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History | Dave Ray
"It's a Family Tradition"
 Dave
Ray
started his racing
career at the age of nine racing go-karts in his hometown, Davenport,
Iowa. He won several local
Championships, and showed talent at a National level winning the National
go-kart Championship in 1966 in Quincy, IL.
In 1973, at the age of 18, Ray started racing midgets in the family owned
No. 33 car (an Edmunds with a Chevy II engine built by his father, Ralph.)
He finished sixth in Badger points and was named "Rookie of the Year."
After a second place finish in the 1975 Badger points, Dave stepped out of
the family car to allow his brother, Mark, to start his career.
In 1976, Dave was hired to drive for car owner, John Heisdorf out of
Kewaskum, WI. The new team was a success from the start as they went
on to win the Badger Championship title in 1977. 1978 saw Dave Ray
again behind the wheel of a Heisdorf Racing Team midget along with
teammate, Ken Biertzer (both son-in-laws to John). Ken claimed the
Championship with Dave finishing in second place. The Championship
was just as sweet for Dave as he designed and built his first midget
chassis, the "Brand X," that claimed the Championship title.
Dave then started building more cars in his shop in Davenport, Iowa, and
won the 1981 Midwest Auto Racing Association (MARA) Championship with a VW
engine built by brother, Mark. He is only one of two drivers to win both
the Badger and MARA midget Championships, the other being the late, Kevin
Doty.
In 1983, Dave finished third in the Badger Championship before going on to
concentrate on running a full time USAC schedule in the late '80's.
There, he finished a career best of fourth place behind USAC greats,
Rich Vogler, Mel Kenyon, and Tom Bigelow. They ran the full season
coast to coast with Dave's chassis and VW engines built by Mark, all while
holding down a full time job to support his family.
Dave won a total of 24 features at 14 different race tracks around the
country before stepping out of the car in 1997 at the age of 42, for son
Davey to drive.
Dave also built go-kart frames for his son and two daughters that also won
several go-kart titles, and the chassis and Sesco engine son Davey drove
to the 1997 MARA "Rookie of the Year" title. He built a three
quarter midget chassis for nephew, Robbie, who won several winged three quarter
midget titles with it. Most recently, Dave built the Chevy engine
Davey won the preliminary feature with at the 2007 Chili Bowl Midget
Nationals. Dave, besides being a racecar fabricator, is a tool
designer by trade, and runs his own business, Ray Pro Engineering in
Davenport, Iowa.
Dave Ray gets the call to drive for
John Heisdorf in 1976
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1977 Hales Corners Speedway feature win |
1978 Angell Park Speedway in the
Heisdorf Racing Team midget
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"Hustlin' Heisdorf" team teammates,
Dave Ray and Ken Biertzer
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Teammates on
track, Dave Ray and Ken Biertzer |
Dave with car
owners, John and Arcella Heisdorf |
Dave Ray in victory lane at Tri-City Speedway with wife, Debbie and
father, Ralph Ray
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Dave in victory lane
with wife, son, and
father-in-law |
L to R: Bob Walldan,
Dave Ray, John Heisdorf, Ken Biertzer, and John Wartwig
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Dave Ray with wife, Debbie and three children,
Davey, Heidi and Laura
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Dave's two oldest
children, Heidi and Davey |
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