Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club

Gary L. Byerly
January 23, 1952 - July 1, 2006
Gary joined our club 5 years ago in 2001 and in a very short
time became a great influence on many of us, so much so, club
members overwhelmingly elected him club president in 2005.

Gary will be forever remembered for his even keeled personality,
great sense of humour, his love of Jack, and most importantly,
what brought him into our lives - his love of racing.

Doc Erin Smith
Aug. 13, 1944 - June 29, 2003
Although Doc was with our club for
4 short years, he touched many
people in club along with so
many folks in the racing
community.
He is sadly missed, for in his
short time with us, he contributed
so much to our club and it's
members.

Russ Cusson passed away in 2002. Russ Cusson ran at Brewerton in the early 1960's.
Russ was as colorful as his carand will always be
fondly remembered by the MVSCC.

Howard Light was a bit of a mechanical wizard - he built his own quickchange for the #89 which was a very interesting piece. He was a track champion at Pennsylvania Tracks, Moc-A-Tek and Dunn Hill. Howard won a few features with our club.

Sammy Reakes

Sammy's racing reputation precedes him. In the Central NY area, he is a legend. Sammy Reakes won over 300 feature events during his career and held track championships at Waterloo, Rolling Wheels and Weedsport. He had always wanted to win at Syracuse and was able to do that with our club in the Marsh Special, fulfilling one of his dreams. He has left us a great legacy of second and third generation family members who continue to race.
Sammy passed away in 2001
Sadly missed and never forgotten.

Dick Nolte ran at Lancaster and Spencer in a late model car for years and was associated with the Turner Brothers when Dutch Hoag and Lee Osborne were driving for them in the 1960's.
Dick Nolte contributed so much to the club, that an annual award was dedicated in his honor, 'The Dick Nolte club Member of the Year' award.
He is greatly missed and will never beforgotten.

Bob Hayslett was honored as a 'lifetime member' in the Midstate Club He was the owner of the B29 that Dick May drove to a championship at Watertown, he later helped launch Bob McCreadie's career and built the 302 Boss engines for Bob's first successful Falcon car that ran at Watertown, Can-Am and Evans Mills. Bob passed away in 2001. He was truly an engine wizard, that spent many an hour on the phone with fellows from California like Ed Iskendarian, Harry Weber as well as Harvey J. Crane of Florida - he had a phone company connection that made his calls free so he learned a lot from those calls. Bob's son, Mike is still a member of McCready's team.
Bob was also a WWII veteran and earned two purple hearts, An intelligent mind that will be missed by all.

Don Kellogg was a member of the Midstate club in the late 80's. Don won several class features while in the MVSCC, but was most proud of his only 'first over the line win' at Woodhull Raceway, when he beat Bob Paul on the last lap of the feature. Don's son, Steve, was the starter at Woodhull at the time and will forever cherish the video of his dad taking the checkered flag around for the victory lap. Fortunately, the S/360 car is still with the MVSCC, owned by Mel Vice.
December 25th, 1927 - November 1st, 2003.
He is sadly missed and fondly thought of, but will never be forgotten.

The club would like to thank Jim Chase,
Jeff Ackerman, Steve Kellogg and Barb Smith for helping
to compile this very important page of
Midstate history.