West enters Hawkeye Downs Hall of Fame

CEDAR RAPIDS — Larry “Pokey” West stuck out like a sore thumb Friday night at Hawkeye Downs, where he was inducted into the 96-year-old track’s Wall of Fame.

While 10 drivers total were honored, West had an recreational vehicle loaded with friends and family parked near the entrance. That RV had a lot of recreation inside the vehicle as the party in honor of West, the Pokey’s party, started hours before the races began.

“I’ve met more nice people at the racetrack than I have anywhere else,” said West, who started racing at Hawkeye Downs in the late 1960s when he purchased a 1956 Chevy for $3,500.

That Chevrolet was unique. The seat was located in the center with the gas pedal all the way to the right, the brake on the left and the shifter between the driver’s legs.

While West, who is from West Chester, drove a truck hauling livestock, something he does to this day, he relied on help from friends like Dick Wells.

Wells had a lot of experience on tracks. Wells drove for West during the day and did all of the welding on the car at night.

“I got out of the service in 1968 and started working on the racecar,” Wells said. “We’ve been friends ever since.”

West developed a soft spot for the sport early in life. With West falling in love with racing at Hawkeye Downs as a boy, he kept the legendary Linn County track in his rotation when the guys went racing multiple times per week. Sometimes three nights a week, other weeks had four dates and some as many as five nights a week at Columbus Junction, West Liberty, Eldon, Boone and Tipton.

“It was excellent,” Wells said. “Every night you’d get home at midnight and get up and go to work at 5 a.m. and then do it again the next night.”

Along with support from his team, West had approval from his wife of over 40 years, Linda, who joined several friends and family members in celebrating her husband’s big day.

“It just makes me feel good,” West said with a giggle. “I didn’t know I was going to get as far as I did.”

But West got very far — far enough that he made it onto the Hawkeye Downs Wall of Fame, along with four other inductees from the 2021 class.

In addition, there were five members of the 2020 group that weren’t able to celebrate their honors last season due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It’s awesome,” said West’s niece, Jodi Latcham, who fielded the informing call of the honor from Wall of Fame organizer Steve Day. “He deserves it.”

The five Wall of Fame honorees from 2020 are: Rollie Frinks, who won the Late Model Championship in 1988; Bill Kemp, who raced and worked as a flagman for Hawkeye Downs and also served on the wrecking crew; Dave Naylor, who won the Modified championship at Hawkeye Downs in 1997; Bill Rieken, Hawkeye Downs’s race promoter for the dirt track from 1983-1989; and Stewart Salter, who served as a car sponsor, tech inspector and built cars for various drivers over the years.

The five Wall of Fame honorees from 2020 are: Robert “Bob“ Burdick and John ”Bud“ Burdick, who raced cars built by Bud Burdick’s brother and Bob Burdick’s father, Roy Burdick; Red Dralle, who won his last feature race in 1994 and stopped driving so his son and crew chief, Rick Dralle, could start racing his own car; Larry Svoboda, an official, a flagman and a race promoter at various race tracks including Hawkeye Downs; and Larry ”Pokey” West.