Boyse enjoys his time at the track

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 8/10/22

It was a hectic weekend during a busy summer for Ron Boyse. 

He was back on the dirt at West Liberty Raceway on Saturday night just 24 hours after his races at the Marshalltown …

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Boyse enjoys his time at the track

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It was a hectic weekend during a busy summer for Ron Boyse. 

He was back on the dirt at West Liberty Raceway on Saturday night just 24 hours after his races at the Marshalltown Speedway. 

The 2022 season has taken Boyse to dirt tracks all around Eastern Iowa with the Super Late Model racing series.  

“I never got to do it when I was younger,” Boyse said. “We used to have what they called the Busch Tour, and it used to go to all kinds of different race tracks. Well, I could only go on the weekends, I had a job and (other responsibilities).”

Now Boyse, who is retired from Billion Chevrolet after 44 years as the parts manager, has the time to travel to speedways at Davenport, Maquoketa, Fayette County, Lee County and Adams County. 

He raced at the East Moline Speedway for the first time on May 29. 

He battled the SLMR series leader Justin Kay for eight laps in heat one at Cresco on June 23, which was one of the highlights of his summer. 

“I got started in the front row of the heat and I led until the last quarter of the last lap of the heat race,” Boyse said. “The eventual feature winner, he passed me on turns three and four.”

He finished second in the heat and 15th out of 27 in the feature. 

“I timed in pretty decent, so I got to start in the front row,” Boyse said about the heat. “Timing is pretty much everything. If you don’t time in good, you don’t get a good starting spot and then it just goes downhill all night.”

Boyse was one of 26 cars that reached the ‘A’ feature at Marshalltown on Friday out of the 37 who participated in qualifying.

“There were a bunch of good cars that didn’t make the show,” Boyse said. 

“It’s a tough series to run, there are no slouches.” 

Ron followed his brother Ken into racing in 1973, and bought his 1966 Chevelle. The Boyse brothers spent one season racing together. 

Ron’s first race was an educational experience. 

“I thought I was going to set the world on fire,” Boyse recalled. “About the first lap, I knew that it wasn’t going to be that way. 

“I thought I was going to go out and do some really fast laps… but I did get my eyes opened up real fast.”

With a year under his belt, Boyse didn’t have much money or equipment, but he started having a little more success. 

“A tackle box was all we had for tools and we didn’t have a spare tire,” Boyse said. “We didn’t have a lot of money. But it was just fun getting started and trying to get some laps in. And then probably after the first year, we started doing a little bit better.”

Boyse won three straight Late Model championships at the Tipton Speedway in the ‘80s, but it wasn’t the trophies that kept him coming back to the track for 50 years. 

“It’s all the people we’ve met over the years, the friends,” he said. “You meet a lot of good people, and I get along with pretty much everybody.” 

He’s had some help along the way as well. 

“I’ve had different crews over the years,” Boyse said. “We couldn’t do without the crews and all the sponsors.”

His biggest supporter is his wife, Becky. 

“She’s helped me do a little bit of everything,” Ron said. “If I need help on a race car, she helps me on a race car. We usually bring food in the motorhome and feed the crew and she usually coordinates that. She keeps me in line. 

“She’s been a big help over the years. If she didn’t enjoy it, I probably wouldn’t be doing it. But she enjoys it as much as I do.” 

He won’t be traveling as much next year, but Boyse has no plans to park his car yet. 

“I don’t know, I always say ‘next year’,” Boyse said about retirement. “When I quit having fun, then I’ll quit.”