Those Racing Boune's -The history of a 3 generation racing family.

The story of the Bouné clan is not an uncommon one to the sport of auto racing, the story of a family that has found a common interest, one that has bound three generations. Auto racing has been a focused activity that generates a sense of comradery. The drama and thrills, the concerted efforts, the victories and tragedies have, it seems, made for great joy and a greater appreciation of each other.
It all started in 1930 when Dennie "Pop" Bouné faked his mothers signature. The dirty deed was done to participate in a 400 mile Roadster race in British Columbia. Roadster racing was wildly popular in those pre-W.W.II days, events took place at Fairgrounds across the U.S. and Canada, tracks were constructed where none existed, there were even wooden tracks in places like Cotati California. By the way, he won the race that day, that victory instilled in him an intense desire to race and win, he was infected by the racing bug and passed it on to most of his nine children.
Dennie raced at numerous locations until 1949. Before W.W.II he and his brother Joseph "Joe" both had roadsters they raced in Washington state. Dennie's car was based on a Model A, the engine was a Model A with a Model B crankshaft and pistons, employing dual side-draft Harley Davidson carburetors.
In prelude to some wildly successful racing years Dennie and his brother Joe built the Lazy J Speedway in Sacramento in 1946, California, just north of the American River, they were masterful operating engineers and created a low bank dirt track that provided exciting racing. The soil was almost all sand and was quite difficult to maintain proper moisture content in, in a flash of inspiration they added many tons of rice hulls and clay, this made for what many agreed to be amongst the best small dirt tracks ever on the west coast.
At that track Dennie combined superior chassis engineering with raw driving talent to set new track records at nearly every event, with an under-powered car. Pops won a large majority of Main Events there as well, repeatedly defeating drivers of the caliber of Billy Vukovich Sr. (an Indy winner). His infrequent losses were mostly due to mechanical failure or a spectacular crash, once a reluctantly accepted roll bar may have saved his neck.
During the 50's there was a very successful Jalopy/Hardtop racing tour, primarily in Northern California. Initially the cars were called Jalopies and later Hardtops. Hardtops, you might remember, if you were around in those days, looked like the early Stock Cars without fenders and with the bodies radically cut back, with screaming engines exposed, nerf bars ready for battle.
A faithful following of fans supported races at numerous tracks with races on most nights in places like Antioch, Calistoga, Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, Lakeport, Stockton Vallejo and many more. The tour went on sevens days a week for many of the weeks of those long summers. The rigorous demands of that schedule makes today's NASCAR and WoO participants seem light-weight. There is now a re-interested in this form expressed in full-sized replicas and the very popular legend and dwarf miniatures.
After he retired from driving Dennie built and maintained rides for his younger brother Joe. Joe also was also a robust champion, with a very aggressive driving style, a win it or crash trying approach, his nickname was "Boomin' Joe Boune" (the track side announcer pronounced the last name Boon) . In those days "handicap" points were applied to winning drivers, Joe won so frequently that he always started in the back of the pack, it wasn't uncommon that he would be either in contention or in the lead by the end of the first lap. With the fast cars having to start in the rear that mad rush to the front made for some exciting action. Otherwise, the rules were few then, if Joe could not pass cleanly he passed anyway he could, pushing, bumping, spinning and crashing other cars out of the way.
What could have been a tragic circumstance eventually had a humorous conclusion. After the front axle had been destroyed Joe's racecar was parked, the front was held up by jack stands with Dennie underneath. The car toppled, partly supported by the stands, with the remaining weight pinching Dennie's head between the ground and the car's frame. Dennie's son Richard (Dick), with a rush of adrenaline, wrestled the front end up brother Maurice rushed to assist, while Joe extracted Dennie and rushed him to the ambulance. The injuries were some fairly server cuts ( one ear was nearly severed) and one hell of a headache. It might have made him deaf, if he hadn't already been! after healing he laughingly displayed the scars, long greased darkened tattoo like stripes starting before the temple and streaking back across an ear and into the hairline. He willingly told the story to any friend or fan who asked about that tattoo-like crease.
