Class of 2007

Edwin “Tex” Arnold

ROAD RACER / MECHANIC / RACE OFFICIAL

Edwin “Tex” Arnold was born in Staten Island, New York. He began his racing career in 1961 when he purchased a Triumph TR-3 and began to compete in autocross and rally events. In 1962, he joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and earned his SCCA competition license.

In 1964, Arnold began competition in the G Modified class and a year later, earned an invitation to the American Road Race of Champions at Daytona Beach, Florida. That same year, he finished second to Roger Penske in the President Cup Races in Marlboro, Maryland.

After returning from an Air Force tour of duty in Southeast Asian in 1967, Arnold competed in SCCA races for the next five years throughout the Northeast before being transferred to Office Air Force Base near Omaha in 1972. He ran in the C Production class through 1974, before purchasing a Ferrari in 1975, which he ran in the Sports Racing class. In 1975, he drove a McLaren to the Midwest Division SCCA championship.

Upon his retirement from the Air Force, Arnold made the decision to race professionally. He purchased a Lola T-294 and competed in CAN-AM events all across the United States and Canada.

In 1978, he was hired by the SCCA to serve as Director of Club Racing. Two years later, in 1980, he was hired as Manager of Sears Point Raceway in Somona, California.

Arnold’s career again changed directions in 1981, when he went to work for FAF Motorcars in Georgia rebuilding Ferrari engines. That year, he drove in the Sebring Vintage Race where he finished first in his class and second overall to legendary road racer Sir Stirling Moss.

Over the next 20 years, while continuing to race, Arnold held positions with a variety of prestigious Sports Car racing companies rebuilding engines and racing cars, doing race-prep work, as well as other special projects.

During his career, Arnold held numerous SCCA regional and executive offices, won 12 divisional championships, and was invited to the SCCA Runoffs seven times. He has worked on, race-prepped, and driven some of the most complex race cars in the world and competed against some of the top drivers in the sport, including Gordon Smiley, Leonard Janke, Jack Beck, Stirling Moss, Roger Penske, and Bobby Rahal.

Arnold was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Larry Danhauer

ENGINE BUILDER

Larry Danhauer was born on a farm near Marquette and graduated from high school in Aurora. His interest in auto racing began in the late 1940s and early 1950s when his uncle, Elwood Anderson, owned a 1934 Ford Coupe driven by Leon Sharp and Wendell Cummings at area tracks in Central Nebraska.

In 1969, when the Aurora Jaycees revived racing at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, Danhauer decided he wanted to try his hand at building a racing engine. Six months and $608 later, the engine was complete. Danhauer loaned the engine to his brother-in-law, Roger Perry, who drove to a fifth place finish at the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln.

In 1970, Danhauer built his first engine for car owners Lynn Miller and Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee Kent Tucker. The Miller/Tucker/Danhauer Racing Team was formed and the three went racing at tracks all over the state of Nebraska, as well as Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado. Over the next five years, Tucker drove Danhauer-powered machines to 101 feature race wins and track championships at Aurora, Mid-Continent Raceway in Doniphan, The Speed Bowl in Red Cloud, and Midwest Speedway in Lincoln. Tucker’s relationship with Danhauer continued throughout his entire career which included over 250 feature race victories and numerous special event triumphs. A highlight of that relationship was Tucker’s winning the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) national touring championship in 1977.

After moving Danhauer Racing Engines to Lincoln, Danhauer began building engines for Sprint Cars in 1977. A year later, Doug Wolfgang drove Bill Smith’s 4X Sprinter to the Knoxville Nationals title using Danhauer horsepower. In the early 1980s, he built engines and flow-benched heads and manifolds for Missouri driver Larry Phillips, a five-time NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) short track champion.

Danhauer’s involvement in auto racing spanned a period of over 40 years. During that time, he built championship engines for not only Tucker, Wolfgang, and Phillips, but also for Al Humphrey, Kyle Berck, Randy McDonald, Rick Paulus, John Gerloff, Marv Marushak, Mike Landauer, and others. His engines have won countless feature races and 53 track championships, including 20 with Tucker. Special event wins include five Red Cloud 100 victories, two Nebraska Late Model Nationals triumphs, Alta, Iowa’s Race Days, the Nebraska Triple Crown at Omaha’s Sunset Speedway, The Omaha-Lincoln Challenge at Sunset Speedway and Midwest Speedway, and the Nebraska Cup at Eagle Raceway.

Sam Hoffman

DRIVER

Sam Hoffman started his racing career in 1921, racing county fairs around his hometown of Sioux City, Iowa.

After kicking around the local circuit for a few years, Hoffman teamed up with car owner Felix Morosco in 1928. Over the next three years, Hoffman drove Morosco’s Fronty-powered machine to numerous wins in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois. One of their biggest wins came at Pompano Beach, Florida in 1928 when Hoffman powered Morosco’s car to a win over a star-studded field of Big Car competitors.

