May shined on track locally, in NASCAR

Dick May is not only remembered for his driving ability on north country tracks and later in NASCAR, but as one of the unforgettable characters in auto racing.

A YouTube video honors the former Glen Park resident with photos of his racing career that began in 1950 in the north country. An Internet tribute says May never took himself or his career too seriously, and joked about everything.

A native of Ithaca and the son of Cornell University professors, May began his racing career in when stationed at Pine Camp (now Fort Drum). He raced at the old Canton Speedway and later at the Edgewood Speedway in Alexandria Bay. May was also a regular at the Evans Mills Speedway and the Watertown Fairgrounds. He was track champion at the Watertown Speedway in 1962 and at other tracks in the area.

He moved to North Carolina in the early 1970s. For over a decade, May was a relief driver on the NASCAR circuit. His feat of driving five cars in one race, at the 1975 Mason Dixon 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway, is a record that will never be broken.

He earned his car owners nearly $300,000 in his career, which included 187 NASCAR races. While he never won a NASCAR race, May was a top 10 finisher eight times during his career. He was a member of the fraternity of what was then known in NASCAR as independent competitors. The relief drivers, as they were called, received no factory backing and had budget constraints so severe that they stood little chance of success.

May's son, Rex, was a late model driver for several years at Can-Am Motorsports Park. May saw his son race a few times and was proud that there was another generation of Mays racing cars.

May, who died on June 9 at the age of 78, kept in shape during most of his racing career, quitting smoking and refraining from alcohol by his mid 30s. He began a rigorous exercise program which included a lot of running. His son recalled challenging his father to a foot race around the track at Charlotte years ago. There was a friendly wager of $10. Rex led for nearly a mile, but soon ran out of gas and his father sped past him and crossed the finish line with plenty to spare.

Upon his retirement in 1986, May kept busy being in racing. One of his last jobs with NASCAR was driving the water wagon and the digger for the five races they held on the dirt track in the Charlotte area. He also owned Trickee Trucking with its headquarters located adjacent to what is now Lowe's Motor Speedway. He worked for STP and would show up to the NASCAR races in a familiar blue van that hauled the company's products.

In 2007, May was inducted into the DIRT Motorsports Hall of Fame in Weedsport. There was a mini-reunion prior to the induction ceremonies at the Best Western in Watertown with some of the area drivers he competed against in the 1950s and 60s.

To read about previous selections to the Times' list of The North Country's Greatest Athletes of All Time, log on to www.watertowndailytimes.com