Founder Profile
Sandy Downs
Exhaust Notes August 2005 (Page 8)
by Patt Buell
Sandy Downs is one of NRSCCA's (March 1954) charter members, along with L. F. Bollinger, Clyde Bourgeois, Maynard Buchanan, Blaine Carey, Richard Ferguson, Loyal Katskee, Joe Mayer (the first R.E.) and Jerome Ritter. After 51 Years, I thought we would never find any of the original members.
But recently, Sandy found us. He is a member of Bluebirds Across Nebraska, and the co-chairman of the Bluebird Box Production. His group was near Walton, Nebraska, about 3 miles east of Lincoln, which has the MoPac recreational trail through it, when he saw the NRSCCA trailer in Tony Koester's driveway. He walked up and introduced himself to Tony. To make a long story short, Tony emailed me, I called Sandy the next day and went to Lincoln to talk to him.
Sandy is a World War II vet. He raced from 1948 until 1952 with IMCA (International Motor Contest Association). "My first race was at Thief River Falls, Minnesota. We never started the car the first day. It was a half mile sprint car. In those days they pulled the cars to start them. It was a two day race and the car wasn't running right. We went to a tractor shop who was also a Bosch dealer and rebuilt the magneto and set the timing. My co-driver won but there was water pouring out of the tail pipe."
"In those days we were called Buck Down Race Team, we use to have races at Hastings and Beatrice on the horse tracks and in Lincoln at the Nebraska State Fair Grounds." "One time I rolled the half mile car up a bank and it straddled the top. People would wave at me just balanced there, so I waved back."
In 1953 Sandy bought an MGTD from Simpson Motor Imports in Lincoln and joined the MG Club. "Then the Cornhusker Sports Car Club became an outgrowth of the MG Club and then the Nebraska Region SCCA in 1954."
He talked about how the Region began. "We elected Joe Mayer as Regional Executive and under his guidance the new Region got off to a good start. More members of the MG Car Club joined the Region and the MG Car Club fell by the way side due to lack of interest. The main reason for this was that the SCCA had a national organization and the MG Car Club did not."
"The Nebraska Region has had its ups and downs as to good and poor years. The Region had as many as 95 members and as few as the original Charter Members."
In September 1953, Sandy went to Aspen, Colorado to race through the streets. Yes, he has slides. He told me "an MG went over the hay bales and through the bank window."
I have heard the stories of the races through the towns but have never seen the pictures until now. He has also run the streets of Elkhart Lake (pre-Road America track of today).
"After the 1953 races at Offutt a bunch of young men decided they wanted to race and to do that they joined the SCCA, before the 1954 races at Offutt and formed the Nebraska Region."
Sounds like we started out as a racing region doesn't it?
In 1954 Sandy's first race was "The Great Motor Boat Race" at the Iowa City Airport track. He said, "It rained and rained and rained." Also that year, he ran the Land 'O Lakes "Snow Race" at St. Paul, and the Milwaukee Grand Prix at the race track. "A lot of the early SCCA races were run through towns, on airport runways (sometimes stopping the race for planes) and on horse racing tracks."
He also ran the Buffalo Bill Hill Climb in 1954 and the Offutt races.
He said, "Joe Mayer and I both raced MGTD's. In fact one had a trailer hitch to tow the other one. Through the years I've owned three MG's."
"In 1956 I ran the races at Coffeyville, Kansas and the Lincoln Brick Yard Trials. I raced cars into 1956. I married Lee (Leone) in 1955 and we honeymooned in the MG. We later had three children, two girls and a boy, now all grown; and I have grandkids."
"We ran a lot of rallies in the Midwest and I put on the Golden Rod Rally with help from Pete Fonda, who was still in high school. He also had an MG. His parents showed up at the end of the rally and greeted everyone but by the time I got there they had left."
I showed Sandy a hard copy of the history website. We came across the names of the early members who I didn't know much about. He told me about the Brick Yard Trails in Lincoln. "One of our members, Bob Ferguson's family owned the Brick Yard. It is still there today. They also owned Capitol Beach. There was an amusement park there. We ran autocrosses and time trials on the dry lake bed. There were no cabins or homes there then. There were also stock car races held there."
"I taught my oldest daughter to drive in a Ford Galaxie at the old Union Airport north of Lincoln. I taught her to spin at speed. She still remembers that and says it helps her drive on snow or ice today and keep control."
He also talked about Ralph Miller. "Ralph drove a Lotus. He drove the 12 Hours of Sebring and one year he was pitted next to Sterling Moss. At one of his pit stops, Colin Chapman came over and told Ralph he was the last Lotus in the race and he'd like to modify Ralph's car so he could finish without the same problems. He got a pry bar and a hammer and pried Ralph's fenders out to get more air. Ralph finished. Later Colin shipped a brand new aluminum body to Lincoln for the Lotus, free of charge." Ralph was killed in 1972 on the track, at the National races at Lake Garnett, Kansas. That was the last time races were held there.
Sandy also knew Woody Dunn. "Woody was in the Air Force stationed in Lincoln. His family owned the Woodbury Soap Company in, I think, Connecticut. He was coming back from Chicago to Lincoln one weekend and was killed in a car accident. Woody's parents donated the money for the trophy in their son's name."
Two members in the NRSCCA bought the trophy, the Woody Dunn, to be presented to the member deemed most valuable to the club throughout the preceding year. Sandy Downs was the first recipient.
Sandy was very active in the NRSCCA. In 1956 he was R.E. and co-R.E. in 1958 with Dave Hollenbaugh. In 1956 he was "volunteer" co-editor with Don Stacy. In 1957 he was Activities Director and in the April 1961 newsletter he wrote the 7 year history of the Nebraska Region.
It appeared in the April 1961 Exhaust Notes. "In the early spring of 1953 a group of sports car owners gathered together to form the MG Car Club Nebraska Center. They put on events such as Rallies and Hare and Hounds. These first events were quite simple and were attended by seven to ten cars. At this time there was no Nebraska Region and thus, those of us that were to form the Region were members of other Regions. I was a member of the Oklahoma Region. Others were members of the Kansas Region, Kansas City Region and other nearby Regions."
From the early Exhaust Notes I also found some more of Sandy's comments from 1956 mentioning "A Hare and Hound where the Hounds almost caught the Hare" who stopped for a beer! Memories of "A muddy Gymkhana at Capitol Beach. And a Pontiac was second at the Brick Yard Trials." From 1957: "An alarm clock was noted as rally equipment."
Sandy graduated from UNL and has moved around but always ends up back in Lincoln. He has a B.S. degree in Agriculture and a Masters degree in Soil Microbiology and Chemistry. He retired from the Department of the Interior as a chemist in 1983.
Sandy plans to come out to some of the local events. If you see him, introduce yourself. He tells great stories of the SCCA!