West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Salutes Pioneers of Speed
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame will memorialize its first Pioneers of Speed later this spring, celebrating the accomplishments of 10 stars and industry figures from the Golden Age of motorsport.
Introduction of the inaugural Pioneers of Speed will be a featured event of the 2024 Induction Gala, presented by World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, on Thursday, June 6 at Sonoma Raceway’s Turn 11 Club in Sonoma, Calif.
“I am excited as never before of the introduction of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsport Hall of Fame’s new and third category, Pioneers of Speed, which recognizes those whose accomplishments created the foundation of the racing we know today,” said Ken Clapp, Chairman and CEO of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame. “This first year we’ve gone back to the late teens and 1920s forward, recognizing 10 persons.
“The newest category will be determined each year by a committee of our Board of Directors and will continue on an annual basis until we have covered every person worthy of such an honor. On another note, the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame is on course to reach a goal of $1 million in gifts by the spring of 2025 – if not sooner. This philanthropic effort began in June 2017 and recognizes charities that have been selected by an executive committee with suggestions from the public and our generous supporters.”
The 2024 Pioneers of Speed are:
Johnny Boyd
· Johnny Boyd, Fresno, Calif., competed in 56 American Automobile Association and U.S. Club championship races between 1954 and 1966, finishing 31 time in the top 10 with a best placing of second in 1959 at the Milwaukee Mile.
· He competed in Bay Cities Racing Association midget racing, along with his friend and West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Famer Bob Schweikert. Boyd is a member of the BCRA Hall of Fame.
· Boyd competed in a dozen Indianapolis 500s, leading 18 laps and finishing third in the 1958 500. Boyd, a member of the National Midget Racing Hall of Fame, won AAA and USAC features at Kokomo, Ind. and Gardena and Fresno., California. Boyd died in 2003 at age 77.
Jack Dill
· Jack Dill, Oakland, Calif. supervised the racing tire division of Bruce’s Tires from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1974.
· The company’s owner, Bruce Alexander, was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002.
· After discharge from the U.S. Navy, Dill went to work at the firm on the racing side of the business, which included stock cars, midgets and drag racing. Dill contributed to the success of the top names of the era. Dill died in 1983 at age 53.
Fred Frame
· Fred Frame, Pasadena, Calif., born Frederick William Colbath, took his stepfather’s surname Frame and began competing in California dirt track races.
· He set his first record, covering a one-mile track in San Luis Obispo in 43.4 seconds. Frame finished second in American Automobile Association points in 1931-32, winning the 1932 Indianapolis 500 – just the third competitor to win at more than 100 miles per hour.
· Frame competed in eight 500s, also finishing second in 1931. Frame died in 1962 at age 67.
Ted Horn
· Ted Horn, Los Angeles, Calif., began his competitive career at the Los Angeles Legion Ascot dirt track, going from a slow-lapper to impressing Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer, who suggested moving to the east and Midwest.
· Qualifying for his first Indianapolis 500 in 1935, he finished second the following year. Horn won the pole for the 1947 race at 126.564, scoring top-10s in nine consecutive 500s.
· Horn became the first to win three consecutive American Automobile Association national championships (1946-48) but was killed at age 38 in a crash at the DuQuoin Ill. Fairgrounds.
Frank Lockhart
· Frank Lockhart was born in Dayton, Ohio but soon moved to Southern California. He competed in a number of dirt track events, in Frontenac Ford-powered cars.
· Lockhart later competed on board tracks, winning eight times and finishing 14 times among the top-10 in 22 starts.
· At age 23, Lockhart entered and won the 1926 Indianapolis 500 in a Miller and won the pole the following year. In all, Lockhart won nine American Automobile Association races and finished second in points twice.
· Lockhart set a land speed record of 160.01 mph at California’s Muroc dry lake in April 1927. Lockhart’s LSR attempt on April 25, 1928 Daytona Beach, Florida ended in tragedy when a tire on his Stutz Black Hawk Special failed, killing the driver instantly at age 25. Lockhart is memorialized in many halls of fame.
Rex Mays
· Rex Mays, Riverside, Calif., enshrined in multiple halls of fame, won the first of two American Automobile Association Pacific Coast championships at age 20 (1934-35). Mays won the AAA Midwest title in 1936-37 and was the organization’s national champion in 1940-41, ultimately winning eight times in 57 races.
· Mays became the Indianapolis 500’s youngest pole winner (age 22, 1935). He won four poles and twice finished second, in 1940 to Wilbur Shaw and 1941 to Floyd Davis/Mauri Rose. Mays led nine of 12 Indianapolis starts.
· Mays was killed in the final race of the AAA season at Del Mar, Calif. on Nov. 6, 1949.
Jimmy Murphy
· Jimmy Murphy was born to Irish immigrants in San Francisco in 1894, later living in Los Angeles. Murphy began his racing career as a riding mechanic, co-winning the 1916 Corona, Calif. road race with Eddie O’Donnell.
· He became a master of the board tracks, winning 17 times as a factory Deusenberg driver at Beverly Hills, Calif. in 1920. Murphy won American Automobile Association national championships in 1920 and 1924, the latter season after his death three days after his 30th birthday in Syracuse, N.Y.
