Legendary Sprint-Car Owner Has Racing In His Blood & No Intention Of Quitting

Which sprint-car owner had Johnny Rutherford, Johnny White, Russ Congdon, Bill Puterbaugh, Jay Woodside, Ray Lee Goodwin, Gordon Wooley, Bobby Black, Tom Bigelow and Daryl Harrison drive his cars during the 1960s?
The answer is Art Peacock of Morris, Ill.
Peacock’s stint as a car owner ended after just eight seasons, but racing, which hooked him at age 4 when his dad took him to a race at the Grundy County Fair, remains his passion. He still spends his summer nights at the races, though now he sits in the grandstands. A serious leg infection put him in the “crash house” for part of 2007, but Peacock, who just turned 86, still saw 97 races in eight states. The year before he attended 67 events in nine states.
“I’m always fired up when I go to the races,” reflects Peacock. “Racing is the only interest I really have anymore. I guess I follow it as much as anybody. I like watching the young tigers start in the back and work their way up through.
“When we raced, I was dead set against USAC’s 19-car format and straight-up starts. So many times we just missed the show and got nothing out of it. Then the year after we got out, they went to inverted starts for the heats, which gives the little guy a fighting chance to make the feature and really improves the racing.
“The other big change is that it’s 100 percent safer now than it was in the ’60s. There was very little protection for the boys with that one little roll bar behind them. Now they walk away from crashes that would have killed them. It does make them braver coming through traffic, but that’s great for the spectators.”
So, who was the best driver to steer a Peacock sprint car?
“As far as performance on the track, I rate Russ Congdon from the West Coast the best I had,” he said proudly. “He gave the car some really good rides. He was also easy to get along with and very knowledgeable.”
Peacock’s partnership with Rutherford was brief but successful.
“He drove for me six times and did well, but my car was only average at the time as I didn’t have much money in it,” Peacock explained. “He was a really likeable guy, always trying to improve, and he told me he wanted to go to the gym to build up his arms. I put him on an old tractor applying fertilizer and he won twice, because I paid him and the exercise didn’t cost him anything. Later on, he gave me credit for all that on TV at Indianapolis.”
“That’s a true story,” adds Peacock’s racing buddy, Ray Robison of Wheatland, Mo. “I got to know Art when we got to talking at Grundy County one night. Now we try to meet for things like Indiana Speed Week, but we don’t go like we used to. It’s too expensive.”
Peacock has even written a book about his racing stint, “Adventures of a 1960s Rookie Sprint Car Owner,” and he sells it in the stands to help support his travels. It ends with an impressive summary of how his drivers did after leaving him — six Indianapolis 500 drivers, three USAC sprint car championships, five IMCA championships and five wins at the Knoxville Nationals.
“I’ve sold over 2,000 books without any advertising,” says Peacock. “I bark like a carnival barker and people stop to check it out and stay a while to talk. They thank me for the simple language that’s easy to read. It’s written for the little fellows. They’re the guys who keep racing going, the guys who run eighth, ninth and 10th.”
When asked which tracks he liked and disliked, there is no hesitation. Clearly, Peacock’s memory holds images that are as sharp as ever.
“The nicest track we ever raced on was at St. Paul, Minn., when it was dirt. It was the most beautiful track in the country,” Peacock says. “For asphalt, I liked Raceway Park in Indy. But there were an awful lot of old fairgrounds horse tracks in Iowa that were very dangerous — wooden fences, no water laid down, choking dust and holes and ruts everywhere because there was no preparation.
“Eldora, I didn’t mind, but I hated Winchester, Salem and Dayton with their high-banked asphalt. We got in the wall three times at Winchester. I remember the first time we pulled in there. I looked around and said, ‘What are we doing here?’ There wasn’t much of a guardrail and when you went over it, you were a dead pigeon. There were tree stumps, old cars and big rocks everywhere in the landing zone.”
Today, one track stands above the rest in Peacock’s mind. “The best visibility and the best racing is at Sun Prairie, Wis.,” he says. “I’ve never seen a poor show there in the 10 years I’ve been going there. But I also like the Indiana sprint tracks. Kokomo and Gas City have a lot of action, and because my eyesight is not so good anymore, I like the quarter and third-mile tracks more than the big fairgrounds tracks. It’s nice when I can see everything.”
Like most of America’s dedicated race fans, Peacock is worried about the cost of gas for the upcoming season. But he has a plan.
“My next expedition is up to the Badger indoor show near Minneapolis,” he says. “Then I’ll go to the Mayo Clinic and get this leg looked at. I’ve had enough of these local guys practicing and experimenting on me. After that, I’m aiming for 50 or 60 races again. I love three-race weekends in Indiana, maybe Gas City, Terre Haute and Kokomo on the way back.
“The government is going to give everybody $600 and they want us to spend it, so I’m going to invest my money in racing. I owned 5,000 acres of farmland once and made a lot of money in my day, but I got stupid and lost it all. I’m just existing now, but there’s nothing better to invest in than going to the races. I play the stock market and the commodity market a little, too, but I don’t go overboard anymore.”
Art always drives a big car, so he’s got room to sleep in the back, and generally travels alone.
“I go with my friend Lon Lovellette when I can get him to go, but he’s married and can’t do the long weekends,” says Peacock. “The way gas is, neither one of us will go as much as we did last year. I’ll put the $600 Uncle Sam is going to give me into racing and see how far that takes me. I’ve had a lot of fun racing and I’m not about to quit going now!”