TERRY BOYLE - The Two Minute Interview

[Jerry Lee]

Stuck with the moniker "Terrible" Terry Boyle must have had an opposite effect on the owner of 3 Figure 8 championship crowns at Englewood Speedway.

In this 1997 interview, the champ talked about his career in "The Wildest Show on Wheels".

------------------------------------------------------------------------

JL: "Where did you get the nickname 'Terrible Terry'?"

TB: "I don't know. I've never seen a race on film that I was in, but I know different drivers and friends of mine who'd say that I was as dirty as they came man! (laughs)"

JL: "Really?"

TB: "Hell, when you've got to get to the finish line, you gotta hurry up! No sense in running third if you can run first."

JL: "Any memorable races?"

TB: "I think it was the first main event I ever won. The next year I won a slug of 'em! Like anything you do, you always strive to get on top and once you're there, it's a lot easier to stay there then it is getting there!"

JL: "I read where you had kind of a famous neighbor."

TB: "Yeah, Bill Nicholson was my next door neighbor when I was a kid in the '50's. I remember in '56 or '57 when they got their first Chevy V8 engine. I remember they were all standing back and just looking at this thing in awe, and the little crap ran like wild!"

JL: "You made some trips to New York for the World Figure 8 championships."

TB: "Yeah, it was a long drive! (laughs) If you won the championship at Englewood, Rich Codner paid all the bills. He paid for a motor and gave us $1500 expence money. We had Englewood Speedway painted on our car and I think I finished 12th the first time and 6th the next. I went two times in the '70's."

JL: "You tried Late Models in the '70's."

TB: "I did have a Late Model, but they were a little beyond my means. But the next year I built the twin cars and went back into Figure 8's full time."

JL: "Wasn't your last season 1976?"

TB: "Yeah, when I quit Terry Martinez bought one car and John Hafemeister bought the other one."

JL: "Do you miss racing?"

TB: "Yeah, it was fun. But I never looked back though, because the day we stopped building our own cars and started going to the stores to buy the stuff, it kinda lost the fun. Y'know, we'd build everything ourselves, our own ideas."

JL: "Is it hard to get racing out of your blood?"

TB: "I don't miss the work. You gotta put your heart and soul and all the cash you got into it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Jerry Lee]

http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=930
(Photo by Mel Keller, Irwin Fogel coll.) Terry Boyle (right) and Bill Irvine stand next to their
’57 Ford Figure Eighter in 1970. “Terrible” Terry copped 3 Figure 8 championships in the ‘70’s. –J.L.

[lakeside #29]

Terry Boyle raced against some of the best drivers in the figure 8 division at Englewood Speedway. Most people tend to remember Benny Garcia or Greg Higgins, but Terry was their equal and won an awful lot of races and 3 championships as Jerry Lee stated.

Terry worked out of a one car garage and built just about everything he used. He ran his racing like a business. He kept financial records and it was generally his goal to have a new car paid for early in the year. Racing two nights a week insured that would happen. The idea of running for no pay off would not be considered. Terry had sponsors for gas and money that helped defray costs. Once he got to the break even point it meant money would be there for next year.

Terry went to welding school after a stint in the U.S. Army. He bacame a certified welder. He later worked for Sturgeon Electirc maintainng fleet vehicles. He worked there with my wife Peggy's brother Bill and Her dad Dee. It was during that time he introduced to my wife.

Terry had two late models that I remember, a '66 Chevelle with a bigblock that he bought from Jim Coffey and a '71 or '72 Camaro that he built with a smallblock. Terry did a lot of racing with the late model at Sportsmans in Colorado Springs and Beacon Hill in Pueblo. He also used to build roll cages for guys. I remember one year Terry and Mike Colitti told Chuck Kacin that they could build him a cage in a day. Naturally he told them they were full of it, so they kicked everyone out of the garage and eight hours later told Kacin to come get his car. I remember Chuck pulling the car home with a chain and sitting on a wire milk crate.

Terry was also an excellent bowler and after he retired from racing took up golf. That became a real passion for him. It wasn't too long after that he scored his first "Ace", a hole-in-one.

In the picture above, those snazzy looking front wheels are '56 Cadillac Eldorado. They survived and now live in my garage.

Chris Ertler-"professor Coupe"

[Jerry Lee]

http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=2050
(Photo by Unique) Terry Boyle and the girls look pretty happy after this Figure 8 win at
Englewood in 1974.

[Jerry Lee]

http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=4732
(J.L. McGuire collection) Terry Boyle tears around the Englewood 8 in 1972.



http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=4650
(Photo by Chris Ertler) Here's a color shot of Terry's beautiful orange and silver
Figure Eighter from 1974.



http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=4648
(Photo by Chris Ertler) Another one of Terry Boyle's awesome Eighters is parked in
front of his house and ready for the races. This car was destroyed during the 1975 season,
but Terry still took the championship that year.



http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=4647
(Photo by Chris Ertler) Multi-champion Terry Boyle strikes a pose for the camera
with his brand new Eighter in the pits at Englewood Speedway in 1975.

[lakeside #29]

Terry and his henchman Mike Colitti were notorious pranksters. When they figured out that I was by nature "goosey", you know jumpy and easily rattled, I was fair game. The pranks usually involved firecrackers. Typically I would be asked to perform some task that would put me with my back to those two jokers. Once Terry asked "Hey Chris-o get under the car and check the nuts on the rear u-joint." I crawled under as asked and then ka-boom. The firecracker wasn't close to me but I shot out from under the car screaming and using very colorful langauge to find those two clowns doubled up with laughter. Another time Terry asked to gas up his lawn mower, which I did, then here we go again with a firecracker. It wasn't close and I was in no danger but I got gas all over the mower. Again the two jokers were yukking it up as I blew up. To keep from stomping in and out of Terry's house to use the bathroom, there was a bucket next to the garage door for relieving ourselves. Yep, I got the firecracker treatment in that case too. We'll just say the door got wet. And yet again I blew my top, while two clowns were roaring with laughter. I can't tell you how much I miss those days. Yes I was being punked, but it was some of the best times of my life.

It was like serving an apprenticeship at Terry's. They taught me how cut, fit, bend tubing, and general fabrication. I learned so much from them that it helped me later on, that I can't thank those guys enough.

The "twin orange" '54 Ford from 1975 was a kind of trick. Terry set the front end up like a late model. He built his own spring pockets and used Stock Car Products springs and jack bolts. Terry could not get used to the feel of the car. He even had Bud Cost, one his long time crew members, drive it. Bud couldn't find anything wrong with it. At Englewood Speedway there was a dip where the eight joined the oval going into the pit corner. You would set up for the corner when you hit the dip. The problem was Terry couldn't feel the dip in this car. Terry was really unhappy with the car even though he did pretty well with it. The car was totaled when Terry was stuffed into the pit corner wall.
When a new car was built it used the standard front spring set-up. The rear quarter panels were sold to Darrell Smith.

I got to pick the colors for the 1974 car. They were '73 Chevy truck red and Lincoln silver. I also picked the colors on the 1975 car. They were '69 Camaro Hugger Orange and '73 Vega Light Orange. Light orange is the color on my #29 coupe. I also nicknamed Terry's purple and yellow car the "Raped Grape" as a play on "runs like a raped ape" and it was purple.