Woolridge after one of his many wins.
Courtesy Photos
Based out of Frankfort, Kentucky, he set countless track records, collected numerous track championships and had hundreds of feature wins. He competed weekly at Kentucky bullrings like Richmond Speedway, Franklin County, Clay City, and Taylor County, going against greats like Fats Coffey, Floyd Gilbert, Vern Lefever, Billy Teegarden, Pat Patrick, and David Speer.
His most memorable campaign came during the 1971-'72 seasons piloting the famous "Duncan's Delight" Chevelle of R.L. Duncan and wrenched by Charles and Logan Grider. During those two seasons, the big man garnered a remarkable 85 wins. Major wins included the Kentucky Dirt Track Championship, the Richmond Open, the Franklin County 100, the Southeastern Winter Nationals, and many others.
Paul"ButterBall"Woolridge
He also finished Fourth in the first running of the World 100 at Eldora. There were many other big wins in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana during the 1970s.
Aside from his deal with Duncan, Batterball saw action in competitive cars fielded by Hall of Famer Ray Callahan, Jack Wagoner, Bobby Dale, Vernon Hawley, and Dale Napper.
He retired from racing in 1982 and passed away on Christmas Day in 1987.
-Bob Markos
Morgan ChandlerKentucky
Morgan Chandler's was a shining career that lasted through two decades (1965-1985) as a car owner and showed a total of 189 victories with an impressive collection of 20 talented drivers, half of them already in the Hall of Fame.
This was not a full-time deal for Chandler, though, as he also had a regular job.
"Didn't get much sleep during many of those years, sometimes getting home in time to go to work," he says.
It was a time, says Chandler, when the driver was a lot more important than the car, quite different from today.
"There is a lot more technology today, but there are still similarities," he says. "Heck, I used to have the left-front tire up just like today."
Chandler laughs when he recalls that he once built a 539-cubic-inch engine derived from a 427 truck engine. "It made about 750 hp, something that small block engines can make today," he says.
Through most of his career, he converted street cars to build his racecars. His built his first car from the ground up in 1978.
A studebaker fielded by Chandler.
Courtesy Photo
Chandler says that he ran with NASCAR in 1968 at Clay City Speedway, Kentucky. It was a dirt track, of course, but he also competed on pavement, using his dirt cars rather than a purpose-built pavement car. "Won a big race on the paved Dayton (Ohio) Speedway," he recalls.
His top driver was Floyd Gilbert, and they won 27 races in a row and 42 overall in 1972 and '73. And there was Ralph Latham, who was behind the wheel of a Chandler car for 25 wins in 1970.
-Bill Holder
Porter LaniganKentucky
It began quite simply with a figure-eight car that won 18 of 21 races at nearby Northern Kentucky Speedway in 1964. The driver of that car incidentally was 2008 Hall of Fame inductee Chuck McWilliams. From that point a successful career took off for Porter Lanigan.
Shortly thereafter, he was in Florida and really liked the pavement racing he saw.
"I knew Ralph Latham and asked him if he would like to drive for me," Lanigan recalls. In 1967, Latham won the Daytona 250 in one of Porter's cars. That same year, Ramo Stott drove a Lanigan car to a Fourth Place finish in the Daytona 300, and then ran in the Daytona 500.
Lanigan, right, with Ralp Latham.
Courtesy Photo
Later, there was success in USAC and ARCA races.
But dirt was Lanigan's bag and Stott and Lanigan finished Second in the IMCA points in both 1967 and '68. But Lanigan says that Eldora was one of his favorite tracks. He recalls a big win at the track, with Bruce Gould taking a $1,000-to-win race.
Lanigan was also very successful on nearby Tri-County Speedway. He noted that the now-closed track was better than the NASCAR and USAC tracks where he had raced his cars.
But Lanigan is probably best recalled by younger fans from his sponsorship of his highly successful dirt car driving son, Darrell.