· Murphy’s 1922 Indianapolis 500 victory was the first by a pole winner. His 1921 French Grand Prix victory for Deusenberg marked the first triumph by an American competitor in an American-manufactured car until Dan Gurney won the Belgian GP in 1967. He is memorialized in multiple halls of fame.
Bob Swanson
· Bob Swanson was born Aug. 20, 1912 in Minnesota but later moved to the Southern California community of Inglewood. He was regarded by many as one of the best midget auto racer of the time.
· Swanson competed in big cars and roadsters before graduating to midgets. He is a two-time winner of the famous Turkey Night Grand Prix at Gilmore Stadium. He also won the 1939 Gold Cup at the same Los Angeles area speedway.
· He won the National Midget Racing Association title in 1935 and American Automobile Association Pacific Coast championship in 1939.
· Swanson competed in three Indianapolis 500 races, leading 34 laps as a rookie in 1937. His best finish – sixth – came in 1940. Swanson, 27, was fatally injured while qualifying for an AAA event at Fort Miami (Ohio) Speedway on June 13, 1940.
Ernie Triplett
· Ernie Triplett was born in Illinois but moved to Los Angeles in childhood. Triplett entered his first race at Banning in Riverside County in 1927 at age 21.
· Known variously as “The Blonde Terror” and “Belvedere Bad Boy,” Triplett began his domination of California tracks – regularly beating famous competitors and Indianapolis 500 winners.
· Triplett won the first American Automobile Association-sanctioned race at Legion Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles and became the AAA Pacific Southwest champion, winning races on six of seven tracks and 17 times overall. He repeated as champion in 1932.
· Triplett proved fast but unlucky in five Indianapolis 500 appearances, in which he failed to finish four times. Triplett’s best 500 finish was seventh in 1931. Triplett died at age 27 in a March 3, 1934 AAA big car race at El Centro, Calif.
Louis Vermeil
· Louis Vermeil, born in 1911, got his first taste of auto racing as a youth in San Mateo, Calif., attending big car races at San Francisco Speedway, a 1.25-mile board track.
· A mechanic, he worked at Nance’s Ford garage, the owner of which – Lee Nance – owned a big car and inspired Vermeil to develop a life-long love of racing. Moving to Napa County in 1937, he started his own business, the Owl Garage and bought his first big car.
· He also worked as track prep for the Napa County Fairgrounds’ Calistoga Speedway. World Following World War II, Vermeil was instrumental in getting promoter Charley Curryer to bring his American Racing Association to Calistoga. Vermeil’s Black Beauty Special won the 1950 ARA championship.
· In 1960, the sanction was renamed to Northern Auto Racing Club with Vermeil filling many roles: president, business manager, referee and chief steward through retirement in 1985. Vermeil passed away in 1987 with his ashes scattered over the Calistoga Speedway pit area.
Previously announced members of the Class of 2024 are the late Dick Cobb, Las Vegas, Nev., winner of eight track championships over a 45-year racing career in Nevada and California; Eric Holmes, Escalon, Calif., winner of three NASCAR West (now ARCA Menards Series West) titles; Jimmie Johnson, El Cajon, Calif., seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion; Jimmy Vasser, Canoga Park, Calif., 10-time Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) winner, Indianapolis 500 co-owner champion and 2023 IMSA GTD championship co-owner; and Calvin (Cal) Wells III, NASCAR Cup Series race winning team owner, Off-Road Hall of Fame inductee and current chief executive officer of Legacy Motor Club.
The 2024 Heritage class, which also will be inducted, is comprised of the late Joe Huffaker, San Francisco, Indianapolis car builder and Sports Car Club of America owner’s champion; Steve Lewis, Colton, Calif., 10-time United States Auto Club National Midget car owner’s champion; Emmett Malloy, Inglewood, Calif., builder of famed Carrell Speedway in Southern Calif. and son Tom Malloy, Villa Park, Calif., two-decade historic car competitor and USAC midget team owner; Paula Murphy, Granada Hills, Calif., first woman licensed by the National Hod Rod Association to drive a nitromethane-fueled car and land speed record holder; and Greg Pickett, Alamo, Calif., only driver to win SCCA Trans-Am races in six decades and as team owner two American Le Mans Series driver/owner titles.
Highlights of the induction ceremonies will be broadcast later this summer, network, air dates and broadcast times to be announced.
The event also will be highlighted by presentation of the 4th Annual Knockin’ Doorz Down Philanthropist of the Year Award presented by 51FIFTY.
About the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame:
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame was conceived in 2001 as a means of recognizing significant contributors and contributions to the sport of stock car/motorsports competition. The mission of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame is founded to preserve history and heritage of the important role west coast stock car and motorsports figures have played in the sport’s development and continuation and to recognize, through annual enshrinement, of outstanding individuals and groups within the sport such as, but not limited to, designers, engineers, mechanics, drivers, race track owners, promoters, publicists and members of the motorsports media.
The Hall is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, dedicated to supporting a variety of organizations and groups from coast to coast. The Hall has raised more than $800,000 during the past six years for youth, health and safety, hospitals, animal rescue, military and other charitable causes.
For more information on the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame visit: www.WestCoastStockCarHallofFame.com
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