Ken loved racing and did well. He was never a points champion, but he was a champion in many eyes, especially his loving wife and kids. Unfortunately he lost his wife and one of his teen daughters to cancer within the same year. He continued his racing, but after the 1967 season I don't know much since I left the racing scene for the military. I did attend an indoor midget race Ken ran, I believe in the very early '70s. I also heard he was hurt bad one time when another midget flipped and landed in Ken's lap breaking many ribs, collar bone and maybe an arm or both. Didn't stop him, just put him on idle for awhile.
I remember riding with Ken one time in his 1959 Chevrolet Impala, you know, the ones with the big fins. He must have thought it was an F15 fighter jet or something as we broke three track records and won two main events when just going to the store or wherever we went. We were basically out of control but under complete control, sort of like being at Vallejo Speedway. Oh, I'm exaggerating a little as he was a good driver both on the road as well as at the track. Those fins were huge tho!
I also remember building and painting a model of Ken's #72 car in the driveway along side of Ken and my brother Bill as they painted the real car. I used the same paint they used on the hardtop, thus, the 1953 Studebaker Lavender mini model pictured here.
His love for racing landed him a ride in an Indy car just months before his passing. He got to ride in a two-seater a few laps around Indy. I guess he was in seventh heaven even though they didn't go fast enough for him. He also got to walk a lap around the famed Eldora Speedway. Near the end of the walk, he hit his fist on the wall, took off running and when his daughter asked what did he do that for, he said "now I can go home and tell everyone I ran Eldora and hit the wall!"
I remember riding with Ken one time in his 1959 Chevrolet Impala, you know, the ones with the big fins. He must have thought it was an F15 fighter jet or something as we broke three track records and won two main events when just going to the store or wherever we went. We were basically out of control but under complete control, sort of like being at Vallejo Speedway. Oh, I'm exaggerating a little as he was a good driver both on the road as well as at the track. Those fins were huge tho!
I also remember building and painting a model of Ken's #72 car in the driveway along side of Ken and my brother Bill as they painted the real car. I used the same paint they used on the hardtop, thus, the 1953 Studebaker Lavender mini model pictured here.
His love for racing landed him a ride in an Indy car just months before his passing. He got to ride in a two-seater a few laps around Indy. I guess he was in seventh heaven even though they didn't go fast enough for him. He also got to walk a lap around the famed Eldora Speedway. Near the end of the walk, he hit his fist on the wall, took off running and when his daughter asked what did he do that for, he said "now I can go home and tell everyone I ran Eldora and hit the wall!"
