I just read this on the Williams Grove Speedway message board. Buster was a great guy who will be greatly missed. "Granville W. Warke Granville W. Buster Warke, Walnutport native, nationally known race car driver, restorer and Offenhauser engine builder, of Center Valley, p***ed away peacefully in his sleep on February 20, 2008, at the age of 93. In 1934, Buster met Walt Killinger and made his debut as his driver in 1935 at Charlestown, W.Va., and he also ran midgets for Major Hawley at the Nutley, N.J., Velodrome. Buster served as a rifleman with the unit known as The Big Red One during World War II in the European and African campaigns. After World War II, he drove Jimmy Wilburns sprint car with the International Motor Contest ***ociation throughout the Midwest during the 1946 season. Buster was a steady AAA sprint car performer with the ODay Offy and Dutch Culp Offy before retiring from driving in 1956. In 1957, he was the chief mechanic for the Ed Stone sprinter in which Bill Randall won the USAC Eastern Sprint Car Championship. Buster served as chief mechanic for several Indianapolis teams in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1958 went to Monza, Italy, with the Amos-Sclavi team. In May of 2005, he was the Grand Marshall of the vintage race car celebration at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and on June 3, 2006, he was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. He was an avid hunter, fisherman and member of Saucon Masonic Lodge 469, and one of the premier restorers of Offenhauser engines and vintage race cars. He was predeceased by his wife, Ruby, in 2003. Services: A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 26, and friends may call from noon till the time of services Tueday, at Weber Funeral Home P.C., 1619 Hamilton St., Allentown. <!-- m -->http://www.weberfuneralhomes.com<!-- m -->. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, to the Eastern Auto Racing Historical Society, P.O. Box 333, Orefield, PA or the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, P.O. Box 688, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Published in the Morning Call on 2/23/2008. "
You should have seen the crowd that would gather every year when he would show up at Hershey. It was so cool to listen to stories of racing wayyyy back in the day. Sad.
Buster really had cl***, always helpfull, and inspired a lot of younger guys, he'll be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
we were at the sprint car hall of fame inductions a couple of years ago when lynn paxton brought him to iowa,had every one in there seat lisiting to the storys being told ,then they moved to the hof building sat him down and started talking and i think they recorded the afternoon with him went on a couple of hours that day , had a heck of a crowd around just hearing the storys of the past ,... rip buster .....
Soon all the REAL guys will be gone and only us posers and wannabes will be left RIP Buster. A true loss.
Amen Roy. So sad but nevertheless true. I remember Buster at vintage shows years ago starting old sprinters (with a rope) while standing up in the ****pit with the ever present pipe in his mouth. It won't be too much longer and all the railframe 4 banger cars will be on static display in some museum-never to be heard or seen (in action) again. Of course all of us who knew what they were will be gone too so it probably won't make much difference.
Buster had some roots in Allentown PA , he was a starter when the Lehigh Valley Timing ***oc. started drag racing at Convair Field in 55. His services were today.
All the more reason to sit down and talk with these guys whenever anyone gets a chance. Godspeed, Buster. Cris
thats the main reason I bought a dvd video camera, have been taking it to every old timers get together I go to.
The Jalopy Journal
