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Blasts from the Past
Photos of the cars and series' Ronnie Humphrey has been a part of in his 29 years of Racing!!! Click
on the picture to make it larger.
You name it, and Ronnie has driven it. Asphalt, dirt, he has done it - and won it - all. After starting
out in Super Stocks (on both pavement and dirt), Ronnie went on to drive the one of the first IMCA modifieds in the southeast, even
getting in the Speedway House car for 2 seasons. After racking up several wins in both divisions, Ronnie decided
to go in a different direction and get into a 600 mini-sprint. After 2 seasons in the mini-sprint, Ronnie decided
it was time to climb behind the wheel of the cars he had grown up watching in the 80's - a wing modified, competing in
the newly founded Ark-La-Tex Wing Modified Series. Ronnie ran up front in nearly every race he ran, before selling out to
focus on Ryan. It wasn't too long before he saw that he still wanted to compete, deciding to transition into the highly competitive
Sprint Series of Texas 305 sprint car class. After running up front with the Dallas based series, Ronnie decided the traveling
was too much and again sold his car to focus solely on Ryan. In 2007, the announcement of the opening of Monroe Motor Speedway
brought Ronnie out of retirement once more. in 2008, he ran the first 4 nights of racing at Monroe Speedway, winning 2 of
the first 3 nights of competition as a driver, and the 4th as a crew-chief in an ASA late model, and finishing out the season
in the highly competitive modified class. 2009 marked a milestone in Ronnies career...the first season in 28 years he
hadn't driven a car. Only time will tell if he decides to come out of retirement once again in 2010!
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| Ronnie putting on his race-face |
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| Driver Introduction in front of a packed house on opening night |
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| Ronnie after winning the first ASA late model race ever held at Monroe |
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| 5/31/08 - DASH FOR CASH WIN - BARBARA COOK PHOTO |
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| Making the way through the pits after setting 3rd fast time in Qualifying! |
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| Ronnie in a pavement modified at MMS |
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| First Night Out in the Eagle Sprint Car |
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| Driver Introductions with the SST |
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| Lining up for the start at Ark-La-Tex Speedway |
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| The famous SST Salute to the Fans |
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| Running 6th at Ark-La-Tex Speedway |
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| Ronnie in a Limited Modified at Boothill Speedway |
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| Wing Modified Racing at Boothill Speedway in 2005! |
Headed for first ever win (heat) in a Southern Outlaw Wing 600 (2003). The SOW6 guys are the best bunch of guys
I ever raced with! A true great class of racers!!!
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| Southern Outlaw Wing 600 cars raced in 2003. |
Making the move on the outside in IMCA competition at Boothill Speedway (Shreveport, La) in 1999. This is one of the
first chassis that Speedway Motors produced for 1999. It was the new "Z" link and the car was super fast. Kevin Larkins helped
develope the rear suspension. This car was the first in the country in competion other than Kevins car.
Feature Winner at Augusta Motor Speedway in Augusta, Ga. (1996) This is a former Speedway Motors house car
that was built to run at the IMCA Boone Nationals. Speedway let me race the car to help get IMCA mods going in
the South East portion of the USA.
This is one of my all time favorites pictures. The shot was taken down the back chute at Anderson Speedway in Anderson,
South Carolina. The Bojangles' Chevrolet Monte' Carlo was haulin' the mail!!!!
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| Doing the "sponsor thing" at a parade in Augusta, Ga. |
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| Ronnie and "Bo" the Bojangles' Chicken |
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| YOU HAVE NEVER HAD FRIED CHICKEN UNTIL YOU'VE HAD THIS FRIED CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Feature win at Augusta Motor Speedway in 1992. Ronnie served as a back up driver in this limited Late Model owned by
Gordon Powell and the P&T Racing Team out of Georgia. Ronnie pulled off the win in the season finale and his
second night in the car.
Ronnie worked for 3 different NASCAR WINSTON CUP teams while living and racing on the east coast. This is a Talledega
team shot when he worked as the Gas Man for NASCAR driver Lake Speed. This picture is from 1990 when Lake ran a
limited schedule allowing Ronnie to run his short track cars. (Ronnie is on the far right)
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| Wing Modified win at Grant Parish Speedway in 1984! |
This was one of the best nights ever for the Humphrey's. Ronnie made a clean sweep at Boothill winning the
heat and feature which was a big show (Labor Day Roundup). Gene Humphrey drove Ronnie's car at intermission and
won a special mechanic's race. It don't get any better than that! Ronnie went on to win the track championship that
year at Boothill.
Ronnie as a pit crew member for long time family friend Johnny Vaught. This should have been around 1981 or 1982.
After a long and very sucessful year - the 1979 season is at the end.
Here just before loading up and heading off to Boothill Speedway in the fall of 1979, the bunch takes a moment for a
snap shot. In the picture left to right; Greg Heron, Doug Humphrey, Gene Humphrey (driver) and Ronnie Humphrey. I have to
mention the best dog in the world - Tuffy is at the base of the tree looking on.
