If someone was to start a Merced Speedway Hall of fame WHO should be in it and why

loyld beard  super modified al pombo super mod   60smerced used to have lots of super modified races

Bob also has the most "opening day" wins .. (or at least he used to)

Great responses so far. The cool thing is that 5 people could go in each year and you would never run out of people who are desirving of such an honor. The sports HOF's not only include players, but Coaches and broadcasters as well. Having said that IMHO the FIRST person that would go in should be Johnnie Sass. Don't think I even need to say why. Bert Moreland should IMO be another early inductee. He PROMOTED Merced during it's heyday and did a lot for the sport. As far as drivers how 'bout:
Rod Poor
Dennis Moomjean
Doug Williams
Jerry Holzer
George Leffler
Ralph Arnold
These are in addition to ALL that were mentioned previously. ALL good choices. BAP, Great knowledge on Jack Oldenage ( not sure if I spelled that right either) Hope everyone had a Wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

How many per year  

I was thinking about 1 every 3 months or so. That would be 3 a year.

Stock car

Ted Stoffle... a great driver, a champion and a good friend.
Dave Brightwell.. My brother, 5 track and 2 state championships and the only one that could best Teddy
Doug McCoun.. My sisters old boyfriend and the most talented of the three.

I have really enjoyed this thread, has brought back names and memories from a time long past.

a few corrections.

Bob Terry only won when he ran his 421 CI in place of his legal 389, it took us a awhile to catch on but once we all did he never won another race in the 70's.

Billy Veil spent 8k on an engine but figured out quickly that with 8" tires a 3k Ford 302 (307 CI) would beat him. ours. he was so upset he had his crew jump us after the race at a party they invited us to, one little toad named Evans still has a boot coming to his face for that one.

The loss of Teddy was devastating to alot of us, we traveled to Watsonville Friday night and he would stay at our house in Santa Cruz, Saturday we would go to Merced and stay at Teddy Folks place, Sunday we would head down to Madera and put the slicks on, head home and meet up at San Jose Speedway Wed night for another night of asphalt racing. Ernie Irvan was our asst flagman at watsonville when he was 15. After Teddys death it was a duel between Dave and Doug McCoun for top hotshoe with the two winning nearly every race at Merced, Antioch and Watsonville for the next two years, Dave and Doug had also started helping out Roy Pruett and Timmy Williamson in what was then the Permatex series which ran with winston cup on the west coast. The loss of Tim at riverside took the air out of us and Dave quit racing ovals altogether in 80. I went moto x racing then SCCA later and won my last championship in 07 in E production in a RX7 before hanging up my helmet.

What was it like running the only Ford at every california track? well you had to bring your own spares, and you had to get used to hearing "looky there!, its gotta Ferd in it" as they peered into the engine compartment which was filled with basically a Ford GT 40 engine with 307 CI, all legal off the shelf parts from the Ford dealer, rules said we could run a 351 but since our closest competitors were limited to 311 we didnt think it would be sporting or fair and lapping second place didnt sound appealing, alot of drivers respected us for that. We had a couple pro built engines but they never lasted more than a few races, Dad could build engines that would go 75 races.

One name no one mentioned was a staple at Merced, Odell Brewer, not only did he bring the most beeutiful girl in the world into Teddys life but was also one of the fiercest competitors to ever run Merced, that man drove like there was no tomorow. off track was the most polite man in the pits. a true sportsman. "How ya doin" with a big grin was his trademark and he meant it.

The Corn Brothers. Teeth the size of chicletts, overalls, a version of english only someone from holler could understand, they showed up with a big block or something and when my elderly father protested them the younger one attacked him like a junkyard dog. their all probly in jail somewhere now.

Doug McCoun made quite a name for himself in the tour series, maybe some winston west racing as well, havnt seen him since Bakersfields Mesa Marin in 96, at the time I had a car there in the late models series running against Kevin Harvick, I worked across the street fron his Dad and saw his first car go together.

although sometimes bittersweet I miss those days.

Daryl Brightwell

Daryl B wrote on 11/28/10 at 12:38pm:



no bias here. LOL

Daryl,
I remember your brother well. Raced against him in the 70's. Great guy and a class act with at least one watsonville championship when EVERYBODY was there. Didn't know he ran Merced that much but he would be on a short HOF list anywhere he strapped in. The Mayor of Planada was another one. Hard racer who won more than his share. There's a couple of others who were VERY competitive during that period as well. I'm speaking of Dennis Wilson and Ray Morgan. For a year or so, the Stock cars ran 4 nights a week. San Jose on Wed, Watsonville Fri, Merced Sat and Madera Sun. One of those years, Dennis won 33 Mains enroute to the State title. HOF numbers for sure. Morgan not only won many races in a Stock Car but battled Gordon Rodgers down to the wire in Merced's Ltd Modified division. Tom, regarding your question MHO is to have a once a year HOF night. where all the of the legends show up for the evening. NASCAR puts 5 per year in. That seems like a good number to me, but that's just my opinion. At any rate, EVERYONE I have seen mentioned to this point seems more than worthy of HOF status. Oh, Did anyone mention Tom Baurbor??

I remember you Ken, you also drove a Ford right?

Dave I believe still holds the record at 45 Main event wins enroute to the State title [/quote]
45 Mains.......Good Lord
My first Stocker was a 63 T-Bird. Traded my Go-Kart to Tony Olivera for it. It was Chevy from then on with my last Stock Car being a 64 Chevelle in 1977

how about Ray Elder 96m ted Fritz 14 and Bill Syphers circle 17 all of these great drivers had many wins after they left merced

I remember Jonny Sass announcing "Wee Willie Wieselmeyer!" I think he drove a putrid green sportsman. Wee Willie doesnt belong in the HOF, but his name sure does.

It was always an air of excitement in the air for me when Bobby Hogge, Ray Morgan, Jim Pettit, Dave Byrd or JD Willis made the trip over the mountain.

Those days were classic, when there were the Watsonville drivers and the Antioch drivers and the Merced boys. When they all got together it was something special. The trips over to Watsonaville were special for me as a kid because it seemed that without the walls like in Merced, them boys slung it sidways until the cushion was over the hump and back in the grass.

Since this is a merced thread....I'll drop a few names that stick out with me as guys who showed up and faught hard every week. Ya'll already mentioned the champs, but I also remember the guys like Sam Huff , Doug Hinkle and Dewayne Blount.