August 15, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Born and raised in Porterville, California, Dick Meyer was immersed in racing. He came up in the racing world the hard way by racing in the jalopy and roadster divisions, which were pretty rag-tag. The time he spent driving in those divisions made him a driver who knew how to be rough on the track. He jumped into sprint cars and instantly began winning and setting track records.

Meyer’s NASCAR Grand National Division debut came in 1951 in the April race at Carrell Speedway, a half-mile dirt track near Gardena, California. Meyer drove Grant Sniffen’s No. 9 Mercury to a sixth place finish in the 200-lap event. Meyer then had a fifth place finish at the one-mile dirt Arizona Fairgrounds racetrack. When the Grand National Division returned to Carrell Speedway in June, Meyer recorded a 13th place finish driving the No. 9 Hudson. In October, Meyer finished fifth in the 400-lap NASCAR Grand National race on the .625-mile dirt track at Oakland Stadium in Oakland, California. Meyer then made the 200-lapper at the half-mile Marchbanks Speedway at Hanford, California driving the No. 9 Sniffen Mercury to a 19th place finish. Meyer then showcased his driving skill when the NASCAR Grand National Division returned to Carrell Speedway in November by leading 82 laps in the 200-lap event before finishing second to Bill Norton.

In 1952, Meyer decided it was time to test his skills on the beach at Daytona. He entered the 49-lap, 200-mile beach and road course race at Daytona Beach, Florida in February driving the No. 97 Lincoln. He completed the endurance challenge the beach course presented and finished the event in 17th place.

In 1953, Meyer ran the Hudson in seven AAA races at Carrell Speedway winning a 100-lapper in February and a 100-lapper in March.

Meyer entered the 1953 Southern 500 driving the No. 49 Dodge. A total of 59 cars competed in the Southern 500 that year. Meyer started 13th but finished a strong fourth. In those days, the drivers typically drove their race cars to the track, taped up the headlights and raced. When the race was over, they untapped the headlights and drove the car home. After the Southern 500, Meyer and his crew loaded up in the Dodge and began the long drive back to California. Just outside Henderson, Nevada, they were stopped by the local police chief. The Chief of Police followed NASCAR racing a bit and wanted Meyer to help him extract additional horsepower out of his patrol cars. Meyer gave the chief some pointers on tuning a car’s suspension with shocks and springs. The chief’s son challenged Meyer to a race on the highway. Meyer accepted the challenge and the chief said, “when we get done we are going to keep right on going and thanks for the info on shocks and springs.” Sadly, during their race on the highway, Meyer struck a bridge abutment, and he and two crew members were killed.

Besides driving, Meyer mentored Marvin Panch and was instrumental in Panch making his start in NASCAR. Panch was struggling to put a motor together and Meyer was racing with Mercury backing. Meyer put things together of Panch to be able to make that first NASCAR start.

Meyer’s son, Dick, Jr. worked on the racing teams of A. J. Foyt and Junior Johnson visiting Victory Lane at Daytona. Meyer’s grandson, Adam has also made a career in racing. He has worked as a fabricator at Richard Childress Racing and was involved in the aerodynamic work on the late Dale Earnhardt’s Daytona and Talladega cars.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.