Ken Schrader's Hometown History Tour: The Early Days Before NASCAR in St. Louis

this you got to see so this is my daddy's shop yeah you could barely walk around the back of this I tell the real estate story if you aren't nice to me it's okay he put the wrw gear in the car one time I worked in that building it was a Western Auto store I had a onecar garage cost me $80 a month throttle stuck one time his telepone p a ton and I do whatever I had to do I just didn't want to do it I wanted to race so this is Fenton Fenton is a small area real small City I think not a lot of houses a lot of Industry we're run over my daddy's old shop which was my brother's shop later which was my nephew's shop now which was next to Lake Hill Speedway I don't know if Kenny talked about the big reunion they had yeah he did yeah I didn't go he got mad at me cuz I didn't go why didn't you want to go cuz I went to Mississippi to race and he called me and told me he said there's so many people here it's unbelievable it's so neat which I you know I'd love to seen the people and stuff I said good you know what you need to tell those people if they would have came when it was still open it'd still be open so valid point no all then people would come out when it was still open it still be open but people weren't coming and it shut so this was my daddy's shop but the shop was just that center part build it in 59 I remember I was four years old I was a ladder they were doing something on the roof and I climbed up that ladder and I was terrified how I was going to get down they helped me get down so my Daddy sold it to my brother Bill that ran it for years and then his son Ed bought it from him who's proba probably been here over 20 now there's a cat man we're on a tour yeah yeah what yeah how are you doing sir bad how are you so when when he built it it was just that wall to this wall anything ever end up in the creek not I know of well there have been a lot of stuff put in the creek but never rolled in the creek yeah there have been a lot of stuff put in the creek when this place was built when this place was built you could barely walk around the back of it right yeah you could barely walk around the back of this that's the bridge to Lake Hill yeah the old bridge they've been putting in those peers there they got to put in a new one um you hear what they've done over there right storage or something they've probably raised at 6t thousands of dump trucks the other side of of the tracks okay but how do they get to it through the little you still got to go through the little V room for a dumper up through that that hole there so brother built right here is where the bathroom door was the bathroom door and at the that was the main at the at the house at shop oh see that 755 Forest the wood door oh okay that's that was the outside door cuz the outside of the shop was here brother built this office I got that car brother Bill built that one the color it's kind of got a green interior and stuff sued suede or whatever no Valour I don't know what it is yeah but it was like you know it just got it got real dated and now it's it's back in I it looks pretty neat yeah how high has the water been in here that looks like a water line right there that is a soda machine that is s machine wow it was bottom of that air conditioner right there the only good thing is this particular place it comes up yeah it comes up and back down it was it don't really tear up the building at all styrofoam insulated doors float those are the exhaust Hol in the bottom of the door the doors floated up the water came up holy holy so it breaks that thing off yeah that won't hold that's wait a minute that's impressive that that deal sticking down here or like there on the other side wow that deal going right here latched will not hold uh that door from going up that's crazy oh here we go there that was a little SL that was 82 that's turn one and two of Lake Hill and we're standing in that building so if you look how close that actually is we're like basically at the end of turn one and two yeah so from there [Music] two here that was it driving car to the RAC track oh this is way different yeah this is very different than when we came here with Kenny wow wasn't there another bridge to get over here there there was a little walk Bridge here somewhere it went over there because that's where the park lot was oh yeah it was right there oh the concrete was still there where they 14 foot man I did not think I wonder if they've cut this down I did not think it was ever this big okay so we're parking stuff back here this was one of the Lakes originally right here is that the lake that people would swim in when this was like a swimming Resort thing yeah it came back oh yeah that's awes fi and it came back uh there was a set of steps here somewhere um cuz people came from the city out here and this was a like a resort it says 1930 on it yep 1930 how far away was the house you grew up in from here uh we'll run by there would this be the place for you crashing of the the bird Bass oh yeah we'll go by there too got to go byy that one first wonder what the new noises here him yeah I want to replace as many things as possible so yep 59 buil that and this used to be real little and dangerous turn dad gave the city some property had up here they made it a lot better did you ever shake down your race cars on this street no never Pat did going the other way throttle stuck one time his telepone pull a ton L killed him right here see this house the white one yep that's where we were originally except not that house cuz the house we were in got ate up I mean not when we were in but after we moved they wound up tearing it down years later yeah Pat replaced an engine in the car one day and Sunday he went blasted down the street and throttle stuck so he knew he's better off to hit something quick than let it keep getting going faster so he hit the telephone pull but wow that was a hell of a hit yeah so I ran that shop up here for 8 hours a month I only went from maybe not even a mile I guess maybe a mile I don't know pretty close yeah and then the house Daddy bought out here about 2 miles maybe maybe 2 miles what was the reason for moving to your own one stall garage was there um you know and it was in Dad's way and them guys would come by after work and they'd be sitting there drinking beer telling me how stupid I was and stuff which I knew that you know I knew but uh I just wanted my own place you know I got an apartment about a year after school and I got a shop and I said wow kind of deep it because between the two of them it was like $300 a month between the