Hall of Fame highlights
Sim Clark 

2017 Hall of Fame inductee 

Sim Clark, born in 1908, drove and won races with the American Race Drivers Club (ARDC) and the American Automobile Association (AAA) before and after World War Two until a serious accident in Pennsylvania ended his driving career. 

In 1950 Sim was the owner of the car driven by Stan Disbrow of Poughkeepsie that won the Reynolds Motors Cup, emblematic of the New York State midget championship. The team of Clark and Disbrow won four straight features in a row at Brewerton Speedway on April 30, May 7, May 14, and May 21 and then capped off the season with a win on June 11 1950.

Later that year, Clark moved west and opened a garage and service station in Santa Clara California.  On February 17 1951 Sim and driver Ed Normi were crowned the  Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) Pacific Coast Indoor Auto Racing champions after seven hectic weeks of midget racing on Tuesday and Saturday nights inside the Oakland Exposition Center. 1951 proved to be just the beginning, as Clark fielded V8-60 powered cars for Tommy Copp that captured the BCRA Indoor Championship in 1959 and 1961.

Clark was a pioneer in the racing development of the 155-cubic inch four-cylinder inline engine used in the Chevrolet Chevy II passenger car. Sim Clark Chevy II powered midget cars won four outdoor BCRA titles, first with Oakland’s Dick Atkins in 1964, and then Sim teamed with Fremont’s Bob DeJong to win the BCRA title in 1969.  In 1971 and 1972, Hall of Fame driver Hank Butcher won his first two of his four BCRA championships behind the wheel of Clark’s Chevy II-powered midget.  

As a testament to his patience and skills as a mentor, many of the drivers who drove for Clark through the years including Butcher, Chuck Booth and Billy Vukovich built Hall of Fame careers. Sim who passed away in August 1974 was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame in 1985 and in 2017 into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.