Chuck Daniel

Biography

by Roy Daniel

In 1950, Chuck and his wife, Betty, moved into a small pink house between the tobacco fields in Broad Brook, CT to raise their family. It was there he met a local young man and future NEMA legend named Len Thrall. Len was an upcoming owner and driver at that time, who owned a rail frame Ford 60. He introduced Chuck to Midget racing and that sparked a fire in Chuck’s eyes. Len became Chuck’s mentor as they traveled together across the Northeast from race to race. It was on a wooden board track on Long Island in the early 1950’s that Chuck experienced victory lane for the first time with Len Thrall. Chuck’s passion for midget racing began to burn and he purchased his own Ford 60 Midget in the late 1950’s. Chuck teamed up with future NEMA champion Ray Roberts to serve as his driver. It did not take long for the two to find victory lane at the Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine, where Chuck would taste victory for the first time as a car owner himself. In the early 60’s Chuck ran ARDC Midgets up and down the East Coast as Crew Chief with his friend, Paul Young (PY). PY owned a Kurtis Kraft Offenhauser driven by Johnny Kay and Ron Evans.

Chuck building his midget in 1965 with his dog Wendy

In 1965, Chuck built his own version of a Kurtis Kraft Midget on the basement floor of his family’s little house. He fitted it with a potent Ford Falcon engine and numbered the car “10”. He ran with NEMA in 1966 and 1967 with drivers, Ken Fisher and Pete Thurston. In 1968, Chuck was joined by his son-in-law, Jerry O’Connell and established the team name “D & O Racing”. Drivers for this new team were Ed Dunne and Hank Stevens. They ran strong from 1968 through the 1970 season, which included a victory in Nova Scotia, but a change in the driver’s seat halfway through the season would find even more success.

During the 1970 season, Ron Evans joined the No. 10 D & O Racing team. A weekend sweep at Oxford Plains (9/5/70) and Thompson Speedway (9/6/70), and the Canadian win earlier in the year made for an exciting season. Chuck and his racing team missed the NEMA championship by a mere one point that year. That 1970 NEMA yearbook listed Chuck’s Falcon as the fastest powered Midget in the U.S. and Chuck received his first Mechanic of the Year award from the club. In 1972, Jerry O’Connell left racing to pursue other interests, forcing Chuck to switch the team name to Daniel Racing. Chuck started training his son Roy as crew member and soon enough he joined the team. In 1974, Rick Hart became the driver half way through the season. An immediate win at Star Speedway found Daniel Racing and Rick Hart in victory lane. Not bad for Rick’s first time out in the Daniel Racing #10!

Chuck in victory lane with Ron Evans at Thompson 1970.

Chuck in victory lane with Rick Hart. This was Rick's 1st feature win.

In 1975, Chuck updated his home built chassis by developing an independent front end suspension. The change worked well and brought success to Chuck’s family team as they finished second in the NEMA Championship once again, missing it by only five points this time. They also finished second in the Coke a Cola Dirt Track Championship to his good friend, Jim O’Brien. Daniel Racing, however, won the 1975 Maine State Championship, the Pat Thibodeau Memorial Award for Top Upright, and Chuck earned his second Mechanic of the Year award.

In the late 70’s, half the cars in NEMA were side engine Badgers or rear engine lay down Cars, but Chuck maintained one of the most competitive traditional uprights for many years, attesting to his conviction that uprights were the way to go.

In 1976, Daniel Racing with Rick Hart as their driver had the opportunity to run a national series called National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing (NAMAR). It was a joint venture of thirteen Midget Clubs from all across the United States that competed in a four race National Championship series. They ran at Joliet, Illinois; Anderson, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. In competition with 122 other NAMAR teams, Chuck and his Daniel Racing team finished 8th overall in an outstanding performance.

In 1977, NEMA was challenged with a limited race schedule and it would transpire into poor car attendance for that season. Passionate about his club and midget racing, Chuck new it was time for a change. In 1978, he was elected President of the club, with Jim O’Brien as Vice President. That winter Chuck met with a young Peter Falconi and his father, who were the promoters of Westboro Speedway and strong supporters of Midget racing in the Northeast. Peter explained to Chuck that scheduling NEMA races was difficult because the show was too long, and took up too much time. If the speedway had a NEMA race, it would have to eliminate one of the weekly divisions, which would lose money for the track as they were a local draw. In the day, NEMA shows consisted of three heat races and a qualifying race, known as the last chance race or consi. For the feature event, the cars would be pushed to the homestretch with the drivers lining up to be announced and then get buckled in and pushed off. All this took time. Chuck proposed changing the NEMA format to just two heat races and a feature, with the drivers buckled into their cars and pushed out of the pits ready to race. Peter liked this format, as did other promoters. Fifteen races were immediately scheduled for 1978 and eighteen races were scheduled in 1979. It is the format that NEMA continues to use to this day as their standard

Chuck's son, Roy, became the car owner for the racing team when Chuck became President of NEMA in 1978.

For years, Chuck fielded his own Falcon power plants that earned him great respect from his competitors. During the two decades that Chuck dedicated himself to NEMA midget racing, he teamed up with what some would consider an All-Star list of NEMA legendary drivers. They included Ray Roberts, Ken Fisher, Pete Thurston, Ed Dunne, Len Thrall, Hank Steven, Ronnie Evans, Bob Keyser, Rick Hart, Brad Thrall, Walter Gale, Gary Blomberg, John Evans, and of course Roy Daniel, who was fittingly was the last driver to grace the Chuck’s racing seat. Chuck's accomplishments were recognized in 1979 when he earned the coveted Johnny Thomson Memorial Award, one of NEMA's highest honors at the time. He proudly served as President of NEMA for three years up until he lost his battle with lung cancer in 1981. Sadly, in 1980 Daniel Racing had to sell the #10 family midget. That same year, NEMA dedicated the club’s annual yearbook to Chuck. His son, Roy, had the honor of driving in Jim O’Brien’s car in 1981 at the Chuck Daniel Memorial Race at Monadnock Speedway, NH. Chuck was inducted into the Dick Gallagher Memorial Hall of Fame in 1993 where his son Roy proudly accepted the award.

"...Chuck Daniel is no longer with us, but what he has left for all of us to remember is that 'class' comes in many ways and that fancy trimmings and elegant words are not always two facets that make the difference. Chuck Daniel showed us all that 'class' is personified by individuals with human qualities that promote honesty and integrity and the ability to deal within that arena of mutual respect." Carl Merrill, 1981

Chuck Daniel mEMORIAL aWARD

From 1981 to 2000, the Chuck Daniel Memorial Award was presented annually to NEMA members who despite a modest budget provided outstanding support and service to the club. It also recognized hard work and ingenuity in the spirit of Chuck Daniel. Some of the recipients of this award included other Hall of Famers such as Dick Monahan, Butch Walsh, Bruce Beane, and Chuck's close friend, Jim O'Brien, who was honored twice with the award.