Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

Longtime race fan and supporter Dave Keller passed away earlier today at 1:30pm.

More information will be posted soon. Our condolences to the Keller Family.

Rest In Peace Dave,

- Lance

Just got the phone call from Tony Jones and it is indeed a sad day around Southern California Sprint Car racing. Dave was a great guy. He loved racing and nobody was a bigger Tony Jones fan than Dave. He loved Tony!!! When Tony won, I would get a Sunday or Monday call from Dave telling me what a great job Tony did. When Tony finished in the top three, top five, top 10, top 15, top 20 or top 22 or crashed on lap one, I would get a Sunday or Monday call from Dave saying what a great job Tony did and he could have won that thing. He loved Tony Jones.

Dave and I were from the same neck of the woods (Detroit) and we saw a lot of the same tracks and drivers. He would tell me stories of some of the races and racers from a time when I was to small or to young to remember. He had a tremendous memory and his stories on racing, it drivers, tracks and technologies will be missed.

R.I.P. Dave

Scott Daloisio

I'm very sorry to hear this news,Dave was a good guy that I had many discussions and some debates with about racing,he used to talk about a stock car driver named Joy Fair who always had a bright yellow car,what I found ironic about this was that my father used to race against Joy whenever he would come down to Indiana or my dad went up to Michigan and even though I was just a little kid I distinctly remember that bright yellow car and how fast it was.When I told Dave this it was like we instantly had something in common and he then would talk my ear off every week,I'll miss those talks.

R.I.P. Dave

Terry James Jr.

I was thinking about Toymaker a few weeks ago, and had meant to email him to see what was new.

I now wish I hadn't waited to do so.

Exchanging thoughts with Dave was always a fun experience, and he built some cool RC cars.

I'm gonna miss you good friend.

Joe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

No matter where you go, there you are.

Man, Dave and Joy Fair! Growing up in the 1960s and 70s in Detroit, there were a lot of guys who could have been your sports hero. Guys like Goride Howe and Al Kaline. I loved those guys, but growing up around Flat Rock and Toledo Speedways, my all-time sports hero was Joy Fair. More than 30 years later, he still is. He was a great racer and a better man. As a kid, my family would follow him around the Midwest to see him drive that famous school bus yellow car.

Norm Bogan wrote an article about me in The PAS program in 1999 or 2000 and it happened to mention that Joy Fair was my hero. For some reason that night before the main event, I was down on the track for driver introductions and some guy I do not know comes over and starts saying, "Joy Fair was the greatest short track driver of all time." And, he starts spewing facts about Joy as well. I had no idea who this guy was. I went down to the pits after the races and the guy comes up and shakes my hand and starts talking about Joy Fair back in the 1950s. He talked my ear off and it was great. That is how I met Dave Keller and we became very good friends.

Dave loved talking racing. A lot of racing. Like me, we both were huge fans of Joy Fair so we talked a ton about him. With me, the only person he talked more about than Joy Fair was Tony Jones.

Wow, This is heart breaking. I had an enormous amount of respect for Dave. He was always the first to come up and give a jab to you, wether you did good or bad. He enjoyed the racing, enjoyed the people and yes, he was the head cheerleader for Tony. Dave will be missed for sure. We have been blessed to know him.

So long bud,

Rest in peace.

Scott,

Another guy from Michigan who was also very fast that I remember from those days and I'm sure you also seen him race was "The Green Hornet" Ed Howe.

Ed Howe and the cars he built were always super fast. In the early 1970s he teamed with a guy named Tom Maier in cars they numbered "Goin" and "Gone." Another fast guy from their part of the state was Bob Senneker. Ohio's Don Gregory in the Jegs car, Bud Midduagh, Larry "The Fairtborn Flyer" Moore and Tony DeLillo (who was seriously burned in the mid 1970s after I moved to California) and of course "Moose" Myers out of Indiana. Great memories!!!

Ah yes, ole Moose Myers was going to mention him earlier but wasn't sure if you had ever heard of him,my father raced with him on a regular basis at Baer Field Speedway in Ft. Wayne Indiana and the owners shop was right down the street from where we lived. Remember that car very well, a maroon #0 owned by Jim Stovall. Man we're starting to date ourselves!

Rest in peace Dave, I will miss seeing you around!