Armond Holley

Armond's name is still revered along the Gulf Coast by anyone who saw him run on the Speedway Inc. Supermodified circuit during the mid-late '60s. I was fortunate enough to see him race at Five Flags and Mobile Speedways while stationed here in Pensacola with the Navy. Not only was he very successful here but in the northeast and Ohio. He won in midgets with the ARDC & NEMA, Supermodifieds, Modifieds, and Late Models.

I am aware of some of his major victories such as the Fiesta of Five Flags 200 (Pensacola) which was a major Supermodified event and forerunner to the World 300 at Mobile. He also won a 100 lapper at Fulton Speedway (NY) in a supermodified and the Thompson Speedway Icebreaker in a midget. He ran NASCAR Grand Nationals and participated in two Little 500s. He drove for famous car owners New Englander Skip Matczak and Alabama's Bill Hite. It was in Hite's rear-engined car that he claimed a track championship at Lorain County Speedway (OH) where I understand they once docked him a lap and he won anyway. He was also a regular at Sandusky and Oswego.

I am sure anyone who has had the pleasure of racing with, around, or against Armond Holley has an Armond Holley tale to share. I not only have a great story, but have the news article to back it up. In Febuary ’72, I went to Mt. Vernon, Illinois and purchased the car which became the black #32 sprinter. We began gearing up and talking about going North in May of ’73 to Anderson, Indiana to run the Little 500 with Armond signed to do our driving. The Little 500 is a 500 lap race on a high banked ¼ mile paved track that has run continuously since 1948. The list of drivers that have participated in this event reads like a history book of open wheel racing on asphalt. Qualifying for the event at that time took place two weeks before the actual race. The race is always held the Saturday night before the Indy 500. Qualifying is 4 consecutive laps just like at Indy. We had a little glitch in qualifying but still made it into the seventh row inside – the top 33 cars that qualify to start the race, start just like Indy, three to the row, eleven rows. The track is a paved high bank ¼ mile speed bowl with the grandstands all the way around. The noise is absolutely unbelievable.

After all-day qualifying, many cars stay around and run their regular Saturday night race. We did not win a race that night, but placed in the feature and heat races so that put us in line at the pay window. Armond was "antsy" after the rase, so I asked him to go collect our winnings as we loaded the car to move on to Louisville KY for a Sunday race. We could settle up on Sunday in Louisville. The next day we had the third quickest time for the 40 lap feature. The track was a 3/8 miles paved semi-banked oval. They started the race 3 abreast with Holley on the inside pole. Calvin Gilstrap was on the pole and he brought the field down slow to start the race. When the green flag fell, Holley dropped down low and called on the car’s quick horsepower. He move to the front of the field and went on to win the feature. During the race, Marty Broadus looked over to me and said, “What the hell is that flying out the top of the roll cage?” I said, “Well, I see something…It must be part of the seat cushion.” Armond took the checkered flag and we all ran to the start/finish to celebrate the win. Shortly after, several of the drivers, started coming to the start/finish line with big grins on their faces and $20 bills in their hands. The $220 that Armond collected at Anderson had worked its way out of his pocket and had been flying out and sticking to the race cars behind him. Amazingly, we received $180 of the $220 back. Two weeks later, we returning to Anderson Speedway to compete in the Little 500. We started 21st and ran as high as 3rd . About lap 300, we blew the strong destroker 400 engine going into turn 3. Holley drove for me on other occasions, but none were as memorable as the 1973 Little 500 and the ASA feature race at the Louisville Fairground.

• great article by Duane DePuy
• another great article by Lew Boyd of Coastal 181
• please links, stories or images so we can all remember Armond Holley.