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Ray Elder and the Racing Farmers: How a California Farm Team Beat the Cup Boys · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Breakfix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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Remember when they beat the cup boys?
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Ray Elder, The Racing Farmers, and The Rise of the NASCAR Winston
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West Series, by Daniel Simone.
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Shortly after the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025 nominees were announced,
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two time Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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posted, Ray Elder won six NASCAR Winston Series championships in
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1969, 70, 71, 72, 74, and 75.
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Ray Elder would compete with the NASCAR Cup regulars when they ran at Riverside
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and beat them in 71 and again in 72.
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Yet Ray Elder was not one of the nominees.
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Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the Elder family raced and grew alfalfa,
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beans, and cotton in their farm in tiny Carruthers, California.
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With Ray at the wheel, older brother Richard atop the pit box, and father
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Fred handling ownership, the racing farmers dominated the competitive
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NASCAR Winston West Series for years.
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They also held their own when NASCAR Cup Series regulars visited Riverside.
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Elder finished in the top five on eight occasions from 1971 to
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1976, claiming two victories.
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Elder and fellow Winston West competitors such as Herschel McGriff, Dick Brown,
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Jimmy Insolo, and Jack McCoy helped facilitate the growth and development
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of NASCAR west of the Rocky Mountains.
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It wasn't too long after the racing farmers returned to the fields that a new
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crop of West Coast stars began to compete full time and win championships at the
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national level in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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Daniel J.
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Simone earned his PhD in American history from the University of Florida
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in 2009, where he wrote his dissertation, Racing Region and the Environment,
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the History of American Motorsports.
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From 2010 to 2015, Dr.
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Simone taught world history and environmental history at
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Monmouth University in New Jersey.
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And in 2016, he was hired as curator of the NASCAR Hall of Fame
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in Charlotte, North Carolina, and held that position through 2021.
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The following year, Dr.
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Simone was tabbed to assist the New York Historical Society Museum and
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Library, where he co processed the Women's Sports Foundation collection and
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developed content for digital exhibition.
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Dr.
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Simone is on the editorial board of the Journal of Motorsports Culture and History
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and serves on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame voting committee.
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NASCAR held its first season in 1948.
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That inaugural season primarily featured modified and roadster competition.
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In 1949, the Strictly Stock Division was formed, the
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predecessor of today's Cup Series.
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The following year, NASCAR head William H.
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G.
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Big Bill Franz, Sr.
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renamed the Strictly Stock Division as the Grand National Series.
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Most events were held in the Southeast, with a handful in
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the Northeast and Middle West.
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The following year, in 1951, well aware of stock car racing's
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growing national popularity, France sanctioned Grand National
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races out West for the first time, scheduling five events in California.
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The Grand National Series returned to California in 1954, and that same year
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a new division, the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Division, was instituted.
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Teams and drivers in regionally and locally sponsored stock cars competed
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mostly in California with occasional events in Oregon and Washington.
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During the 1950s, Pacific Coast Division drivers did occasionally venture east
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to race in Grand National events.
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And beginning in 1959, it was not uncommon for West Coasters
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to trek to Florida to 500.
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Early on, West Coast racers Marvin Panch and Dick Rathman found success
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in the Grand National Division.
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From Panj claimed 21 polls and placed in the top five 96
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times in just over 200 events.
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Included in the 17 wins, Hanch won the 1961 Daytona 500, driving for
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brilliant mechanic Smokey Unik, and swept a pair of races at Atlanta
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with Wood Brothers Racing in 1965.
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His final win came driving for Petty Enterprises at Charlotte in 1966.
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Grafman competed in three full seasons in the Grand National Division, from 1952
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through 1954, finishing 5th, the points.
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He tallied 13 wins.
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Rathman also ran well in open wheelers, placing 4th in the 1956 Indy 500 and
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claiming Pullet Indy the following year.
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Some of the early greats of the Pacific Coast late model
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division included Lloyd Dane.
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He won the first championship in 1954 and prevailed again in 56 and 57.
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California's Eddie Gray won in 58, 61, and 62.
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Yes, racing is a family sport.
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Ron Hornaday Sr.
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was back to back champion in 1963 and again the following year.
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By the mid 1960s, however, the stage was set for a new group of West Coast
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drivers to take over the series.
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Ray Elder always insisted that his success was the team's success.
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And during interviews, Ray would always refer to the team and use we instead of I.
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Here is Ray Elder and the Racing Farmer story.
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Born in 1942, Ray Elder grew up on a farm in tiny Carothers, California.
