TOM PRYOR, SR. - The Two Minute Interview

[Jerry Lee]

In the coming weeks I'll have a few interviews with some car owners which I'll post in the 'Drivers' forum. Although I wasn't sure where else to post them, we'll just say that if anyone knows drivers, it's owners.

Through four decades ('40's - '70's) Tom Pryor, Sr. had some of the best foot his race cars around Colorado area tracks. One of my favorite interviews, Tom doesn't hold back on this fun 1999 cassette. By the way, Tom and his wife just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past August.

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JL: "Do you remember what year you got into racing?"

TP: "Oh, probably about '49 or so. Me and Billy Reno, we had those Hot Rods out at Englewood. One of the last nights they ran out there I think they only had 8 cars. They weren't doing very good so that's when those Jalopies came in. They were just cheap ol' cars. You gutted it out, put roll bars in it, and win! They were cheap to build and some guys had two or three cars. We had a lot of fun with them."

JL: "Did you do much driving?"

TP: "No, I was just an owner and kind of promoter I guess. I had to build the equipment so I was kind of scared to wreck it, but I had a lot of guys who drove for me. We ran at Englewood and down in Colorado Springs."

JL: "You ran out at Lakeside as well, right?"

TP: "Oh yeah, we raced out there some too. We raced at Englewood quite a bit, but I kind of got mad at Englewood. We won a race and we were supposed to take the trophy home for a week and they wouldn't let us. Me and that President didn't get along too good so I quit there and went to Lakeside."

JL: "Did you like it out at Lakeside better?"

TP: "Well, Charlie Codner was a good guy, he would do quite a bit for us. That gal out at Lakeside wouldn't even buy you a lightbulb! Boy, she was tight! She was so damn tight and that's all there is to that! We had to take our own lights for the pits and stuff every night. She wouldn't do anything for us! She wouldn't paint the damn thing or anything else. The C.A.R.C. boys painted the track. It was the club that did everything out there."

JL: "Who were some of the guys who drove for you?"

TP: "Oh, my son Tom. Ody Fellows. Bob Land drove for me, he was a good guy. Ol' Fritz Wilson, he drove for me. We towed out to Greeley and I didn't have no driver. Fritz was already driving a car and he'd sneak in back of the judges and stuff and take my car out too! He was great, and he really went out to race!"

JL: "Did you prefer to run your cars on the dirt or on the asphalt? Or did it matter?"

TP: "I liked the asphalt better myself. I don't know, the dirt seemed........dirty!"

JL: "(laughs) What was one of the wildest things you remember during your career?"

TP: "Oh, some of them guys out at Englewood, they used to dress up as women and drive."

JL: "(laughs) They what?"

TP: "Some of 'em would put a dress on and race in the Powder Puff. John Tadolini, he come down there messing around and acting silly and flipped his car! Boy, he flipped it over on it's top! Then he came crawling out of there dressed as a woman! That was funny!"

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ARM members help! If you have any pictures of Tom's cars, please post some here!

[parrot]

Thanks JL for a nice TMI, and included my favorite track to boot. A lot of memories with both Tom Pryor Sr. and Jr. Digging through my stuff for some photos and noted in one program write-up that Tom's first stock car was a Chevy, but then switched to a Ford. Somewhere around here I have a photo of that car, a '35 Ford Tudor, #41, painted green. The 1950 program not only listed drivers and owners, but the car make and model and color. "Green" apparently didn't have the stigma attached to it then, as there were three other cars also listed as green. Tom was also shown as the owner of a #14, '34 Ford. If I can find the photo of that #41, I'll post it.

By contrast, the 1958 CARC program (now at Lakeside Speedway) That I have doesn't list owners, so can only guess whether or not Tom owned the #3 then. That's about the time he moved to Lakeside. I have a photo, and if I can verify ownership, I'll post it.

In the meantime, here are some photos of Tom Pryor Sr's cars, all number 3, and all are 1932 Fords. The first four were taken by long time track photog. Scotty Duncan. The first, in what looks like a pale two tone paint job is from 1959 with Dan Day (standing on the left) as the driver. The 3 window with the unusual style number is from 1962, Bob Harrington as the driver. One account said that Mr. Harrington drove Tom's cars for fourteen years. One of my favorites is what I believe was the first fiberglass bodied car to race with the CARC. The year is 1963 and I shot this photo at the pit gate with car still on the trailer. Tom and Bob rotated back and forth those years between that 'glass five window and a steel three window shown next in an action shot just coming out of turn four. #33 is Bob Walton who is underneath Jim Malloy in #? (began as #9, ended the season as #1) Bob Harrington is trapped next to the guard rail in #3, #5 is "Wimpy" Bateman and behind him is #60, Fred Henning in the fastest of the few '34 Fords to run a six cylinder engine. I ran across a 'fan side' photo of the 3 window in a program, but wasn't quality enough to show. Finally, a Dave Allinger photo showing the 'glass bodied coupe clearing the turn three rail, with body pieces flying, after barrel rolling down the track. Tom Pryor Jr. was the driver. He was out of the car before the safety crew arrived. The body was just 'glued' back together and looked none the worse for wear. #4 is Blu Plemmons and #78 is Charles Palmer.

[Jerry Lee]

Thanks BP! These photos are super!! :) I love all the history about those cars!

I wonder if the glass body knocked off a second or more in time trials. Was the WHOLE body fiberglass or just the sides?

[carc7]

The Harrington #3 body was completely fibreglass. Bob told me this summer how easy it was to fix it when it got broken. His car was sold to Bernie Sawin and became the #55 in 1969.

