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Iowa’s second shrine. (Coastal 181 Photo)
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11/7/11
ROUTE 169 SOUTH,
ALGONA
Fact is there are two shrines for sprint car
racing in Iowa. First, there’s Knoxville Raceway with its Museum and
Hall of Fame, now fully appointed with Toby Kruse as promoter.
The other is a tattered, plain-Jane commercial building,
farthest one south on Rt. 169 In Algona. It’s a separate reality.
Walk in the front door and pass tables and crates jammed with
antiques, ’50s trinkets and memorabilia, a dusty reminder of some
business from decades past. The entire back section is packed as
tight as a pit area in Spring, this time with racing kit. There are
chassis everywhere – straight, bent, on wheels, standing on their
clips, some with bodies, some bare. Parts boxes are stacked high,
many bearing labels of companies long since disbanded. There’s the
occasional trophy and photograph – a racing collector’s paradise.
Over towards the wall sits 70-something Daryl Arend, alone, lean
and alert, even through a thick, smoky haze, his desk piled with
soda cans and ash trays. The guy’s heart pumps liquid clay, and the
spirit of the sport dwells in this solitary place. I met him last
summer and can’t get his image out of my mind.
Daryl Arend: “I’m kind of a
lone stone, as you would say. Had my first race car at 15 – a
flathead. Even put injection on ‘er. Soon it was off to sprint cars.
That’s always been real racin’. Just sprint cars. I’ve had 55
drivers. And this is my sanctuary.”
Jim Edgington (former
Daryl driver): “What a character. He had enough Pepsi to kill
16 men and enough cigarettes to kill 20. But what a passion for
racing. A stubborn passion. How we’d argue! I’d say to fix it and he
would say to push it harder. He wanted to do everything himself, but
I’ll tell you there aren’t too many drivers who’d mind jumpin’ in
one of his cars.”
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Daryl prepares the B&D Automotive Sprinter
for Jim Edgington.
(Photo courtesy of Chad
Meyers) |
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Daryl: “I woke up on old farm
equipment, washing parts with gasoline in a dish pan, with my hands
turning white. Every kid should spend at least a year on a farm. All
these years with my cars I’ve had just two hands helping me, left
and right. But I am a planner. I do things carefully. This is a
dangerous business, but we’ve never had anyone hurt due to
mechanical failure.”
Buzz Rose (former Daryl driver):
“You know, he would get mad if I even went around to check if the
knock-offs were tight. But he sure is clever. Back at Oklahoma City
when Bud Carson was promoting, they’d run a sheep’s foot over the
tack and then run the water truck filling those little holes with
water. It got real slick, but Daryl devised a way to shield the
water from the tires. We set fast time. And, when we’d win, he get
so excited he would literally dance on the straightaway. He was my
favorite owner, no contest.”
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Daryl and Buzz in 1973 at Spencer, Iowa.
From SHOW
BIZ AUTO RACING:
IMCA Big Cars 1915-1977,
by Buzz Rose, Ruby Hill and Johnny Rutherford. |
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Daryl: “I never really made a bad choice with a driver.
I had my way of picking them. First, no wreckers. Second, a calm
head on the shoulders. Buzz Rose outclassed everyone as an
intellectual driver. If we could get second, that’s what he would
bring home. And, right before the race, he was likely to go up to
someone and say, “You’re gonna run THAT right rear tire?!,” just to
psych ‘em out. Randy Smith was good, too. At that time he was real
arrogant, and that had its benefits. And Terry McCarl. I liked him
because he was aggressive, and I watched how people responded to his
positive manner. But, third, you need to be able to talk a good
story about hogs and how they gobble up slop. Then I’ll know you’ve
been there. I always admired A.J. Foyt. There’s a guy who has packed
his own wheel bearings. He knows what grease is, what grease does.
He would know that whine will last six more laps before the wheel
flies off.”
Jim Edgington: “Daryl is the defiance of
every rule. He’s a smart ass philosopher in a way. Listen to him
talk about aliens! He has had great cars and drivers, but sadness,
too. He lost both his wife Gloria and his son Chris to cancer. And
he is as hard on himself as he is on anyone else. Once when we were
in Florida, we went over to Lakeland to run the pavement. We were so
fast that even Jerry Blundy came up before the main and said we
would win for sure. Daryl made a bad choice of wheel offset, and we
popped a tire going for the lead. He was crushed.”
Daryl:
“I surf the highs and lows of life. Catch the current. It’s been
enjoyable, but definitely not all roses. But I am what I am and I
will be doing this until the day they lay me down. I’ve got the
ambition, the talent, and the hours. Right now I’m working on
getting something going by way of financial support to run Jackson
Speedway in Minnesota in 2012.”
Terry McCarl (former
Daryl driver): “No one could ever forget Daryl Arend. I won’t.
I don’t know just what he saw in me when I was 19, but he gave me my
first shot. Now I have 260 wins. I guess it worked out for both of
us.”
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Daryl is inducted into the Kossuth County Racing
Hall of Fame in 2008
by HoF Board Member Rick
Klein. (Photo courtesy of Chad Meyers) |
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© 2011 Lew Boyd, Coastal 181
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