THE DEAGLE BROTHERS
Denny, Don and Larry
When tracing the racing history at both
Merrittville Speedway and Speedway Park it is hard not to
recognize the competitive spirit of these three brothers
during the 1960's and 1970's in not just one division but
all three divisions of racing at Merrittville Speedway, but
how did they all end up in dirt track racing. During the
late 50's early 1960 season, Denny and Don were racing at
the now defunct CNE grounds in Toronto and then when
Speedway Park was built in 1961, these Hamilton natives
built or converted their cars to race on the new 1/3 mile
oval in Hamilton on Friday nights, because the cost of
racing on asphalt was becoming too expensive even in 1960,
according to Don Deagle.
The pair then migrated to race not only
on Friday nights at Speedway Park, but also at Merrittville
Speedway on Saturday nights. Denny was the most prevalent
driver who competed with his #88 stock car, but soon moved
in to very unique full fendered sportsman. Denny would
stand out as his 1955 Ford Victoria #7 owned by Toronto’s
Stan Miskin, winning his share of sportsman events. All the
while, Don and brother Larry, would compete successfully in
the new late model division. Don drove a #77 white Buick,
while Larry drove a #23 Ski-doo Ford.
All three brothers were successful in
their respective divisions. During the mid 60's, Ken
Kavanagh, Bill Russell, John Marino and George Cullen, the
owners of both Merrittville Speedway & Speedway Park adopted
a totally new division featuring foreign cars. The
mini-stock division was born and the Deagle brothers
followed suit. At this time, Denny now driving Stan
Miskin’s #7 Ford Fairlane in the modified super stock
division continued his winning ways, while brother Don now
drove his own #77 1950 Chevrolet Aerocoupe, now in the
modified superstock division. Larry Deagle moved on from
the late model division and built a wickedly fast silver
Volkswagen bug #77 for this new mini-stock division. Not
only did the mini stock division flourish, but brother Denny
built a #78 Gulliver Motors mini-Cooper. It was quite a
sight to see brothers Denny and Larry go head to head for
the feature wins, racing as deep as four wide in the corners
in a field of over 30 cars, against the likes of Stan
Pochupec, Bob O’Hara, Larry Benjamins and Harry
Vanderzanden.
It was super competitive and super fun to
watch these miniature race cars speed around Merrittville’s
oval. It was common to see Larry and Denny race each other
and then have Denny climb right back into his #7 modified
and race against his brother Don and his #77 modified for
another feature race. Don would build a super fast #77
Acadian superstock and Denny would move over to a Chevy 11
superstock modified #22, owned by Bob Hill of St.
Catharines. These two modified pilots would find success in
no matter what they drove, and would always finish in the
lead pack.
During the early 1970's, Don would move
over to Tom Mallory’s #20 and Denny continued at the wheel
of the #22 modified. Both retired from racing by the mid
1970's. The Deagle Brothers were unique to the stock car
scene at Merrittville and Speedway Park, since the three
brothers were the only ones to compete regularly in all
three divisions, all in one night.
Tonight the Merrittville Speedway Reunion
Committee would like to recognize the careers and
contribution that Denny, Don and Larry Deagle made to dirt
track racing, and helping to make the modified superstock,
late model and mini-stocks grow in popularity with the fans
and keep racing fun. We are pleased to have Don and Denny
here with us tonight, however we will honour brother Larry
posthumously.
Welcome to the Wall of Fame!