Rick Darling of Marshall raced the No. 70 most of his racing career. This photo was taken in the pits at an area race track in the 1970s, shortly after wings were the new style for racers. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

At first, Rick Darling did not want an article written about his racing career because he was not a front runner, but he has been an integral part of the community of drivers who have been front runners.

Darling owns his own business, Rick Darling's Performance Heads and Engines. He gives motors the correct settings for racing, which in return gives a driver a little more boost when coming out of corners on a track.

He began his racing career in 1958 manning the wheel of a Go-Kart. He won several trophies in that event.

In the 1960s, his father, Charles Darling, had three cars. The No. 15 was driven by "Lucky" Mayhew, who was their mechanic. The No. 16 was driven by Charles and the No. 17 was driven by Jay Lyle.

In 1965, Charles was unable to race his car due to another engagement, so Rick took the car to the track. When he checked in and handed Jewell Kidwell, judge and lap counter for Sportsman's Speedway, the entry money, Kidwell said, "Are you old enough?"

Darling said he heard a voice behind him say, "Yes, he is old enough." Darling looked behind him -- the voice belonged to Ken Taylor. "After that, I never had problem getting into the track to race," he said.

He made his way through racing by starting out with $400 and earning enough to stay afloat. He used his earnings to pay for used parts and entry fees for the next race.

"I really was just a runner," he said. "I like to play it safe."

He used a lot of used stuff, including tires. He said he remembers one night when Taylor "Pappy" Weld and Russ Hibbard came up to him after a night of racing and looked at his car. They asked him if those were the tires he ran on, since they were capped tires. He said, "Yes."

"They walked off without saying another word," he said. "They thought I was lying to them (but I wasn't)."

Running capped tires was not something many racers did. Well, actually Darling may have been the only one.

Darling said he can't believe how racing has changed so much since he raced.

Darling takes a victory lap with a checkered flag at Sportsman's Speedway in the late 1960s. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

"Back then, we raced two races a day," Darling said. "We would be going down highways doing 100 mph towing race cars to make it to the second race."

They would race an afternoon race in Kansas and then a night race at Sportsman's Speedway. Sometimes they would race an afternoon race in Sedalia and a night race in Illinois.

The last race that Darling raced in was in 1981, with the World of Outlaws.

Darling said the best thing about racing is "I just liked the people and the stuff around the track."

Darling started working on his own motors in 1965. He eventually started porting heads with a flow bench for others.

When he opened his performance shop, "I did not operate it as a business but I did it for fun and to help others."

Many people say I "help too much," he said.

Darling works on motors for dirt track race cars such as modifieds, street stocks, B-modifieds and late models; pavement race cars including coarse racers; mud trucks; and dragsters. He even works on classic car motors.

He used to work on motors for Bill Utz, who raced regularly around the Central Missouri tracks, including Sportsman's Speedway.

He currently works on motors for Dave Meyer and Alan Deatherage, who are modified drivers at LA Raceway and Chad Lyle of Lone Jack, who is a modified driver that runs several Missouri tracks.

Darling's career as a drag racer was short, with only two passes down the strip. One of the passes, he was driving a car he had worked on for someone. He was just warming it up, so to speak. When he made his pass, the car owner/driver came to the car and was yelling at him to get out of his car.

"He said, 'You keep that up and you will beat me in my own car,'" Darling said. He was only a few seconds off of his time.

Darling has been offered some really good jobs that many would snatch up in a heartbeat; however, he likes it where he is now.

Pat Patrick of Patrick Racing offered Darling a job as mechanic for his Indy Racing League cars.

"I like doing this and chose to stay here," he said about his shop right in Marshall.

His last job offer was to port heads for Pro-Stock engine builder Steve Smith, a leading publisher of auto racing technical information for 30 years. He offered him $60,000 a year. Darling asked him what happened to the guy that had the job. Smith told him he was offered a job in NASCAR for $100,000 a year.

Darling said he received three big compliments from racing that he will never forget.

First was when Bill Utz told Darling he could make anything run.

Second was after six years not driving a car due to military duty, Paul Tobias asked him to drive his car during a Grant City, Ill. race. After the heat races, Darling was walking around the pits and he ran into Kenny Schrader, now NASCAR driver, wearing just blue jeans and a T-shirt. Darling asked Schrader why he wasn't driving. Schrader replied that he couldn't find a ride.

Darling approached Tobias and told him Schrader was looking for a ride. Tobias replied that he knew this information but he knew how Darling drove and wanted him to drive his car.

That day, Darling finished third in his heat, sixth in feature and he hit the guard rail in the trophy dash.

"I was running faster times than the leaders (during the feature)," he said. The race was green from start to finish with no cautions.

And the third compliment was when Schrader was being interviewed on TV, he named 10 people he thought should have made NASCAR. Darling was one of those names.

Darling's past is told on the wall of his shop. He has photos of his racing days and that of those whom he has helped in the past, along with many other racing memories from Sportsman's Speedway in Marshall.

Contact Rachel Harper at

marshallcity@socket.net