The Bob Williams Story

by Wayne Adams (published in the Raceway Park program, 1954)

When the final statistics are compiled for the 1954 stock car season at Raceway Park , you can expect to see Bob Williams’ name high on the list, since this will probably be his best year ever. At this writing, Williams has won four consecutive feature events—has broken the all-time qualifying mark (14.23—July 16th); and has smashed the 25 lap feature time for a new record (July 17th).

His West Auburn Auto Rebuilders, 1951 Lincoln No. 70 owned by Frank Kaminsky, shows no signs of slowing its pace and Williams is certainly proud of the car and the victories he has scored.

Bob Williams became interested in stock car racing as early as 1948 when he served as pit man for the colorful Stacy Jones at the old Gill Stadium oval. Jones was a wild type driver who was upside down quite regularly and needed a lot of help to keep his car running. Williams bought a car for Jones to drive at Raceway in 1949 but the engine belonged to Stacy and after a few events ended in failure, Stacy took his engine and broke the combination.

Williams then purchased an engine for the car and started driving himself—changing the original number from V8 to V2. He had very little success but gained experience rapidly and was constantly improving his equipment. He toured the Championship Stock Car Club circuit in 1950, running at Raceway, Indianapolis 16th Street , Peoria and Springfield . His name was found drifting toward the top of the lists in 1951—he finished 8th in the 300 lap classic that year, but in final point standings he was not included in the top 15 drivers.

Things were a bit different in 1952 and on May 25th Williams received his biggest thrill in racing—he won a feature race, defeating Chet Ogrentz and Bob Button in a thriller. Before the year ended he had scored five times in 25 lap main events and finished 6th in final points behind Bud Koehler, Bob Pronger, Don Oldenberg, Tom Cox and Rich Sutkus. He drove a 1951 Ford during the year.

His record in 1953 shows a total of three feature wins—all at the 25 lap distance and to this date, he has never been able to win a longer race or a championship affair which remains as his big ambition in this sport. He finished 2nd to Bob Pronger in the Memorial Day Classic of 1952; 2nd to Bud Koehler in the Mid-Season Title of 1952, and 3rd in the Season Title race of 1953, behind Bryant Tucker and Irv Janicki. He has always owned his own stock cars until the current season.

Williams was born in Chicago , August 19, 1923 and attended Yale Elementary School and Lindblom High School . Bowling was the only sport that held his interest during school days though now he prefers swimming and hunting for spare time recreation. He is about 6’ tall; weighs around 160; is married and his wife Donna, is his most ardent fan—never missing an event at Raceway. They have a daughter, Donna Jean, age 10.

He has only been upside down once on the race track—May 31st, 1953 when he tangled with Art Chink Derry during a Raceway feature. He escaped without injury. His most sensational accident in a stock car occurred one nite when he was driving the car home following a Raceway program. He took a short cut down a side street where new homes were under construction back in 1951. He bounced into a slight excavation on the street and went end over end landing upside down, looking at the stars in the sky. He was badly bruised since he did not have the safety belt fastened.

Williams served in the Merchant Marine for four years from 1941 thru 1945 and sailed practically around the world. Near the end of his duty tour he fell from a ships mast in Philadelphia and suffered a broken wrist. He went into the Service Station business after his Service with the fleet and is now part owner of the Millar Standard Service at 3501 South Emerald Ave. , Chicago .

Bob has always had a secret desire to drive a standard midget car just to thrill from the terrific acceleration of a powerful Offy but has never had the opportunity. His recent track record run on the Raceway quarter mile ranked with his first feature victory as his great thrill in auto racing so far but he still wants to win a very important race someday. Racing has netted him two trophy awards—one for action in the 300 lap race a couple years ago and a Hamburger Willie trophy for a first heat race victory in 1953.

Bob considers stock car racing a comparatively safe sport and intends to continue driving as long as stock cars continue to run. He expresses deep concern for drivers who are just entering the sport and says, “they have to be awful lucky or awful sharp on engines and car handling to be successful in a hurry.” In other words, it is his opinion that experience gained over a long period of time is the difference between success and failure on a stock car track and the drivers who are running up-front  these days are all veterans who have come up the hard way.  

Bob Williams is one of the ‘surprise’ drivers of 1954 and he may give Bud Koehler a rough battle for the title as he now ranks 2nd in the point standings and is on the move.

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Thanks to Todd Miller for his editorial assistance with this story.