Jerry Lee
11-09-2009, 06:50 PM
Here's the Rich Codner profile that I once had on the old ARM.
One man who helped shape Colorado auto racing history was Richard V. “Rich” Codner. Rich’s father Charlie Codner purchased Englewood Speedway, once located at West Oxford & South Federal, in 1950. From then on the track became a family run business up until it’s closing after the 1979 season.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1248
Charlie and wife Marion, sons Don and Richard, daughter Charleen, and Don’s wife Betty Ruth had done everything from selling tickets to cleaning restrooms, from changing burnt out track lights to bookkeeping, they’ve done it all. As a young boy Rich was put to work clearing the track of debris among other chores.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1249
Throughout the 1950’s, Englewood Speedway was run as a dirt/clay oval, and by the end of that decade Charlie’s health began to deteriorate. Rich went into the service in 1958 for a few years, and by 1960, Charlie had the track paved to make it easier to maintain. Don and Marion Codner took over running the family business once Charlie passed away on March 26, 1961. Upon his return from the service in the early ‘60’s, Rich didn’t become actively involved in the speedway business at Englewood until later in the decade. Rich and the family often visited other tracks around the U.S. to compare notes and pick up ideas for their own race track. It was during one of these trips that they had witnessed a new type of racing that was starting to catch on like wildfire on the East Coast, Figure 8 racing. By the beginning of the 1964 season, an ‘X’ was paved through the infield, and Englewood Speedway became one of the first tracks West of the Mississippi River to host this crazy new type of racing. The crowds nearly doubled at the gate as hundreds of Figure Eighters swarmed the track each week. It was an inexpensive and easy way to get into racing on the ground level, as Modified and Midget racers proved costly to run even by 1964 standards.
Rich and his brother Don also jumped on the Figure 8 bandwagon and built their own cars to race. “I wanted to get into racing then,” said Rich, “I thought this was my chance to get into racing on the ground floor, so I built me a Figure 8 car. Being that my family owned the speedway and all, even though I wasn’t actively involved, I felt I was in a bad position, but I had a lot of fun racing and I never regretted it.”
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1250
“In 1965, Rich was still winning races in the Figure 8 division at Englewood Speedway, but he
eventually gave it up to help run the speedway full time.”
At the end of the ‘60’s, Rich was becoming more involved in track affairs and by the ’70’s had become the general manager and promoter of Englewood Speedway. It was then that he started coming up with new and different ideas to bring in the crowds, and to keep the sport as inexpensive as possible for those racing enthusiasts who wanted to start.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1251
Here’s Rich Codner’s infamous Englewood Speedway van from 1970. ~ Jerry Lee.
(Photo by Mel Keller - Jerry Lee McGuire Collection.)
Among the divisions that Rich had a hand in was Charger racing in 1971, which were basically just late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s stock factory cars that didn’t need much money to maintain. It was supposed to be for the inexperienced racer to start out in. But when that class soon started to get a bit expensive because the car owners wanted rule changes each year, and the fact that a lot of the more experienced veterans started running them, it was discontinued. Rich then brought out the Claimer division in 1975. The Claimers had the same stock rules that the Chargers had started out with, except with a twist. Anyone could buy a car, or “claim it” (if it finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the main), for just $300. This guaranteed that no one would put anymore than that much money into the car.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1252
Rich was not only devoted to the family business, Englewood Speedway, but to Colorado Motorsports in general. He became the Auto Race Director of the Turf Club Speedway (South of Colorado Springs) in the mid-‘70’s.
Even though Rich Codner was “the boss” at Englewood Speedway during the ‘70’s and lived in a small house next to the Tastee-Freeze on South Federal behind the speedway, he was known to wheel a bright pink car with a big “question mark” painted on it during the Claimer races. He would almost always drive the car into one of the two lakes that had formed in the infield and make a big splash just for the show, much to the crowd’s delight.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1253
Another class that Rich came up with was Street Racing, where many spectators raced the
family car around the oval for fun and prizes.
Rich also introduced events like the Football Derby (where big passenger cars pushed a little VW Bug painted up like a football across a goal line on either end of the track), and Chain Races (which had two cars chained together bumper-to-bumper running through the 8). This idea was later revamped at Colorado National Speedway in the ‘90’s by adding a third car and renamed as “Train Races”.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1254
Rich Codner, is the first to congratulate Lynn Jones on his first Trophy Dash win in his racing career.