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He participated in 4 H activities as a youth but was best known at Layton
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High School and the surrounding area as a dominating force on the
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line for the Layton football team.
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He was selected as a state all star in his senior year and played
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in the regional all star game.
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Upon graduation, Elder attracted offers to play football but was
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uninterested in going to college.
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He preferred a career staying home and working the family
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farm and pursuing a new passion.
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Auto racing.
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Ray's older brother, Richard, also developed an interest in motorsports,
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as did their father, Fred.
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And so in 1962, on a one fifth mile track with a thick, wet, clay surface
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at Selma, California, the Elders began participating in 99 Klamer car races.
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And for the next few years, the small team competed at California
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Short Tracks, gathering experience on the track and under the hood.
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It did not take long for Ray Elder to make his mark, becoming the Watsonville
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Track Champion and the California Limited Sportsman Stock Car Champion in 1965.
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One competitor of note during those early years was Nick Urban, the father
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of 1991 Daytona 500 winner Ernie Urban.
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In the following year, in 1966, the Elders were on their way.
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Farmers preferred Dodge automobiles, Firestone tires, the number
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96, and blue and white colors.
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Fred Elder was the car owner on record.
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Fred was a farmer and a motor parts wholesaler who also worked on race cars.
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Ray's older brother, little Richard, was an imposing man who weighed in at 300
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pounds, peaking close to 350 at times.
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It's not that Richard wasn't interested in getting behind the wheel in 1962,
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but he had a tough time doing so.
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And he had severe asthma.
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So Richard became the crew chief.
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Ray, meanwhile, was also bigger than most racers, coming in at 5'11 220
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pounds when he was in his beak shape.
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He was built more like a fullback than he was a lineman.
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The early rendition of the Racing Farmers included a crew
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consisting of friends and family.
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Walt Koop, Bob Turner, Aaron Eberle, and Ronald Koop.
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The engine specialist throughout the Racing Farmers run of
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excellence was Tim Crabtree.
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Crabtree and the Racing Farmers built and tweaked their own motors and carothers.
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Spouses also played key roles supporting the team as well.
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Gray Elder's wife, Pat, for years prepared dinner for the team.
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Laura, Fred's wife and family grandmother assisted.
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And the Racing Farmers for over a decade woke up dark and early and
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worked a long day in the fields under the scorching California sun.
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They paused for a home cooked meal with their wives and
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children often joining them.
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Afterwards, it was a long night in the garage, often extended after midnight.
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On race weekends, the racing farmers would head out to the track and do everything
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necessary to run the successful racing team before, during, and after the race.
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Some events were nearby, and other times they traveled to the northwest,
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or even Idaho or British Columbia.
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The elders helped pay travel and food expenses, but the crew
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didn't really earn a salary.
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Their reward was Success.
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After each race, they needed to hustle home to tend the fields, get
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back in the garage, and, of course, spend time with their families.
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At that time, the Elder Farm occupied 220 acres, and the family cultivated
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crops including alfalfa, cotton, and black eyed peas in the San Joaquin
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Valley, one of many regions of California that was flat, hot, and dry
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as a bone, but with world class soil.
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Once the manipulation of water was mastered, California became
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the agricultural capital of the United States and the world.
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Just south of Fresno, the tiny town of Carothers was one of hundreds of
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little hubs throughout the state that helped feed the country, feed the world.
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This is where the elders called home and still call home.
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Ray passed away in 2011.
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Pat, daughter Peggy, and the family still work the land.
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In 1966, the Elders purchased a car from fellow Californian Jack McCloy, who would
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become their biggest rival, and the Racing Farmers committed to a full time schedule
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in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Division.
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Believed to be their first race, the Racing Farmers debuted at
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Stockton 99 Speedway on April 17th, 1966, finishing runner up.
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to race wearing McCoy on the quarter mile track.
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Ray Elder and Jack McCoy were both roughly the same age, started their
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careers in the series about two years apart, and concluded their full time
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careers within a few years of each other.
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McCoy held for Modesto and their hometowns were roughly 100 miles apart.
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They would go head to head in over 200 events through 74, producing one of the
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best rivalries in not only West Coast racing, but in all of stock car racing.
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McCoy passed away in 2009, Elder passed away two years later.
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The very next race the Farmers entered was a 200 Labyrinth
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Ascot in greater Los Angeles.
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And on April 30th, 1966, Elder gave the racing farmers their
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first victory in the series.
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Elder picked up his second win of his rookie season after a fierce battle
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with Herschel McGriff at Portland Speedway on September 18, 1966.
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McGriff, recently inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, started
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from pole and led much of the race.