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| Looking things over for the Feature while Ryan fetches the tools |
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| Heat Race Win - 2008 Monroe Motor Speedway - Barbara Cook Photo |
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| New Ellis Chassis ready for action as Dad visits with Kevin Nixon |
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| Ronnie Humphrey with Teacher Mary Canfield and Students from University Elementary School |
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| Visiting with long time friend and former Boothill announcer Tom Michaels |
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| Ronnie Humphrey on his way to a 3rd place finish at MMS |
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| At speed down the back-stretch during practice |
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| Ronnie can still get it done! First ever ASA Late Model win at Monroe |
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| Ronnie in his ASA Late Model at MMS |
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| SPRINT SERIES OF TEXAS SPRINT CAR |
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| Racing with the Sprint Series of Texas |
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| Devils Bowl Sprint Car Ace Bill Waller making some front end adjustments |
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| All strapped in, preparing for the push-off |
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| Backin' it in at Ark-La-Tex |
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| Heading to the checkers for a heat race win in Wing Modified competition at Lone Star Speedway in Te |
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| Side-by-side Winged 600 racing with Terry Monroe at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in 2003 |
Ronnie has been on motorcycles since he was a kid. This is probably the last trophy he'll ever win on a motorcycle. It
came from the indoor arena-cross held in Monroe in 2004. Ronnie's Nephew Trent Humphrey won the race and Ronnie came
in third on his Honda CR450F.
Well this is actually brother Gene Humphrey's car - which I think was the finest IMCA modified ever built. It was featured
in the Speedway Motors Catalogs for about 4 straight years. Gene won his last Track Championship in this type of
car (IMCA) and won IMCA features in Louisiana and as far away as South Carolina. He also ran the car in Alabama
at the Talledega short track.
This is the car that Ronnie drove to a 6th place finish in the 1996 Ga. Modified division of the NASCAR Weekly
Winston Racing Series. This shot is from Lanier Raceway in Gainsville, Ga. This was the third of a five year realtionship
with Bojangles'. Ronnie also drove a IMCA modified at the same time for Bojangles'.
OK - I've done everything in a car that can be done - hit the wall, flipped, etc, BUT this is the one that almost
sent me to meet my maker. It happened at Columbia, South Carolina on the opening day of the 1996 racing season. I was in the
lead of the first IMCA heat race and my throttle stuck WIDE OPEN going done the front stretch. I HAVE THIS ON VIDEO FOR PROOF
- I went into turn 1 so fast that I actually used the banking of the track for a ramp. I went air borne as high as 30 feet
in the air and landed in the spectator parking lot of the race track. The pits were located on the inside of the track and
you can see my pit crew brought the truck outside of the track to try and load the car. The car went a couple hundred feet through
the air beforee landing. The impact pushed the right front corner of the frame about 12" up in the air, broke the main
frame rails, broke the transmisison in half, bent the rearend and sent me to the hospital with a concusion, bruised kidneys, fractured ribs,
and bruises to my ankles and knees. I was out of racing for a couple of months, but we clipped the car and actually won
the final race of the year in the same car!
Super Stock action from the famous Concord Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. This track was a 5/8 mile with
a dog leg in the back stretch. We would run about 105 down the back chute!!!
Before moving to the Lake Speed NASCAR team in 1990, Ronnie worked on the pit crew for Winston Cup Driver Eddie Bierschwale.
Ronnie was the Catch Can man and this picture is from the 1989 Coke 600 in Charlotte.
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| Ronnie's ride in 1985 - the first and original F5 racecar and the 1984 final points standings. |
1984 Wing Modified action from Grant Parish Speedway in Central Louisiana. In his first time
ever in the car, Ronnie won his heat race, won the trophy dash and was leading the feature when he ran over some debris on
the track on the last lap. The contact broke the oil filter off the block, but he was able to coast on to a second place
fininsh.
WOW!!! 1983 - The first year of car racing for Ronnie Humphrey after racing motorcycles. The first night was good
and bad. Ronnie hit almost every car on the track in his heat race, but after a STERN lecture from brothers Gene
and Doug, Ronnie calmed down, led every lap and won the B-feature. He started in the back of the 22 car A-Feature and
worked up to a 8th place finish.
This is a shot of Gene Humphrey getting his trophy after yet another win on the asphalt track at the La. State Fairgrounds
(1979). It's hard to see, but in the top of the picture looking on is crew members: Ronnie Humphrey, Tim Murphy, Douglas
Humphrey, Eward Hurt. I think Ronnie is thinking "some day"!!!! In case you don't know the other car - that's non other
than the old man himself Ray Ingals.
Brother Gene Humphrey with our first racecar. My oldest brother Douglas bought the car in 1975 and several people drove
it including Gene, Douglas, Paul (dad) Humphrey, Johnny Vaught and Thomas McCorkel. Ahh.... the good old days - 427 Big Block
power plants, homemade steel wheels, no power steering!!!! We did not own the car very long, but it started something
that is still in place 31 years later!!!!
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