Great Oregon Racers

I saw his death notice in the local newspaper, but I didn't know it was the result of a racing accident.
I worked with him years ago..... he was a hardcore racer and a good guy.
My sincere condolences to his wife and family.
R.I.P. Dave.....

 

Yes Dave has been my friend and neighbor here in the Fern Prairie area just North of Camas for well over 40 years.

 

Dave drove Jacks Willys Gasser for him a few times, lets just say that it diden't work out for either of them.

 

For no apparent reason, the Rigert Bros popped into my head today. Specifically, their super low, maroon with gold anodized wheels, Nova. This then led me to wonder if anyone here heard of, or worked with Rick Apple, welder/fabricator out of Hillsboro. Rick worked on the Rigert's cars from time to time. I grew up just a few houses down from the house he worked out of. He and my dad were friends. I used to hang out in his garage and just watch him work. I was always fascinated. I don't think Rick ever built a race car for himself, but he always had super cool race cars in his garage.

 

Rick worked at Marty Strodes' shop in the ?early 80's?.

 

Rick helped me off and on from’78 thru ‘81. He learned the craft well, and we had good times. He did build a rear engine dragster for himself, after racing my Brother Jerry’s former sand dragster. Haven’t seen him for years.

 

Ah, very cool! Thanks for that info. We lived in that house from about '76 through '83. I don't remember my dad mentioning that Rick worked for you, but I'm sure he must have since he was a huge fan of your work, Marty.

Rick was always very nice to me. He let me sit in the cars he was working on and let me just hang around and watch him work. While he had no idea, he had a huge influence on me and helped shape my area of interest in cars (fabrication). As a young kid, I thought he was the coolest. He even gave me a butterfly steering wheel for my go-cart. That made me the king of the neighborhood...in my mind.

 

Funny you mention that as I had a wing built for my shifterkart at Martys' shop in the early 80's and Rick did the work, really turned out nice.