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Charlie Lutkie
of Wichita, Kansas is pictured above with a yellow over dark blue 1934 Ford
flathead V-8, five-window-coupe that he drove for car owner Joe Collins
of Winfield, Kansas. Note the victory flags painted on the dented roof
of the car. While presenting races on the Winfield
racetrack in the early 1970s, I stopped by Lutkie's home to personally invite
him to participate in the next scheduled racing program. I apologized
for not being able to convince the City of Winfield to remove the steel pipe
guard railing from around the racetrack but Lutkie told me, "Don't worry about it. If you
run into that, you're where you shouldn't be anyway." Lutkie told me in April 2000 that he did not believe he missed any races at Winfield after running there his first time in 1950. When asked what he thought of the Winfield racetrack, Lutkie said, "I liked it, but then, I never raced on a bad track. Racetracks are like women. Some are better than others but none of them are bad. You have to race with the racetrack, not against it. It's like being in a fight. You have to fight with your opponent, not against him." – Photo from the Willard Bodkins collection |
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ABOVE, LEFT: Charlie
Lutkie with the a 1932 Hudson coupe stock car he purchased from Bob Thackery
of Wichita, Kansas. Lutkie won at least one trophy dash at Winfield,
Kansas in this car in 1958 – Alden Davis collection ABOVE, RIGHT: Charlie Lutkie in Al Williams' #51 car in 1952 – Ira Woodward photo |
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Return to page 2 of the Hsitory of Auto Racing at Winfield website. |
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