Jerry Lee
12-21-2009, 05:43 PM
It's always a kick when one of your boyhood heroes takes Two Minutes to talk to you. In my case it was Dave Tansey who not only became Colorado National Speedway's first Figure 8 champion, but etched his name in Englewood Speedway's history books as well.
I had a great time talking to Dave when I went on vacation last week.
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JL: "What track did you go to as a kid?"
DT: "I actually started going out to Lakeside and I had a neighbor who liked Englewood better, so I went with him one night and it's when the Figure 8's were just starting. I watched them and said "I've got to do that!". So the first two years I built my own cars. When the Figure 8's first started at Englewood it was nothing to have 2 or 3 Hooligans before you ever made it to the semi or the main. My very first time on the race track they put me on the outside pole of one of the Hooligans and I spun it out right at the green flag! (laughs)"
JL: "And then you started hanging around Darrell Smith."
DT: "Yeah, then I started hanging around Baltic Auto. Darrell had Bobby Jackson driving for him and Ray Slife for a year. He had an opening in the second car and that's when they put me in it, and the rest is history."
JL: "I have a program article on you here from 1975.....where they wrote that your biggest fan was Bobby Jackson."
DT: "I think it's the other way around, Jerry. The guy that taught me the most out there was Bobby. I would go to him for advise. So I was either misquoted or you read it wrong. Let me just rephrase that I was Bobby Jackson's biggest fan because he was just....just unbelievable driving a stock car."
JL: "This article also goes on to say that neither you or Darrell had jobs and you spent 8 hours a day working on the car."
DT: "Yeah, well, in between Darrell having Baltic Auto and going in with Dave Sigrist at Arvada Auto, there was a summer there where we didn't have nothing going and we literally lived off the stock car. I was winning a lot obviously, but we'd make money at the horse races and Darrell was so damn good at pool that we could drink all night, but we lived off that stock car for awhile."
JL: "Hanging around with Darrell over the years, you must have been in on quite a few parties."
DT: "(laughs) Oh did we ever! (laughs) Like when we were sponsored by a liquor store."
JL: "(laughs) That's dangerous!"
DT: "They never gave us no money, but they gave us a lot of beer. I can't count the number of times Codner would party with us, he'd just have us lock the gates when we left. And there were times where we were still in the pits when the sun was coming up, and we still had to get some sleep and get the car ready for Sunday night."
JL: "I take it you probably did better on Saturday nights then you did on Sunday nights. (laughs)"
DT: "Absolutely."
JL: "What kind of kick back did you get when the car was sponsored by the Action Theater? (laughs)"
DT: "I'm not answering that."
JL: "Did you have any rivalries at Englewood?"
DT: "No....I had a lot of good friends, Jack Voorhis and Junior Reeder....even Terry Boyle's a friend of mine. The only one I had a run in with was Bennie Garcia. Nothing that got out of hand though."
JL: "What do you miss about Englewood now?"
DT: "(laughs) Everything. Y'know I raced there for 12 or 13 years.....it was my life. Racing started in the summer and you couldn't wait! I miss Englewood Speedway, some of my fondest memories."
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I had a great time talking to Dave when I went on vacation last week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
JL: "What track did you go to as a kid?"
DT: "I actually started going out to Lakeside and I had a neighbor who liked Englewood better, so I went with him one night and it's when the Figure 8's were just starting. I watched them and said "I've got to do that!". So the first two years I built my own cars. When the Figure 8's first started at Englewood it was nothing to have 2 or 3 Hooligans before you ever made it to the semi or the main. My very first time on the race track they put me on the outside pole of one of the Hooligans and I spun it out right at the green flag! (laughs)"
JL: "And then you started hanging around Darrell Smith."
DT: "Yeah, then I started hanging around Baltic Auto. Darrell had Bobby Jackson driving for him and Ray Slife for a year. He had an opening in the second car and that's when they put me in it, and the rest is history."
JL: "I have a program article on you here from 1975.....where they wrote that your biggest fan was Bobby Jackson."
DT: "I think it's the other way around, Jerry. The guy that taught me the most out there was Bobby. I would go to him for advise. So I was either misquoted or you read it wrong. Let me just rephrase that I was Bobby Jackson's biggest fan because he was just....just unbelievable driving a stock car."
JL: "This article also goes on to say that neither you or Darrell had jobs and you spent 8 hours a day working on the car."
DT: "Yeah, well, in between Darrell having Baltic Auto and going in with Dave Sigrist at Arvada Auto, there was a summer there where we didn't have nothing going and we literally lived off the stock car. I was winning a lot obviously, but we'd make money at the horse races and Darrell was so damn good at pool that we could drink all night, but we lived off that stock car for awhile."
JL: "Hanging around with Darrell over the years, you must have been in on quite a few parties."
DT: "(laughs) Oh did we ever! (laughs) Like when we were sponsored by a liquor store."
JL: "(laughs) That's dangerous!"
DT: "They never gave us no money, but they gave us a lot of beer. I can't count the number of times Codner would party with us, he'd just have us lock the gates when we left. And there were times where we were still in the pits when the sun was coming up, and we still had to get some sleep and get the car ready for Sunday night."
JL: "I take it you probably did better on Saturday nights then you did on Sunday nights. (laughs)"
DT: "Absolutely."
JL: "What kind of kick back did you get when the car was sponsored by the Action Theater? (laughs)"
DT: "I'm not answering that."
JL: "Did you have any rivalries at Englewood?"
DT: "No....I had a lot of good friends, Jack Voorhis and Junior Reeder....even Terry Boyle's a friend of mine. The only one I had a run in with was Bennie Garcia. Nothing that got out of hand though."
JL: "What do you miss about Englewood now?"
DT: "(laughs) Everything. Y'know I raced there for 12 or 13 years.....it was my life. Racing started in the summer and you couldn't wait! I miss Englewood Speedway, some of my fondest memories."
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