The Big Car Racing Association Hall Of Fame
The Original Big Car Racing Association was revived at Denver, Colorado on October 14th 2003. The focus of the new organization was to preserve the history of the BCRA and to hold vintage exhibition events at venues once frequented by the club. Meetings were held on a regular basis and events were planned and enjoyed by the membership. The Association grew quickly through 2004, with members from some twenty states supporting the effort with yearly dues, which helped produce a much heralded Bi-Monthly publication of association history and activities. On Labor Day Weekend of 2004 a vintage race was scheduled for Norton Ks in conjunction with the Kansas Antique Racers and the Colorado Vintage Oval Racers. This activity followed suit with the history of the original club making its first out of state appearance at Norton in 1960.
In May of 2005 a reunion was held at Speedway Motors in Lincoln, Nebraska with a fine collection of Vintage cars on hand. An on track exercise was held at Eagle Raceway with owners, drivers and cars from Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois. The reunion in Lincoln caught the attention of several people from the region who came to take part. The first evening, and with the vintage cars parked on the Villager Motel parking lot, I would find two BCRA champions in Gary Swenson and Ray Lee Goodwin checking out the Sprinters on hand. From the East and North came Lew Holland, Pat Mandell, Mel Gitchel, Pat Mewes and Ned Frye from Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Mark and Doug Randol and Eddie McVay of Kansas City joined Lonnie Jensen, Joe Haag and Dan Andre of Lincoln, Ne along with Dan’s brother, Jan Andre of Idaho. Dan and Dave McGown of Fairbury, Ne brought out the Bob Slater car with Paul Tainter of Fremont with his 30’s Big Car. Kansan Mirl Barnett from Rexford made the trip with the Morosic Oldsmobile propane burner in tow. The Colorado contingent included Dick Surratt and Ody Fellows in town for the weekend. Bill Smith along with John Mackichan, were on hand as the cars were staged on the lot just west of the Museum on Saturday Morning.
2005 Vintage Cars on display(front to rear)
Morosic Propane burner, Pius Selenke #43, Todd White wire wheeled sprinter and Dan Andre “Pig Iron Special Hemi”
Tours of the Speedway Motors Smith Collection of American Speed were conducted and all were able to witness the continuation of racing history in this remarkable collection. Ody Fellows would receive the first ever, Don Budy Memorial award. During this event the topic of a Hall of Fame was discussed and added to the agenda for the next meeting of the club in Denver.
Ody Fellows receiving board member award from Don Budy in 1965
Ody Fellows receiving the Don Budy award from Bruce Budy
Denver, Co 2005
Thanks for the reply GW. Would love to talk with you about my grandfather. do you possibly have a contact number on the owner of his old race car? Would love to have some pictures. Please contact me at 214/4213217 or 972/922-9626
Thanks Les Butler III
Hello Les. The South Dallas Battery cars go back a long ways and one ended up in Nebraska with Bill Harding who drove the car in the 30’s and was reportedly sold to a guy in Chicago at the Harding family auction in 1970. Les did run with the BCRA in 1965 at Oklahoma City. The IMCA had a dispute with MARCAR and Don Budy, with the BCRA was able to secure the date. It was a great show with a host of IMCA drivers attending including Les and reported that Sonny McDaniels drove that day. Les was a most interesting figure on the IMCA with a host of drivers including David James, BCRA HAll of Famers Jay Woodside and Ralph Parkinson and USAC Champ Greg Weld. GW
I have just a 1938 big car that was built in dearborn i know little or nothing about the car other than its called the NACEWICZ FORD its 4 b engine and all ford a running gear
Our historians will be researching this information. Hopefully they will find some information that will help to identify this car and get some history regarding it. Do you have or can you take a picture of this car and email to us? If so, email to [email protected]
I would like to know if my grandfather was a member of BCRA. He ran a sprint car during the 60’s. Most of the races he attended were IMCA but I do have memory of some BCRAA events. His name was Les Butler from Dallas Tx. Ran the South Dallas Battery Special.
Thank you ahead of time for checking.
Les Butler III
Hi Les … We have found that we have the name Les Butler on the BCRA roster as an owner. That doesn’t mean for certain that he wasn’t a driver, also. BCRA sanctioned races in 7 states, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas & Oklahoma. Our information is quite limited at this point regarding your grandfather … any information you might be able to find and share with us will be appreciated! And, a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so let us know if you have any photos.
Thanks for the answer grandpa drove under UMCA but retired in 57.
Was he ever a BCRA member, to your knowledge?
how do you select for your hall of fame ?
Submitted on 2014/03/19 at 12:34 PM | In reply to Darrin McKim.
That is a great question, Darrin. BCRA has a process that has been followed and has proven to be acceptable since the beginning of the Hall of Fame. In a nut shell, there is only one criteria that must be met for consideration for membership and that being the person must be or have been an original BCRA member between 1957 and 1977. So, having met this qualification criteria, names are submitted to the BCRA executives, currently Mr. Gary Wolfe and or Mr. Ray Cunningham, as nominees. All names, along with biological information and verified information regarding the nominee is then submitted to a team of selectors (does not include the BCRA Executives) who then review all data and make their selection for the induction year.
Since you asked this question, it has brought to mind that we should include a page that explains the process in greater detail for our readers. Thanks for you comment and watch for more information as it gets posted on this site.