Factory Stock No.
46
Photo courtesy of JAF Racing Photo
Kent Staley
Kent
Staley, the son of Fay Staley and Vera Sager, was born in 1949 in
Denver, Colorado. His father worked for Mountain Bell and was
transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico when Kent was a young boy. As it
turned out, Albuquerque was, in Kent’s words, “a big, small town,” and
the perfect place for him to come of age.
Near the Staley home was the “Rick Shaw” car club, a group of young men who had a passion for hot rods. Kent was attracted to the cars and to the men who built them. They took to the kid who hung around with them, teaching him to weld, cut metal, and build race cars, dragsters, and street rods. Staley discovered that he had a natural ability for mechanics and having 20-30 mentors made it even easier. By the time he entered high school he could already rebuild a motor. Fay, Kent’s father, on the other hand, was a golfer. He had no interest at all in cars and was amazed at Kent’s growing passion for them.
You can’t spend all of your spare time working on cars and not want to get behind the wheel. So it was with Kent. There was a dirt road near Kent’s house that led to Albuquerque’s waste disposal dump. Kent would volunteer to mow the grass and clean up around the yard if his mother would let him drive to the dump. Kent laughed as he explained, “Soon we had the cleanest yard in town.” His mother’s approach to driver’s education was unique. She taught Kent to drive backwards. Her philosophy was that if you could control the car going backwards, it would be easy to go forward. “I used the same technique when I taught my kids to drive,” said Kent.
Kent’s father, Fay, was from the old school. He was conservative, didn’t like hot rods, and worked long hours. He was the kind of man who backed his kids, but didn’t necessarily let them know he cared all that much. As a result, like many of Kent’s generation, he was closer to his mother. “She let me get away with things,” said Kent, “which made it easy to sneak out the family Studebaker and slide around the corners on the nearby dirt roads going as fast as I could.” That was really the beginning of Staley’s stock car racing career.
According to Staley, he was a loner in high school. That’s a little surprising, because at 6’5” and 260 pounds, he tends to stand out in a crowd. But as he says, “I always had a job. I went to school all day and worked at a gas station until midnight. I worked from 6:00 a.m. until midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. I had a hot rod, a 1934 Ford 3-window coupe with a Cadillac motor, and I had to support it.”
In 1971, Staley graduated from North American Technical Institute with a degree in electrical engineering. “Electronics was the booming industry in those days, and that’s why I chose it.” Later, in 1985, he rounded out his education with a degree in business management from the University of Phoenix.
Kent met Beverly Postlethwait at a dance in Alburquerque. She was with her sister and her mother. “I noticed her right away,” said Kent, “so I sent her a coke by the waiter. Later I asked her to dance, and I’ll never forget what she said. ‘OK, as long as you don’t step on my feet.’ The first thing I did was step on her feet. The rest is history.” They were married in 1974.
Naturally, a kid who was practically raised in a car club by a bunch of young guns would want to race. Kent began racing a dragster while in high school. He discovered that the person with the most dollars and cubic inches usually won. About this time he also discovered stock car racing. The mechanic at the gas station where he worked raced a stock car on a dirt track, and he convinced Kent to pit for him. He was soon hooked as he realized that it was really man against man; the best driver usually won, not necessarily the best car.
“My first stock car was a 1957 Ford with a 292 cubic inch engine. At my first race I remember my stomach churning; I was nervous and scared until the green flag dropped. After that all I thought about was going as fast as I could.” Kent admits that he was very good early in his career with several wins during that first season. He got even better with experience. “I was the ‘Anthony Madrid’ of New Mexico when I was a young buck,” said Staley without bragging. Any fan at Manzanita Speedway knows that means “real good.”
As the old saying goes, all good things come to an end. In Kent’s case, work and family responsibilities took center stage. Like his father, Kent worked for Mountain Bell as an engineer, transferring to Arizona in 1983. With the deregulation of the telephone system, Kent’s workload increased. First, the company sent him to Denver for over a year, then to Flagstaff for two years, ultimately managing 43 offices. All this time Bev maintained the family’s home in Mesa while operating W. C. Fields Towing, a company they owned. It was a brutal schedule for the entire family. As Kent put it, “We were workaholics.”
