Puyallup Dragway Poster

Puyallup Dragway Poster

It was shut down long before I even knew about it. In mid to late 80s in high school, we used to sneak onto the overgrown property and party. Now it's nothing but surrounded by houses. Luckily we have Pacific Raceways not too far away.

PUYALLUP DRAGWAY
Years of operation: 1960 - 1978 At the time, it was a state of the art facility.

The original 1968 drawing of the poster was black and white. Later when this version was made, it was updated to color and the 2 planes were added. There are several well known drag racers and other interesting characters in the poster.

**PLEASE SEE MY LINKS IN COMMENTS. THOSE LINKS HAVE PICTURES ALONG WITH DESCRIPTIONS.***

Starting from the far left:
I assume the guy in the yellow hot rod is a local racer(not sure)..he's getting a burger handed to him by someone named Ron.

Butch Thuney was a big time racer. Not sure about the yellow car that says Gener Porter? Not familiar with him and can't find any information? More research needed.

The lady in pink- My friend I consulted told me that that was Carol and her husband Art to her left. That would have been Carol & Art Yentor, they ran an early blown Corvette...1962 I think?

Kenny Goodell in his funny car.

The rear engine Dodge is Billy Lawrence Golden aka "Maverick" and that's the "Little Red Wagon" A/FX exhibition wheelstander.

Directly in front of that is none other than TV Tommy Ivo.

Next to him holding the clipboard is Clark Marshall. He was the owner/promoter of Puyallup Raceways. Along with his partner they also ran S.I.R. - Seattle International Raceway in Kent Washington which is about a half hours drive away. Now renamed Pacific Raceways. From what I've been told by my friend, they purposely shut down Puyallup because it was taking too much away from S.I.R.

The guy next to Marshall on the mini bike has a shirt that reads "Wall to Wall Richard". That would be Richard Schroeder who ran an AFX exhibition wheelstander. A few years later he had a Nova wheelstander and went on to build several more.

There is no mistaken the next character, Jerry "The King" Ruth standing in front of his Pay n Pak funny car. Known as drag racing's "King of the Northwest"

**Jerry Ruth - Ruth captured the NHRA Division 6 title five years from 1964–69 and began referring to himself as "The King". He quickly made a name for himself and in 1971 set a Top Fuel elapsed time of 6.43 seconds -tied for the quickest in history at the time, in his Don Long Mustang Funny Car which he built himself.

In 1972 Ruth sold his self-made car and adopted a Keith Black aluminum 426 Hemi, rear-engine dragster. He would gain prominence in 1973 when he defeated Gary Beck a two-time U.S. Nationals champion, in the 1973 NHRA World Finals at the high altitude Amarillo Dragway. He set an elapsed time of 6.11-second at 232.55 mph in his first national event win. Another notable race came in 1977 when he defeated "Big Daddy" Don Garlits at the Top Fuel Auto Club Raceway Winternationals in Pomona, California. In the 1977 NHRA Summernationals he achieved the fastest time in drag racing history of 255.63 mph while piloting Don Garlits’ “Swamp Rat".

In 1996 along with 7 other racers, the federal government indited them on drug trafficking charges. Federal officials said that an investigation showed that an international cocaine trafficking group centered in Portland was responsible for the smuggling and distribution of 500 pounds of cocaine. They did end up in Federal Prison for awhile and servered some time.**

**A little history - Pay 'n Pak was a home improvement chain that was based out of Kent, Washington. Pay 'n Pak was also a sponsor of an unlimited hydroplane racing team from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and won the points championship from 1973-1975. They also sponsored the first winning turbine powered hydroplane from 1980 to 1983. The boat crashed in 1980. It would be the last boat that would carry the Pay 'n Pak name.**

Moving on, we have Al Karnes in his Hemi funny car.

There's a rail dragster to the right and a guy holding a note that says, "Don't Red Light Mother"..not sure who this is? More research needed.

Another notable character at the bottom in a suit saying. "Hi Folks This is Ralph Williams". Ralph Williams was a high-powered auto dealer and a real fast-talking, hard-selling guy. He was a big name in Southern California. He had this all-night movie program on TV and he did these commercials with his dog—his dog’s name was Storm. He inspired Cal Worthington and his commercials woth his dog Spot. "It's Cal and his dog Spot.."