Jeep Herbert

Last updated

Williams, Bill (March 16, 1990). "'Jeep Herbert' Fonda Speedway racing pioneer". Gater Racing News (25th Anniversary ed.). Liverpool NY. p. 10.

Contents

Jeep Herbert
BornHoward Herbert
April 14, 1927
DiedNovember 29, 2002(2002-11-29) (aged 75)
Retired1963
Debut season1949
Car number1, 11, 37, 53, 62, 451, 991
Championship titles
1956, 1957 NASCAR NY Sportsman Champion [1]

Howard "Jeep" Herbert (April 14, 1927– November 29, 2002) was an American driver of dirt modified stock cars. Herbert picked up his nickname from the comic strip character "Eugene the Jeep" after dropping one side of a customer's car into the service pit at a gas station where he was employed. [2] [3]

Racing career

Jeep Herbert began racing in 1949 at the Perth Speedway, New York, in a 1934 Ford coupe numbered 451. [4] He centered his career at the Fonda Speedway (New York), where he claimed the track championship in 1959 and had a total of 25 wins. He also competed successfully at 40 different speedways including New York's Airborne Park Speedway, Burden Lake Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Monroe County Fairgrounds, Pine Bowl Speedway in Snyders Corners, Syracuse Mile, Utica-Rome Speedway, and Victoria Speedway in Dunnsville; State Line Speedway in Bennington, Vermont; Thompson Speedway in Connecticut; Trenton Speedway in New Jersey; and Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. [1] [5] [6]

Herbert retired from racing at age 36, having competed on both the sand at Daytona Beach and the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway. [3] [7] He was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified and the New York State Stock Car Association Halls of Fame. [1] [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Howard "Jeep" Herbert". Sunday Gazette . Schenectady NY. December 1, 2002. p. B8. Retrieved April 9, 2024 via Google Books.
  2. Boyd, Lew (2002). Fonda! An Illustrated and documented history of the legendary Fonda Speedway. Coastal 181. ISBN   0970985428.
  3. 1 2 Szczerba, Ronald J. (December 8, 2002). "Szczerba NYSSCA and Fonda Speedway lose a part of their history in Jeep Herbert". New York State Stock Car Association. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  4. Williams, Bill (March 16, 1990). "'Jeep Herbert' Fonda Speedway racing pioneer". Gater Racing News (25th Anniversary ed.). Liverpool NY. p. 10.
  5. "Jeep Herbert cops coveted berth in State Line win". The Times Record . Troy NY. August 29, 1953. p. 11. Retrieved April 9, 2024 via NewspaperArchive.
  6. "Jeep Herbert ready to challenge Holiday". Press-Republican . Plattsburgh NY. August 11, 1956. p. 9. Retrieved April 9, 2024 via NYS Historic Newspapers.
  7. Hoefs, Art (February 6, 1960). "Jeep Herbert heads for Daytona stock car event". Schenectady Gazette . NY. p. 19. Retrieved April 9, 2024 via Google Books.
  8. Hill, John (May 28, 1999). "Early dirt racers get HOF honor". The Post-Standard . Syracuse NY. p. D10. Retrieved April 9, 2024 via NewspaperArchive.