WORLD CLASS PROMOTOR
It was a time period in stock car racing remembered by many in our area as possibly the very best time for short track stock car racing. It was an era that western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma consistently drew the very best stock car drivers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. And more often than not, the very best drivers that the United States had to offer. It was also a time that would later prove to be historical as it included the track championship seasons of two future NASCAR stars; Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin. And one man stood at the helm and guided Tri-State Speedway with the precision of Larry Phillips navigating lap traffic during a 50 lap feature. That man was Cecil Harlan.
Cecil Harlan was born in 1939 in El Paso, Texas. Later he graduated high school in Booneville, Arkansas in 1957. After marrying his wife of 55 years, Gail, they established a home in the Ft. Smith area, and raised a family consisting of both girls and boys.
While raising his family, Harlan settled into a job of twenty-one years with Dorney Media. Dorney Media was the parent company to the Southwest Times Record. It was during this time that Cecil developed an interest in stock car racing, and in the late 1960’s he began working with the Fort Smith Racing Association as a volunteer. Later in the 1970’s Cecil was promoted to promoter of Tri-State Speedway, before purchasing the facility, which he owned and promoted from 1980 until 2001.
Cecil Harlan had a special gift when it came to being a track owner and a promoter. He worked hard to keep stories about his races, and more especially his race car drivers in the sports pages of the Southwest Times. At the time, the Southwest Times was the largest daily newspaper based in western Arkansas. Also, it was not uncommon to see stories about Tri-State Speedway during the sports cast of the nightly news on KFSM Channel 5 and Channel 40 out of Fort Smith. If you turned your car radio on, regardless of the station it was hard not to hear a radio advertisement for Tri-State Speedway when music wasn’t playing.
Long time Ft. Smith racer Chuck Knight said of Harlan, “Cecil was first just a good person. He was a good friend of mine through the years. He did so much for promoting Tri-State Speedway and its drivers. Every week there was stories about us in the newspaper and the radio.”
Knight paused and laughed for a few seconds. “It was like a couple of us drivers would get into it out at the track. Now after the races were over Cecil would get us together and we would all talk about what had happen and it would all be forgotten. Then Cecil would say now don’t pay attention to the radio this week, cause this is over. Then on Thursday Cecil would be on the radio talking about how Chuck Knight got into it with so and so last Saturday night, and tell everyone to come out this Saturday and see if the feud was going to continue. He was always doing something like that to fill the grandstands.”
Not only was Cecil Harlan well respected at the race track, but he was also recognized and respected on the business side of the sport away from his speedway. He served as a board director for several racing organizations such as the National Championship Racing Association, International Motor Contest Association, and Mid-west Late Model Racing Association. He also received the coveted Life Time Achievement Award from the Ozark Vintage Racing Association for his thirty plus years of dedication to the sport of stock car racing in the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In 1994 Cecil Harlan was selected as “Person of the Week” by television station Channel 40 of Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Then in 1999, in a ceremony at Texas Motor Speedway, Cecil Harlan received the Lanny Edwards Award. This award is presented each year by Texas Motor Speedway and is named after legendary racing promotor Lanny Edwards. Edwards was the promoter at both Lawton Speedway in Lawton Oklahoma, and the Devils Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas. And was also co-promoter of the world famous indoor midget race held each year in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Chili Bowl.
The Lanny Edwards Award is presented to a promoter each year for their accomplishments and advancements towards short track stock car racing. The award was presented to Harlan by then Texas Governor George W. Bush.
It was through Harlan’s promotional wisdom he was able to make local celebrities out of his race car drivers. Harlan liked the fact that when the drivers of Tri-State Speedway were seen out in the community, that they were often recognized and spoken to by the general public.
Because of this, and the fact that he ran a show that had great stock car racing, he was able to fill the grandstands every time he opened the gate. Each year at Christmas Cecil would lead his drivers around to the local hospitals where they visited with patients and passed out presents. Visiting the patients at the hospital during Christmas, especially the young children was one of the things in Cecil Harlan’s life that he looked the most forward to each year. He was also very involved with fund raising for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Each year he held the annual St Jude’s Race for Life, a well-known area fund raiser for the children’s hospital. Once he even sent Chuck Knight and Mark Martin to the hospital on behalf of Tri-State Speedway to visit with patients and pass out gifts.
From a drivers point a view, regardless of the circumstances, it was hard not to like and come to terms with Harlan. His personality had a smoothness for bringing calm to the storm. When things got hot and out of control, as they sometimes do on the race track, Harlan had the ability to bring reason to those involved. In the end everyone would walk away from the incident, and felt better about returning to Tri-State Speedway the next weekend.
Fort Smith area racer Jim Philpot recalled what is was like racing for Cecil Harlan. “Cecil was a once in a lifetime promoter. He didn’t treat us like racecar drivers. He was always fair and treated each and every one of us like we were his family. He also liked to keep us busy with projects away from the race track out in the community. Things such as visiting the area hospitals at Christmas time. When Cecil called with an idea to help in the community, we all made time because of our respect for him.”
