As the years went by and I finally was old enough to race, I ran the first year of the Road Runner division and the following year bought my first midget.
I knew nothing about how they worked, so I stopped out to the Rockford track one mid-week afternoon and unloaded in the infield to get my first laps in an open-wheel car, as I planned on making my midget debut at Sun Prairie that weekend.
Although I had seen Hugh Deery a million times before at the track, and was always entertained from the time I stepped through the gates walking out of the pits after the racing was over and getting the same autographs I got the week before, I had never met him.
I left my car in the infield and was going to walk over to the office to ask permission to start my midget and try to run a few laps without killing myself. I got about halfway there when I saw him coming towards me with a look like I might want to turn around and run back to the infield.
He walked up to me thinking I was some skinny crew member of the guy whose car was in the infield. He wanted to know what in the hell I thought I was doing pulling on his race track like that.
I was so scared I couldn‘t get the words out of my mouth. I felt like I was wearing the T-shirt that said “Paddle Faster, I Hear Banjos.” When I finally blurted out my story of never running a midget before, and convinced him I was the driver, he walked out to the infield with me.
When he saw it was just me and my old buddy A.J. Lange towing a green No. 13 midget with an old ratty Smith Oil panel truck, he suddenly got a smile on his face, put his hand on my shoulder and must have felt sorry for me, as he said, ‘Go ahead and run, but don‘t kill yourself,” as there was no ambulance there that day.
After spending most of the afternoon trying to get the Chevy 2 engine started in my spring front and parallel torsion bar rear-suspension Kurtis Kraft, I strapped on my open-face Bell helmet and put on my red Firestone plastic jacket. (My Hinchman single layer cotton uniform hadn‘t arrived yet. It actually arrived two days before my Sun Prairie debut.)
After what I was sure were track record-breaking laps with a sick engine and rear end gears turned upside down, I felt I was ready for the big time and my first step toward the first of many Indy 500 victories. (I am a bit behind the time schedule on those wins, but I haven‘t given up yet. I know they are coming!)
I returned to Hugh‘s office, where he talked to me almost like a father and told me that racing midgets was a very dangerous sport and that if I really wanted to do it, he would help me. He told me to always remember that racing was show business and that I was part of that show.
I never forgot that fatherly talk, and to this day try to make him proud as thanks for all his help.
I remember the day back in the ‘80s when Hugh unexpectedly died, and how strong his whole family was. We went to the race a couple of days after the funeral. Before the first event of the night, the whole Deery family lined up on the front straightaway and related how much their great father had taught them about racing, business, family, and life in general, and how much they loved him.
It was another memory from this legendary short track that still sticks with me every time I go there.
After Hugh Deery died, the track continued, with Hugh‘s wife, Jody and their kids, Tom, Jack, David, and daughter Susan running the weekly shows as a family for the next 36 years every Saturday night up to this day.
The kids branched out over the years, with Tom becoming the head guy at NASCAR for many years before going over to the World of Outlaws. David and Jack ran tracks around Tucson and Nashville for years to great success, while Jody and Susan, along with the boys, returned to keep the vision of Hugh‘s track alive and well.
I recently heard that, at the young age of 95, Jody has finally decided to step back from running Rockford Speedway without ever hardly missing a Saturday night, and is retiring.
I have heard many women called “The First Lady of Auto Racing” throughout all my years, and all decidedly so, but I think it would be hard to argue that Jody still working and finally taking a break at 95 could be the real number one “First Lady of Auto Racing.”
I am so thrilled to have known this family for so many years. I cannot begin to thank them for everything they have given me.
Congratulations Jody for all your great years of promotion and awards and how you raised such a close family. I will never forget how much you and Hugh did to get me to the place I am at in my career.
These memories can‘t be bought, and you gave me so many. KO
