FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When noted sprint-car driver Frank Riddle passed away March 14 at age 78, Florida lost one of its most successful open-wheel drivers. A tall, thin man with a wry smile, Riddle’s day job as a railroad engineer in a multi-ton locomotive was a direct contrast to the time he spent behind the wheel of a flyweight sprint car.
Riddle made his home in Tampa — long the hotbed of open-wheel racing in Florida — but plied his trade at nearly every oval in the Sunshine State, oftentimes racing wheel to wheel with his brother, Jimmy.
Riddle began his racing in the days of the old coupes and sedans in the Tampa Bay area and transitioned with the sport as the 1930s-era cars gave way to supermodifieds and finally full-blown sprint cars by the late 1960s. Frank even found his way behind the wheel of a few late models in the mid-1960s. But it was in the sprint cars — with or without a wing above his head — that he enjoyed his most success and for which he’ll be most remembered.
Orlando’s Bob Patten, a former crewman for Bob Luscomb, began keeping track of sprint-car victories in Florida in 1969. Between 1969 and 1990 — when Riddle won his final race on the half-mile of Columbia Motorsports Park in Lake City — he was first across the finish line 94 times. He was atop Patten’s tally of winners for 35 years until he was passed by Wayne Reutimann in 2003.
I’d seen Riddle in a sprinter several times at various tracks, but one memory that sticks with me to this day was a performance he put on at the old Palm Beach Fairgrounds in 1980 or 1981. Sprints had not run the highly banked paved half-mile track in several years, and Riddle, in Harry Campbell’s blue-and-yellow No. 11, was near the front of the line when the gates opened that Friday night.
From the very first warm-up, it was apparent that Riddle had quickly gone back to the file cabinet in his mind and summoned what he’d done there previously and put it to good use. Drivers who got around Palm Beach the fastest did it with good equipment and an understanding of how to work the banks. Within five laps, Riddle was back in the groove, and most of his fellow runners were in awe of his prowess at the old oval. When the checkers waved after the feature, it was Riddle in victory lane, with Campbell proudly at his side.
What a night.
In addition to his success in Florida, Riddle enjoyed a great record in the Little 500 at Anderson, Ind. A two-time winner in 1984-85 for owner Sergio Hernandez, he also sat on the pole five times in 16 starts on the tough quarter-mile bullring. He was the rookie of the year in 1978 for owner Marty Houston and still stands fourth in all-time laps led with 1,118.
If all that success wasn’t enough, Riddle also notched the rookie title in the USAC sprint division in 1980, finishing 12th in points for owner Campbell. Wheeling his blue-and-yellow No. 52, Riddle notched nine top-10 finishes in a dozen starts, with his best success coming on the half-mile paved oval in Hartford, Mich., in a 40-lap main in August.
Frank was part of the old guard that is leaving us, but the memories will live for years, and for that we’re thankful.
nWe’re very proud of the success of David Reutimann with the struggling Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota team in Nextel Cup. Certainly, Waltrip’s trio of first-year teams have been far below what most had expected, but Reutimann has been the bright spot. A winner in nearly every division he’s driven, the third-generation driver has plenty of savvy and experience to get the job done, and if he needs a coach, father Buzzie or uncle Wayne are only a phone call away.