Vintage Patches

I got these two old sew-on patches at a vintage sale and was wondering if anyone knew anything about them. The R.R.A.W patch is especially intriguing. Does this look familiar to anyone?

Anybody else have some cool old patches to show?

 

RRAW might be the Roadster Racing ***ociation of Washington. Along with the RRAO (Roadster Racing ***ociation of Oregon) they raced as far south as Salem, OR and up to Digney Speedway in Burnaby, BC. Home track would have been Aurora Stadium Speedway in Seattle.

 

Thanks D in B. That sounds reasonable. Do you have a time frame for when this organization was operating? By the look of the RRAW patch with it's chain s***ching and wool/felt backing, I'm guessing early-mid fifties. Would anybody else like to speculate?

 

Here's some history...
http://www.evergreenspeedway.net/?page_id=2

 

Not to hijack, but that second video on the evergreen speedway site, Man that was a long way to drop.

 

just a wee bit...

 

The RRAW ran from about 1946 to 1953/4, maybe another year or two. Same with the RRAO. If you can find the Tex Smith Car Tech two book series "Roaring Roadsters" by my friend the late Don Radbruch you'll find lots of info and history on Washington and Oregon and all the other states (and countries) where "hot rods" raced on the ovals.

Here's three pictures from the Golden Wheels (Seattle vintage racing club) archives:

 

Thanks Track-T,

A couple of things mentioned in the Evergreen Speedway article got me thinking. The Jim Collier they mention who started the track wanted someplace to race his T-Roadster. Maybe the one on the RRAW (Racing Roadster ***ociation of Washington) patch is fashioned after his car. The article also mentions how Evergreen Speedway hosted the "500" a 500 lap race, which might explain the second patch. I might be grasping at straws here, but I've had these patches for several years now and have always wondered where they came from. Maybe this is it!

 

Man, those pics are great! Thank you. Now if you find an image for the ***ociations logo, that would nail it for me.

 

All of the above info is about as accurate as I can recall.
I was there.
The ***ociation started out as the Washington Hywinders in 1946.
There were all sorts of cars and bikes involved. Things came to a head
in 1947. The circle track guys (roadsters) branched off and became the
Roadster Racing ***ociation of Washington. The hot rodders branched
off and became the Seattle Kustom Klub. The bikes followed the Kustom Klub
for a year or so and then went off by themselves eventually.
Jimmie Collier worked for the phone company and was working on the phones
at the Monroe track one day. He was good friends with the owner and Jim
suggested they have a roadster race there. This was in 1955. The owner thought
it was a good idea. I think the race was in July. It was the first auto race on the track which was a 5/8 dirt in those days. It was a good race. I was in it and got 4th.
The Wayne Chev powered car of Joe Smith tangled with another car on the back straight
during the race and went over the infield berm into the pond in the center of the track.
I came around on the next lap, stopped, jumped out and was the first one to get to Joe who was hanging upside down from his seat belt with his head about 3 inches from the water. The water was only about 6 inches deep but he didn't know that. I popped his belt and he took a bath.
Time dulls the exact details but this is close enough for bench racing.
My avatar pic is at Monroe a couple years ago.
I had one of those patches at the time and would like to have a scan of it to make a replica. I belonged to the Seattle Kustom Klub also and still have the jacket from that.
The 7 of us that are still around still meet at least once a year.
There are still quite a few of the roadster ***ociation guys around. Some are still racing
with the Golden Wheels or the West Coast Vintage Racers. Myself included.
I am not familiar with the "500" patch

 

Thanks Pete1, I guess that settles that! I bought the patches here in Honolulu at a collectors show and had no idea what they were. It's good to finally know where they are from. It's great to have some background to go along with that patch. I can take a scan and give you measurements too. PM sent. Thanks again for settling this mystery for me. I had posted these on the HAMB a few years ago, but didn't get a good lead then. Anybody else recognize that 500 Club patch?

 

Solved the RRAW mystery.

500 Club, anyone?

 

I don't know what the 500 club is, but they definitly have a cool patch.

sign me up

 

I have a few "Bear 500 Club" chenille patches from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the '60's.

 

The "500 Club" patch that I have is made out of that same kind of chenille material. Do you think this is a Indianapolis 500 patch, but from the fifties?

 

Sorry....I have no idea.

 

Thanks Johnny, I'm pretty stoked to have gotten to the root of even one of these. It's amazing the info one can dig up here on the HAMB!

 

I've forwarded a link to this thread to another Golden Wheels members. Hopefully he, or Pete1, if they make the breakfast this coming Sunday, can ask and get an answer.

I keep thinking Indy 500, because it's the obvious link. It was my great pleasure and honour to go to a few of the Golden Wheels breakfasts and sit with Indianapolis 500 racers like Len Sutton and Jack Turner. Sadly they are gone.

 

Thanks so much Digney In Burnaby. I regret not buying the whole box of car related stuff that these patches were in. It was one box of related objects like trophy tags, etc. and for some reason I hesitated buying the whole box full. I only bought these two patches, walked away for a few minutes and realized I should have bought the whole thing. Maybe I was feeling cheap. By the time I went back the box was sold. Must've sold right after I walked away! I am completely sure that if I had bought everything in that box it would've told the story of who these belong to as well as some other key bits of Hot Rod history. I still kick myself in the **** thinking about it and that was over 5 years ago. Lesson learned.

Thanks to all for all the info!

Mahalo, Jason.

 

There is a indy 500 club.
Big bucks to get in but has alot of stuff with it.
maybe your patch is from the 50's indy 500 club.

 

Heres one I've had forever,my brother went to the Nats in 1960.

 

That's a cool one from the good old days of Drag Racing!

 

Here are a couple I've had since I was a kid, from the Danbury Conn. race track in the 60's.

 

Those Stock Car patches are way cool. They look like they're in mint condition too.

Anybody else got some sew on patches laying around or would like to take a guess at the origins of my "500 Club" patch?

 

Do bronze belt buckles count?

 

Let's see all kinds of Hot Rod and Kustom paraphernalia!

 

We got a trophy and 2 of these buckles in 56.
Unfortunately my partner Jim Whitworth moved and dropped out of sight before I could give him his.

 

So, you've got two of those? Cl***y looking buckle!

 

This one goes back to '72. The shop was in Tampa, Fla.