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Elder evidently began in the ninth slot and led the final
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69 laps to victory, beating the Oregon driver at his home track.
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McGriff's first automobile race came there in 1945.
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Come fall, McCoy squeaked by and picked up his first championship after doing
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what he needed to do in the California 100 at the famed One Mile Dirt Track
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at the State Fairgrounds in Sacramento.
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McCoy started on pole and led much of the race until having trouble, but Elder
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also experienced mechanical issues.
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McCoy finished 13th, Elder was 15th.
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Evidently, a final race of the year scheduled at Reno was cancelled.
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Of course, Elder could have blown an engine on lap 1 and finished
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further back in the standings, but speculation is pointless.
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The points paddle also could have gone the other way too.
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If Elder, for reasons remaining unknown, he apparently did not
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compete in the late season race that year at San Gabriel Valley
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Speedway, later known as Speedway 605.
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Pre 1970s NASCAR late model Pacific Coast records can be incomplete.
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Inaccurate and murky.
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Many forms of motor sports suffer from this problem.
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Today, research is still being conducted to fill in blanks.
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And as many are aware, points distribution was, or remains the most contentious
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aspect of motor sports, all types and at all levels and throughout the globe.
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Most series over the decades have rewarded consistency.
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NASCAR's cup series, for instance, through 2003 adopted that method.
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And in some instances, consistency can and will overcome dominating seasons.
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Take Terry Labonny's 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship.
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Labonny and Jeff Gordon both had 21 top fives and 24 top
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tens in the 33 race season.
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Gordon won an incredible 10 races.
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Texas Terry reached victory lane twice, but picked up the
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championship by 37 points.
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Ultimately, in following seasons, Elder's remarkable consistency and commitment to
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competing in every race on the schedule, year in and year out, paid dividends
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in the fall at each season's end.
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This proved critical for the racing farmers in their eventual run of claiming
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seven championships in eight years.
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But in this first year, he finished second in McCoy by 18 points.
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Yet Elder was 1966 Rookie of the Year and also voted as Series Most Popular Driver.
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In 1967, Ray and the boys again won twice, both triumphs at Ascot.
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Elder, like any good farmer, had an expertise on the nuances of soil.
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Agriculture and automobile racing remain intertwined since the
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first fair race in the 1890s.
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The best drivers on dirt are also soil scientists.
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Ascot in particular suited his smarts as well as his smooth
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yet hard charging driving style.
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The 1967 champion Scotty Kane won five races, including three in a
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row in the middle of the season.
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The Farmers again were bridesmaids.
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McCoy slipped to sixth in the points that year.
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But although NASCAR's modern era With still a few years away, Big Bill
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France and his Daytona Beach Associates were noticing the strong cast of
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competitors, close races, and stable crowds in the Pacific Coast Division.
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Plus, other professional sports leagues were extending to the west.
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Air travel was becoming more common, and professional sports leagues began
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to establish or relocate teams west.
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In 1967, the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings and California Golden
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Seals began their seasons as part of that league's expansion from 6 to 12 teams.
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After years in Minneapolis, the National Basketball Association's
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Lakers had been in LA since 1961.
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Plus, the San Diego Rockets began NBA play in 1967, although moving
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to Houston several years later.
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After the 1967 season, NASCAR took steps to further increase organization
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and increase It's a commitment to NASCAR racing on the West Coast.
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For example, a handful of permanent officials and administrators were hired
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with the West divided into competition zones under the competent administration
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of Bob Barkheimer, Les Richter, and Billy Mc, three of the biggest names
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in West Coast stock car racing history.
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Barkheimer was there from the start, working with France and promoting race.
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It's an informative days of NASCAR racing on the West Coast.
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Richter wrapped up an Hall of Fame NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams to go
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and become one of NASCAR's most respected and longest serving administrators
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and serve as longtime manager of Riverside International Raceway.
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Emick went from on track success in multiple racing disciplines,
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including NASCAR to helping oversee NASCAR's Western development.
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Moving on to 1968 for Elder.
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Despite tallying a series high 5 wins, it was another runner up finish
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in the points, his third in a row.
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Tyre Trouble, late in the season concluding Saugus 100, relegated him
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to a 5th place finish, 2 laps down.
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So, Skydie Kane finished 3rd in the lead lap and won another championship.
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The Farmers missed the title by 2 points.
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The coin system at the time appears to work against Elder.
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According to records currently available, Elder raced in all 20 events.
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Kane only reached Victory Lane once and appeared in 19
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events, not racing at Evergreen.
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Still, there could absolutely be more to these storylines, more
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research is needed to fill the gaps.