[parrot]

The Harrington #3 body was completely fibreglass. Bob told me this summer how easy it was to fix it when it got broken. His car was sold to Bernie Sawin and became the #55 in 1969.

Story I heard a long time ago was that Elmer Sauer's #28 coupe body was used to make the mold for these fiberglass cars. (Somebody tell me if that's not right) I think there were three of them popped out. I asked Bernie Sawin about that at the last DTA picnic and he gave me all the history, only problem, I can't remember what all he said. One of the twin #87 cars that Bill Vaughn drove was one of them. Don't remember the other. Something made me think it was the #20 that Rex Snell drove, but not sure. There were two distinguishing features of those bodies, the rear window area was just flat, no body line, and there was a dividing line down the middle of the deck.

By the way, I forgot to mention that according to one of the program write-ups, Tom Pryor had just the second Ford six at Lakeside, Bill Vaughn being the first.

[parrot]

I'm told that the #3 from 1958 that I thought might have been owned by Tom Pryor was not, but I finally dug up this one from 1950 that was. It was featured in the program, and I only have a photocopy so isn't real clear, but how often do you find one from 1950? This is the '35 Ford Tudor #41. I've included the write-up.

[Jerry Lee]

Ah-ha! Thanks Parrot, looks like we caught Tommy actually driving the car in this article! Great old program story. I've always been interested in hearing about racing superstitions (maybe we could start a thread on that!), but I've never heard anything about the number "41" being a bad luck number. Interesting!

[schafer1]

In the coming weeks I'll have a few interviews with some car owners which I'll post in the 'Drivers' forum. Although I wasn't sure where else to post them, we'll just say that if anyone knows drivers, it's owners.

Through four decades ('40's - '70's) Tom Pryor, Sr. had some of the best foot his race cars around Colorado area tracks. One of my favorite interviews, Tom doesn't hold back on this fun 1999 cassette. By the way, Tom and his wife just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past August.

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

JL: "Do you remember what year you got into racing?"

TP: "Oh, probably about '49 or so. Me and Billy Reno, we had those Hot Rods out at Englewood. One of the last nights they ran out there I think they only had 8 cars. They weren't doing very good so that's when those Jalopies came in. They were just cheap ol' cars. You gutted it out, put roll bars in it, and win! They were cheap to build and some guys had two or three cars. We had a lot of fun with them."

JL: "Did you do much driving?"

TP: "No, I was just an owner and kind of promoter I guess. I had to build the equipment so I was kind of scared to wreck it, but I had a lot of guys who drove for me. We ran at Englewood and down in Colorado Springs."

JL: "You ran out at Lakeside as well, right?"

TP: "Oh yeah, we raced out there some too. We raced at Englewood quite a bit, but I kind of got mad at Englewood. We won a race and we were supposed to take the trophy home for a week and they wouldn't let us. Me and that President didn't get along too good so I quit there and went to Lakeside."

JL: "Did you like it out at Lakeside better?"

TP: "Well, Charlie Codner was a good guy, he would do quite a bit for us. That gal out at Lakeside wouldn't even buy you a lightbulb! Boy, she was tight! She was so damn tight and that's all there is to that! We had to take our own lights for the pits and stuff every night. She wouldn't do anything for us! She wouldn't paint the damn thing or anything else. The C.A.R.C. boys painted the track. It was the club that did everything out there."

JL: "Who were some of the guys who drove for you?"

TP: "Oh, my son Tom. Ody Fellows. Bob Land drove for me, he was a good guy. Ol' Fritz Wilson, he drove for me. We towed out to Greeley and I didn't have no driver. Fritz was already driving a car and he'd sneak in back of the judges and stuff and take my car out too! He was great, and he really went out to race!"

JL: "Did you prefer to run your cars on the dirt or on the asphalt? Or did it matter?"

TP: "I liked the asphalt better myself. I don't know, the dirt seemed........dirty!"

JL: "(laughs) What was one of the wildest things you remember during your career?"

TP: "Oh, some of them guys out at Englewood, they used to dress up as women and drive."

JL: "(laughs) They what?"

TP: "Some of 'em would put a dress on and race in the Powder Puff. John Tadolini, he come down there messing around and acting silly and flipped his car! Boy, he flipped it over on it's top! Then he came crawling out of there dressed as a woman! That was funny!"

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

ARM members help! If you have any pictures of Tom's cars, please post some here!

soooooo tight she would clean the rest rooms herself schafer1

[parrot]

Ah-ha! Thanks Parrot, looks like we caught Tommy actually driving the car in this article! Great old program story. I've always been interested in hearing about racing superstitions (maybe we could start a thread on that!), but I've never heard anything about the number "41" being a bad luck number. Interesting!

Finally ran accross a Tom Pryor photo that I was looking for, and it sort of ties in with the "superstition" thing. (See thread, "RACE TRACK SUPERSTITIONS") May need some help from Professor Coupe on this one since I was out of state for most of 1966, when this happened, so don't remember this car or have much info. Word was that this car was built around an aluminum frame, and the body is obviously fiberglass, but I can't tell if it's a '32 or Model A. Had a temperary paper number, guessing to help the #73 with an attendance goal. At any rate, at appears that it came apart pretty easily! Bob Harrington listed as the driver in this "Remember When" photo.

An interesting component of this photo is what looks like an American Mag 5 spoke on the rear axle. I remember a #13 (here's the 'superstition' connection) from the late fifties that used a set of those wheels. First set of those I'd seen in real life, as they were introduced in about 1957 and used mostly in drag racing. It was a '32 3 window, and I always wondered if it was a Tom Pryor car, maybe the one he still had in early sixties? Anyone know? It's not listed in any of my programs and, to my knowledge, a photo has never surfaced.