Reece Kelso
My name is Lloyd Kelso and my dad, Reece Kelso, raced in the 1950s, and was a flagman and score keeper with my mom, Becky Kelso in the 1960s and 1970s. Reece owned modified cars that raced at Charlotte Fairground Speedway, Gastonia Fairground Speedway, Robinwood Speedway, Kings Mountain Speedway, Hickory Speedway, and Wadesboro Speedway.
His cars had number 37, driven by Tommy Starnes of Indian Trail, Bob Cooper of Gastonia, etc. Dad still has his scrapbook with pictures. in the late 50s he raced a 1950 Chevrolet at Hickory Speedway, and in a wreck one Sunday afternoon he suffered a concussion that left him in the Gaston Memorial Hospital for a week. He repaired the car, cut off the top and ran in the convertible division at Rock Hill Speedway, Rutherford Speedway, and Robinwood Speedway, promoted by Marvin Panch. He also raced at the 3/4 mile track in Gaffney, SC. He was points leader in 1958 until NASCAR discovered his "safety wheel" he made for the right front from a truck rear axle to keep tires on the car was illegal equipment, and the stripped him of all his points.
He worked on Marvin Panch's pit crew at Darlington in 1958 and was relief driver for him. By 1960 he started racing midgets at Hendersonville Speedway in Hendersonville, NC, and Spartanburg Midget Track. He also built a midget track for me in our backyard.
By 1962 Reece and Becky began to keep score. They were score keepers at Robinwood Speedway, Filbert Speedway in York, SC, Gastonia Fairground Speedway under the promotion of Humpy Wheeler, Carolina Speedway under the promotion of R.P. Harrison, Metrolina Speedway and Concord Speedway under promotion of John Gaskey from Charlotte. I helped them keep score until I went to college in 1969, but would return to continue helping until they retired from scoring in 1975. I got to know many of the drivers while I was a child and teenager. I still see Frank Hefner, Crouse, NC, owner of the Bobby Isacc, Ned Setzer cars. I saw Ralph Earnhardt run door to door with Bobby Isaac in 1964 or 65 at Concord until they both went over the bank between turns 3 and 4. Buck Baker ran in that 200 lap race. Ned Setzer was also a popular driver at Hickory during this era.
Reece went on to learn to fly helicopters and trained pilots until his retirement a couple of years ago after a heart attack. UPDATE: I received an email from Lloyd letting me know that his father, Reece, passed away on Feb 16th, 2008. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Reece Kelso. May he be enjoying the perfect dirt track in heaven.
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Becky also snapped a photo of Ralph Earnhardt's #8 coach in the pits that day. |
Reece was a close friend of Harold Dunaway during their racing careers. Lloyd shares some history and trivia about them:
"A 56 Chevy #6 raced by Harold was purchased from my dad in 1965. He and I were building the car when I was in High School, 9th grade. The car was purchased by Bill Justice in Rock Hill. It was also driven by Ervin Carpenter at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia.
An interesting note on Harold Dunaway. He and my dad were close friends. He raced micro-midgets at our track behind our house when I was about 11 (1962). One afternoon I was racing with him when he drove a midget over the third turn bank, down through a power line right of way and under a barb wire fence. Fortunately he was not seriously hurt other than a cut on his arm.
His dad, Glenn Dunaway, won the first NASCAR race at the old board speedway in Charlotte, but he was disqualified for tying the axle to the frame and body with a chain to get the car to handle in the turns. That was around the time I was born. Just thought you might like a little racing trivia. "
All photos and articles from the collection of Lloyd Kelso.
If you have dirt track memories to share, contact me @ bob@webprosolutions.com
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