Looking for driver names and possibly photos of Studebakers that raced on Florida short tracks over the years. In South Florida I can recall Charlie Van and Chuck Wooten mostly at West Palm Beach and the late Billie Harvey may also have run a Studebaker for a short time. How about the Orlando/Melbourne area or over in the Tampa Bay area? Must have been a few.
You young guys won’t remember these cars built in South Bend, Indiana but there are enough of us oldsters who do remember them, so come on guys and help out here.
You will find lot’s of information here -
Studebakers
Thanks, but the reason for my post was to help Bob Coolidge who owns the Studebaker Racing site you referenced. He’s always looking for new examples of racing Studebakers worldwide.
It’s not from Florida, but it was driven by the Late Great’ Pete Corey’ out of New York state in the mid 60’s. Pete was my favorite when i was just a kid growing up watching dirt racing at Fonda and Lebanon Valley Speedways.
Marty,
When mom and dad first married and she was 17 and he was 20, she had been thru one year of college already and dad had graduated and OWNED his own Studebaker dealership in Mendenhall, Mississippi. We had a Silver Hawk and my grandparents for many years had just the four door Studebaker that was that green color that was so popular. Dad said he use to take washing machines, etc. for down payments and he ended up selling the dealership because he was making no money and eventually a Chevy dealer went where his dealership was.
But that is funny that you mentioned Studebakers. They have a very special place in my heart and for years I wanted to find an old Silver or Golden Hawk for my dad.
Knowing my dad, he never raced one but he sure did like to floor them. When they stopped making them, he went to buying Fords - the old Galaxie 500 which was a lemon from the day he brought it home. He finally settled on Pontiacs and for more than 25 years, bought only Pontiacs from Quality Pontiac that was on Merritt Island and then moved to Cocoa.
But if you find alot of pictures of them, please e-mail me some for dad. I am sure he would love that. About 4 years ago, I was lucky enough to find a beautiful model of his Studebaker and I got it for him for Christmas. His face lite up like a Christmas tree and I knew I had done something that he liked.
[QUOTE=Marty Little;48352]Looking for driver names and possibly photos of Studebakers that raced on Florida short tracks over the years. In South Florida I can recall Charlie Van and Chuck Wooten mostly at West Palm Beach and the late Billie Harvey may also have run a Studebaker for a short time. How about the Orlando/Melbourne area or over in the Tampa Bay area? Must have been a few.
You young guys won’t remember these cars built in South Bend, Indiana but there are enough of us oldsters who do remember them, so come on guys and help out here.[/QUOTE]
I remember a Hudson or 2 and a smattering of Plymouths but no Bakers at Eau Gallie.
Dick Skinner ran one ithe Modern Stocks at Eau Gallie… There’s a photo of it (in the infield lake) on my web site…
[SIZE=“4”]We weren?t restricted to ?Classy? Studebaker
racers for this request were we?
I hope not cause digging down in my stuff I found some
real jewels that probably won’t exactly fit that category.
These do fit some of your criteria what with being
Studebakers, coming from the Tampa Bay Area and
coming from an ?Oldster? so here we go.
First is the Paul?s Body Shop #III, a 1955 Studebaker
Champion 4-Dr Sedan driven by Ronnie Suitrose at
Sunshine Speedway. I assume this is the Jalopy class.
The photos are dated July, 1962.
Next is the #19 Jalopy which I believe to be a 1937
Studebaker 2-Dr Humpback Sedan.
I know that both Ford & Chevy had 2-Dr Humpbacks in the
same year however as far as I know only Studebaker had
the horizontal louvers that ran along the top of the hood
and joined into the grille as this one does.
Other than having a liking for someone by the name
of Lucy (Note ?OLE LUCY? on the roof) and the first
name of ?Norm? on the door, I have no idea who this
gentleman is that is obviously overjoyed with his win.
Again, Sunshine Speedway, circa 1962.
If I?m correct with my assumption on the #19 Jalopy
above, then we actually have two Studebaker’s in
the same shot next here.
Underneath ?OLE LUCY? shown in the background is
the very professionally lettered #Circle-7, a 1950
Studebaker Champion Business Coupe sponsored by
Hutchins & Sons Auto Parts out of St. Petersburg.
Again, other than the name ?Richard? on the door,
(there was a Richard Hutchins back then) I have
no idea who the driver is.
Also Sunshine Speedway ? Circa 1962.
[/SIZE]
Here’s the photo of Dick Skinner after he spun his Studebaker into the infield lake at Eau Gallie…
Hey Marty. Bill Henderson from Miami Florida had a Studebaker built for the Nascar Sportsman Division. This was probably in the early 1960’s. It had a Pontiac motor and I believe Red Farmer drove it for him. There were several Stubaker Hawk type of cars built in that era for Nascar racing. The body was very aerodynamic for that time. Bill was my partner in my very first racecar. He had raced at Medley and Hialeah in the 50’s and 60’s.
Chuck Wooten # 25 1953 Studebaker
[QUOTE=Marty Little;48352]Looking for driver names and possibly photos of Studebakers that raced on Florida short tracks over the years. In South Florida I can recall Charlie Van and Chuck Wooten mostly at West Palm Beach and the late Billie Harvey may also have run a Studebaker for a short time. How about the Orlando/Melbourne area or over in the Tampa Bay area? Must have been a few.
You young guys won’t remember these cars built in South Bend, Indiana but there are enough of us oldsters who do remember them, so come on guys and help out here.[/QUOTE]
CHUCK WOOTEN # 25 1953 STUDEBAKER
RAN THE STUDEBAKER IN THE LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN, THE ENGINE IS A STUDEBAKER 260 BORED OUT, 40 OVER. 9 INCH FORD REAR END WITH A 486 GEAR RATIO. $7500 CONTACT MIKE PH 516-859-0039 EMAIL michael@accuratemachinery.biz
Chuck Wooten # 25 Studebaker For Sale
CHUCK WOOTEN # 25 1953 STUDEBAKER STOCK CAR FOR SALE
RAN THE STUDEBAKER IN THE LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN, THE ENGINE IS A STUDEBAKER 260 BORED OUT, 40 OVER. 9 INCH FORD REAR END WITH A 486 GEAR RATIO. $7500 CONTACT MIKE PH 516-859-0039 EMAIL michael@accuratemachinery.biz
Hey Marty on page 36 in ‘‘my’’ raceway Park book Bud Koehler and Bill Van Allen are in Studebakers.My uncle went to school with Van Allen.
Just reread 1st post my Studebakers were not in Fl. Oops.
Hey Marty…
I meant to respond to this a long time ago…my dad had a friend that built a Studebaker Lark late model and had gotten frustrated that he couldn’t get it to run very well. Dad traded cars with him and ended up winning quite a few races with it at Saramana. I will get some pictures of it scanned in the next couiple of days (I’m at work right now) and post them here or email them to you.
Matt
Photo looks to me like out side off the forth turn in Gator gulh,been there my self:grinser010:
As for studs,had over the years 5 dayly drivers 53/55/57G-hawk and,I had drag car in 1966 "Lark Daytona supercharged"4speed with TT rearend<would run very very low 14’s in 1/4mile, that was badass back then.
Studebakers race cars in Florida
Studebakers driven at Eau Gallie and Ft. Pierce back in the 60’s were Ronnie Borden, #87 from the Melbourne area and Bob Krause #72 from Cocoa, in some type of stock class.