Cecil Harlan, who lived a very busy life as the owner and promoter of Tri-State Speedway, was also a family man. One of his daughters, Tamyra Hanna described Harlan as the best daddy in world. And it’s easy to tell while listening that she means it. Pride spills with each word as she describes and tells stories about her father.
“He lived for the race track. He was there seven days a week. He even went there on Sundays following a Saturday night weekly race to start getting ready for the next week.”
Tamyra Hanna went on to explain that as a family, they worked at the track with him. “I was out at the race track with daddy all the time. I spent a lot of hours walking the track and picking up rocks. He taught me to drive a standard transmission out there, by having me drive his old truck that he used out at the track. I also had several other jobs at the track. I just loved to be out there working with my dad.”
Another great memory that Tamyra held of her father was the time they would spend together at the track following the races. “We would sit in a space under the grandstands after everyone was gone. And we would talk for hours about the races and how great the races were.”
As Tamyra Hanna continued talking about her father, she recalled some of her favorite memories of her dad as a promoter. “There was a time at one of the bigger races during the season that it was a really good race and the first and second place cars were side by side for several laps. The race ended in almost a dead heat at the finish line. A winner was declared, but after the races my dad came into the office and told my mother that he needed more money. Due to the fact that the race was so close at the finish, he paid both drivers for first place.”
Another time was when Tri-State Speedway was hosting a special event and the cost of admission was a little more than it normally was. Cecil Harlan was checking on things in the concession area, which is near the front gate of the grandstands. He noticed a couple at the ticket booth for a few minutes and then watched as they turned and began to walk away. Harlan made his way over to the booth and ask the operator if there had been a problem. He was advised that due to the price increase that they did not have enough money to get in. Harlan then ran and caught up to the couple in the parking lot, and requested that they come back and watch the races that night as his guest. A few moments later the box office was advised that they were never to turn someone away from the races because of their inability to purchase a ticket.
Cecil Harlan as an owner and promoter created some of the top races that the southwest had to offer. Races like the Kegger, the 4th of July Fire Cracker Special, the Summer Time Classic, and the Spooker at Halloween. These races are still in existence today.
“Daddy loved the 4th of July race because of the fireworks and the kids. But his favorite was the Spooker at Halloween. Some years he drew as many as 320 race cars for that race.”
While on the discussion of the Spooker, Tamyra Hanna was asked how Harlan came up with the names for his races. “Well, on the Spooker I can tell you how that came about. While growing up, Daddy used to joke with us kids that because his birthday was the day before Halloween, that he was “almost a spook.” He came home one day and said he needed a name for a Halloween race, and the subject of “almost a spook” came up. After a little discussion the term Spooker emerged, and the name for the race was born.”
After decades of promoting successful races, and as 2001 was drawing near Cecil Harlan had a confiding conversation with his daughter Tamyra. “Daddy told me one day that he was getting to the point in life that he wasn’t physically able to keep up the pace that was needed to run the speedway as he believed that it needed to be. I thought about what he had said, and told him that I agreed because I wasn’t able to keep doing it either.”
As history remembers, 2001 was Cecil Harlan’s last season as the owner and promoter of Tri-State Speedway. Soon after closing this chapter on his life as one of stock car racing top owners and promotors, Harlan opened a new chapter that was also very dear to him.
Cecil Harlan was an adopted child at a very young age after being born in El Paso, Texas. He had never meet his real mother, and attempts to locate her over the years had been unproductive. But a few months after the sale of the speedway, the efforts of a private investigator were proven successful. Cecil Harlan finally met his mother for the first time at the age of 62. His mother was 82 at the time. From that day forward, they maintained a close relationship until her death.
Even after the sale of the race track, Cecil Harlan enjoyed attending the races at his old establishment. It was still fun for him to visit with the fans and drivers that he had helped to entertain for so many years. Harlan also started a new endeavor in his daily life after he retired. It was joked by many that he had a new job. Every day from ten in the morning until six in the evening, Harlan would play cards at the local casino.
Then came a day that Cecil Harlan would learn that he was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. And just like he would do if a down pour had occurred on race day at 6 P.M., Harlan fought the disease just like he would have the wet surface of the track, in order to get the show in.
As Tamyra Hanna continued talking about her father, she recalled some of her favorite memories of her dad as a promoter. “There was a time at one of the bigger races during the season that it was a really good race and the first and second place cars were side by side for several laps. The race ended in almost a dead heat at the finish line. A winner was declared, but after the races, my dad came into the office and told my mother that he needed more money. Due to the fact that the race was so close at the finish, he paid both drivers for first place.”
The checkered flag flew on the life of Cecil Harlan for the last time on November 23, 2011. The news of his passing rocked the racing community throughout the central part of the United States.
Out of respect, each year Tri-State Speedway hosts the Cecil Harlan Memorial Stock Car Races. This year the race will be held on October 21st through October 24th, during one of Cecil Harlan’s favorite creations; The Spooker.
It is without a doubt that the Spooker will be a special race. But in Cecil’s own words when he was once questioned about what makes a race special. He replied. “They are all special.”
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