(Photo by Unique - Englewood Speedway track program)
Rich Codner was also a big fan of the Indianapolis 500, which he hoped someday would include a local driver or two from Englewood Speedway. Unfortunately, Rich passed away in 1987 from injuries suffered from an auto accident he was involved in on the way back from the Memorial weekend event. On a personal note, Rich once visited my elementary school on “Career Day” in 1974 with films of the stock car races at Englewood, hoping to entice the “future race drivers of the world” that they too could indeed have a career in racing if they really wanted to. Thanks for that, Rich. ~ Jerry Lee
One man who helped shape Colorado auto racing history was Richard V. “Rich” Codner. Rich’s father Charlie Codner purchased Englewood Speedway, once located at West Oxford & South Federal, in 1950. From then on the track became a family run business up until it’s closing after the 1979 season.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1248
Charlie and wife Marion, sons Don and Richard, daughter Charleen, and Don’s wife Betty Ruth had done everything from selling tickets to cleaning restrooms, from changing burnt out track lights to bookkeeping, they’ve done it all. As a young boy Rich was put to work clearing the track of debris among other chores.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1249
Throughout the 1950’s, Englewood Speedway was run as a dirt/clay oval, and by the end of that decade Charlie’s health began to deteriorate. Rich went into the service in 1958 for a few years, and by 1960, Charlie had the track paved to make it easier to maintain. Don and Marion Codner took over running the family business once Charlie passed away on March 26, 1961. Upon his return from the service in the early ‘60’s, Rich didn’t become actively involved in the speedway business at Englewood until later in the decade. Rich and the family often visited other tracks around the U.S. to compare notes and pick up ideas for their own race track. It was during one of these trips that they had witnessed a new type of racing that was starting to catch on like wildfire on the East Coast, Figure 8 racing. By the beginning of the 1964 season, an ‘X’ was paved through the infield, and Englewood Speedway became one of the first tracks West of the Mississippi River to host this crazy new type of racing. The crowds nearly doubled at the gate as hundreds of Figure Eighters swarmed the track each week. It was an inexpensive and easy way to get into racing on the ground level, as Modified and Midget racers proved costly to run even by 1964 standards.
Rich and his brother Don also jumped on the Figure 8 bandwagon and built their own cars to race. “I wanted to get into racing then,” said Rich, “I thought this was my chance to get into racing on the ground floor, so I built me a Figure 8 car. Being that my family owned the speedway and all, even though I wasn’t actively involved, I felt I was in a bad position, but I had a lot of fun racing and I never regretted it.”
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1250
“In 1965, Rich was still winning races in the Figure 8 division at Englewood Speedway, but he
eventually gave it up to help run the speedway full time.”
At the end of the ‘60’s, Rich was becoming more involved in track affairs and by the ’70’s had become the general manager and promoter of Englewood Speedway. It was then that he started coming up with new and different ideas to bring in the crowds, and to keep the sport as inexpensive as possible for those racing enthusiasts who wanted to start.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1251
Here’s Rich Codner’s infamous Englewood Speedway van from 1970. ~ Jerry Lee.
(Photo by Mel Keller - Jerry Lee McGuire Collection.)
Among the divisions that Rich had a hand in was Charger racing in 1971, which were basically just late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s stock factory cars that didn’t need much money to maintain. It was supposed to be for the inexperienced racer to start out in. But when that class soon started to get a bit expensive because the car owners wanted rule changes each year, and the fact that a lot of the more experienced veterans started running them, it was discontinued. Rich then brought out the Claimer division in 1975. The Claimers had the same stock rules that the Chargers had started out with, except with a twist. Anyone could buy a car, or “claim it” (if it finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the main), for just $300. This guaranteed that no one would put anymore than that much money into the car.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1252
Rich was not only devoted to the family business, Englewood Speedway, but to Colorado Motorsports in general. He became the Auto Race Director of the Turf Club Speedway (South of Colorado Springs) in the mid-‘70’s.
Even though Rich Codner was “the boss” at Englewood Speedway during the ‘70’s and lived in a small house next to the Tastee-Freeze on South Federal behind the speedway, he was known to wheel a bright pink car with a big “question mark” painted on it during the Claimer races. He would almost always drive the car into one of the two lakes that had formed in the infield and make a big splash just for the show, much to the crowd’s delight.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1253
Another class that Rich came up with was Street Racing, where many spectators raced the
family car around the oval for fun and prizes.
Rich also introduced events like the Football Derby (where big passenger cars pushed a little VW Bug painted up like a football across a goal line on either end of the track), and Chain Races (which had two cars chained together bumper-to-bumper running through the 8). This idea was later revamped at Colorado National Speedway in the ‘90’s by adding a third car and renamed as “Train Races”.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=197&pictureid=1254
Rich Codner, is the first to congratulate Lynn Jones on his first Trophy Dash win in his racing career.
(Photo by Unique - Englewood Speedway track program)
Rich Codner was also a big fan of the Indianapolis 500, which he hoped someday would include a local driver or two from Englewood Speedway. Unfortunately, Rich passed away in 1987 from injuries suffered from an auto accident he was involved in on the way back from the Memorial weekend event. On a personal note, Rich once visited my elementary school on “Career Day” in 1974 with films of the stock car races at Englewood, hoping to entice the “future race drivers of the world” that they too could indeed have a career in racing if they really wanted to. Thanks for that, Rich. ~ Jerry Lee