This tall tale flowed from brother Don Bouné. "Joe was notorious for his impatience and put many drivers in the wall. He put them in the wall every chance he had, in other words nearly every night. When Mel Baker complained to Joe of this habit he was told to come and repeat this ditty and only then would he stop. It went something like this, "Isadore don't put me in the wall no more"! Joe's middle name is Isadore. They were stubborn and not about to spew that nonsense, so the crashing went on for awhile. One night at Hughes Stadium, Joe firmly implanted Mel into the gate, at the point where the football players would normally enter the field. The car had literally penetrated and stuck in the gate and was difficult to extract. After that incident Mel is reported to have gone and said, "Isadore don't put me in the wall no more", then Joe did it less often, only to win, maybe!" Is the story true? Ask Don!
With that kind of exciting driving Dennie, Joe and many family members and friends were kept busy repairing and building new cars, sometimes all night long, from scratch, to stay in the chase. Dennie told the story of how one week he had to build five new cars, it was a bad week! Those were exciting times and Joe was a true racing hero and a winning, if a bit rough, role model for family members already infected by racing.
Dennie "Pop" shared his expert racing knowledge and experience with many young men in those days, some are now the patriarchs of their own racing family's, such as the Tiner clan. Of course his boys caught the racing bug, it gets into the blood, the need for speed. Being in that energetic racing scene they picked up both the knowledge and the desire to be personally involved in racing, as team members and drivers. Two did achieve some notoriety as racers, the oldest, Richard (Dick) and third eldest, Arthur (Art).
Dick Bouné returned from the Navy to pursue a career in construction to help support his love of racing. He purchased a Midget Racer, first equipped with a 4 cylinder Ford tractor engine, which he replaced with a Ford 60, a small block 260ci. flathead type engine. He was a strong competitor in the B.C.R.A. ranks in those pre-roll cage days. Midget racing was exciting and flirted with danger, the drivers arms and heads were exposed to danger.
Later Dick drove his father, "Pop's", race cars, C.S.R.A. Hardtops, Modified Hardtops and then Super Modifieds as racing and rapidly evolved in a burst of technological ingenuity. Dick is still known to be found around a race track helping one driver or another to go fast!
Art Bouné is a leading edge developer of racing technology, like his Dad, he is an innovator. In Midget racing he led the pack in the development of the small 4 cylinder Chevy II engine, which eventually helped supplant the famous Offenhauser engine as the power plant. of choice.
There has been a rapid power plant. evolution as the years have passed, now there are numerous racy choices. Forward looking design experimentation and tweaking the basics of Midget racing kept Art a strong contender for years in B.C.R.A. Art has also competed in Super Modifieds and Sprint Cars. Both Art and Dick were tough competitors in the, now defunct, C.S.R.A. Super Modifieds. C.S.R.A. raced at tracks such as West Capital Raceway, in West Sacramento and the Roseville Fair Grounds (when it was still a dirt track).
	Gary Gerould was the announcer in those days. Some drivers Art and Dick competed with were; Johnny Brazil, Gary Burton, Jimmy Gordon, Gary Patterson, Ernie Pursell, Mel and Wally Baker. Some of these took Super Modifieds and later Sprint Cars to Australia in the early days, the Ausies are very dedicated racers and fans, Sprint Cars are to biggest thing there, with nothing like NASCAR being a factor.
Super Modifieds were the logical evolution of Hardtops on the West Coast. The Super Modifieds employed only small panels from the original, now classic, cars to cover trimmed-down frames composed, eventually of square tubing with round tube superstructures and roll cages. Later the original bodies were replaced with Fiberglass duplicates.
Modern day Super Modifieds. look very different from those of old, currently they are low slung, more like Indy Cars, and race mostly on paved tracks, such as Phoenix. The Super Modifies of old displayed much of the pure sideways sliding excitement you might currently associate with Sprint Car racing.
Art quit driving for a few years in the 70's after a tragic day at the California State Fair Grounds, in Sacramento. Art was Chief Mechanic for his buddy, Jimmy Gordon, who was Indianapolis bound. Jimmy as well as the very popular Ernie Purcell lost their lives while racing that day. One of Art's engineering role models, Walt Reef, a brilliant ex-Aerojet engineer, was struck down on the infield as he attempted to flag down racing traffic to avoid the crash involving those drivers. Art, and many others, were profoundly affected by this devastating loss.