In 1931, Hoffman was offered the ride in Leonard Kerbs’ powerful Fronty, and the pair stormed through the Midwest winning numerous events including a race in late June at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha when Hoffman defeated one of the finest fields in the history of dirt track racing. That day, Hoffman’s machine finished ahead of the likes of Johnny Gerber, Gus Schrader, Speed Adams, Arch Powell, Bert Ficken, and Emory Collins at the mile race track.

Hoffman, who became known as the “Flying Cop,” because of his occupation as a law enforcement officer, moved to Omaha in 1932 when he was hired to drive for John Bagley. Racing with the American Automobile Association (AAA), Hoffman drove Bagley’s car to big wins in Iowa, Indiana and Illinois and participated in events as far away as Legion Ascot in Los Angeles, California.

In both 1933 and 1934, Hoffman made attempts to drive in the Indianapolis 500. In 1933, he relieved Kelly Petilllo and the next year failed to get a Deusenburg, owned by J.L. Mannix, up to speed for a qualifying attempt.

During the Central Kansas Free Fair at Belleville in 1935, Hoffman hopped aboard Art Martinson’s Miller and blazed to a track record of 23.08 seconds.

Hoffman drove in his first Midget race in 1936 and, over the next four years, won virtually every he raced. He set the track record at Riverview Park in Sioux City on numerous occasions.

During World War II Hoffman moved to California. Following the war, while working for the California Highway Patrol, he raced Midgets briefly at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena before ending his racing career.

After a long career in racing and an even longer career as a law enforcement officer, Hoffman passed away in 1965 at the age of 63. He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2012.

Ronney Householder

DRIVER / RACING EXECUTIVE

Ronney Householder was born in Omaha and spent most of his adolescent years there. Prior to high school, his family moved to Glendale, California.

In 1931, Householder began racing outboard motor boats, but switched to dirt track Midget racing in 1933. Householder won the first Midget race he competed in and from there began to travel, racing in the Midwest during the summer months and on the West Coast during fall and winter. At times, his schedule had him racing eight times a week.

In 1935, Householder piloted his Midget to the Indoor Mid West Championship and the Detroit Coliseum Championship. He was a two time winner of the 150 lap Turkey Night Championship at famous Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles and also won the 150 lap National Midget Championship at Zeiter Midget Stadium in Detroit on two occasions. In front of a crowd of over 30,000 fans, he won the championship raced at the Soldier Field “board track” in Chicago in 1939.

Householder drove in the Indianapolis 500 in 1937 and 1938, finishing 12th and 14th place, respectively. In 1938, he sat a new qualifying record of 125.769 miles per hour which still stands at “The Brickyard,” as the qualifying distance at the time was ten laps.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Householder briefly returned to racing as a car owner, but retired from the sport in 1948. He dominated the tough Midget circuits in the Midwest and western states during most of his career and was known as a “money racer” who was virtually unbeatable when a large purse was on the line.

After ending his driving career, Householder went to work for Chrysler Corporation in 1955 and was placed in control of Chrysler’s racing efforts in 1964. During his tenure, Chrysler achieved unparalleled success, winning national championships in five major Stock Car circuits and dominating the drag strips.

Householder was credited with taking Chrysler Racing to the top, with Richard Petty and Bobby Isaac winning NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) championships, Norm Nelson, Don White, Roger McCluskey and Butch Hartman winning USAC (United States Auto Club) titles, and Ernie Derr winning seven consecutive IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) championships.

Householder passed away in 1972, while still employed by Chrysler. He was inducted into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1983 and the National Midget Hall of Fame in 1984.

Glenn Robey

DRIVER

Glenn Robey was born and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but later moved to Omaha. He began his racing career at Playland Speedway in 1949 at the age of 18.

By the early 1950s, Robey had begun racing the tough Omaha/Council Bluffs circuit, which included Playland, and Blue Herron Speedway and Grandview Race Bow in Omaha. Cutting his teeth against the likes of Tiny Lund, Johnny Beauchamp, Merle Ravenstein, Bud Burdick and Bob Kosiski, Robey quickly established himself as one of the area’s top competitors, narrowly losing the point title at Playland to Beauchamp in 1951

After spending a couple of years in Korea, Robey returned home in 1954 only to find Playland had been paved with asphalt. He tried the new paved surface a few times, but quickly migrated back to his preferred dirt tracks.

In 1957, Robey began racing at the newly-opened Sunset Speedway in Omaha and won the first two feature races ever run there. He eventually began racing at Capital Beach in Lincoln and Riverview Park in South Sioux City, as well as numerous other tracks throughout the Midwest.

Robey’s racing career spanned portions of seven decades. During that time, he has raced Coupes, Sedans, Super Modifieds, Late Models, and anything else he could climb into at race tracks in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, and South Dakota. He won the track championship at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa in 1979 and also secured a track title at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa in 1984. Although he never won a championship at Sunset, he finished second there on two different occasions.

