Young Niagara Falls racer died in the prime of life
John Spencer has been gone for 65 year, but his memory remains.
The stock-car racer died in 1953 as a result of a crash in 1953 at the former Stamford Park in his hometown of Niagara Falls. He was just 21 years old at the time.
At Merrittville Speedway in Thorold Saturday night, the season’s final point race for the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds will honour Spencer.
His nephew, also named John Spencer, was three years old when his uncle died. He has fleeting memories of the young man.
“I only have three memories of my uncle: going to the beach riding in the back of his car — rumble seat but no seat — another car ride and his funeral. He had a rose on his forehead to cover up one of the cuts from the accident.”
The Merrittville website said Spencer was racing at Stamford Park on August 13, 1953. He crashed in the feature event on the second lap in a field of 16 cars at the track, which was located off Montrose Road between Lundy’s Lane and Kalar Road with a cross-street of Woodbine Street.
Spencer’s car hooked a rut and flipped violently. The belt that secured the driver’s door gave way, and when the car came to rest, the young racer had suffered fatal head injuries.
Spencer grew up in a home at 5276 Ferry Street, which is right at the bend between Victoria and Ferry, and was employed as an electrician by a Niagara Falls electrical contractor. His nephew said there used to be Booth’s Petroleum across the street. The house was sold and then torn down in the mid 60s to make room for a restaurant.
John Spencer had two older sisters: Ellen (McKay) and Betty (Miller) and an older brother
Earl G. Spencer.
Earl was a carpenter before becoming a job superintendent. The most significant project he worked on was the Skylon Tower. His nephew grew up about a kilometre-and-a-half way at 5376 Houck Drive.
“I talked to people that he knew and went to school with,” said his nephew, who lives in Ottawa. “They say that he was very likable and that he enjoyed life to the fullest. He was always doing something with his cars.
“I remember my dad saying that he even made brake pads out of peach basket handles — imagine trying that today. The trophy is a testament of his friendship as I understand that it was initiated by his pit crew the following year.
“I presented the trophy once a few years back when I discovered that this race existed.
“It was one of the topics that were never brought up in the family. We did have the helmet he was wearing when he had in the accident, but it was one of those things that just disappeared over the years. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the dark brown stains in the helmet were his blood.”
In a photo of John and his race car given to his nephew by Gerry Clark (who is in the driver’s seat in one of the pictures), there is a sticker on the trunk for racing at Merrittville on Saturday nights.
One of John’s sponsors was
Heuser’s Welding, which is still in business in Niagara Falls.
John Spencer began racing 1951, and his crew was made up of many of his schoolmates from Niagara Falls, including Alvin Edwards.
One of his sponsors, Don MacArthur of MacArthur and Todd Signs established a Memorial Award.
An inquest was held into the crash, the Merrittville website said, and it was determined that better safety measures should be taken to secure the doors and seats.
The safety equipment of the day consisted of aircraft belts from the Second World War and Cromwell helmets if you could get one.
The Johnny Spencer Memorial Award was a track tradition which would lasted to the mid 1960s.
After years of trying to track the award down, the Merrittville Speedway Reunion Committee located it and restored it to its original condition.
It was ironic, the Merrittville website said, that his mother Lillian had persuaded him to stop John racing twice that summer, but he returned each time
The night before his wreck, he had just filled out his application for his NASCAR membership.