COMMUNITY: Boyse going strong in 40th year

Editor's note: Jerry Mackey of Cedar Rapids has been around dirt track racing his entire life. Mackey began announcing races in the early 1980s is handling the microphone at the Farley Speedway and the West Liberty Raceway this summer.

By Jerry Mackey, community contributor

In 1973, at the age of 17, Ron Boyse decided it was time to become a race car driver and not just a crewman to his brother.

So Boyse bought a 1967 Chevelle from his brother, Ken, and went dirt track racing in the Sportsman division at the Eldon (Iowa) Raceway.

Boyse, of Kalona, continues to race today - 40 years after that first start.

A weekly competitor at West Liberty Raceway throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he also makes regular trips to Farley Speedway and Dubuque Speedway and once raced on the dirt at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids.

He also does some Legend car racing at Tipton and a few specials at other Eastern Iowa tracks.

Before this season started, however, he needed to make some decisions. His MasterSbilt car was six years old and the motor was getting a little tired.

Quitting was not an option, so Becky Boyse, Ron's wife, went to Precision Performance in Oxford and said she wanted “Ron to have the best of everything this year.”

A new Barry Wright race car put Boyse back on track.

He has had several top-10 finishes this summer but still is looking for that elusive victory.

Forty years of racing brings with it a lot of ups and downs, including a 1976 accident that he calls the most horrifying experience of his career.

“The first lap of the feature I went into turn one and the center section broke out of the left rear wheel,” he said. “That sent me into a series of barrel rolls, followed by a series of end over end flips. I remember that I had my eyes open the entire time, and each time I came down, the hit was harder and harder and sent a sharp pain down to my tailbone.”

He didn't, however, even take a ride in the ambulance.

“I was young and stupid and more concerned about my car than myself,” he said.

Boyse has seen many changes in Late Model racing, a division he moved to in 1978.

“When custom built chassis came in the late '90s, the days of building your own car were over,” he said. “And now our big cost item is our shocks. It is out of hand and I don't know how we are going to stop it.”

With a new car and new equipment this year - right down to the helmet and race suit - Boyse isn't planning on hanging things up anytime soon.

“As long as I am having fun, I will continue to race,” he said. “And by the way, I am having fun. The real reason we love racing is because of the people involved.”

Many on his crew have been with him for the long ride - including 30-year members Mike Durst, John Boyse (Ron's brother) and John and Kevin Swartzendruber.

But he knows who to thank most.

“I would not have been able to do this for 40 years without the full support from my loving wife, Becky,” he said.