A few years later Art returned to racing, but not as a driver, he managed Capital Speedway for Don Tognotti. He was a fair and successful official. As his brother, Dick, continued to have great fun racing there, Art's desire to get behind the wheel returned.
Some time after the Super Modifieds gave way to the modern Sprint Cars Richard decided it was time to retire, he did so in 1977.
Art on the other hand returned to continued success in Sprint Cars for many more years, being a top competitor at Placerville Speedway and with limited performances with N.A.R.C. Art now turns out fine racecars at A.R.T. with his son Glen these days.
The racing bug becomes genetic after two generations, or so it seems. Nephew, Richard Brown tried his hand at racing. He drove Go-Karts at a now defunct paved track, just south of Sacramento Raceway Park, his stiffest competition was from Scott Pruett, of CART Champ Car racing fame. Richard was the 1978 Rookie of the Year at West Capital Speedway in Dennie's car the year after Dick quit driving.
Another of Dennie's grandsons, Ricky Bouné, Don's son, also drove at West Capital Speedway in. He drove there during that track's final year, 1979, with a limited schedule, and was a contender for Rookie of the Year honors, many felt he displayed star quality.
Don's youngest son, Robert " Bobby", enjoyed a brief stint in Quarter midgets with AQMA during the 1985 season in which he set fast time once at the open competition event, he ran about 20 races, winning a few, he outgrew the car and didn't get another ride. New drivers must be trained and approved prior to being allowed into competition. During Bobby's initial training session, he stated racing with another kid, looking back, as he reached the point where his dad was standing at the inside of the track, he twitched the wheel, Don tried to jump out of the way and the roll bar caught his foot and gently flipped him over. Robert learned quickly to pay attention and not let that wheel twitch when checking traffic!
Neither Richard Brown, Ricky nor Robert drive now, but Richard is a top rated Sprint Car Chief Mechanic. Richard spent a number of years as a top wrench in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series, he enabled top drivers such as Doug Wolfgang and Brad Dotty to achieve many wins. Currently Richard lives in Chico California, near the Silver Crown Speedway and is a sought after mechanic.
Tom Bouné, Richard's son and hero, was a stout top competitor in all forms of racing he tried! Starting with Go-Karts he then was an early developer of outlaw Go-Karts, racing on dirt ovals.
An early pioneer with Midget Lites, a champion as car owner and second place as a driver with B.C.R.A. in 1995. Tom moved up to B.C.R.A.'s full-sized Midget ranks in 1996, where he finished 14th in the points race that first year. In 1997, his second season with B.C.R.A., he was on a fast learning curve impressing competitors, like Billy Boat, when tragedy struck. Tom is the only casualty to racing in the family's long involvement with the sport.
Richard and the rest of the family are still shocked at his loss in 1997 during a U.S.A.C. race in Madera, California. Competitors will remember Tom as a skillful and fair driver who would take positions in an effective yet safe manner. He embodied sufficient aggression with complete control of his emotions and his race car, a racer's racer. In racing and day to day life Tom Bouné nearly always had a smile on his face and a humorous story or comment to make. His loving wife Teresa, son James, father Dick, mother Marilyn, a huge family, hundreds of friends and thousands of fans will sorely miss Tom Bouné! In 2001 Tom was inducted into the BCRA hall of fame!
Glen Bouné, Art's son and hero is another family member who is infected by the racing bug. His driving career had been focused on Sprint Car racing, with a short stint in B.C.R.A. midgets. Never short on guts, he has gained skill and momentum through the years, highlighted, thus far, with his successful points championships in the California Sprint Car Civil Wars Series in 1996, with a repeat in 1997. The only driver to win three main events last season.
1998 is the first in many years without a Bouné being a top competitor on a racetrack somewhere. Glen has not raced since 1997, his car owner retired from racing at the end of last season, a suitable ride did not develop to start the 98 season. Instead he and his dad having been busy crafting Mini-Sprint and Midget-Lites at A.R.T. Subsequently they have been attending races to help the new car owners in learning to read track conditions and determine suitable car setups. There is always the next generation!
It is not yet possible to predict which of Dennie's grandchildren or great grandchildren will carry the torch, but it is likely that many have genetically contracted the racing bug! Only time will tell.