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Weedsport, NY - May 20, 2006 - By Gary Spaid, HoF Selection Committee & Jack
Christensen
Glenn Reiners has been named as a 2006 inductee into the DIRT MotorSportsT NorthEast
Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies are scheduled for Sunday, May 28 on the Cayuga
County Fairgrounds.
Reiners started his racing career as a mechanic. He worked on a car at Naples (NY)
Speedway until that track was closed due to Sunday "Blue Laws" in 1953. He soon got
the itch to get behind the wheel, so later that year he drove in his first race at
the now defunct speedway in Bath, NY. His car was a sedan featuring the number 193.
This would be the start of an extremely talented but short driving career. But later
how did the number 194 evolve? His wife Edna stated it just happened.
>From there Glenn stretched out his base of travel, adding the Friday night Dundee
and Saturday night Waterloo Speedways to his weekly agenda. All the time he would
work on his own cars perfecting them. "He always had one of the best looking cars
in the pit area," remembered one fan. "His race operation seemed second to none."
He would eventually field two cars out of his Penn Yan, New York based garage. He
would wheel the number 194, while the number 193 was driven at first by
Trumansburg's Jackie Baldwin and later by Roger Bell from Penn Yan. Bell would
crash the 193 hard at Ovid, ending the team's second car efforts.
Glenn would eventually dress the part also wearing a red shirt and white pants as
his driving uniform. This outfit was topped off by a red satin racing jacket
featuring his number on the back. Nomex suits were not part of the safety package
back then. His team truck sported his number 194 and was painted the same as the
race car. It could be seen throughout central New York towing the famed car behind
on a tow bar. He also seemed to understand the importance of organizing races. He
sat on the Waterloo Stock Car Racing Association (WSCRA) Board of Directors for a
number of seasons.
At the Dundee Speedway, his favorite track, he was the points champion in 1957,
1958, and 1959. In 1958 at Dundee there were 20 feature races run and Glenn won 13
of them. He was never out of the top four in the other seven events.
At the Maple Grove Speedway in Waterloo, Glenn would win five championships and
numerous feature events. In the years he raced at Maple Grove he would never miss a
race. At one point he was involved in a bad accident at Maple Grove, breaking his
ribs, plus suffering other injuries. He was determined to make the races at Waterloo
the next week, but Dundee seemed just too early to return to driving. Fellow
southern tier star Dutch Hoag was recruited to take over the famed number 194 for
the night.
At Waterloo he would race with some of the best on a weekly basis. At first his main
rival seemed to be Wee Willie Allan along with the Turcotts. Then it was John
Gunkler, then Bobby Cain and the McArdell clan-Jim, John and Gale. Sammy Reakes
showed much talent and finally it would be Cliff Kotary, who would take over Glenn's
as long standing track champion role. Throughout his career Glenn would race against
the best sportsman drivers of the era.
Other race tracks he participated at included NASCAR's Monroe County Fairgrounds,
the South Seneca Speedway in Ovid, Weedsport Speedway, Chemung Speedrome,
Canandaigua Raceway, and Hornell Speedway. He even towed north to the Watertown
Speedway to race against the Northern Stock Car Club for special higher paying
shows.
Many of the guys he would race against weekly, the Turcott brothers-Rod and Dick,
Tiny Benson, Don Gillette and others from central New York also ventured up north to
Watertown Speedway after the point season ended at Maple Grove. On September 14,
1958, Glenn was leading until lap 15, when local star Bob Zeigler blew by him and
won by a mere half car length. Glenn would finish second again in the 50-lap
Northern Stock Car Club Championship two weeks later.
Dutt Yanni, a regular racer at Watertown and winner of the sportsman Syracuse Labor
Day races in 1954, once said that when they saw the red and white number 194 pulling
in to the pit area, that they would all have there hands full.
In 1955 he won two features at the newly opened Weedsport Speedway. After finishing
second to Ken Thompson on the second night he won his first on the third night of
racing at Weedsport, August 14. He would return to victory lane twice more, once in
September and again on July 8, 1956 at the tiny track that has become the
"flag-ship" of DIRT Motorsports.
Many times Glenn would return to his hometown of Penn Yan with first place money.
Not only was Glenn a fine driver, but his cars were always prepared well, always
handled well and this made his job easier. His main crew consisted of his
father-in-law, Henry Charlsen, his brother Lloyd, and friends Elmer Nielsen and Carl
Jorgensen. Finally the support from his wife Edna and family, all had a lot to do
with the reason the signature 194 sat in victory lane so many times.
In 1960, Glenn's racing would come to a stop. After a bad crash at Maple Grove that
caused a serious head injury he had to call it quits. He sold both cars but they
both would return to victory lane. Big Jim McArdell, who purchased one of the cars,
won at Waterloo with it. The other car he sold to Wally Burnett, who was too young
to race it. He hired the late Eddie Anchor, won took that car to a feature win at
Lancaster on the dirt. His cars were that good.
He would try to come back the next year, 1961 at Maple Grove, driving for someone
else, but it never worked out and he finally had to call it quits. He would say what
he would miss the most were the fans. He was gone from the racing scene, but his
legend lived on in the hearts and memories of thousands of those fans.
In 1994 we all lost a great friend. Glenn lost a long hard fought battle with
cancer. If he could be here for the induction I'm sure he would be very proud. His
wife Edna will be there to accept his award.
The DIRT MotorSportsT Advance Auto Parts Modified Series is brought to fans across
the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance
Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include
AMB i.t. and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are
Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads,
DART Machinery, Holley HP Carburetors, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller
Electric Manufacturing Company, Penske Shocks and Wrisco Industries.