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Even with the stronger administration and organization of the series,
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some 1968 races have detailed and comprehensive statistics.
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There are other races where available details remain rather limited.
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But at the close of the 1968 season, Ray Elder and the Racing Farmers proved
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they could compete and win with the best drivers on the West Coast in a
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division that was featuring tougher competition and gaining prominence.
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The following year, the team would climb even higher.
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But look at the stats thus far.
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52 races.
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Nine wins and 33 top fives and a pair of most popular driver awards.
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The 1969 season opener at Riverside again, combined the Pacific late
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model division racers with the NASCAR grand national series regulars.
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It was the third race on the grand national schedule and a few IndyCar
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stars also peppered the field.
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Elder produced a strong result, finishing seventh.
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Richard Petty won, his first time racing in a Ford.
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A.
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J.
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Foyt was second, and David Pearson rounded out the top three.
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Four time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr.
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finished fourth.
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James Hilton was fifth, followed by Leroy Yarbrough, who would win the
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Daytona 500 a couple weeks later.
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Yarbrough went on to have his biggest season in the Cup Series.
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Driving for Junior Johnson, he won seven races, despite competing
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in only 30 events that year.
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His crew chief was the great West Coaster Herb Knapp, The 174 race
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is serving as a cup of crew cheese.
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Not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but a West Coast Stock Car
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Hall of Fame inaugural member.
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NAB wrenched for six drivers who became NASCAR Hall of Famers, and also worked
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for a handful of Hall of Fame owners.
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The following month, Ray, Richard, and their buddies made the roughly 2, 700
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mile trip from Carothers to Daytona.
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After an impressive period of Eighth place showing in the qualifying
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race, they took 10th in the 500.
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At the time, it was the fastest the farmer had to race in his career.
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Buddy Baker qualified at 188.
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901 miles per hour in a car prepared by NASCAR Hall of Fame
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multiple year nominee, Ray Fox.
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Speeds in the high banks of Daytona were far greater than top speeds at the quarter
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milers the farmers were accustomed to.
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So early in the 1969 season, Elders starts to make some noise on the Grand
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National scene and after Daytona.
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The Racing Farmers had over two months to get ready for the Pacific
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Coast Division race at the One Mile Dirt Track at the California State
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Fairgrounds in Sacramento on April 27th.
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Elder finished fifth.
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The iconic track was one of the West's most important venues, and as one
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spectator recalled, the track was well prepared with few ruts and little dust.
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There were multiple grooves with cars running low, middle, and high.
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But, its days were numbered.
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Great Racing seized the track after 1970.
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It is now a shopping center.
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We all heard that one before.
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So many classic tracks occupy the land where stores now exist.
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In the following race at Irwindale, Elder led the first 42 laps only
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to succumb to mechanical problems.
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McCoy led the rest of the way.
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Elder wound up 18th and took a hit in the points.
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Next up was Sears Point, a brand new road course 25 miles north of the Golden
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Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, and the surrounding wine
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country of Sonoma and Napa Valleys now had a premier circuit to call its own.
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Originally from California, Ken Clapp began promoting races in the 1950s and
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was becoming increasingly active in the development of the Pacific Coast Division.
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Clapp helped oversee the track's construction.
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20 years later, with Les Richter, Clapp pushed for an annual NASCAR cup race at
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Sears Point, and since 1989, Sears Point hosted an annual cup event in late spring.
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Ricky Rudd, a member of the incoming NASCAR 2025 Hall of
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Fame class, won the inaugural.
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The track was built with the future in mind, located away
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from potential development.
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Though there are grandstands, many fans prefer general admission.
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There are many unique vantage points to view the racing on the course, which
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features twists, turns, climbs, and dips.
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This is also where the racing farmers turn their young season
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around, winning the event.
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They remained consistent for the rest of the campaign, and the Racing Farmers
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won their first championship in 1969.
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Jack McCoy, to his credit, won nine races that year, including five in a row,
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but damage control helped win the first championship for the Racing Farmers.
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The sign of a strong team.
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Minimize bad days and maximize good days.
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finishes on those bad days.
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In 1970, the Racing Farmers again raced competitively at the Daytona
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500, finishing 6th out of 31 cars in the qualifier, taking 11th in the 500.
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However, in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Lace Model Division, which became
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NASCAR Grand National West Division for the 1970 season, Ray Elder and the
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Racing Farmers had another banner year.
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They picked up championship number two.
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Nipping McCoy for the title.
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Also that year, Dick Bown won a series high 6 races and 18
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starts, turning 40 that year.
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Bown was yet another Oregon driver making his mark in the series.
