I was a member of the Blackfoot Chapter of the Junior Chamber of Commerce more often known as the Jaycees. Ron Porter from Boise was the Idaho State Jaycee President one of the years that I was a member and we became acquainted and did a lot of talking about racing. I knew that he had raced a lot more than I had. He had raced midgets and had driven Art Sugai’s Pink Lady. One of his duties as president was to visit different Jaycee chapters through out the state.
This particular night he had been in Pocatello and came out to the race track. He came in the pits and was visiting with me. That night the last race was a mechanics race which they would have one or two times a year. I asked him if he would like to race in it and he jumped at the chance. I showed him the "brake/throttle" set up and he shook his head and said he would figure it out. He said "I got my driving suit and helmet in the trunk of my car" and he went to get them. When I was asked who was going to drive the car I told them it was a Phantom Driver.
Ron was the last one to get on the track and only got a couple of laps before the start. They lined up the cars up by who got there first and Ron had to start last. The cars that were in front of him were a lot better and faster than that little home made first year car he was in. I think the race was about ten laps. They started it and it took him a couple of laps to figure the brake/throttle out. He picked them off one at a time and by the finish he was way out in front.
That was the fastest that car went that year. The spectators loved it. He got the trophy and the announcer recognized who he was. Later that evening the announcer came in the pits and said, "where did you get that ringer"? After that, every time they had a mechanics race they would tell me "no more phantoms."
Ron Porter was tragically killed a few years later in Boise working on his own race car.
Leon Daniels