Antique Tractor Display  

Gary Wolford Fish Fry & Silver Spring Reunion – 5/4/2008

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In the long history of dirt track automobile racing few car owners accomplished as much in a very short time period as Sam Traylor. In only six racing seasons beginning in 1953 Sam’s cars won thirty-three AAA and USAC feature events and sectional titles in 1954 and 1958. His champ car competed in the Indianapolis “500” twice and in 1956 was one of the last dirt cars to start at Indianapolis. Many of the best dirt track drivers of all time carried the Traylor colors. A list of greats headed by Johnny Thomson, Eddie Sachs and Al Herman includes at least a dozen more very famous names including Indy winners Bill Holland and Pat Flaherty. Sam with his crew chief Carl Nosal and with help from Ken Hickey fielded the finest equipment of anytime past.

Above all of this was the man Sam Traylor - colorful, mischievous, and bigger than life. Sam was born in Allentown in 1928. He graduated from Oxford Academy in Pleasantville, New Jersey and attended Washington Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania before entering the U.S. Army. He was involved in several family business operations in addition to his racing business. When you campaign as many as six race cars at one time it is a big business. Sam and his father funded the building of the Traylor Research Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.