By: Stan Fuller
E-mail stanfuller13@juno.com
Intro:
My father, Morrie Fuller, started racing in 1950 at a dirt track called Wilkins Speedway, located a couple miles north of Caldwell Idaho. Morries racing career spanned 27 years. His early cars were 1930 through 1940 Ford Coupes with the fenders cut off. In the early 50’s he also raced at tracks in Nyssa Oregon and McDermott Nevada. His chief competition through 1953 was his older brother Bob. They both had a love for cars and speed. I was born in 1952. Dad said the main reason that Wilkins Speedway went broke was because Meridian Speedway started offering drivers “tow money’ at the gate, so most of the cars started going to Meridian starting in 1954. Fortunately I have been able to find some 8 mm film of the races at Wilkins Speedway and had them transferred to VCR tapes. My earliest recollection of being at the races was when I was six years old in the grandstands at Meridian Speedway in 1958. Meridian was a dirt track at that time and I remember mud balls flying up from the wheels of the cars and hitting the fans in the stands, especially after they would water the track down.
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# 13 Junior to 14:
In 1958 dad’s main sponsor was Glen Naylor’s Farmer Oil Service Station @ 24th and Fairview in Boise. In those days it seems like every service station in the valley had a race car parked on its corner. Glen liked helping dad so much that he had to get one. Glen’s first car was actually numbered “13 Junior”. After about a couple months of being #13 junior, he choose the number 14. Glen always had a nice car and he was the first guy locally to chrome his roll cage. We often said that the reason Glen wrecked so often was because he could not see past his chrome front bumper. One reason that Glen was voted “Most Popular driver” was because Glenda, his daughter would go under the grandstands at the end of a racing night, she would pick up all the thrown away programs that had the ballots in them, fill them out for her dad and stuff the ballot box.
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At the Track:
My brother Sid and I are 11 months apart. In our childhood days we spent two nights a week at Meridian Speedway. Thursday nights was practice. Dad would turn us loose to play in and under the grandstands while he practiced. We played with the Naylor kids, Glenda, Bob and Tom and Otis Starr.
Sid and I started racing slot cars as kids at the local hobby house, and then we graduated to Go-Karts as teenagers. The local go kart club had a season ending 100 mile endurance race Labor Day weekend. We would get karts from Oregon and Utah.
We ran on a one mile road course through the barracks at Gowen Field. Bob and Tom Naylor, and Jim and Rick Venstra from Emmett and the Ransom brothers Ray and Willie drove in our go-kart club. All went on to drive Stock cars or open wheeled super mods. We spent a lot of time at the Naylor’s home as at different times #13 was kept at Naylor’s home garage with Glen’s car. Sid and I also worked with Bob and Tom at Glens Airport Chevron in the early 70’s.  In 1973 I started racing at he Super Oval in a 1956 Chevy Stock Car, My career lasted about three years. I had a great time driving, but raising children took over as the number one priority. I guess my one claim to fame would be the night I rolled my car going into turn three. It seemed like a farris wheel ride. The worst part was not the roll over, it was releasing the belts after the car stopped, The car stopped on its roof so I was hanging upside down, releasing the belts and landing on my head was exciting.  
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Freeway Run
One late night at the Airport Chevron we were a little bored so we decided to drive Tom’s 1957 Stock car down the freeway at midnight with no headlights. There were about six of us in the car as Tom headed West down the freeway. We wanted to see how fast it would go. We got off at the Orchard exit and started back on the freeway to the Vista exit and the Airport Chevron. As luck would have it a State Trooper saw us and turned on his siren and lights and followed us back to the service station. We all jumped out and ran into the station which was open 24 hours. He calmly came into the station and wanted to know who was driving, we just shook our heads. He actually had a good laugh and gave us a warning and no ticket!

Bob and Tom Naylor:
Bob Naylor’s driving style was one of “get to the front as soon as possible and in any fashion”. Bob drove as hard as his car would go. He often used up his tires in doing so. Tom’s style was one of much more patience, passing cars but with a smother style. Both Naylor boys could get to the front that was for sure! To have lost both of them to racing accidents, Bob at Vegas in a Sprint car and Tom in his Hyder Roadster has been a tremendous loss, especially to their parents Glen and Darlene. Words are extremely hard to come by. We spent many a day playing and growing up with the Naylor’s. They were two of my best friends.
