4/20/2025
Bloomington Speedway
Terry Arthur: Living A Dream
Terry Arthur: Living a Dream
Amid our youth obsessed culture, it is important to remember that one can realize a cherish dream at any point in the lifecycle. Terry Arthur is a case in point. If you chat with Arthur long enough you are sure to hear him describe himself as “old and stubborn.” Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean he is unwilling to take on a new challenge. Racing has been an important part of his life since birth, and the first time he circles Bloomington Speedway in 2025 it will mark the 49th anniversary of his first race. Sure, there are times when he talks about hanging up his helmet, yet no one close to him genuinely believes he means it.
Arthur was born in November 1956 to Lowell “Sonny” and Sharon Arthur. His first years were spent in Unionville, but before school became a serious matter he was living in Sanders. Sonny Arthur was one of thirteen children, a fact that undoubtedly impacted his approach to life. A heavy equipment operator by trade, he learned to be self-reliant at birth. Likewise, he expected the same of his children.
Terry recalls that his father first owned a racecar in 1962, and his partner was no less than Galen Fox. “Dad told me that they built their first car under a tree at Galen’s sisters house on Paragon Road. The first car was a 1954 Ford. Then they built a 1956 Ford, put No. 53 on the side, and like the famous sprint car, it was known as the Rocking Chair Special. Galen bought one of those 427 NASCAR wedge motors, and they got to where they could win.”
After Galen departed to work with Bob Kinser, Sonny Arthur continued to plug along in the fashion of the day. You didn’t buy items off of the shelf, instead you scavenged junkyards and made parts where you could. It came down to hard work and ingenuity. On that front he excelled, and others were paying close attention. “He had guys like Ira Bastin, Teko Ray, and Jack Owens racing for him,” Terry says, “and they won races.” Bastin, by virtue of being a National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, may have greater name recognition, but Arthur thinks Owens (like Bastin, a member of the Brownstown Hall of Fame) deserves a bit of the limelight as well. “Jack Owens was a hell of a driver,” he says, “but there was something else. He was a supervisor at RCA, and he wore a suit and a tie every day. After work he would come down to the garage, take those clothes off, put on his jeans, boots, and tee shirt and pick up a welder. He was a heck of a guy.” Sadly, Owen suffered a fatal heart attack after competing at Brownstown in 1973. He was just 41 years old.
After a brief break, Sonny’s return to the ownership ranks came in an unusual way. “My dad and Max Dick were buddies,” Terry recalls, “and they were talking about getting a car together. Max had sold a guy a 1956 Chevy with a 327 motor in it, but he said the guy hadn’t paid him. So, Max said I think I will go over and repossess it – and he did. They got that old car, stripped it, put a roll cage in it, and changed the cam and motor. They went over to 25th Street Speedway in Columbus with Ira Bastin and won the first night out. It was 1967 and they won something like $550. They drank some beer after that. They would race at Brownstown, Bloomington, and Columbus. Then after my dad quit, he helped Don Hobbs for about three years, and they won a lot of races.”
Terry recalls that initially his father didn’t allow him to hang out in the garage much and, for a variety of reasons, the pit area was out of bounds. Some of this he understood. “The pits then really were dangerous,” he says, “because wheels would come off, hubs would break off and things like that.” All of this aside, it was inevitable that he would try racing. He began karting at Jerry Kinser’s Mountain Raceway in 1979. “That place was cool,” he recalls, “Kelly Kinser was there, Mickey Smith, Terry Cummings, and Roger Kinser was really good in karts, and John Andretti even came a few times. There were some really good races.”
By the time he had reached his high school years Terry was more deeply involved and was a consistent presence at the racetrack. One moment remains prominent in his memory. “My high school graduation was on a Sunday,” he says, “but we were going down to Haubstadt. I fixed my little spot in the back of the truck. In those days we didn’t have tire racks, we just put the tires up next to the cab. I had a little cocoon set up. Ira (Bastin) looked back and said “Son, you only graduate once, and we race three times a week.’ By the time we got there we were rained out. We turned around to go bac
Finally, it was Terry’s turn to see if he had what it took to be a racer. He began in 1986 competing in what he calls “real street stocks - - Camero’s and Chevelle’s. I had about $1,800 in my first car, which had a stock 350 engine.” It was obvious he was not out of his depth. “I ran pretty well right out of the box,” he says, “and that was because of my dad. He didn’t help me with money so much, but I got to use his garage and knowledge.” His father also made sure there was no confusion about the expectations. Reliving the moment, Terry says, “When I first started my dad said, ‘That’s your racecar, but this is my garage and tools. I will help you every way I can, but I can’t be responsible for your car. If you don’t work on it like I think you should, I will push it outside and you can work on it in the rain.’ I don’t think I took that well at first, but he was right.”
Other advice came in short order. Like many in the area he admired Bob Kinser, and Sonny Arthur and the sprint car great were friends in part through their daily work. One day Bob stopped by to check on Terry’s progress, pulled him aside and said, “let me tell you something son, you can’t make a dime with a broken racecar sitting on the trailer. You have to finish these races first before you can win them.”
