|
Racing today seems to be made up of an overwhelming
number of father and son combinations. One of the
earlier
"second generations" to be successful, to a
moderate degree
anyway, were the Gardner Brothers, Howard and jack.
To say
that they came from a racing family would be
an
understatement.
Back in 1922, Ray Gardner started driving Sprint
cars in and
around Denver. He showed enough talent that
promoter J. Alex
Sloan signed him to his group of barnstorming IMCA
drivers.
Ray's younger brother, Chester, soon got into the
sport and
after gaining his experience in the Rocky Mountain
area, he
found himself with a AAA ride at Ascot. Chet was
involved in a
nasty accident at Ascot when his car went over the
outer rail
and under a portion of the grandstand and killed a
spectator.
When Chet recovered, he became one of the all-time
Ascot
favorites and one of the first to regularly drive a
big Miller. This
was shortly after his Indianapolis debut in 1929
when he drove
relief for W.H. "Speed" Gardner (no relative) after
Chet's
original entry had burned a rod while attempting to
qualify.
Chet also endeared himself to Ascot fans by his
immaculate
white pants and shirt and black bow tie. he was
always a top
contender for Best Appearing driver and Pit Crew
honors.
Chet was always a close runner-up in the Pacific
Coast AAA
Championship. In the heyday of Ascot, he never
finished worse
than fifth in points, despite the fact that part of
the year_long
racing season was spent at Indianapolis and other
Midwestern
and Eastern ovals.
Ray was never quite as successful as his younger
brothers,
but he, too, finally gravitated to Ascot and the
AAA. While
Chet was winning with regularity in his white
Miller, Ray was
plugging along in the "B" races in his Winfield.
Their brother,
Paul, never got the urge to drive, but was content
to help out on
his brothers' pit crews. Their younger brother,
Dean, was too
young to register with AAA but he was,
nevertheless, interested
in a racing career. By the time he was 21, Legion
Ascot was a
thing of the past, but he did buy a Midget and
compete in AAA
and later, URA events at Gilmore Stadium as well as
on other
southland tracks.
In 1935 Chet bought a new light blue Miller and
divided his
time between the coast. In 1935 he also bought a
two-man car
from the Duesenberg Brothers which turned out to be
the last
race car built by the famous team. With this car
for the
Championship races (which required a riding
mechanic) Chet
was covered for any racing he wanted to do. Brother
Ray went
along as his pit mechanic, and it seemed that he
was perhaps
more content with that role.
In 1938 Chet was qualifying for a Sprint race at
Flemington,
New Jersey when a small child got away from the
grasp of his
parents and started toddling across the race track.
Faced with a
split-second decision, Chet, always a gentleman on
and off the
tracks, opted for the direction which would save
the child. He
crashed through the fence and was killed instantly,
while the
toddler was returned unscathed to its hysterical
parents.
After Chet's death, Ray cut back on his racing
activities. He
had four children of his own; Raymond, Howard, Jack
and a
daughter, Mary. Being a fine mechanic, Ray was able
to keep
active in racing helping other and he was
particularly well
regarded on the AAA championship circuit. Once in a
while,
the old urge to compete got the better of him, and
since he had
always kept his own Sprint car, originally a
Winfield, later a
McDowell and finally a Miller, he had no trouble
picking up a
spot race or two to drive.
In 1939 Ray took his Miller to the Oakland Mile
for a race
with Charlie Curryer's American Racing Association
(northern
California equivalent or the WRA) and came home
with a
trophy and top money for winning a 100-mile event.
This was
his last important race.
As Ray's driving career was ending, young Dean's
was just
getting started. Despite the strong Sprint car
orientation of the
Gardner family, big Dean bought a
Midget.
Somehow he never quite made it as a race driver.
On his very
best days he was mediocre, and more often than not,
out of
shape. shortly after the war he was fatally injured
in a race in
Phoenix.
Ray's sons, Howard and Jack, grew up to be
pretty fair
drivers themselves, Jack, who won a CRA title, was
perhaps the
best of the two, but he started making so much
money as a
plumber that he finally gave up driving. His son,
Jack Jr., is now
racing Sprints with CRA, driving a car owned by his
father.
-Jack C. Fox
The Illustrated History Of Sprint Car Racing
1896-1942
With Families like this still around I don't think
true Sprint
car fans and teams need to worry about having to
race and
watch "underpowered"
Sprint car shows in the future.
-Don
|
