McCreadie drove to legendary status
Bob McCreadie has been called the best and most popular driver in DIRT modified racing for years. The sport wouldn't be the same without the Watertown native.
But McCreadie knows he wouldn't be the same without his sport. He says so in the first line of his autobiography, "Barefoot":
"If it wasn't for auto racing and for my wife (Sandra), I'd probably be in jail today. Or shot dead, by now."
McCreadie grew up a trouble-making kid who enjoyed stealing cars almost as much as riding them. But through the help of several people early in his life, and his own talent and legendary hard work, he became the most successful driver modified racing has ever seen.
McCreadie compiled a staggering 507 track victories between 1975-2005. He has won at 56 speedways, captured 29 points championships and eight series championships. He won 47 features alone in 1994. McCreadie won the prestigious Super DIRT Week race in 1986 at the Syracuse fairgrounds track and won back-to-back Super DIRT series titles in 1994 and 1995.
In April of 2003, he was inducted into the Walk of Fame at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.
McCreadie is known across the country and has raced from Florida to the southwestern United States and in Australia and Canada. He is known as a tremendous fan favorite, especially popular with young fans, and a diligent worker with a faithful crew that has worked with him for most of his 35 years of racing.
McCreadie began racing in 1971 and acquired his familiar No. 9 in 1972. But he didn't win a feature until 1975. Driving his innovative Plymouth Barracuda super-light and super-narrow car, he won his first race in May at Evans Mills. The car drew plenty of protests from rivals and inspectors, and it also led to the legend of his nickname, "Barefoot." The driver's compartment on the car was so narrow, that McCreadie had to take his boots off and drive in his stocking feet to fit in the car. People believe that he receive the nickname then. But McCreadie said he was called "Barefoot" before then, when he was a teenager, probably because he was constantly walking around bare-chested and barefoot.
McCreadie excelled in small-block races, enjoying his most success in 1979 and 1980 when he won 32 and 34 races, respectively. He often won three or four races a weekend and was known for challenging the best drivers and winning.
He switched to big blocks in 1981, and after a dispute led to him boycotting Can-Am Speedway for years, he began winning races throughout the state and started regularly racing at tracks in Canandaigua and Weedsport.
McCreadie won the most races of anyone on the circuit in 1985 and won 59 big-block features between 1985-87. Fueled by a third-place finish during Super DIRT Week in 1985, he devoted his energies toward the 1986 race and won for the only time in history at a track that he disliked.
McCreadie struggled with injuries throughout his career. He has broken his back five times in racing accidents, including a spectacular crash in 1988 when he lost his steering after breaking a bolt and driving off the back straightaway at full speed. But he kept coming back, continuing to drive his familiar orange-and-blue car.
Another injury that came when he wasn't racing has prevented him from returning to his car since 2006. McCreadie, 57, suffered a broken bone in his back, broken ribs and a broken leg when his motorcycle was struck by a car in the parking lot at the Medical Arts Building in Watertown. McCreadie suffered the injuries days after being inducted into the DIRT Motorsports Hall of Fame in Weedsport.
McCreadie's son, Tim, is a celebrated late model driver on the World of Outlaws tour, and the two have raced against each other many times.
To read about previous selections to the Times' list of The North Country's Greatest 100 Athletes of All Time, log on to www.watertowndailytimes.com