Perhaps his most memorable win came in 2001, when at the young age of 70, he won the feature race in the local portion of a United Dirt Track Racing Association (UDTRA) show at Eagle Raceway with an exciting outside pass late in the race. It was his final racing win and put an exclamation point on his 52nd year of racing competition.

Robey, whose cars typically carried the number 8-Ball, was a consistent competitor and very popular among local race fans. Early in his career he was known for his strong running Hudsons, the first of which was a 1939 model built by Del Livermore. Robey continued to wheel Hudsons until the Coupes and Sedans eventually gave way to the Late Models.

At age 79, Robey drove in his final race in 2010.

Jim Schuman

FABRICATOR / ARTIST

Jim Schuman was born and raised in Lincoln and received his first exposure to racing as a youngster when his father began racing Stock Cars. His first driving experience came in 1957 when he wheeled a Quarter Midget to the Lincoln City championship.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Schuman built two Stock Cars, the first a 1955 Chevrolet and the second, a lightweight 1966 Chevelle, which featured one of the area’s first Late Model wings. Before long, Schuman found himself building and repairing a variety of types of cars, from dirt cars to drag cars to road course cars.

After Sprint Car racing began to fall on hard times in Lincoln, Schuman was one of a small group of racing enthusiasts, car owners and drivers who developed the concept of a new Limited Sprint Car class. Schuman built the first car for the class and he and Don Droud, Sr. guaranteed the purse to get the class started in the Spring of 1981. In addition to working on and sponsoring competitors’ race cars, Schuman’s car, driven by Ed Bowes, won five feature races and narrowly missed winning the championship at Lincoln’s Midwest Speedway that year.

Prior to his retirement as a Sprint Car owner following the 1984 season, Schuman and Bowes teamed-up together one more time to build a radical 1375 pound Sprint Car, which featured a centrally mounted fuel tank and nothing behind the rear axle. The car, which was dubbed the “Buttless Wonder,” ran well enough to score two main event wins and was a conversation piece wherever it appeared.

In 1988, Schuman was commissioned to design and build a Bonneville Streamliner which was driven by “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Don Kehr to several world records. Schuman drew up all of the blueprints and concept drawings and fabricated all of the pieces for the car which became known as “Swamp Rat 33.” The car still holds a Blown Fuel Streamliner Class record at Bonneville at 231.38 miles per hour.

From 1989 through 2003, Schuman served as Curator and Restoration Manager at Bill Smith’s Museum of American Speed in Lincoln. In spite of becoming paralyzed following brain surgery, Schuman did everything from laying out the museum, to designing and building displays, and restoring racing engines.

Because of his paralysis, Schuman is now retired but is an accomplished artist and historian, with auto racing being his main subject matter.

Darrell “Zim” Zimmerman

DRAG RACER / RACE OFFICIAL

Darrell “Zim” Zimmerman was born and raised in Big Springs, Nebraska and started driving at the age of 10 on his parents’ farm. His racing career began as a teenager driving Stock Cars, but he soon turned his attention to Drag Racing.

In 1953, Zimmerman helped form the Great Plains Hot Rod Council, later known as Wynebco Drag Association, which included drag racers and car enthusiasts from Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. The organization established a numbering system for its drivers, a system that was eventually adopted by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Zimmerman’s first drag racing trophy was won in 1953 at the Sedgwick County Fair in his 1951 Ford Coupe. Other cars in his driving history included a 1934 Ford pickup, and three dragsters, including the Dragmaster “One-Thing” that ran in the B/Dragster and A and AA/Gas Dragster classes. His best pass was a 9.04 at just over 180 miles per hour in the “One-Thing.”

In 1959, Zimmerman won an NHRA Regional event in Pueblo, Colorado and the Best Appearing Car and Crew award at the U.S. Nationals in Detroit. In 1960, he won the Top Speed Award for the A/Dragster Class at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis.

During a 30 year career, Zimmerman set 22 track records and won nearly 200 trophies, including 122 Class trophies, 35 Top Eliminator trophies and 15 Middle Eliminator trophies. He took his last trip down the quarter-mile in 1962 at Platte Valley Dragway in Julesburg, Colorado.

Zimmerman was appointed NHRA West Central Regional Advisor in 1956 and eventually was appointed to the NHRA Rules Committee. He became NHRA’s West Central Division (now known as Division 5) Director in 1961, a position which had him overseeing events in the Upper Midwest, the Rocky Mountain States and portions of Canada. During his time as Regional Advisor (1956-1961) and Division Director (1961-1994), he helped design, build, and open 35 drag strips, including Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas. After retiring as Division Director, Zimmerman served for many years as an advisor to NHRA.

Zimmerman and his wife Polly were among the first class of inductees into the NHRA Division 5 Hall of Fame in 2003. He was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2007.

He passed away in Colorado in 2020.