Comments on: How Eddie Sachs Should Best Be Remembered

By: Vaughn Kershner

Vaughn Kershner — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:29:22 +0000

Eddie Sachs was a very colorful and excellent driver back in the day when a driver could make a difference. Eddie worked long and hard to become a good driver. He paid his dues. The 1961 race was a great race. I was there as a very young teenager. I also had the pleasure of attending the 1960 race that had Eddie on the pole and an exciting back and forth duel between Jim Rathman and Roger Ward. I was also there in 1963 when the officials refused to black flag the oil spewing Parnelli Jones due to their prejudice against Colin Chapman and Jimmy Clark. Again, Eddie was right. The officials cheated. I loved Eddie Sachs. Eddie was a man that I best remember as persistent while always being the crowd pleasing life of the party. There is a very good book “The Clown Prince of Racing” that is worth reading. It covers Eddie’s racing career. Long live the memory of Eddie Sachs, “The Clown Prince of Racing”! Eddie Sachs made many of his peers and we, his many fans, much the better for sharing his short time on this earth. Eddie Sachs got more out of life in his short 37 years than most of us get in twice that time. Rest in Peace Eddie! You are loved, missed, and never forgotten!

By: rich imlay

rich imlay — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:14:33 +0000

Eddie Sachs should be remembered as an all time great. Won in champ car, sprint car, midgets and stock cars. What may be most impressive is he won at Langhorne which may have been the roughest track of them all

By: BMW Metro

BMW Metro — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:44:51 +0000

Didn’t Eddie sometimes drop out of races due to a “hunch” or am I thinking of someone else? I thought he once pulled into the pits on a hunch and as the car wash pushed away, the spokes fell apart from the hub and rim.

By: dougmac40

dougmac40 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:30:36 +0000

thats because when you type in “jim clark” you aren’t swamped with his accident

By: Fred Hahn

Fred Hahn — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:34:26 +0000

As a 65 year old life long race fan I can recall Eddie Sachs grabbing the baton from the drum major of the Perdue band and leading them down the main stretch; I can remember him taking time to answer fan letters or go out of the way to speak to even critical news members. And, more importantly and as witnessed by some of the above posts, in those days one could see him live at places like Sellings Grove(local) and Salem and Winchester(regional) before he went to Indy. My point is that we loved him so much because he was one of us and we watched him and others like him climb the ladder. Now they just show with sponsorship with backgrounds we aren’t familiar with and, all to often, names we can’t pronounce. Now my local heroes all wind up topping out in the Outlaw circuit or they gravitate to NASCAR. I don’t just miss Eddie-I miss that entire era. I’m not sure Champ racing will ever get it back.

By: The Paddock Pulse: November 16 Edition | hotchickswithwheels.com

The Paddock Pulse: November 16 Edition | hotchickswithwheels.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:11:08 +0000

[...] How Eddie Sachs Should Best Be Remembered [Oilpressure]Speaking of “old-school,” George gives us a very nice recap of Eddie Sachs’ career before his tragic death in 1964. And naturally, it’s relevant as all hell to today, notwithstanding the fact that most kids who Google “Sachs fire” hit Eddie’s life story by accident because they were actually looking for that video of a frat guy frying his balls with lighter fluid. [...]

By: J Louis Frey

J Louis Frey — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:51:04 +0000

Thanks for the great article on Eddie Sachs. Like me he was from Pennsylvania. He won at least 1 sprint car race at Williams Grove Speedway which is near my home. Eddie also did well at the defunct Trenton Speedway, winning a few Champ car races. A great book to read is “Eddie Sachs The Clown Prince” by Denny Miller.

By: J Louis Frey

J Louis Frey — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:47:12 +0000

Chris Lukens you are close but mistaken. It was Eddie who married Gordon Reid’s widow. They later divorced and Eddie met and married Nancy McGarrity in 1959.

By: Chris Lukens

Chris Lukens — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:18:23 +0000

Was 1961 the year that Eddie Sachs stood up in his car so that he could wave to the fans in the stands?
The person who my heart really went out to was Eddie Sachs’ wife, who was the widow of Gordon Reid, a racer that perished about 10 years earlier in a particularly gruesome racing accident at the old Dayton Speedway.

By: Jim in Wilmington

Jim in Wilmington — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:46:21 +0000

That book is also avalable from the on-line store for this site. Just click on the “Shop Our Store” link near the top of the page. I think the Sachs book is on page 2 of the listings.

Jim