held as part of the ‘Milwaukee Centurama’ celebration, a thirty-day event that marked the city’s centennial which ran from July 12 to August 12, 1946.

Wainwright, described in a pre-race article in the Hammond Times as a “newcomer“ and “a Kansas City star” joined such legendary midget racers as Tony Bettenhausen, Dennis ‘Duke’ Nalon, Frank Burany, and Henry Banks in a two-day program that saw time trials and heat races completed on Saturday and the 100-mile feature on Sunday June 23, 1946 which was won by two-time pre-war badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA) champion Ray Richards.

Fall 1946 found ‘Tiny’ Wainwright in Lubbock Texas for the Southwest Racing Championship races held on the 1/5-mile dirt Panhandle-South Plans Fairgrounds track along with Dowdy, Parker, Kansas’ Leonard ‘Cotton’ Musick (who was not related to the Texas Musick brothers), Oklahoman Jay Booth and Amarillo’s Lloyd Ruby.

The series of midget auto races, promoted by local garage owner JT Wolfe and sanctioned by the Texas-Oklahoma Racing Association, were slated to start on July 18 but it was July 27 before the first seven-race program began on Saturday night with Parker the red-headed driver from Dallas the initial winner.

Parker repeated with a second victory on August 3, then scored his third win in a row on August 10 in an evening in which he also won the helmet dash before 2,500 fans. Bud Camden won the 25-lap feature on August 17^th and Jay Booth won on August 24.  Parker claimed his fourth series feature victory on August 31, which was the final Saturday night program, after which the races were switched to Thursday nights to avoid conflicts with football games (even in those days in Texas, football was King).  

Wainwright was not listed as one of the original drivers announced for the Southwest Racing Championship series, but he was mentioned in press reports as an entrant prior to the September 5 races. That evening Clarence Brooks of Dallas won the 8-lap “Championship race,” then finished second in the first 10-lap semi-main to transfer to feature which he won over Kansan Bud Camden and Tulsa’s Junior Howerton. On the morning of September 12 race promoter Wolfe announced via an article published in the Lubbock Morning Avalanche newspaper that that night’s races were cancelled for unspecified reasons.

The next week’s midget auto racing program, scheduled for the evening of September 19^th was postponed due to rain.  When racing resumed on Thursday September 26, Corky Benson won the feature, and ‘Tiny’ won his heat race.  The following week was packed with racing, with the midgets scheduled to race four consecutive days during the six-day run of the Panhandle-South Plans Fair which was being held for the first time since 1941.

On Tuesday afternoon October 8, ‘Tiny’ Wainwright led the feature with Benson in second when their cars tangled and they both spun out. Third place driver “Count” Walter Von Tilius of Denver Colorado in the Frank Hingley owned Kurtis-Kraft Offenhauser powered midget avoided the melee and went on to win the feature as ‘Red’ Dowdy finished in second place. The race program the following day, Wednesday the 9^th was rained out, rescheduled for Sunday afternoon, the final day of the fair.  

The Panhandle-South Plains Fairgrounds 1/5-mile dirt track dried sufficiently for the midget races to resume on Thursday October 10, with Eddie Carmichael of Oklahoma City was declared the feature winner as his midget crossed the finish line in a near “dead heat” with the machine of Corky Benson with ‘Tiny’ Wainwright in fourth place.  

On Friday afternoon October 11, Texans swept 3 of the top 4 finishing spots as 18-year-old Lloyd Ruby won the feature, followed by Houston’s Bill Marshall in second place, and local driver Corky Benson in fourth place.

The Sunday afternoon midget finale, the make-up date from the 9^th, was a barn-burner. Corky Benson set quick time in time trials, then spun out on the second lap of the feature and had to restart from the tail of the field. Benson carved his way up through the field in dramatic fashion and claimed his second series feature victory.

In our next installment we will trace ‘Tiny’ Wainwright’s exploits through the 1947 and 1948 racing seasons.