VELMAR ST. PETER

Colorado Auto Racing Club Hall of Fame Inductee Class of 2011

            Our next inductee is the beginning of a very familiar family name in the CARC. Velmar St. Peter was a prolific car owner in the club starting as early as 1950. Velmar built some of the oddest and best-looking and fastest cars to grace Lakeside Speedway’s one-fifth-mile oval and he also helped many others to improve their cars.

            He was born February 7, 1923 and served in the United States Navy in World War II. Upon being released from his military duty, he returned to the Colorado area and became involved with auto racing and the CARC. Thus began an illustrious career as a racer extraordinaire. Velmar apparently never had an interest in driving but was fascinated by making cars go fast and turn left. He learned the intricacies of speed on the oval track and hired the best drivers he could get.

            Velmar’s first driver was Fritz Wilson, who would later go on to national fame. Then he latched on to a very fast, almost daredevil driver named Bill Starks. Bill was known as “Wild Willy Starks” and the man made the most of every opportunity in traffic. Not only was Bill fearless, he was VERY quick. Quick times in the mid-1950’s were frequently set by the black #11 car with Bill behind the wheel. Track records were set, and then reset, by the flying coupe. Using Velmar’s expert wrenching, Bill won the track championship in style in 1955.

            Competition levels in this area were amazing and championship battles were typically won or lost by one or two events over the season. Bill came close in 1956 and in 1957 but fell just short of the title. In 1958, however, Bill came back into his own and won his, and Velmar’s, second championship. Bill moved on to find another ride and Velmar was left to place another pilot in the cockpit. He found a driver who was also very fast but hadn’t been placed with the right car to pull together a championship: Jim Malloy. Jim started racing the 11 car in 1959 and it proved to be a short but fruitful union. Malloy found the car fast and stable won his first title with the CARC that year before moving on to John Pachello’s #19. This was to be Velmar’s last championship with the CARC but that didn’t mean his cars wouldn’t be competitive.

            Over the next decade, Velmar put drivers in his cars including Shorty Weitzel, who did well with the car. Velmar even deferred to his sponsor and painted the car Burger King yellow. Velmar sold his car for the 1968 season and helped out on other cars for other drivers over the next several years. Whichever cars he built or worked on continued to be fast and competitive. He came back to own another car in the mid-1970’s with another black #11 that was piloted by Sam Sauer, who came within a few points of winning the championship in 1977 but badly hurt his back in a Lakeside crash with just a few race meets left and couldn’t finish out the season. Velmar was Ronnie Lee’s crew chief from 1983-1987.