The Racing Legacy of Kenny Rogers

By Walter Elliott

Scores of competitive sprint car chassis and film clips of closed Southern short track ovals may be indirect and perhaps unintended legacies of the late vocalist Kenny Rogers, who died at his Georgia home on March 20, 2020.

Kenneth Roy Rogers’ passing at age 81 occurred not far from the Georgia and Alabama tracks used for scenes in his 1982 movie “Six Pack.”

Along with his more than 100 country and popular hit songs, Rogers’ name became synonymous with “The Gambler,” his 1978 mega-hit.  He parlayed that signature single and album to acting roles in a series of made-for-television-movies, partial ownership of the 1984-85 USFL football Houston Gamblers team, and a connection to the Gambler Chassis Company of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Rogers lent his name to car builder C.K. Spurlock’s chassis building venture in 1979 and sponsored the No. 18 Gambler “house car” on the World of Outlaws sprint car circuit in the early 1980s. Spurlock was Rogers’ concert manager as well as the public relations director for West Virginia’s International Raceway Park.

Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Doug Wolfgang, Brad Doty, and Danny Smith were among the sprint car champions and stars who ran the No. 18 house car at one time or another. Gambler popularized the “downtube” chassis frame in 1986-87, a design now found in everything from USAC Silver Crown Dirt Cars to regional Micro Sprints.

Gamblers were also used to win sprint car championships in Australia and New Zealand.  Spurlock, however, turned his attention to motorcycles by 2000.  Gambler Motorcycles continues under different ownership since 2004.

Rogers, again via the Gambler name, sponsored the NASCAR Winston Cup Chevrolet Monte Carlos of Geoffrey Bodine and Tim Richmond in the years 1984-87.

It was between those ventures that Rogers and Spurlock bought and modified five 1970 Chevy Camaro-bodied Howe track late model stock cars for “Six Pack.”  Rogers starred as Brewster Baker, a free-lance dirt late model driver who was looking for one last chance at making the NASCAR tour.

Baker, while stopping at a gas station, discovers six orphaned children who were stripping his No. 49 Camaro and his motor home while he was away in the men’s room. He adopts the sextet, becomes romantically involved with the female lead (Diane Lane) and gets a Ford Motor Company factory ride.

Viewers of the 20th Century Fox release can spot Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and the late Alan Kulwicki making cameo appearances. Its stock racing footage came from the March 21, 1982 Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was won by Waltrip.

Other racing fans may have fun spotting the several short track ovals used for close-up filming, including:

● Birmingham, Alabama, International Raceway.  Extant from 1906 through 2008, the five-eighths-mile speedway was demolished after the October 26, 2008, World 200 when financing fell through to move it to the city’s northwest.

● Seven Flags Speedway in Douglasville, Georgia.  The three-eighths-mile oval stood from 1951 through 2006, and was then replaced by a housing complex.

● Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia, is a three-eighths-mile dirt track that is set to start its 2020 season in May, if the Coronavirus pandemic does not push the date back.

● The half-mile paved oval at Gresham Motorsport Park, in Jefferson, Georgia.  This facility was known as Georgia International Speedway during Six Pack filming, and after six years of dormancy plans to re-open this May, also dependent on the progress of the COVID-19 virus.

Rogers held on to one of the No. 49 Howe-Camaros, its trailer and the mobile home in Spurlock’s Gambler garage until 1996, the sole Six Pack survivor.  This particular car was used for Rogers’
driving closeups via an externally mounted camera.

The other four cars were damaged during Six Pack’s filming. One was scrapped outright after a post-movie racing crash at Seven Flags Speedway. The other three became parts cars.

Sprint car builder Larry Wood, of New Weston, Ohio, restored the No. 49 prior to its 2017 sale by a St. Louis area dealer.