BLU PLEMONS - The Two Minute Interview

[Jerry Lee]

Summer Sunday nights at Lakeside Speedway were always a little more exciting when the blue #4 Modified coupe of Blu Plemons was in the line up. Easily one of the coolest guys in local racing history, a lot of fellow competitors credited Blu as giving them their start.

What could be more American than Blu Plemons and Lakeside Speedway? In honor of this upcoming Independence Day weekend, I've titled this 1994 video clip of the Lakeside legend "Red, White, & Blu Plemons". Have a safe and happy 4th!

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JL: "How did you get started in racing, Blu?"

BP: "If I remember right, I started in about '39. I started in the pits with Harry Conklin's Midget. Before that I was just a spectator. I started going out to the races when I was 11 years old. They was racing a couple nights a week, and then in the 40's went to three nights a week after the war. Shortly after that the Stock Cars started up at Englewood and ended up at Lakeside. Some stayed at Englewood, but I stuck it out with Lakeside."

JL: "What competitors come to mind when you think back on your career?"

BP: "Several times we raced with Jim and Jerry Malloy, we had some good battles going. Bill Starks and Shorty Weitzel. Me and Starks raced each other real tough. He hated to lose as bad as I did, but win or lose, you had a good time. You just tried to sharpen up and come back the next week."

JL: "Boy, back in the '50's and '60's you really had to beat a lot of guys out there just to get into the A main."

BP: "There was so many then. You had at least a hundred cars a night. You could be awful fast but if you didn't get the right breaks you were nothing."

JL: "Who else was tough to beat?"

BP: "Sam Sauer was a real competitor. We was like brothers until you got on the race track. And it didn't matter, when he went out the gate, he went out to win."

JL: "Sammy raced just about everything."

BP: "Anything he got in he could drive. Whether it was dirt, asphalt, or Stock Car, Midget, or a Roadster, it really didn't matter. And he had a wonderful career."

JL: "Did racing ever lose it's fun for you?"

BP: "The fun was racing in itself, and you really didn't have to win to have fun. Everybody had fun and it wasn't money at all, it was just like the fun of racing someone down the street. You just really enjoyed racing."

JL: "You grew up and still live near the Lakeside area."

BP: "Lakeside did more for the younger kids than anything going. It kept you out of trouble, and while you was only there a few nights a week you spent the rest of the week working on the car, and keepin' it going. You had probably ten kids in this neighborhood helping you keep it going, so it was a family deal as well as the neighborhood."

JL: "That's pretty neat."

BP: "Too bad they don't have something like that today to get the kids interests going."

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ARM MEMBERS, HELP! Be the first kid on your block to post some pics of Blu right here, as what few I have haven't been scanned!

[rapid30]

Jerry, these interviews are great. This one is special to me as Blu was always one of my heros. Blu was an inspiration to me as he was always very fast and did not have all of the money to spend, but he and Doug always had beautiful and fast racecars.
Bruce

[VintageBuzz]

Great article, JL! Please keep them coming for all of us to enjoy! ~VB

BP: "Several times we raced with Jim and Jerry Malloy, we had some good battles going. Bill Starks and Shorty Weitzel. Me and Starks raced each other real tough. He hated to lose as bad as I did, but win or lose, you had a good time. You just tried to sharpen up and come back the next week."

From the Lou Wendzel collection, Shorty Weitzel and his #96 chopped-fender Ford Coupe at his home track in Greeley, CO during the late '40s / early '50s. Shorty also race this car at Speedway Park in Ft. Collins, CO during the same era. ~VB

[lakeside #29]

I had the priviledge of first meeting Blu when I worked for Gene Plue back in the early '70's. He is one of humblest, most honest guys you could ever know. You could race side by side with Blu lap after lap and he'd race you totally clean, but you better be on your toes. He knew where every other car was on the track and you weren't paying attention you'd probably wind up in behind a slow guy and he'd just leave you in his dust. When Ed Mailo drove my #29 in 1974 Ed and Blu would play "catch me if you can" in hot laps. It so much to fun watch these old friends out playing.
People forget that he ran the Carrera Panamerica Mexican road race as co-driver with the late Keith Andrews in 1954. They came in third in a borrowed 1954 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. This was done against factory sponsored Lincolns with huge budgets. This race received worldwide press coverage at the time, It was a really big deal
Another thing about Blu, he has some great racing stories, they really are amazing.
I feel lucky to have made his aquaintance and to have my cars share the race track with him.