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Racing in the Pacific Coast Division since 1964, he would wrap up his career
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a few years later with 14 victories.
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And the future looked bright.
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His son Chuck raced in two events at the age of 16.
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Spoiler alert!
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The younger Bowne won the Winston West title in 1976 at the age of 22.
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He later moved to the East Coast and won 10 NASCAR North races over four seasons.
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However, his career highlight and a true benchmark achievement for West Coast stock
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car racing, Bowne will become the first West Coaster to win the NASCAR Xfinity
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Series Championship, doing so in 1990.
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The year 1971 was perhaps Elders most memorable.
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Setting the stage, California was home to the first board tracks.
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The West also featured some of the most prestigious road races in the country
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leading up to the First World War.
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And the region also had a thriving and competitive dirt track racing scene.
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Plus, the American high performance speed industry was based in Los Angeles.
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And this contributed to hot riding and drag racing developing
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first in the Golden State.
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As was the case throughout America, after World War II, Californians
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had an even bigger hunger for racing as veterans returned.
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And that adrenaline rush from battle combined with a rich post war economy
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and a thirst for new recreational outlets would lead to a track building boom.
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After World War II, California debuted new road courses at Willow Springs
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in 1952 and Torrey Pines in 1953.
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Paramount Ranch followed in 1955.
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Laguna Seca at Monterey in 1958, and as mentioned earlier, Sears Point in 1969.
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But it was Riverside International Raceway, which first hosted races in 1957,
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that became Southern California's capital of American auto sport in the 1960s.
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Riverside was located about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles in the
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sparsely populated, wine growing desert community of Moreno Valley.
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The track accommodated all forms of motorsports and attracted
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domestic and foreign competition.
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Even hosting a Formula One race.
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in 1960.
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The Golden State's moderate climate attracted all star events, and during
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the winter months after the conclusion of their respective seasons, the
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nation's best drivers towed their race cars west and competed in
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prestigious and financially lucrative special events in California.
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It developed many of the nation's most successful drivers in all disciplines,
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including stock car competition.
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In the 1960s, Golden State driver Dan Gurney dominated against the NASCAR Grand
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National regulars in the winter race.
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That MotorTrend 500 at Riverside.
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He won in 1963 driving the famous number 28 Ford for the Holman Moody Team.
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Gurney then won in 64, 65 to 66.
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Driving for the Wood Brothers Fellow California Parnelli Jones broke
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the streak in 1967, but the Wood Brothers in Gurney did it again in 68.
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The domination ended after gurney's.
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Wood Brothers.
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Mercury blew an engine early in 1969.
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Then.
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That Richard Petty won that year.
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Beginning in 1970, two races were held at Riverside through the 1988 season, except
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in 81, where there were three races.
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And in the final year for the track in 1988, when there was one
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event on the Winston Cup schedule.
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In 1970, AJ Foyt won the Motor Trend 500.
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And the King, in a more familiar Plymouth, won what was known as
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the Falstaff 400 later in June.
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The second race at Riverside was always shorter because the
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temperatures in Southern California were by then much higher.
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On January 10th, 1971, Ray Elder won the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside
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International Raceway in a home built car with a volunteer organization
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consisting of family and friends.
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He started on the second row and led much of the event.
22:50
He ultimately passed Bobby Allison and led the final 12 laps and took
22:55
the checkered flag by over 10 seconds.
22:57
Elder completed the race in just under five hours.
23:00
The Racing Farmers Dodge marked the first time in the history of the Motor Trend
23:03
500 that a Ford wasn't in victory lane.
23:06
Jack McFarlane, at the time the public relations director for Dodge, furnished
23:10
Elder a brand new car for the win.
23:12
It was a huge win for Chrysler, especially considering Ford's dominance
23:16
on the road course over the years.
23:18
Elder won on Firestone tires, the first time a car with Firestone rubber in the
23:23
series took a victory since David Pearson won at Hickory in September of 1968.
23:28
It was a lot of fun looking at the press coverage from the win.
23:31
My favorite came from the April 1971 issue of Stock Car Racing.
23:35
Quote, the leading Firestone qualifier was 1970 West Coast champion Ray Elder, a good
23:40
natured farm boy from Carothers in the heart of Fresno's Grape and Raisin Belt.
23:44
Elder sat on the inside of the second row behind Petty and Allison, and if
23:48
bookies proliferated in the sport like they do in horse racing, Elder's Dodge
23:53
probably would have gone the post at 30 1.
23:55
At the end of February, the Cup Stars returned to California following the
23:59
Daytona 500 to compete at Ontario.
