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Big Car Racing Association & Hall of Fame, LLC BCRA ESTABLISHED 1958, COLORADO SPRINGS CO July August September 2017 BCRA Staff. Dave Tyson(Mo) Ray Cunningham(Ks)Boyd Adams(Tx)Bruce Budy(C0)Gerry Miller(Tx) Tom Davey(Co)Wayne Panter(Tx)Gary Wolfe(Ne) Welcome, to the July August September 2017 Big Car Racing the feature. He sold the car at the end of the season. 1981 was the Association and Hall of Fame Newsletter. The voting for the year Lincoln started running sprinters in a 360 class of 2017 class of Inductees has been finalized and brief Bios are competition, here Mike drove a sprint car for Dean Orth included in this Newsletter. Once again the selectors have done numbered 30D . He drove a couple years for Dean then went into a great job with the process at hand. Keith Barker, Mike Cacak, ¾ midgets, built his own car and raced for a number of years, Fred Bower, Ron Williams and RH Farms are the 2017 winning dozens of races with the 750 Honda powered mini. Inductees at the BCRA Hall of Fame at the Speedway Mike Cacak drove his last race on 4th of july 1991 and won the Motors,”Collection of American Speed” Museum in Lincoln feature. The next day a guy showed up from Tampa Florida and th Nebraska ,on Friday, September 15 at 6PM. took the car home. “First time at Belleville was like going to Daytona”. Cacak finished about 6th with drivers like Dick Sutcliffe, Ray Lee, Roy Bryant and it was a great experience. Another highlight was his first year in sprints winning rookie of the year with BCRA and finished 7th in points and 10th with Neb Mod Racing Association. In later years Beatrice set up a hall of fame and Mike was the first inductee. Mike Cacak was also honored by the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame with 2008 Gordy Shuck Sportsmanship Award . No longer driving Mike became the Sprint car tech inspector at Midwest Speedway until it closed and then moved to Eagle Raceway in the same capacity. An Accident in pits changed Mike’s duties at Eagle when he was hit by an IMCA Modified and spent 3 and a half months in the hospital. Mike still helps out at Eagle Raceway where you are likely to see him on race nights. Mike Cacak in the seat of the “Belle of Belleville” and crew. Mike Cacak started racing in 1963’ running 6 cyl Modified Stock open wheelers at Fairbury, Beatrice and Lincoln Ne, driving his own creation. By 1968 Mike ran with a new class of V-8 modified s and won a feature at Belleville Ks. 1971 was his first full year in Sprinters and was BCRA rookie of the year. He also ran at Eagle Raceway and won Rookie of the Year honors with Nebraska Modified Racing Assoc . With the BCRA Cacak traveled out to McCook and ran nearly every race at Erie Colorado and Belleville Ks, driving for Fred Bowers. In 1972 the team ran IMCA at the Nebraska state fair and Topeka Ks. In 1972 Mike also drove for the Goodrich family at Belleville and ran IMCA at Topeka Ks and State fair at Lincoln Ne. In 1973 Mike was driving the 5X for Bower again with the BCRA and Nebraska Modified assoc and ran Belleville, Ks. “We always 30 year competitor, Fred Bower on left raced IMCA, UMCA ran Belleville” . After that Mike got busy and would pick up a and BCRA for nearly 30 years in the Midwest. ride on occasion. In 1978 he built a Late Model and went to Beatrice and won first time out. He also ran at Lincoln on Pete Fred Bower was born at Fairbury Ne in 1905, worked on the Liekams N 27th Street speedway and at Eagle at first ever late family farm and attended school until the 8th grade. He was Model race, and Cacak won needed on the farm at the time and this began a career in hard work and…. mechanics. Fred later married Verna Gudgel in 1926 and they lived on the farm relishing a new commodity in Keith Barker was originally from Alamosa Colorado, born in Electricity in 1934 and living was enhanced with a brand new 1943 , he started driving the family tractor at age 5 and refrigerator. In 1941 Fred opened his own shop at the corner of took in his first auto race at Spencer Iowa in 1951, and has been Hwy 136 and 15 in Fairbury. His early success yielded a new hooked ever since. The family later moved to Southwest brick Garage. In 1951 Fairbury started racing Hot Rods and Fred Missouri in ’53 and in 1957 and he lost his right leg in a tractor wrenched for local drivers before he and son Bob went to accident. He was fitted with a wooden leg and thus the nickname