The Little 500
At Palm Beach Speedway, Wise (77) runs behind Donnie Allison (30) in Johnny Ardis' car from Mobile, and outside of the late Wayne Niedecken from Pennsacola.
During the Memorial Day weekend of that year, he made a foray into Indiana and stayed long enough to win the Little 500. Afterwards, he returned to Central Pennsylvania to do battle on the big half-miles at Williams Grove, Selinsgrove and Port Royal. He won once at the “Grove” and several times at Selinsgrove. Personally, he favored Selinsgrove with its wide and long turns.
With the rigors of the circuit taking its toll, Herman fabricated a copy of the Hill Engineering car. His plan was to field a car each night no matter what happened the night before.
Enter into the picture Dave Young of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, a stone’s throw from Williams Grove Speedway. Dave had watched Herman run in early 1971. Over the Memorial Day weekend, he met his brother (who was living in Missouri at that time) in Indianapolis for the Little 500. Dave introduced himself to Herman and he became what Herman termed “adopted brothers.” “He just adopted me” was what Herman said years later and the two were inseparable.
Wise (12) in a USAC race, probably at Eldora.
No wonder! The first time Dave helped Herman in the pits was at Williams Grove Speedway during the Fourth of July weekend. They ran an extra distance race and Herman won. Years later, Dave said, “the track became ‘dry slick’ and covered with rubber from the racing tires. Seeing this Herman pulled a couple of old tires from the trailer that looked like asphalt tires. “We changed gears and tires and went on to victory lane.” They would work on the car during the week with Herman teaching Dave about sprint cars and sprint car racing.
When Johnny Ardis took the car back to Mobile, he sold it to Ray Thomas. Ray and his family had moved to Mobile from Kokomo, Indiana, in 1965. His son, Kevin, was getting old enough to start running sprint cars.
In early 1979, Ray and Kevin ordered a Shores sprinter but the car was delayed. To get things started, they purchased the Hill car from Johnny Ardis. They reworked the car and ran six shows in late 1979. Kevin said, “I knew it was a good one when we ran second at Forest Hill Speedway in Alexandria, Louisiana, and that was our first time out.”
Wise sits in his last Super Modified, which he drove at tracks from Ohio to Palm Beach Speedway, where this photo was taken.
In 1980, the Shores car was delivered but Kevin stuck with the old Hill car while his dad drove the new car. Kevin won fifteen races that year in the decade-old car. They ran regularly at Citronelle, Alabama, about 20 miles northwest of Mobile. They also ran in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. They tried to run West Memphis but the 400-mile one-way trek was hard to do every week.
Kevin remembered winning at Pearl Speedway in 1980, just east of Jackson, Mississippi. It was a fifty-lapper on the quarter-mile dirt and he bested Hooker Hood for the win.
In late 1980, Kevin ran off the turn at Louisville, Mississippi, and through the fence. It was a pretty rough ride. What was left of the car went back to Johnny Ardis.
Kevin has retired (again!) from racing sprint cars but his career in the Indiana non-winged sprint car wars has left him with the nickname of “Professor.” He also ran the USAC circuit. When contacted, Kevin remembered the car fondly and noted with new tires and a fresh engine the car would still be competitive. He was talking about a racecar that was over twenty years old.