| Linton H. Hartley, Jr (Sonny) DOB April 12, 1945 Place of birth – Orlando I attended Grand Ave Elementary School, Cherokee Jr High School, and Boone High School, all in Orlando except for my junior year in which I attended Rapid City High School in Rapid City S. Dakota. (my father had elected to close his plumbing business as little work was going on in Florida in 1961), reactivated his plumber’s union card, and we struck out for S. Dakota to work on the Titan missle sites). I even worked on those sites in the summer making good money for a kid as a union laborer. Upon graduation from Boone, I joined the apprenticeship program in the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local union 803 in Orlando and have made my way in that field ever since. I am currently the Business Manager and Financial Secretary in Local 803, the highest office attainable in a local union. Ex-wife Rhonda and I have two children, son Neal Bret (Bo) 8/11/64, the oldest and daughter Stacey Anne, 2/15/69 the youngest. They have both blessed Rhonda and I with grandchildren, Bo, a boy, and Stacey, a girl. Bo’s son Stephen Nash Hartley was born June 10, 2005 and Stacey’s daughter, Jillian Marie McBride was born July 22, 2005. 42 days apart, if you’re doing the math. Bo lives in Zephyrhills and is a sprint car driver, also. See his bio for details. Stacey raced ¼ midgets for a few years, but quickly lost interest as high school and other fashionable girl things took over. Stacey is a stats major from the University of Florida and is a rabid, obnoxious gator fan. She lives in Richland, Washington and is a research scientist for a company that monitors the Hanford testing site in southeast Washington state. I have always been interested in racing even though my Dad was a stick and ball sports fan. He did, however, recognize my love for racing and made arrangements for one of his poker playing buddies, Mr. Arnold, to swing by our house every Friday night and let me ride to Orlando Speedway in Taft for the stock car races. I watched those races and vowed that I would one day race on that track. My dream came true on a September day in 1967 when I drove my ’56 Ford Early Model (6 cylinder engine) onto the track. We had little success with that venture and disbanded that team of Johnny Conlon, Larry Thompson, and me. Cousin Bobby Mills, Al Ruth, and I formed a new team and purchased another ’56 Ford from Gene Carter. A blown engine in that car ended that venture and I quit racing, my career over before it even started. By then, Bo was racing the ¼ midget, so I had plenty of racing to whet my appetite. Then, one day in 1969, out of the blue, the ‘phone rang. It was none other than Larry Thompson, my original teammate, who had built a mini-stock with his older brother Tommy and needed a driver. So it was, my career restarted. We ran that car, an old Puegeot, for about a year. It was fast while it was running, but things broke on the suspension with regularity. In fact, my first racing flip was recorded in that car at the old DeLand Raceway dirt track when the right front wheel broke sending us up and over for a complete wheels to wheels roll. We decided that enough was enough! Volvo’s were the way to go! Tommy started scouring the junkyards and private parties buying every Volvo he could get his hands on. These particular models looked like a ’47 Ford. We raced those things with little success until we tired of the petty arguing and fighting every race night and gave it up. It was then that I purchased my first sprint car which was actually an Edmunds copy by Bob Luscomb with a dog clutch (direct drive). We bought it from Rob Fuller in Orlando and managed to only get upside down once in our first year of racing at Golden Gate. In our second year, we won two features late in the season and that was the catalyst that sent my sprint car career on its way. I subsequently landed a permanent ride at East Bay in ’77 driving for Cal Kraemer in an ancient Hildegass. Our best finish in that car, a second, led to teaming up with Pete Crocker in ’78 to drive his potent 3X. I drove for Pete until he lost his battle to cancer and passed away November 11, 1986. During that period, we managed to win about 15 features and the season long point championship at Sunshine Speedway in 1983. While still driving for Pete on dirt, I drove for John Pricher on pavement. After I executed a vicious flip in hot laps in Uncle John’s Luscomb, he ordered a new Shores with independent front suspension. We managed several feature wins in that car, but the truck salvage business took a downturn and the racing was curtailed. I bought the car and raced it with little success as I was also fielding a car for Bo as his career was launching. I still have both the title Luscomb 4-bar that I drove for Pete and the Shores independent coil-over car of Pricher. Once again, my career faltered. Enter Denis Hood. Denis had been fielding his own car for years with Billy Yuma driving. Billy decided to do other things, so Denis drove for himself for a few years, but decided he preferred to have someone else drive. Luckily for me, that someone else was me. We teamed up for 5 years, winning 4 features and having a lot of fun. In 2003, a broken front axle resulted in a hard crash into the New Smyrna wall and a destroyed racecar. Denis hasn’t decided yet to return to the track, so I have been driving the white 3X, renumbered 3Y as a backup for Bo in his and Robert Stephenson’s quest for the TBARA championship which they attained in 2006 As of this writing, December 2006, I haven’t decided where my sprint car career will go next. |
