Jerry Lee
05-15-2009, 12:50 PM
Anyone who watched a Figure 8 race out at Englewood Speedway through the '60's and '70's remembers the sight of Lee Stogsdill's lavender '57 Plymouths, wheeling those huge fins from the back of the pack to the front in no time flat.
This old 1997 phone interview caught the 1966 E.R.A. Figure 8 champ during his favorite TV show at the time, 'Wheel of Fortune'....
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JL: "Lee, how many of those '57's did you go through over the years?"
LS: "Oh, a few! I started out with Fords in the Figure 8's, then wound up buying a Plymouth from this guy, ran it on the dirt up at Erie, then made a Figure Eighter out of it."
JL: "What was that '66 championship season like for you?"
LS: "That was the year that Arnie Kautz got killed, y'know, and Arnie's Dad sold my car and Arnie's just because they were in his garage. They confiscated every damn thing! That put me without a car and I was 3 or 4 weeks late in starting the season. I was driving that Plymouth and I kind of slipped up on them and won it."**
JL: "I understand that someone once slipped you a 'mickey' to keep you out of the competition."
LS: "Oh yeah, I had to drink a bunch of coffees and take cold showers, but I went back to the track that night and won the main event."
JL: "What was the most memorable waxing you ever took at the X?"
LS: "Oh, I got hit at the X out there and flipped upside down. They put the car back over on it's wheels, and I got back in it and won the race anyway (laughs)"
JL: "Somebody flipped that big ol' Plymouth?"
LS: "Yeah, it took some doin' though. It took a '55 or '56 Buick to do the job, but it done it!"
JL: "You made two trips to the World Figure 8 Championships in New York. How did you do out there?"
LS: "I blew a head gasket in Clarence Beickman's car, and one year I got third."
JL: "You've always been a laid back guy, ever get into any skirmishes out there?"
LS: "Ah, naw. Junior Reeder was giving Fred Tryon a hard time once and I stepped in. He changed his mind right quick."
JL: "I guess I should let you get back to the 'Wheel of Fortune', huh?"
LS: "Yeah....Aw hell, it's over now!"
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**NOTE: Lee Stogsdill and Arnie Kautz were buddies who started out building and racing Stockers together at Englewood in the late '50's. Kautz won the E.R.A. Figure 8 championship for 1965, then died just 5 months later in a tragic plane crash. Stogsdill went on to capture the Figure 8 championship the very next year.
This old 1997 phone interview caught the 1966 E.R.A. Figure 8 champ during his favorite TV show at the time, 'Wheel of Fortune'....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
JL: "Lee, how many of those '57's did you go through over the years?"
LS: "Oh, a few! I started out with Fords in the Figure 8's, then wound up buying a Plymouth from this guy, ran it on the dirt up at Erie, then made a Figure Eighter out of it."
JL: "What was that '66 championship season like for you?"
LS: "That was the year that Arnie Kautz got killed, y'know, and Arnie's Dad sold my car and Arnie's just because they were in his garage. They confiscated every damn thing! That put me without a car and I was 3 or 4 weeks late in starting the season. I was driving that Plymouth and I kind of slipped up on them and won it."**
JL: "I understand that someone once slipped you a 'mickey' to keep you out of the competition."
LS: "Oh yeah, I had to drink a bunch of coffees and take cold showers, but I went back to the track that night and won the main event."
JL: "What was the most memorable waxing you ever took at the X?"
LS: "Oh, I got hit at the X out there and flipped upside down. They put the car back over on it's wheels, and I got back in it and won the race anyway (laughs)"
JL: "Somebody flipped that big ol' Plymouth?"
LS: "Yeah, it took some doin' though. It took a '55 or '56 Buick to do the job, but it done it!"
JL: "You made two trips to the World Figure 8 Championships in New York. How did you do out there?"
LS: "I blew a head gasket in Clarence Beickman's car, and one year I got third."
JL: "You've always been a laid back guy, ever get into any skirmishes out there?"
LS: "Ah, naw. Junior Reeder was giving Fred Tryon a hard time once and I stepped in. He changed his mind right quick."
JL: "I guess I should let you get back to the 'Wheel of Fortune', huh?"
LS: "Yeah....Aw hell, it's over now!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
**NOTE: Lee Stogsdill and Arnie Kautz were buddies who started out building and racing Stockers together at Englewood in the late '50's. Kautz won the E.R.A. Figure 8 championship for 1965, then died just 5 months later in a tragic plane crash. Stogsdill went on to capture the Figure 8 championship the very next year.