24:02
Completed in 1970 and constructed on the site of a former vineyard 40
24:06
miles east of Los Angeles, the 2.
24:09
5 miles super speedway was the most anticipated And hyped project built
24:13
in the history of the United States Auto Club, or USAC, the longtime
24:17
sanctioning body for IndyCar, also known as Championship Racing.
24:20
California Governor Ronald Reagan attended the inaugural event on September 6th,
24:24
and over 170, 000 fans watched Jim McElreath prevail in the 500 mile race.
24:29
The facility was built near I 10 and close to the I 15 interchange and
24:33
envisioned to benefit from nearby Orange County Airport and boost Ontario and
24:38
surrounding San Bernardino County.
24:40
The track was in one of America's most rapidly growing regions.
24:43
Track access was not limited to USAC championship cars.
24:46
NASCAR now had an opportunity to race at another super speedway
24:50
with massive grandstand seating and west of the Rocky Mountains.
24:54
And there was another venue for West Coasters to race against the Top Dogs.
24:58
And on a track bigger and faster than any in their division.
25:01
And at the first NASCAR Cup race at Ontario, the Miller High Life 500,
25:05
the racing farmers showed that they could reduce the power handling and
25:09
driver talent to compete with the Cup boys on a smooth and fast 2.
25:13
5 mile oval, finishing a respectable seventh in a race won by A.
25:17
J.
25:17
Floyd.
25:17
That June, the Cup Series returned to Riverside for the Golden State 400.
25:22
This event also became a mainstay every June on the Cup calendar.
25:25
Elder almost did it again, but settled for second.
25:29
In 71, Elder also enjoyed one of his finest seasons in the West Series.
25:34
He won a career high nine races, including another at Ascot, which
25:38
was clearly his favorite track.
25:39
A writer for Circle Track Magazine that year observed that, quote, At Ascot,
25:44
the clay was prepared just right.
25:46
Ascot is not a run of the mill, randomly excavated, mucky dirt track.
25:50
Rather, it has an imported clay surface brought in from the
25:53
cemetery across the street.
25:55
The track surface was real tacky.
25:57
A wet track, but not sloppy.
25:59
Prepared the way dirt should be.
26:01
In 1971, Elder again topped McCoy for title number three.
26:05
He also became the first driver in series history to earn over 50, 000 in winnings.
26:10
At this stage, Elder is one of the few drivers on the circuit able to carve
26:14
out a living by racing, though his farm was still 100 percent in operation.
26:19
The youth movement continued in the West Series too.
26:22
Young Jimmy Inslow won a race in his first full season of competition.
26:26
He would go on to win 25 races in the division and a championship in
26:30
1978, and he would play an important role in helping Richard Petty win
26:34
his seventh cup championship in 1979.
26:37
Insolo served as relief driver for Petty in the second Riverside race and brought
26:42
the number 43 home for a third place finish just behind Darrell Waltrip.
26:47
At season's end, The king nipped jaws by a mere 11 points for his final crown.
26:53
Such an interesting time in American motorsport.
26:55
It was big tobacco corporation money began to flood motorsports.
26:59
And more specifically, it was Winston Salem based RJ Reynolds, which provided
27:03
NASCAR funding, marketing, promotion, and boosted racing's infrastructure
27:08
by helping with track improvements.
27:10
This influx spread not just in the Southeast, but all over the country.
27:14
The Racing Farmers in 1972 secured their own long time sponsorship deal.
27:18
It came with Olympia Brewing out of Tumwater, Washington.
27:22
The car now looked even more sharp, and the Racing Farmers looked spiffier too,
27:26
sporting new Olympia sponsored uniforms.
27:29
Also, as the sport entered its modern era in 1972, record
27:32
keeping became much more precise.
27:34
In the season opener on January 23rd, Elder qualified to finish fourth at
27:38
Riverside in the Winston Western 500.
27:41
Beating him, Petty, Bobby Allison, and Bobby Isaac, the
27:45
winner of 37 career cup races.
27:47
Right behind Elder and Forth was Hall of Famer Herschel McGrath taking 5th.
27:51
On March 5th, 1972, long time West Coast motorsports journalist Dusty Brandell
27:56
made history as the first woman to report for the NASCAR Press Box when
28:00
she reported on the Miller Highlight 500, won by David Pearson driving for
28:04
Hall of Famers Glen and Leonard Wood.
28:06
Elder finished fifth out of the massive 51 car field.
28:09
Another 20 cars didn't make the show.
28:12
It's amazing to look at the entry list at Riverside, Ontario, and Daytona back then.
28:17
Dozens of hopefuls would show up trying to make the shows.