Lincoln and bought a chassis and Ranger motor from Bob Rager. of “Woody”. In 1962 he moved to Lincoln Ne and bought a 32’ Bob Nelson of Inland Ne and Lloyd Beckman would drive the Ford from Bill Smith and teamed with Lonnie Jensen running #43 roadster. The Bower’s ran the last race at Capital Beach with Eagle, Capital Beach, Midwest, Beatrice, Knoxville Iowa and Frankie Brennfoerder who set a track record. And reportedly, Belleville Ks. In 64’ Barker teamed with Bob Coulter and began this was the car little Joe got his first ride in. And….. running IMCA. By 65’ Keith had made it to Anderson Indiana Fred would begin in the Sprint cars with a stretched midget and the “Little 500”. He also continued running the Super and driver Bob Nelson around 1955. He also teamed with a Modified with Lonnie Jensen, sold cars and did mechanic work young Paul James who was the Driver/owner of the Lloyd and fabrication. In late’65 Keith relocated to Long Beach Wilander Wayne Chevy. Fred Wrenched the team as they ran the California where he ran a Used Car Lot and repair UMCA and IMCA in the area. In 1958 James suffered a shop. He worked with Don Brown during the evenings while he horrendous wreck at Sedalia Missouri in which he was killed. was building the Mechanical Rabbits. He later moved back to New son-in-law, Dan McCown began in the modifieds in 1959 Southwest Missouri took up farming and soon opened a Speed at Wichita Ks while stationed in the Air Force. The Wilander Shop and Muffler shop in Pittsburg Ks. In 1968 Keith bought the sprinter set in the trees for a couple of years as the family Don Brown Sprinter from Tom Corbin who would drive the car continued racing.. When a new club came on the horizon in the for Keith in 68’, winning races at Granite City, Marshall Midwest, Bowers revived the historic Wilander car and enlisted Missouri and Jefferson City. 1969 had Keith and Jay Woodside driver Bob Nelson to engage the Big Car Racing Association. at the Winter Nationals in Tampa and 96 races later they finished With Nelson’s retirement in 1963, Bower would continue with the season at the Western World Championship at Manzanita drivers like Lloyd Beckman, Frank Brennfoerder , Wayne Holz Az. Wins included Boone Ia, Knoxville, Des Moines Ia and the and Tom Root of Colorado. With the purchase of the John first race at I-70 Speedway, the success earned the team a 2nd in Leverance 5x sprinter , Mike Cacak of Lincoln would drive from the final IMCA standings. Barker would then hire Eddie Leavitt ‘71 to ‘76. Fred built an Orange #5 Modified that son in law, for the 70’ season. They stormed Tampa in the Winter and won Dan drove from ‘68-‘72. Fred would retire from racing in 1977 the 50 lap Main event and back in the Mid-west ripped a hole in with the termination of the two premier Sprint clubs in the the competition winning the Missouri State Championship at the Midwest. Fred Bower competed for 26 years throughout the state fair, the race at Topeka, Oklahoma City, Marshall Mo and Midwest, running with the Nebraska Racing Assoc, The UMCA, Granite City Illinois before moving on to Manzy, the Phoenix the BCRA and IMCA. Fred passed away in 1990 and Sacramento Miles. They finished 5th on the IMCA. In 1971 the team began the season winning Tampa, Eagle, the Missouri State Championship at Sedalia and the Iowa State Fair. In one weekend in August they won the Jayhawk Nationals in Topeka, a clean sweep at Knoxville and the National Short Track Championship at Olympic Stadium and finished 3rd on the IMCA. In 1972 the team continued where they left off winning races throughout the Midwest region. In his career Keith Barker and the Don Brown Sprinter won 54 Main events with drivers in Tom Corbin, Jay Woodside, Eddie Leavitt, Ralph Parkinson, Billy Thrasher, Lonnie Jensen and Dick Sutcliffe. The Don Brown car ran throughout 4 Decades with the CRA, IMCA, BCRA and USAC. Barker then started hauling Sam Schmidts Indy car teams and has provided excellent service for other teams including Treadway Racing with Arie Luyendyk, Tony Stewart’s Tri-Star Racing, Beck Racing with Billy Boat, PDM and Hemelgarn with Buddy Lazier. Keith has also worked with Dave Darland, Jason Leffler and Kasey Kahne. Keith while residing in Indy, working with Indy teams also had a small trucking firm, Team Indy Transport Service, that specializes in general freight throughout the Midwest, Colorado and New Mexico And….

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