Chris Ertler

[Quick Time]

I really enjoy these two minute interviews. Thanks JL.....These are one special part of this site that really holds our history.

Chuck

[parrot]

These Two Minute Interviews are great, and doing one on Blue Plemons was a good choice. I first met Blu at one of the CARC reunions and a more accomodating gentleman couldn't be found. He was more than willing to share information, and while he didn't begin racing with the number four, he no doubt holds the CARC record for having the use of that number the longest. I'm only missing a '51 program, but from 1952 untill he hung up his helmet, that number was pretty much his. The attached photo is from 1955, and that's Blu second from the left. This '32 coupe appears to identical to the one I first saw a year earlier with the full hood and grill, including the scallop paint scheme although the '54 version was a darker color. Blue called it 'tomato red', appreared to be '53 Buick Matador Red, with cream scallops. I liked it well enough that when I got home I made a little cardboard model of it. BP

[Mitch G.]

http://www.autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=34&pictureid=713
What a great guy, always one of my favorite Denver race drivers, my dad got to race with Blu all through the mid to late 1950's. And Jerry, the 2 minute interviews are fantastic!
Left to right, Dwight Smith, Paul Foster, Blue Plemmons, Jim Billens (kneeling), Bill Rutherford, car owner Doug Plue. This is from a CARC 25th anniversary program from Lakeside Speedway, 1971. At the time the program was printed here's some info in the back pages. Track record_Sam Sauer 12:80 set 4/23/1967 in Ralph Youngs #60. Race meet #20 August 29,1971 top ten in CARC modified points : Don Wilson #19, Roy Jackson #45, Terry Daniels #61, Blu Plemmons #4, Dan Day #88, Bernie Sawin #46, Frank Barton #33, Fritz Wilson #7, Bill Stark #6, Joe James Jr. #54, Clarence Kreiger #83.

[lakeside #29]

Hay Jerry Lee,
I don't like these two minute interviews! I WANT A THREE MINUTE INTERVIEW. Two is up too quick for me.
You are having fun putting them up, and ALL of us who are reading are having fun remembering.
THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

Miss Peggy

[Jerry Lee]

I'm glad everyone's digging the interviews! It's much better to share what's on those old tapes than to just have them sitting around in the storage bin.
When I first pulled them out and started listening to them, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to post any of it. Some of these guys talked for well over an hour and I figured the posts would be too long, plus it would have taken me forever to write it all out.......But, after more listening I just had to post some of these stories! (I know, two minutes just isn't enough on some of these) I guess the coolest thing about them is that it isn't just ME telling you a bunch of racing stories, it's THEM telling their own story.

Many more to come, my friends!;)

--Jerry Lee

ps---Oh yeah, thanks for all the Blu pics and memories you all posted! What a cool guy!

[Jerry Lee]

Since the Two Minute Interviews seem to be in “repeats” this year, this is another one which I thought deserved another look at. Thanks to a lot of you ARM members it grew into a great thread!

When I first posted this interview with Blu, I pulled it from an edited videotape. I recently found the unedited version which contained a few more interesting facts, so I’ve added it to the original post. So take another read about one of the coolest local guys in Colorado racing history, and check out this pic of Blu from the ‘50’s that probably hasn’t been seen for many years.



http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=287&pictureid=2128
(Autumn Case collection)