28:19
Qualifying was a race in itself.
28:21
Hershel McGriff was again right there with Elder, finishing in sixth.
28:25
Herschel McGriff is the oldest living NASCAR Hall of Famer and one of
28:29
the most prolific drivers in racing history to come from the Northwest.
28:32
He finished 9th in the first Southern 500 in 1950.
28:37
He also won four NASCAR Grand National races in 1954 before leaving the
28:42
sport for over 10 years to develop his business and raise a family.
28:45
He began racing in the Pacific Coast Division in 1965 and didn't
28:49
race his full season until 1972.
28:52
Unfortunately for race fans, he only competed in one full season in the
28:56
division at the same time as Elder.
28:58
Though, McGriff did run full campaigns from 1981 through 1989.
29:03
He picked up a Winston West Championship in 1986 and also won a dozen
29:07
consecutive Most Popular Driver Awards.
29:10
The 1972 Winston West season was perhaps the best of any that would come later.
29:15
It featured a 30 race schedule.
29:17
McGriff linked up with fellow Northwesterner Beryl Jackson,
29:20
his longtime car owner, to run the full Winston West schedule.
29:23
McGriff won 12 races.
29:25
Elder took seven races.
29:27
Dick Bound had his best season, finishing third in points with four wins.
29:31
McCoy grabbed six wins, finishing fourth in the championship.
29:34
All four drivers raced in all 30 races.
29:37
What appeared to be the championship separator was that Elder was running
29:41
at the finish in every race but one.
29:44
His three worst finishes came mid season.
29:46
A pair of 12th and a 13th.
29:48
Thereby huge props again go to the racing farmers for building quick
29:51
cars and repairing those cars when the Elders Olympia sponsored Dodge
29:56
suffered attrition during the race.
29:58
Back to the Winston Cup Series.
29:59
As far as top five finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the Racing Farmers went three
30:04
for three in their home state in 1972.
30:06
And the third top five was the sweetest when the NASCAR Winston
30:10
Cup Grand National Series returned to Riverside on June 18, 1972.
30:15
Elders started seventh and led the final 44 laps, finishing a full lap
30:19
ahead of Hall of Famer Benny Parsons.
30:22
This was the first time Perhaps the gutsiest performance of Elder's career.
30:26
The 71 Dodge had transmission issues early and Ray had to muscle the car to victory.
30:31
At the event's end, both of his feet were badly burned and blistered.
30:34
They raised him tough on the farm.
30:36
The 1972 season may have been his finest of all in the West Series.
30:40
He finished the season with 27 top 10s in 30 races and 7 more wins.
30:46
And Ray was still only 29.
30:48
1973 started with promise.
30:50
The Farmers finished third at Riverside in the Cup Race.
30:53
That event became famous in that it was Roger Penske's NASCAR breakthrough.
30:58
He owned the American Motors Matador driven to victory
31:00
by the great Mark Donohue.
31:02
It was Penske's first Cup win.
31:04
But remarkable consistency was not to be in 1973.
31:07
As mechanical and or tire problems marred Elder's season, they finished
31:12
20th and 21st in the Portland races.
31:14
Even worse, they placed 22nd in the 1970s.
31:17
At the first of only two occasions, the series raced at Monterey at what
31:20
was known as Laguna Seca Raceway.
31:22
Ken Clapp was gaining a stronger presence in NASCAR and pushed
31:26
for that race to take place.
31:27
Clapp eventually took on major roles with NASCAR.
31:30
He became Vice President of Western Operations for nearly 20 years,
31:34
followed by Vice President of Marketing and Development until
31:36
his retirement in 1999, at which time he became a senior consultant.
31:40
Clapp also played a critical role in bringing NASCAR Cup stars to Japan
31:44
for exhibition races in the 1990s.
31:47
Very important in that he provided the creative vision, the development and
31:50
the creation of the NASCAR truck series.
31:53
Clapp's role in promoting NASCAR's growth and development in the West
31:56
and worldwide cannot be overstated.
31:58
Involved with the sport for over seven decades, he surely will be considered for
32:02
the NASCAR Hall of Fame Landmark Award.
32:04
In 1973, the championship run ended for the Racing Farmers as they placed
32:08
3rd overall, their worst finish.
32:11
Perhaps fittingly, Jack McCoy won the championship.
32:13
Sonny Easley, winner of the event at Lugan and Seca, placed 2nd overall.
32:17
A side note on Easley, he finished 2nd in the championship again in
32:21
1975, but fortunately, he perished in an accident at Riverside in 1978.