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Malloy Straight-up:
In 1963 Charlie Shearman, a local business man bought a “straight up” open wheeled super modified from Jim and Jerry Malloy out of Denver Colorado and asked dad to drive it. They painted it a bright candy apple red, with white letters in black trim, #13. The car had a trade mark of carrying the left front wheel as the car accelerated down the straights, the left front tire was a small 4-inch wide tire made for Volkswagen Bugs. It was very small as compared to the ten inch wide slicks which were on the other three wheels. My dad had the trade mark of having a cigar in his mouth, he drove this car from 1963 to the year he retired, 1977.
In 1965 Morrie won 14 heat races, a record that still stands. The 1966 racing season at Meridian Speedway was one of his prime achievements. That year Morrie battled Ron Porter who was driving the Pink Lady roadster. Morrie won 5 main events and finished just a couple of points behind Porter for the Season Championship. He finished his career while driving at the Super Oval in 1977. Even then when he would get out of the car he would say, “boy that was fun”. I think he finally decided to quit when the next generation of drivers, those some 25 years younger started to make their marks, plus old #13 was getting outdated by all the offset chassis. He sure got a kick out of beating cars that on paper he should loose to.
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Gowen Field Road
Dad would take the car out to Gowen Field Road, which is located south of the Boise Airport, we would go out in the evenings, unload near the old rifle range, and dad would take the car up down Gowen Field Road, there was hardly any traffic out there in the late 60’s, early 70’s. Today it is a very busy road and “no way” you could take a race car up and down that road. We never say a police car out there, and hardly any traffic on the road.

Tricks of the Trade
One time while towing the #13 down Overland road in Boise the trailer hitch broke, the safety chain held for a while as dad tried to slow down, then the chain broke and the trailer with #13 on it made a left turn and drove into a driveway and stopped right in front of a garage, nice parking job. The quick change rear-end on #13 had a slight leak, and dads way of fixing it was to put a diaper at the leak and duct tape the diaper to the leak. So every Saturday morning my job was to change the diaper.
Body putty with extra hardener would stop a gas leak on a tank, water leaks and most oil leaks.
Dad often used me as a scout asking, who are the guys to beat? and who are hazards on the track. Hazard meaning, who he should look out for that could cause accidents.
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Gene Klass
was the track announcer at Meridian Speedway during the late 60’s, early 70’s. He got in a habit of bringing his guests and friends into the pits before the races. Gene would come by and introduce his guests to dad, then he would say something like “watch this guy’s car tonight” Morrie will do something wild! He usually did.

1962 Meridian Speedway program.
To tell you how popular racing was in 1962, the program I have has 82 cars and drivers listed. All the cars were in the same class “open wheeled” Modified Hard Top Jalopies. Time Trials started at 8:00pm. They were not in a hurry in those days.
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C.A.M.R.A
Canadian American Modified Racing Association
CAMRA was formed about 1963 as to provide a circuit for the Super Mods of that time to run in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. Local Bill Crow was on the first CAMRA board. Meridian had the Tater Cup and the Western States Championships. Salt Lake had the Copper Cup, and the Intermountain Championships. Pocatello had the Pioneer Cup and the Gate City Cup. Idaho Falls and Blackfoot each had a CAMRA race or two, but they struggled to stay on the schedule. The CAMRA races at Meridian were big. There were upwards to 70 super mods in the pits and the grandstands were standing room only.
Bob Gregg’s home track was the big Portland Oregon half mile oval. The first time he came to Meridian, he said that driving on Meridian was “like driving on a postage stamp” that tight and small! The mid-60’s were the glory days of CAMRA in my mind. Billy Foster, Jim Malloy and Art Pollard all graduated from CAMRA to run at the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately all three lost their lives driving. Pollard and Malloy at Indy, Foster at Riverside. Salt Lake City’s Mel Andrus also lost his life at Riverside. In one CAMRA race at Meridian about 1965 “Jungle” Jim Roberts from Eugene Oregon broke part of his front suspension, so his pit man took a small chain and a “come a long” and chained the broken parts together and out he went to finish the main. After one Saturday night race at Meridian most of the cars were towing to Salt Lake for a Sunday afternoon race. Eldon Rasmussen from Canada was driving a brand new Ford Ranger pick-up. He was loading up his car and had the left front door of the truck open. Glen Naylor came driving into the pits a little too fast, hit the door, tearing it off the hinges! A welder was found and the new door was spot welded back on. Naylor gave Rasmussen some cash for his troubles and off Eldon went to Salt Lake City. In one CAMRA race Jim Malloy out of Denver tangled with someone and ended up in the wall in his heat race. The front axle was broke and the rear end was off center. Jerry Malloy, his brother, and car builder had only one hand, and a wooden leg, but that did not stop him from getting that car back together by the main and Jim went out and won the main in a patched up car. They were quite the pair. Jerry Malloy from Denver, Ed Sneva from Spokane, Jim Tipke from Spokane and Roger Cornel from Caldwell were the top car builders and fabricators in their day. Many of the cars had a name, the most famous being the Pink Lady owned by Art Sugia of Ontario Oregon. When Ron Porter lost the ride in the Pink Lady, he bought his own car and named it the Blue Angel.
