Dick Atkins

2017 NMARHoF  

Richard F. "Dick" Atkins was born into a large family with eight brothers and sisters in 1936 in Oakland California, and graduated from Castlemont High School in 1954 after standout career in varsity athletes particularly in football.  Dick who worked as a building contractor in Hayward California began racing in 1960 as a hobby, and by 1963 he was a force in Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) competition driving Sim Clark’s Chevy II powered midget with a signature win in a 50-lap feature at Capitol Speedway on May 30 and he set a track record in June at Stockton 99 Speedway.

1964 was Atkins’ breakout season in 2017 Sim Clark’s Chevy II that included a July 4 weekend sweep of the BCRA races at Chico on the dirt at Silver Dollar Speedway and the tight paved oval at Lakeport California. During July 1964 Dick Atkins captured three consecutive wins and he was crowned the 1964 BCRA outdoor champion following in his third place finish in the October 17 1964 25-lap feature at Vallejo Speedway.

For the 1965 season, Atkins joined the multi-car team of John Pestana and Bob Lang that fielded a pair of Offenhauser-powered midgets for BCRA competition as well the former Fike Plumbing sprint car in Northern Auto Racing Club (NARC) races. Atkins won races in both divisions, notably 100-lap features at Santa Maria on Memorial Day and in July at Vallejo Speedway and claimed his second consecutive BCRA driving title.

On Thanksgiving night 1965 on Ascot Park Speedway, Atkins qualified the Pestana #3X in fifth place then watched as AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones dueled for the early lead until Jones flipped on lap 70. Foyt continued to lead with pressure from Atkins until Foyt pitted on lap 118 and Atkins led the remaining 32 laps to claim the 25th annual Turkey Night Grand Prix victory and nationwide notoriety.

1966 was Atkins’ breakout year which began as he claimed the BCRA Pacific Coast Indoor Auto Racing Champion’s crown as joined JC Agajanian’s REV 500 racing team on the USAC (United States Auto Club) championship circuit at Indianapolis. In his first attempt to qualify for the ‘500,’ Dick passed his rookie test and qualified for the field at 158.158 miles per hour, only to be bumped out of the field the following day  by Larry Dickson and wound up the first alternate.

Days after the ‘500,’ a mechanic’s torch set off an explosion that damaged the Shrike that Atkins had driven at Indianapolis, and for the rest of the USAC season, Dick became the driver of the famed Agajanian #98 entry. Dick also found time to race sprint cars and set quick time and won the final USAC sprint car race held at the Allentown Pennsylvania fairgrounds in August. Dick finished sixth in his first appearance at the high-banked Winchester Speedway in a sprint car after he started 14th and trailed Al Smith, Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Roger McCluskey and Arnie Knepper to the finish line.  

Midway during the USAC championship car season, Dick began to pile up steady top ten and top five finish, and in the penultimate race of 1966 at the State Fairgrounds dirt mile in Sacramento, he qualified second. Atkins tracked leader Mario Andretti all race long then swept past to claim victory when Andretti car suffered rear end failure with six laps to go. In one year, Atkins had claimed wins in the three elite USAC classes- champ car, sprint car and midgets.

On the cusp of stardom, with a full-time ride with JC Agajanian set for 1967, Dick Atkins just thirty years old was struck down three weeks after his Golden State victory following a USAC sprint car crash at Ascot Park that also claimed the life of Don Branson. On the fifth lap of the 30-lap feature Branson in what was scheduled to be his final race became incapacitated and his car crashed hard into the outside wall.

Branson’s flipping car landed on top of Dick’s Wally Meskoswitz owned sprint car which exploded into flames. Though rescuers pulled him from the car Atkins had suffered severe burns and a basal skull fracture and he passed away in the Gardena Memorial Hospital at noon the next day. Dick just thirty years old and on the cusp of superstardom was struck down just three weeks after his ‘Golden State 100’ victory.  The tragic Branson/Atkins double fatality led USAC to mandate the use of fuel cells in both sprint cars and midgets.  

Taken from us too soon, we were honored to welcome Dick Atkins truly a phenomenal driver into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2017 at ceremonies in Tulsa Oklahoma on January 12 2018.