Oval Track Stories
By:  Connie (Tallman) Clapier
April 2005

My father was Eldon Tallman, and he raced at the Wilkins and Meridian Speedways from 1951-1961.  I saw his name listed on the Wilkins Speedway program printed in the Press Tribune article and thought I would put on paper some of the memories that I have about the old racing days.
Like Stan and Sid Fuller, my sister Carol, and I spent most of our time under the bleachers looking for “treasures”; money, watches, wallets and pop bottles that we took to the concession stand to turn in for money.  It was a part of our life that we took for granted and thought all kids spent weekends and holidays at the racetrack.
At the time racing got started at Wilkins, my dad was working for Paul Jameson at the Notus Welding Shop.  The racers brought their cars to him to get them ready for the track.  After each race dad would tell the drivers what he thought they had done wrong, and eventually they told him that maybe he should start racing.  One day my uncle, Carl (Cub) Klahr showed up at the shop and told dad he had bought a jalopy and wanted dad to drive it.  The car was a 1934 Ford and they gave it the number 880, this was the beginning of dad’s racing career. Later on he bought #44, a 1936 Ford built and driven by Olen Waner, which was sponsored by Paul Jameson. 
Several interesting facts about the early days of racing are that a person in the stands was assigned a car number and it was their job to put a mark on a sheet of paper each time their assigned car came by. This was to make sure that the winner had not been lapped during the race.  Ford Motor Company would pay for motor parts, and a retired Caldwell dentist, known as Doc Dresser, would plate special parts using his plating machine.
After the July 4th race at Wilkins in 1953, some of the drivers decided they would like to start racing at Meridian as it had a ¼ mile D track that was much better for racing.  At that time only midget cars were racing at Meridian a few times a month.  The first jalopy race at Meridian only contained 5 cars, the drivers were:  Morrie Fuller, Donnie Hatch, Eldon Tallman, Elbert Hatch, and Dean “Mad Man” Coolie.  To entice other drivers to attend races at Meridian, they offered them $10.00 to show up with their cars.  By the end of the month there were 106 cars entered.  Myron Gilbert was the announcer, who later went on to be elected Ada County sheriff.
Jalopy racing became a very popular sport and tracks opened up all over the valley.  Nyssa had racing on Wednesday night, Meridian on Saturday night, Ontario on Sunday, and Wilkins still had occasional races.  During his racing career, dad also raced midget cars for Harvey Lord in Kennewick, Washington; Pendleton, Oregon and other tracks in the Northwest.
On Easter Sunday, 1954, a benefit race was held at Meridian for the March of Dimes and dad’s stepson, Butch, who had a congenital hip disease, was the poster boy.  The benefit race raised $27,000.00.  That race dad won 4 trophies for the fastest time, the main event, the trophy dash and the heat race.  The drivers received only trophies, as all proceeds from the track and drivers were donated to the March of Dimes.

As a child, one race blended into another, but there are a couple of races that I remember vividly.  One such race was when my dad came around the corner end of the track and went through the fence and jumped into the grandstands.  His radiator cap had been torn off when he hit the fence and his car came to a stop about the 3rd row of the grandstands spewing steam under a woman’s dress.  Her skirt was blowing straight in the air with copious amounts of steam coming out from under it, combined with intermittent screams from the poor, frightened woman.  Dad put the car in reverse, backed onto the track and still came in second or third in the race.
Another time I remember, dad won a race (I think it was Memorial Day) and was paid his winnings in silver dollars.  He put the money in his jeans pocket which made his pants so heavy that after two or three steps he would have to stop and pull them up to keep them from falling off.
In 1962 dad and his family moved to Sacramento, California where he bought a mechanic shop and worked on racecars for drivers in that area with the help of his sons.  Dad is 81 years old and lives in Lebanon, Oregon and just retired last year after selling his new and used appliance business in Lebanon.
Evidently racing gets in your blood, as I married David Clapier who loved cars and competition as much as my dad.  He competed in drag racing at Thunder Ridge and Firebird in the 60’s and also was one of the first in this valley to race snowmobiles.  He was sponsored by Leo Dennis Chevron in Caldwell and traveled all over the Northwest racing a Skidoo. Through the years he has also restored a ’56 Ford, a ’68 Camero and a ’57 Chevy.  My son also raced 4-wheelers and now my grandsons are involved in motocross racing at Chaparrel and Pleasant Valley.