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Salt Lake Fairgrounds Speedway.
The Copper Cup was a big draw. It was the big race of the year at Salt Lake. The track had some very large grandstands that held 7000 plus, and they would be full and rowdy! The first time I went in the pits at Salt Lake (about 1966) I counted 80 super mods in the pits. There were cars from Colorado, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Canada and the local Utah drivers. The thing I remember most about Salt Lake was the crazy flagman. This guy would not throw a yellow flag unless you were broadside to the traffic and on the inside of the track. If they could drive around you he would keep the race green! Jim Roberts from Eugene Oregon spun out and was out near the outside wall. He saw that the flagman was going to keep it green so he pushed his clutch in, coasting to the inside of the track as to get a yellow! When we drove to Salt Lake or even Pocatello, we would hit jack rabbits and they would be imbedded in the front grill of the tow car or on the trailer somewhere. Someone had to scrape off the road kill.
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Pocatello Airport Speedway
Pocatello was like two drags strips, and a hard tight corner. Dad really liked it because he could gear the car low for hard fast acceleration and then use the gearing as a brake. The track had a 6” curb on the insides of the corners and he could put the little left front tire right above that curb and really hug the inside of the track. I think Pocatello was his favorite track to travel to. We would go there about twice a year. He always did well there and won a couple of Main events. One time he won the main over Norm Ellifson who was driving Jim Tipke's new offset roadster. After the win they asked dad and Norm to go park their cars on the front straight. The funny part was that Norm had a group of pit crew members all in matching uniforms and they were all out there polishing up the chrome on the Tipke car after the race. My brother Sid and I were dad’s pit crew. We were teenagers and did not have matching uniforms. Dad’s car had one chrome piece which was the back X- brace to the roll cage. We did not have any polishing to do, but we accepted the winner’s trophy anyways! In one main event at Poky, dad’s throttle stuck wide open early in the main. Luckily he was able to find the kill switch. Funny thing was, he made a quick decision to drive the remainder of the race by using the kill switch! “On” down the straights and “off” killing it for the corners. After the race Bob Gregg who finished behind him came running over asking why the car would like stop in the corners. After explaining what was going on, Gregg laughed till he cried.
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Ontario Fairgrounds Speedway.
Snake River Valley Racing Association
Ontario was a quarter mile oval with no walls except on the front straight, which had a three foot concrete wall. Ontario was dirt until about 1963. It was inside the big ½ dirt race horse track at the Fairgrounds. It was a fun place to race. They were not quite as structured as Meridian. They were just really happy to see any Boise cars tow over. They ran mainly on Sunday afternoons as not to conflict with Meridian. They even tried Wednesday nights and an occasional Friday night. After the races everyone would go over to Art Sugia’s Eastside Café and Lounge for Chinese food. About 1962 we were towing the car over to Ontario with a tow bar, no trailer and the right front wheel came off and that wheel went flying into a huge beet field on the right side of the road. We spent about an hour looking for it, but never found it. We put a spare on and continued to the track. I’ve always wondered how the beet digging machine did when come harvest time when it hit that tire! I remember their last season ending championship race about 1965. It was a 50 lap Main event for the Class A cars. Dad led most of the race with Bill Chandler driving the #55 roadster for Don Bowers on his bumper running second. Chandler had tried about every move to get around dad. On the white flag lap and on the last turn Bill tried to pass dad and dad drifted him up and over the front straight wall. Don Bowers ran down to our pits really mad, and all dad said to Don was that “Chandler should have known better as to try that move” The flagman at Ontario went to high school with dad and was the pit stewart. He agreed with dad and no penalty was issued for putting Chandler over the front straight wall.