In an age where 30 to 40 street stocks were the norm, on his first night out Arthur transferred from the B main and finished the night in fifth place. It was a stellar debut and very quickly he was a threat to win. When the opportunity was at the doorstep, Sonny’s years of experience came into play. “Dad said if that track is black and slick don’t have that thing wide open until the flag stand,” Terry says, “then treat that throttle like an egg. If you don’t you will never win a race, and you might as well give that monkey suit and helmet to someone else. You get next to those tires on the bottom. The top is fun, and you can showboat, but you won’t win many races up there.”
Arthur took the checkered flag in his first year, and the end result produced a memory he will cherish forever. Laughing today as he tells the tale he says, “after the first feature I won I went into the local Eagles club and Bob (Kinser) was in there. He said, ‘Hey, there’s the winner. Did you win enough to buy us a beer?’ So, I bought a round. Then Bob asked me how much I won, and I said $125. He said, ‘Oh my God! I’ve got the next round.’”
From that point on he had great moments in stock car racing. Near titles came at Bloomington and Paragon, and there were three and four race winning streaks as well. However, he had a dream. He wanted to race a sprint car. Sonny Arthur was not opposed to the idea, but he was pragmatic. “I think he was talking to Jerry Shields about a car,” he says, “but at that time they were racing with wings. Dad knew that this meant you had to have a really good engine. At that time, we would buy old trucks and cars at auctions and fix them up. So, I said I would sit out for a year in the stock cars, and we could save up some money to do this. Then dad died suddenly in 1991 of a brain aneurysm. That hurt me a lot.”
He stuck with it as best he could in stock cars, and by the time of his father’s death he already dabbled in modifieds which didn’t suit him. While he missed his father’s input and guidance, there were still good years. He remembers 1994 and 1995 as being particularly strong. Still there were regrets. “I probably could have got a sprint car if I would have stopped and just sat out for a couple of years as I planned,” he laments, “But I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. I’m not very patient. What I should have realized is that Galen Fox and Jerry Shields would have helped me.”
Then came the day when not only were sprint cars a distant memory but his entire racing life came to a halt. When Otis Elevator dramatically reduced their workforce, suddenly Arthur was out of a job. There was an occasional opportunity to get back in the game, but for the most part he was focused on putting food on the table. There were periods where that included working two full-time jobs.
Then a simple conversation rekindled an old ambition. It was the first time he heard about the 305 sprint car series. “Daryl Tate reminded me that I always wanted a sprint car,” he says, “and he said these things are halfway affordable. He told me you wouldn’t spend any more money on this than you would a super stock.” The more he thought the more he realized it was now or never. The additional factor in Arthur’s favor were the strong relationships he had forged in the racing community.
“Daryl got me going,” he says, “but then he did his thing too. Then Randy Kinser was a big help. He is such a good dude. I was renting from him at the time, but he let me keep the car in the garage. He helped me work on the car and overhauled my engine. When I needed parts Steve (Kinser) would help.” By 2016 he was ready to go and admits his first laps at Brownstown were memorable. “Daryl said I hit everything but the pace car,” he says with a hearty laugh, “I spun out in my heat, and then later I was coming up pretty well on the bottom but spun out again.”
He longed for this moment way too long to turn back now. “It was my dream,” he says, “Bob (Kinser) was a hero, and there were so many others, so I wanted to drive a sprint car. I always felt it separated the men from the boys. I remember Randy Kinser once told me you are only an inch away from a disaster in a sprint car. You run over a right rear wheel, and you are in trouble.”
He’s done that too, but he also continued to improve. “I actually have been close to winning a couple of races,” he says, “but it is hard to kick out stock car habits at an old age. I led the feature for 20 laps one night, didn’t make the right moves and finished fourth.” Yet, just like his early days in a stock car, there are others who are willing to help. “I can go to Steve Fox for help” he notes, “and he gives me good advice. Daryl once told me that for about ten laps I drive the sprint car like I am supposed to, then I start driving it like a stock car. The deal with the wings is you can’t get off the gas pedal. In stock cars you have a lot of left wheel weight, and the car is really tight. Back in the day you used the brake to turn the car. Randy told me if you are starting up front, pull that left foot away from the brake pedal and hold that gas pedal down. That’s true, and I should have won two or three. I’m not good at reading the track at 90 miles per hour.”
As he assesses his overall performance he says, “I’m not very brave, and I’m not going to go to the top.” Then remembering the words of his father he adds, “but honestly there are not many races won up there. The most important thing is I’m having fun. I can’t do anything about this age thing. I know I’m probably not going to outrun (Ethan) Barrow, (Bradley) Sterrett and (John) Paynter, but I love it. How much longer am I going to do it? I don’t know. I tell people all the time that I am too dumb and stubborn to quit but there is nothing like getting pushed off in a sprint car and going around Bloomington - - nothing.”
The racetrack is in his soul. If you travel a mile and a half south or so you’ll find Terry Arthur living in a house his mother left him, right across from his father’s old garage. As for Sonny Arthur – he rests in Clear Creek Cemetery within easy earshot of a place that was a big part of his life. If you trace racing bloodlines you will discover the Arthur’s have already made their mark at the Historic Bloomington Speedway. The last chapter is far from written.
KFMedia photos Tommy Kelly
Arthur Family
Article Credit: Patrick Sullivan
Article Media
