Byron Fisher
by
Wayne Adams (published in the 1948
Raceway Park Program)
Byron Fisher of Chicago has won about 12 feature events so far this season
driving the Tuffanelli Offy No. 23 in competition under the Midwest Car Owners
and Drivers Assn. banner and is enjoying by far his most successful year in
midget auto racing competition. Two of these wins have been turned in here at
Raceway Park where Byron took feature sprint race honors June 19th then
won the Wally Zale Memorial Race and Trophy in the 40 lapper held August 14th.
Fisher is rather proud of that large Memorial trophy since it is the first one
he has ever won and now that he has his collection started he hopes to continue
adding to it from time to time.
Byron was born in Aurora, Illinois
June 3, 1919 and while he was quite young his family moved to California where
young Byron saw his first auto
race at the old Ascot Speedway at the age of six. The youngster was
terribly interested and actually claims that he made up his mind to drive
racing cars on that very day. The Fisher family moved back to Aurora in
1928 and Byron started attending races
around the Chicago area when the midgets became popular several years later.
In 1940, Fisher traded a 1934 Ford pleasure car which he
figured was worth about $150.00 for a V8 powered
race car and he drove in
competition in the Chicago Amphitheatre, finishing third in the consolation race
the first time out. He played around with this car for a year before taking over
the wheel of the Jim McClory V8 with which he won several B features during 1941
including one at
Raceway Park. He drove the Wally Theis No. 32 V8 most of 1942 until the ban on
racing due to the war effort.
The year 1946 saw Byron back in action at the wheel of the Campbell Offy and in
1947 he began to rapidly climb toward the top driving first for Rudy Nichols,
then Al Kamanski, Ernie Zartler and later for Tuffanelli. His first feature win
came in 1947 at the 16th Street track down in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
Altogether, he won about ten features during last season, a record which he has
already surpassed during this current racing year.
As for his biggest racing thrill—Byron remembers only too well the 100 mile race
in 1947 at Milwaukee when rain storms delayed the start of this big midget race
and finally the boys ended up running ‘after dark’. Herding an Offy at nearly
100 mph or better on this mile oval and not being able to see was not only his
greatest thrill in racing but also his biggest scare.
Fisher has no racing superstitions and has only been upside down about five
times in his racing career. His most serious injury came as a result of a spill
about mid-season back in 1946 when he was racing at
Fort Wayne, Indiana over
their quarter mile track. Byron flipped violently in the Pomazol V8 and received
a broken collar bone which kept him on the sidelines for a full six weeks.
He has never driven big cars tho has ambitions along those lines and even goes
so far as to admit that someday he would like to win the 500 mile race which is
a natural ambition of every driver in the business. Byron is married and now
makes his home in Chicago with his wife Georgia and little Irene Fisher, age 13
months. He is not interested in any other sports and his favorite dish is steak.
END
(Thanks to Todd Miller for this editorial help with this
story.)