32:27
The Racing Farmers stormed back in 74 with another speedy Olympia sponsored dodge.
32:32
and outlasted McCoy one final time.
32:34
Elder finished 58 points ahead to win the title.
32:37
Jack McCoy retired at the conclusion of the 1974 season and is currently
32:42
credited with 54 wins in the NASCAR Winston West division.
32:45
To be sure, McCoy was one of the most important figures in the growth and
32:49
development of stock car racing on the West Coast and had an outstanding career.
32:54
In his final year of Olympia sponsorship in 1975, Elder picked
32:57
up his ninth and final career win at Ascot, the same year he claimed
33:02
his seventh and final championship.
33:04
Ascot, that track's days, like others mentioned in this
33:07
presentation, were numbered.
33:09
In 1990, legendary L.
33:11
A.
33:11
Times motor sports correspondent Shav Glick had seen it all in his decades of
33:15
writing about the West Coast racing scene.
33:17
He described the track to a tee as he reminisced in 1990 as the track
33:22
was in the process of being closed.
33:24
Askar Park is no Taj Mahal.
33:26
It's a grubby little place with a half mile oval laid out on a dump
33:29
site in south central Los Angeles.
33:31
It's demise brought on by inevitable, Urban and industrial development
33:36
will leave a void for Southern California motor racing enthusiasts
33:39
who have seen the Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside International
33:42
Raceway, and dragstips disappear in recent years for similar reasons.
33:47
Ontario never had a chance.
33:49
As the 1970s progressed, the Indianapolis of the West continued to draw sizable
33:54
crowds and put on exciting races while accumulating massive debt.
33:57
The track's days were numbered.
33:59
Ontario defaulted on bonds in 1972.
34:02
By October 1980, the track was in foreclosure and 25.
34:06
5 million in debt.
34:07
The following year, the Chevron Land and Development
34:09
Company purchased the property.
34:11
Riverside would be engulfed by sprawl as well, holding its final race in 1988.
34:15
You guessed it.
34:16
The shopping mall was put in.
34:17
All parts of the country have lost countless racetracks due to
34:20
various issues, most environmentally related, urban and suburban sprawl,
34:25
noise pollution, complaints, road construction, to name a few.
34:28
California probably lost more venues than any other state.
34:32
Numerous tracks in California and the Pacific Northwest, venues which featured
34:36
so many superstars in their speeding cars, are long gone, with little
34:40
to show for their existence today.
34:41
But during the era of the racing farmers, Western Short Tracks, dirt and paved
34:46
palaces of speed, served as vital venues in the growth and development of stocker
34:49
racing on the West Coast and provided exciting racing time and time again as
34:53
the NASCAR Pacific Coast Division morphed into the NASCAR Winston West Series.
34:58
After the 1975 season, Olympia did not renew its sponsorship with Elder.
35:03
The racing farmers returned to the fields.
35:05
For 1976, Elder stepped away from full time competition, and the
35:09
Elders sold their racing equipment.
35:11
Ray Elder returned in 1978 for one final full season, driving a red No.
35:17
32 car owned by Dave Hill with Bill Morehart as crew chief.
35:21
He picked up two final wins, The last one coming at now defunct Langley
35:25
Speedway in British Columbia via Canada.
35:28
He finished third in the points in 1978 behind champion Jimmy Ancelot and Bill
35:32
Schmidt, another up and comer, who won the title the previous year and would do
35:37
so again in 1979, finished second in 78.
35:41
Elder raced in a handful of races over the ensuing years, but continued to
35:44
farm the family land and eventually opened a mini mart with Pat.
35:48
The store closed not that long ago.
35:50
In 1990, Elder was selected to the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame.
35:54
In 2002, he had perhaps his greatest honor thus far, being selected as a
35:58
member, with some of the people listed earlier, of the inaugural class of the
36:02
West Coast Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame.
36:04
Elder was recently announced as one of the nominees for the Motorsports Hall
36:08
of Fame of America in Daytona Beach.
36:10
For In 1975, Ray Elder and the Racing Farmers won a special event
36:15
at Ascot by an incredible seven laps.
36:17
Afterwards, one rider opined, All in all, the 500 lap race for stock cars
36:22
was a fine race, with the best driver on the West Coast proving his claim.
36:27
Ray Elder deserves that title all the way.
36:29
And that is the story of the Racing Farmers.
36:33
This episode is brought to you in part by the International
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Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history
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The center's collection embodies the speed, drama, and camaraderie
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The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of
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To learn more about the Center, visit www.
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org.
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This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians.
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They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history.
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The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers.
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and deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through
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the modern age and into the future.
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