Remembering Earl J Hubert
This months Backstretch article is dedicated to Earl J. Hubert. We lost him last summer, after a sudden illness. Not only was he a champion Stock Car driver, he was a true ambassador to the sport of auto racing.
It is always tough when you lose a close friend. As our 2008 Vintage season begins, I can’t help but remember that this time last year I called him often. He would get so excited and enthusiastic while listening about our plans for the next event. I find myself desperately wanting to pick up the phone and call Earl J. for his input.
It is tough to accept that he will no longer be able to share his thoughts and wisdom. I always think of his huge smile and remember his favorite saying. He would listen to our plans then he would smile and say “Is that Right”.
I am including a story about Earl J. that his close friend Dennis Yonka wrote as a tribute to him the week he passed away. The picture above is the Buick that Earl J. drove to the National Clay Track 200 victory at Santa Fe Speedway in1974.
R.I.P. Earl J.
Your Friend “Fireball”
Local racing legend, fairgrounds track pioneer passes on
By Dennis Yohnka
sports@daily-journal.com
The Kankakee area lost a stock car racing legend Thursday when Earl Hubert passed away while traveling in Ohio. The 74-year-old retired plumber and pipefitter from Aroma Park raced for more than 20 years, winning races across the Midwest and building a large and loyal fan base.
Hubert won multiple track championships, including one at the old Sugar Island Speedway. He was instrumental in bringing racing back to the Kankakee Fairgrounds track. And he was recognized as an innovator, a cooperative competitor, and a man dedicated to his family.
Hubert started campaigning with a Ford Torino powered by one of the smallest V8 engines on the track 1969. It became the talk of short track racing world, when his high-revving "little engine that could" regularly beat the cars powered by the larger Chevy engines of that time.
He may have gained his greatest fame, however, in a Buick. He drove a car built by Kankakeean Owen Johnston and owned by local businessmen Ken and Dale Saathoff. Hubert shocked a packed house at Santa Fe Speedway when he won the track's annual 200-lap finale in September of 1974.
"He was a good hard, clean driver who could beat the best," said Jim O'Connor, another outstanding driver from that era. "We would go out after the races and celebrate -- win or lose. He helped a lot of drivers through the years. He taught me some things. He worked with guys like Red Stipp and Fireball Fehrman. He was always willing to help a new guy."
Art "Fireball" Fehrman agreed that Hubert was a great mentor, but he laughed as he recalled a night in Indiana when Hubert showed him how to drive a new track. "He showed me some things from the back of the truck before qualifying and later I asked him: Well, you helped me get into the trophy dash; now how do I handle that race? He smiled and said, 'Look, Fireball, I'm in that race, too. You're fast enough. You're good enough. You're on your own now.'"
Hubert first gained major recognition when he switched to Chevys and drove a 1960 Impala for his brother-in-law Harold Lade. Hubert intended to drive an 1957 Ford that year, but it was destroyed in a garage that was part of the Lowe Seed Corn Company that burned that winter. Although it was prepared quickly, the Impala won Hubert his first track championship.
"In those days, Earl was like a second dad to me," said current Kankakee Motor Speedway flagman Jim Whittington. "I can still remember all the nights when my brother Rick and Earl's boys, Mark and Bruce, would be running around stock cars while dad and Earl worked out in a shop on Grinnell Road. I can't believe he's gone."
Hubert made more noise when he and friend Bob Morrell went back to Fords for the 1970s. His innovative use of the small Ford engine matched the efforts Ford Motor Company was making to optimize the engine on the Trans-Am series.
Three of Hubert's brothers also took turns behind the wheel of a stock car. His wife Mary won her share of the women's races. His son Bruce raced for four years, and his grandsons, Dustin and Marcus, still work with local drivers Kevin and Jason Hastings.
"Growing up with my last name people thought I was 'supposed' to hate Earl, but I couldn't," explained Paul O'Connor, a one-time crew member on the No. 43. "He was a good guy and he got better with age."