apartment and the shop so 300 bucks man stretch pretty thin I was working at the Western then Western h i the auction house I don't remember which one but before the levy or anything you would drop down here none of this was here that building was there and it was in below that building I had a onecar garage that cost me $80 a month that's I moved from Daddy's to there that was the first shop I ever rented that was my shop so that was the original Cas Shader World Headquarters well you know about that but we went they didn't have a walk IND door I just had Overhead Door left daddies went to that shop for $80 a month and then wound up buying that house $80 a month seemed like a lot time John henard was my landlord I worked for him for a little bit here in an auction company I wasn't a very good employee I didn't really want I wanted to mess with my cars I didn't really want to work on stuff they didn't want a real job it's a Young's dairy mark you'll see pictures in here which I worked in that building it was a Western Auto store I worked in there and they had a little building out in the front and that was the Western AIS store and that little ice cream place was right in the front a lot of lot of stuff we in this corner had a lot of good times so what were you like as an employee at all these various jobs oh I didn't have many I only had worked at the Western house store and worked at the auction house a little bit nothing I'd do whatever I had to do I just didn't want to do it I wanted to race who were the the other family family friends that live next to you in both places I read that in your book Bud and darthy kler Dad came home one day and he told my mom he' bought this house bu and darthy didn't have any kids so my sister and I were like their kids I stayed with them two nights a week from the time I could walk to their house you know which was 100 ft till I was like 16 76 and sister stayed there two nights a week so dad come home and told Mom that he bought this house we were going to move so she went over to Dorothy's house and they started crying MD came home so what's wrong so they're moving so he come up and bought a house up here too and that was maybe of maybe about 88 62 63 three something like that mom and dad lived here forever until they moved to Licking Missouri like 130 Mi away from here I remember it was a big deal when they they told me I could ride my bicycle to the shop and you know looking back and seeing these roads and this roads this is nice now they used to let me ride my bicycle go down there and said huh maybe they were trying to get rid of me but this was a great place man we had some trails and this road you won't believe it but when we got to turn on was mber drive right after we moved up here it was brand new asphalt you could wheelie that motorcycle just as long as you could go it's hard to believe this is brand new asphalt that is hard to believe yeah so that's the house right there 34 mber Straight Ahead basement was all playroom it was pretty cool and this is the house for crashing into the bird bath no that was that other one oh okay the other one that's what Daddy built the shop the shop wasn't there the house shop the garage wasn't there when we Liv there used this yard used to had to mow that was a kid had to mow that yard now all them trees weren't there but it was not much fun to mow you're still a kid there having fun yeah I was in it maybe four or 5 years ago um I stopped just knocked on the door people are very nice um I'm talking new asph it was perfect all the way up here too even all the way up here way past here can't imagine what the heck this is well you can with the hill and the rain it just you know floods instantly but this was the house darthy and Bud bought it was brand new when they moved in it was great 42 42 M we were 34 I think did you have your own bedroom in their house too oh sister and I shared it yeah didn't expect to go off-roading in the Juke it's not a Juke it's a cube baby is that what it is yeah how do you not know that I don't know I don't I got lots of carf facts in my head you look at it I've never studied the Nissan product line I just look how it's one of those things no Juke is like a baby Rogue oh yeah that's right see I kind of I get these things mixed up with that the hamster Kia thing yeah Kia Soul yeah is that what that is with the dancing hamster commercial yeah they still make it though don't they I think so which I sold a lot of them things this the house which one was your bedroom I don't know the one that's got the plastic on it I think sisters was this car I'm sure had uh hardwood floors and living room stuff that were out of a bowling alley oh that's cool they were neat they still have the little arrows on them from the lane lines or something finished there were no arrows the people that built this place the mber lived there and the Quinns lived there they were very good friends but the uh water would come down flood the basement but then this nothing I mean you know like every place there was I mean there's thousands of houses up there now all around and there was nothing we could ride our bikes down through that Creek go all down there the motorcycles were there other kids of your your age around here they did that couple yeah yeah we had enough to get in trouble we never got in any big trouble but what was the worst thing you did oh I don't think nothing real bad did you ever throw anything at cars on the road oh hell no no I like cars I I like cars I didn't want to tear up nothing like that no we decided to make that a question that we ask everybody because carrier and Har through watermelons with passing cars as a kid and Brad Kowski through pine cones at one time we got in trouble for throwing pine cones at cars passing that happened so now we need to know what did you throw at the car no guess you you were a good kid then yeah now when we were at the other house and I was like four or five years old and all the race cars most of them had to come down that road and I had a set of flags that Mrs Laden Decker Leo Laden Decker was flagman Mrs Laden Decker had made me and I'd give if was somebody I common liked to give them suer flag somebody I didn't like wasn't my favorite I give them the Black Flag when they were going to the races had none of this none of this stuff was here and it was uh Petty's Hill comes in goes up here goes up there there's it was some places up there we weren't supposed to ride our bikes down to there but we could get there where'd you go to school uh well we're going to go past one but I went when we lived here it moved our school district to we