72. Randolph County Timing Association-RCTA

News-Gazette, Winchester, IN photo, May 1970.

 From a NHRA publication-- Winchester, Indiana-- The Randolph County Timing Association, Division III, National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Charter Car Club recently held a special open house day at their well set up club house. A big turnout from the nearby community of Winchester, Indiana included the city mayor Mr. Ralph West. The RCTA is one of the leading clubs from the "Land of the Winners."
  The RCTA has a 100% NHRA Charter membership with 32 active individuals and four members serving in Viet Nam.

From Mick:

 Lee Sanzo brought me this picture and a picture of the Chevy van the members bought for the club. Just a guess but I think they were both taken around '69 or '70. I can't name everyone in the photo but I do see Jan Smith, Donnie Ross, Lee, Don Hesser, Nick Shinn, Mike Ertle, Larry Horn, Mike Stilwell. Pete McCollum and the Adkins brothers Jim and Ed. Possibly Derry Hobson and Barry Edwards.
  The clubhouse was a WWII military surplus "Quonset Hut." Leon Hendrickson put a hardwood floor in it and had his skating rink there. Independent basketball teams used it also.
  I'm going to risk going back some 50 years and tell a little about what I can remember about the club. Lee Sanzo and I usually get together each Tuesday and do some bench racing, so I'll have him help me if he will. It seems like we started putting the Timing Assn. together in the mid 1960's mostly from remnants of the old Kingsmen and High Gears car clubs. Guys like Hess, Jan, Lee, Horny and myself. I don't remember how we got together with Lonnie but the skating rink was closed and he agreed to rent the building to us. Once the word got around that we had this large area available the membership grew rapidly. When we finally had enough money from dues and donations we tore out the wood floor and had a concrete floor poured. Jack Long, Lyle and Larry's dad did the cement work. The building was approximately 80 feet long by 30 feet wide. There were two large sliding doors on the east end that opened to about 12 feet. We closed off a 15 by 30 foot area for our meeting room on the west end.
  In the shop area there was a hydraulic lift so we could change oil, work on the undercarriage etc. The welding area had gas and arc equipment. Both of these were near the meeting room on the west end. The rest of the building was open and usually pretty full, with cars of all types. Thursday and Friday were busy days during the summer racing season getting cars ready for the weekend. We raced at the Piqua, Ohio drag strip "The Turkey Farm" earlier and then mostly at the Muncie Dragway where club members also worked at tech inspection, staging etc.
  The first real drag strip anywhere close to Winchester was an 1/8 mile long strip at Kettlersville, Ohio that opened in 1959. Kettlersville was drag racing in it's purest form. An outlaw track, not sanctioned by any national organization, you 'run what you brung' as they said. The track ran slightly downhill and there was a little rise about halfway down. At the finish line there was a fellow with a white flag. He determined who the winner was by pointing his flag to the lane with the car that he thought crossed the line first. As soon as you crossed the finish line you had to brake hard. The asphalt ended quickly and you were in gravel that ended in a woods. Not much chance of getting into the woods though as there was an old bulldozer crossways in the gravel.
  Strips today have return lanes along the edge of the track that you come back up. At Kettlersville there was no return lane. When you finished your race you came back up the track. I was waiting for my run one day and was standing along the fence watching the races when an Altered/Class, chopped and channeled Model A with a hemi  engine came running back up the track at a pretty good clip. He must have blown a brake line trying to stop at the end of the track because when he got back to the starting area he didn't have any brakes. Behind the staging and starting line there was a board fence about six feet high which he hit full bore. Boards and splinters flew everywhere, the car went down a hill, across the highway and out into a farmers field. Nobody was hurt, they quickly swept up the remains of the fence and we were racing again.
  Just south of the track was a farm with a flock of big white domestic ducks that would waddle up and mingle with the people on the spectator side of the strip. Another time when I was watching the races the announcer came on the PA system and started yelling "Get that goddamn duck off the track!" I looked down  and there was a duck in the middle of the track, just standing there. Some kids ran out and started chasing the duck, yelling and waving their arms until it left and we finally got back to racing.
  This was drag racing as I remember it from nearly 60 years ago and I'll try to have more later. The 409 Chevys and my 406 Ford, (I couldn't beat 'em), Muncie Dragway, The Turkey Farm, my trip to the last Nationals in Detroit in '69 with Dudley Davis and Ronnie Jones and the first Nationals at Indianapolis with Dudley and Don Hesser.

For current reference.
Location of the barn: What looks like a tennis court when you pass at 390 East Union City Pike, Winchester, IN.

Note by Dave Hendrickson
About where the present home was built is the site that was dug to bury the cars and debris that has 'basically melted' due to the fire.
He and Rusty Syms pulled the doors and the fire was 'rolling' over and over and roared in there.  They were able to pull about 2 cars out.