BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. — The recent passing of big-block modified icon Bob McCreadie at age 74 hit us hard, as he was a few years younger than us and we’d known him from his early days wheeling the Price Brothers asphalt modified at Fulton Speedway, long before the track was covered with dirt.
“Legendary” is an overworked term in race reporting but Bob truly was that. He came from poverty, deriving his nickname “Barefoot Bob” from running around his Watertown, N.Y., neighborhood all summer without shoes. He was a self-made man.
On a visit to his shop to do a magazine story on his winning DIRT/Asphalt modified, he took us next door to where he grew up and pointed out the driveway where he worked on his race cars in the early years. The new shop, built with money from a Super DIRT Week win on one of his least favorite tracks, the Syracuse mile, showed how far he’d come.
The “Barefoot Bob” nickname was reinforced early in his career when, in the interest of keeping it light, he built a car so narrow his boots didn’t fit on the pedals and he had to shed one of them to race.
In typical fashion, he once told us that he’d asked another star, Dick Tobias, how narrow a car could be. After some thought, the driving legend and ace fabricator allowed that as long as it didn’t tip over, it couldn’t be too narrow, so that was what McCreadie built and won with.
Despite losing many races to injuries, including a number of broken backs that led to major surgeries and chronic pain, McCreadie notched more than 500 wins from Quebec to Texas and was a fan favorite, hyped by announcers as “The Master of Going Faster.”
While many competitors had big, shiny tow rigs, Bob stuck with a small open trailer far longer than anyone else and was an underdog in the minds of many fans despite his success.
In an era when he competed against such luminaries as Jack Johnson, Jimmy Horton, Kenny Brightbill, Danny and Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn and Kenny Tremont Jr., McCreadie was a steady winner, highlighted by a 1994 campaign that yielded some 47 wins, three track titles and one of his trio of Super DIRT Series championships.
We asked him once what his secret was that year and he said it was simple. He’d put a toggle switch on the dash and run a ground wire to one of the spark plugs of his big block. When tracks slicked off, as the central New York tracks always did, he’d short out one cylinder, the engine would lug and he’d drive off the corner smoothly while others were spinning their wheels.
Hearn, the division’s all-time leading winner with more than 900 scores, describes McCreadie as “the guy who raised the bar and made us all get better. He was the picture of a ‘real’ racer.
“I don’t know if he was a better mechanic or driver. That’s what makes a real racer. He built a beautiful, really fast car for the dirt asphalt series and another car that didn’t pan out for Syracuse, but it was another really beautiful creation.”
Hearn and McCreadie had many battles over the years but one of the most notable came on the high banks of Ohio’s iconic Eldora Speedway.
“It was the first time for big-block modifieds there and I turned fast time and then drew the pole,” recalls Hearn. “I thought we were all set but the track sealed over and I knew I needed a softer right rear after some guys passed me. I pitted during a caution and got back to the front again but by then Bob was leading. He didn’t have any brakes and was bouncing off the wall in the turns and I finally got by inside of 10 to go. I’m sure he wasn’t happy when I passed him but in all the years we raced together after that, he never mentioned it to me.”
If McCreadie discussed that disappointment with anyone, it was likely another late DIRT superstar, “Jumpin’ Jack” Johnson, with whom he was more than tight.
“They raced hard together and they crashed together, but nothing changed their friendship,” recalls Jack’s son, Ronnie, a driving star in his own right. “They had a lot of respect for each other but their relationship was above that. My dad took him out one night but Bob didn’t say a word. He knew that another night it would be the other way around. There was never any payback, just 100 percent hard racing. They both knew that the other guy was a great talent.
“It was a privilege for me to grow up in the ’80s and ’90s with Timmy McCreadie. He was just like his father and my father — down to earth and humble but great racers,” Johnson continued. “I talked with Timmy the night Bob passed and I told him that last May I won a race and a couple of days later he left me a voice mail congratulating me on the win. What an honor. I’ll cherish that forever.”
McCreadie was not just a folk hero to a legion of DIRT fans captivated by his image and success. He was also the focus of a tight-knit group of supporters who devoted most of their adult lives to racing and working with Bob. One, a public safety employee in Canada, made countless trips across the border to travel with Bob. Another was a constant companion on the road and in the shop, basically dropping out of the “real world” to support McCreadie’s racing efforts.
That these crewmen and a handful of others were so devoted to him is a true measure of the man.
McCreadie’s racing career ended in 2006. After visiting his physician with hope of a return to racing, a car knocked him off his Harley in a parking lot and the resulting injuries ended his career. A substantial financial settlement carried Bob and his family through what should have been his golden years but were instead consumed by ongoing health issues.
World Racing Group head Brian Carter may have summed up Bob McCreadie’s career the best, saying, “I didn’t know Bob but I have heard a great deal about him and I have a lot of respect for what he did and how he did it. He laid the foundation for the success our speedways and drivers are enjoying today.”
We agree.
THIS ARTICLE IS REPOSTED FROM THE MAY 29 EDITION OF SPEED SPORT INSIDER
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