started out in Valley Park School District and we lived down on Forest Avenue but this put us in Parkway School District and that that school is little bit of a hike away but uh I went to kindergarten and first second third grade I think that's it right right there so your whole young life was kind of contained in this this one little strip here it seems like yeah pretty much did you play any sports in school no I went out my senior uh junior year I was going to play football that didn't go very long you didn't like it now one day I was late getting down there for practice and the coach it made me run four laps because I was late getting down there but someone had hid my shoulder pads and it I ran four laps that pissed me off so I was number seven they hadn't made Cuts yet it was still tryouts and I hit these were doing the deal where says go and you hit the dummies and I hit the hell out of that dummy and he said said that's it number seven wants to be a football player oh I hit that dummy and it hurt and he was happy and I was like number seven want to be a football player number seven's going to start racing in May this September I can find something else to do between now and then so I told him next day said hey I'm done he said you'll make it you'll make the team make the team and being a't good was two different things so I said no I don't want to do it so that was it that was a high school sports it's probably a good decision yeah I don't know about that but when I hurt and he was happy I just thought it was that was enough so this was a skinny little two-lane road that you didn't even want to haul the drive the truck and trailer up not that it's not a lot wider now this is going to my old house which we built the 30X 32 garage Billy Collins build it Builder shop that we got now in the house it was 79 and my brother Pat Walsh who owns the place now he wound up getting a divorce needed a place to keep his car so we added on to the shop years later he Pat wound up buying everything this is breath old drive uh I told Mom bought a little house in Fenton and then she came out here and I brought her out here and I I drove her right up to here and pulled in and she oh that's very nice mom but yes said no Mom that's not it but the house that we're going to my sister and brother-in-law knocked it down it was just a little brick house and they they knocked it down and build a new house they build a real nice place but it's got the shop in the back still so they built this let me go down to the back to the shop got the trailer in the this is Joey's my crew chief Joey's daddy oh so what was that shop across the driveway just Neighbors play shop huh all right we get out look at this place yep the house wasn't here this was a little video old house we buil this is my sister Sharon Hi ni meet you Mitchell Mitch that supposed to be a boat race car shop this was it 30 by 32 it was fantastic this nice to meet you hi babe Shelby this man this was kickass when we built it two cars fa you could put two in there this way and one here when we had three and we were we were we were standing tall see Red Baron pizza that was 87 started so what if this uh the equipment or setup in here is still the way it was when you were working a good bit of it yeah a good bit of it yeah breake and sheer yeah is the same break and Shear yeah yeah back there f this right here is why we make these videos cuz how would anybody ever know about this this is so cool and that's supposed to be a boat but this is the part we added on when P was going to bring his stuff over so we added on over here and I a race car over here yeah but we had it on that's one of the roof last roof off of his car when I took car 52 this is a funny story I'll never forget when I started working on cars the first Christmas that occurred after I had been working on my project car Monte Carlo you know what my dad got me flares and magnetic lights and I thought wow is this really what you think of me you think I'm going to break down but really I just realized that he was trying TR to make sure I was safe you could do the same thing for yourself or one of your relatives get him a fantic tire pump because nobody is immune to Leaky tires and most people don't have an air compressor at their house and it sucks to go to a gas station and use that dirty thing super easy to use and it's pretty much a beast self-contained C goes right in there got accessories inside charges with a USBC it's got a built-in flashlight too in case you have a problem in the dark and it's freaking bright and you just set it whatever PSI you want and it'll turn itself off when you're done I don't have a 30 like having this little panel inside with the lid for different attachments for filling a football or bike tires or kids toys pool toys whatever even more compact option is the fantic AA Apex where everything self-contained in this nice little packet I leave this one under the back seat in my truck all the time fantic is running a huge Black Friday sale offering their inflators at the lowest prices ever use my discount code for up to4 4% off but you got to hurry cuz it ends on December 2nd check the description for the links and the discount codes it's a nice building this this you got to see because you like my 84 Suburban oh yeah yeah yeah oh my God yeah so are you your whole family Suburban people I noticed that red one up there and I was going to ask you that was our brother bills and he passed last a year ago last July this past July and uh I was like I want the Suburban that's the best thing I drive it every day they're awesome you drive it every day and we have a new tourist not new but new to us um sitting in the garage and my 54 pickup my I have a four I have a 54 F wow so um yeah I drive the Suburban every day those are like the best driving most comfortable cars they are they are this one was built here right here except for the final paint and the postery yeah Val fo me for a second it's a LS 72 yeah it's an LS three it's an o02 I mean it's a 72 body but it's on an 06 chassis I shortened oh that's cool that's why I put the Rack in which when I put the racking had to raise ceiling because I didn't think about that so this thing got to drive great then yeah's good look at how how much have you driven it uh total of 22,000 M okay ,000 on this motor watch the door don't hit the wow you did all this yourself yeah I didn't do the final post you but than everything else these are this conss I made the door panels I made everything but I put a whole floor and firewall in this thing from the front to the back are the seats the reupholstered 06 seat reol oh this…