THE YOUNG MAN FROM STOVERSTOWN

A young seventeen year old lad eager to race cars came to race at Bowling Green Speedway.  He came with a strong family background of racing.  He had raced bicycles with neighborhood friends on the family farm in Stoverstown.  He had traveled with his father, who raced motorcycles at Daytona Beach and New Hampshire .  After a few years, his father got involved in stock car racing.  He attended races with his father Phil at Lancaster Speedway on Saturday nights and the Mason/Dixon Speedway on Sundays.  It was only natural that this young man would become a race car driver.

This brings us to where we find him racing a stock car at Bowling Green Speedway.  He won feature races at Bowling Green (he actually won 3 features in a row that year).  When Williams Grove began running weekly stock car races, our driver began competing there.  His #3 car became a familiar sight at the front of the pack (he also won 3 features in a row at Williams Grove).  At this time Williams Grove would start 50 cars in a feature, so you can see this was quite an accomplishment for a young man of 17 years of age !!

As time went by, our young driver became one of the "guys" to beat at such tracks as: Bowling Green , Williams Grove, Condon, Taneytown, Lincoln , Susquehanna, Hagerstown , Reading and even Port Royal .  He told me that he especially enjoyed racing at Reading Fairgrounds because the track was flat and one could go fast; all racers like to go fast !!

Throughout the 50's he was a consistent front runner at all the nearby speedways, as well as our Bowling Green .  He may not have been King of that track, but he certainly was a crown prince.  Our driver was able to almost be unnoticed as he moved steadily and consistently up through the field.  He was consistently in the top 5 and 10 in the feature races.  When conditions were really bad (tracks got very dusty and rough with many potholes in those days), the young man from Stoverstown , PA was at his best.  This may have come from his experience with those bicycle races on the family farm.  When other racers seemed to falter, spin out, or just plain have difficulty with the bad track conditions, he did extremely well.

A very quiet, but friendly individual, our driver always seemed to get along harmoniously with his fellow competitors.  He was not controversial.  He told me that he always wanted to give the fans who paid to see the race the best possible show.  He always showed respect for his competitors and was popular with his fellow drivers.  Even though he played fair and was popular with the other drivers and he gave them room to race, the other drivers knew that he never gave up a position without a fight !!

With inverted order of points, our young racer, who was usually high in the point standings, would invariably start the race toward the rear of the field of cars.  Because of this inverted start, it was difficult at times to move through the cars.  Our driver, always steady and in control, was able to avoid trouble most of the time and finish in the top 10.

In 1958, our driver ventured to Hagerstown Speedway for a NASCAR late model stock car race, which he won in a car owned by Ken Carman.  This was his one and only race with NASCAR according to our race driver.  Being a working man, our young man chose not to pursue late model racing, but rather stick with the family #3 car and race at the local area tracks for the remainder of the 1950's.

In 1960, the local tracks switched to modified stock cars.  Our driver managed to finish in the top ten.  However, by 1960 the #3 car was not as competitive as it had been in previous years.  Therefore, in 1961 he switched to Ken Appler's #77.  After a mediocre season in 1961, Mr. Appler built a new car #77.  Our racer won point championships that year at Lincoln and Susquehanna in this new car.  He also won a few races and this was the year that Bobby Hersh and Johnny Mackison were the dominant drivers.

In 1963, car #77 driven by our young racer came out very strong, winning races and consistently running in the top five.  He progressed through the season running strong in every race.  I think consistency was his outstanding quality.  In 1963, he won races at Lincoln and Susquehanna.  He even found time to participate in the National Championship race at Langhorne Speedway.

In 1964 we find him at the top of his game.  He won races and captured the championships at Williams Grove and Susquehanna.  As we all know even the best of people and racers have unforeseen occurrences befall them.  Coming off the previous night with a win at Lincoln Speedway, our young man could not have foreseen what was about to happen on Sunday, August 30, 1964.  On this particular night on the 2nd lap of the main event, our racer had a horrific accident.  He flipped, went 30 feet up in the air, end over end and a few times side to side.  In the process, he was struck by a wheel and badly injured.  He was hospitalized unconscious for some period of time.  He did recover, which we are truly thankful for and was able to come back to Lincoln Speedway the next year and work as a track official.

Our championship driver, Mr. Gene Goodling, known by his many close friends as "Bud," still had a successful season, despite his career-ending accident.  He won 9 races and the championship at Williams Grove and Susquehanna, and was 3rd in the point standings at Lincoln Speedway.  This, in spite of missing 7 races of the season.

In 1987, Gene was honored by being elected to the York County Racing Hall of Fame.  Like many others, it was my pleasure to witness Gene's many successes, especially at our Bowling Green Speedway.  In my experience, his accomplishments at Bowling Green are still the best.  Even though Gene is retired from CAT after 36 years and heart surgery, he is active in the Bowling Green Speedway Preservation Society.  I cannot think of Bowling Green Speedway without thinking of the Goodling Family, with Phil, Roger and Gene, in the #3 and #77 and #10 cars.  Their team was always in contention to win.