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The Gray Ghost:
John Panike from Weiser named his car the Gray Ghost. He was a little upset that they had paved the track at Ontario and was going to sit the season out. The car had been premiered and he finally decided to try the pavement out. So, when people saw the car premiered, they started to call it the “Gray Ghost” He later found a pattern of “Casper the Ghost” and painted it on the side on the car in a white outline and painted the car black.
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Umatilla Oregon Speedway
The first time we went to Umatilla about 1970, the promoter was really excited. He figured that he could draw cars from the Tri-Cities and Yakima from the north and the Boise Valley to the south. This seemed like a good idea, but with all the racing we had going, the only time that the Boise cars could travel would be when Umatilla had something special. We were not going to go there (5 hour drive) for a regular Saturday night show. About the only time we could go would be early before our season started or late in September. The Umatilla promoter would always have the first race of the year. During the 70’s he would schedule an “Open Comp” race for the last weekend in March! I can remember going over the Blue Mountains on the drive over and we would see snow, but the race always came off. Top

 Fireworks on the 4th of July:
Morrie got the nickname of “Fireball” Fuller when his lit cigar caused three fires in one year, so the rules were changed that the cigar had to be un-lit. He just clinched it between his teeth. The cigar was his trademark and he enjoyed it. On the 4th of July they would let him go out on the track with a big long cigar filled with sawdust. He would light it and it would burn down pretty fast from just going around the track fast. He would tie a scarf around his face to ward off the sparks. It really glowed.
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The Purple Ro-Ho Gang
Bruce Khul started the Ro-Ho gang. He named each of his cars Ro-Ho after a roster chicken in a popular Country Western song from the 60’s. Gale Tully, one of Bruce’s pit crew members drove a Push Truck and it was called Ro-Ho. Bruce first drove cars at Meridian for a couple of years in the mid-60’s, then he started building cars and had someone drive them. Bruce could make a Chevy straight six scream. Arden Dunker, Pat Maguire and Harry Pence drove for Bruce at different times. Bruce’s cars dominated the super six classes in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Bruce and Arden both helped rebuild #13 at different times when dad rolled or wrecked it. Bruce’s “Best in the West” garage on Cassia Street in Boise was a gathering place for many race fans and drivers.
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Tempers and Ego’s
Drivers and ego’s often tangled at the track which ended in fights. I saw a number of altercations between drivers and pit crew members but one stands out, mainly because my then four year old brother Kurt was involved. One night after the races were over Kurt was one of the first out of the stands and into the pits. Two drivers were getting into a fight, Kurt a small four year old got caught in-between these two fighting drivers and got mowed over!  I doubt to this day the drivers know that he was caught up in the middle of the fight, mainly because he was so small. We brushed the dirt off of him and he lived to tell about it.
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Odds and Ends
L-78 x 15 Michelin Radial Tires, would they work on a stock car? Rob Olsen drove a 61 Chevy in the Jr. Stock Class at the Super Oval and used the same car at Meridian in the Super Stock class. He was the only driver I’ve know to use the old Michelin radial street tires on a stock car. Did they work? My answer is, sort of. Front Wheel drive super mod. John Eishman built a front wheel driven super modified in about 1973 with an Olds Toranodo drive train ad rear independent suspension. Car was very ill handling. Ed Sneva’s four wheel drive car with Tom as the driver. This car dominated everywhere it ran. At Meridian Tom won any and all races it entered, except for one night Jack Eckman in his Nordling Parts Yellow and red offset beat him to the finish line by inches. So CAMRA decided to ban it. The late Roger Cornell’s 6 cylinder car that out-ran the eight cylinders CAMRA cars one night. 50 lapper at Meridian on a hot August night. Towards the end of the race the 8 cylinder cars were spinning their tires and the six cylinders was putting the power to the track and passed the Pink Lady for first place with about 5 laps to go.
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Hopefully others like you will also write their racing memories and share them on the Idaho Historical Society’s website. http://www.IHRS.org
As for car #13, dad sold it in 1980, and for all purposes it was gone. Then in December of 2002 it was found in a field South of Boise. I purchased what was left of the car and the restoration of the red #13 Malloy straight up has started. It will serve as a theme car for the Idaho Historical Racing Society. Hope you enjoyed the read.
2007 Update The car is finally on four wheels. I showed it at our 4th annual IHRS open house in March. The body has a primer paint job, the steering gear, seat; dash gauges are in, drive line and an in/out box, firewall, square top, which is painted red. Car still has plenty of little things yet to be done.

Stan Fuller