Finally, in 1999, Kent and Bev were burned out, so Kent retired at age 50. His only regret he says is that, “I wouldn’t have retired so early if I could do it over. But I was so tired; Bev was tired too. Retirement is awful, and I’m bored silly now. Only my cars keep me busy.”
The Staleys are a racing family. In 1972, Kent took Bev to a stock car race for their first date. To his delight she liked it! She became a stock car champion in her own right. For the past 25 years Bev has been a scorekeeper, first in Albuquerque and now at Manzanita Speedway. There is no one better at this difficult task.
Kent raced off and on after moving to Arizona. He was the Late Model Champion at Firebird Raceway in 1984 and the Super Stock Champion for 1990 at Manzanita Speedway. In 2002, he got his son, Reeve, involved in the Factory Stock Division at Manzanita. “I was feeling old and tired until I discovered that racing with my son is a blast; it made me feel young again.”
In 2003, Kent entered his own car, number 46, into the fray at Manzanita. Now he was busy again. When asked about his keys to the winner’s circle, Kent responded, “When I first started racing I let the adrenaline take over. Over time I learned to control it and stay calm and patient. I think patience is the number one key. Of course, you must have good equipment and take care of it. I enjoy taking care of my car, and I help other drivers, too. I feel like I’m paying back for the guys at the Rick Shaw Car Club.”
Near the Staley home was the “Rick Shaw” car club, a group of young men who had a passion for hot rods. Kent was attracted to the cars and to the men who built them. They took to the kid who hung around with them, teaching him to weld, cut metal, and build race cars, dragsters, and street rods. Staley discovered that he had a natural ability for mechanics and having 20-30 mentors made it even easier. By the time he entered high school he could already rebuild a motor. Fay, Kent’s father, on the other hand, was a golfer. He had no interest at all in cars and was amazed at Kent’s growing passion for them.
You can’t spend all of your spare time working on cars and not want to get behind the wheel. So it was with Kent. There was a dirt road near Kent’s house that led to Albuquerque’s waste disposal dump. Kent would volunteer to mow the grass and clean up around the yard if his mother would let him drive to the dump. Kent laughed as he explained, “Soon we had the cleanest yard in town.” His mother’s approach to driver’s education was unique. She taught Kent to drive backwards. Her philosophy was that if you could control the car going backwards, it would be easy to go forward. “I used the same technique when I taught my kids to drive,” said Kent.
Kent’s father, Fay, was from the old school. He was conservative, didn’t like hot rods, and worked long hours. He was the kind of man who backed his kids, but didn’t necessarily let them know he cared all that much. As a result, like many of Kent’s generation, he was closer to his mother. “She let me get away with things,” said Kent, “which made it easy to sneak out the family Studebaker and slide around the corners on the nearby dirt roads going as fast as I could.” That was really the beginning of Staley’s stock car racing career.
According to Staley, he was a loner in high school. That’s a little surprising, because at 6’5” and 260 pounds, he tends to stand out in a crowd. But as he says, “I always had a job. I went to school all day and worked at a gas station until midnight. I worked from 6:00 a.m. until midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. I had a hot rod, a 1934 Ford 3-window coupe with a Cadillac motor, and I had to support it.”
In 1971, Staley graduated from North American Technical Institute with a degree in electrical engineering. “Electronics was the booming industry in those days, and that’s why I chose it.” Later, in 1985, he rounded out his education with a degree in business management from the University of Phoenix.
Kent met Beverly Postlethwait at a dance in Alburquerque. She was with her sister and her mother. “I noticed her right away,” said Kent, “so I sent her a coke by the waiter. Later I asked her to dance, and I’ll never forget what she said. ‘OK, as long as you don’t step on my feet.’ The first thing I did was step on her feet. The rest is history.” They were married in 1974.
Naturally, a kid who was practically raised in a car club by a bunch of young guns would want to race. Kent began racing a dragster while in high school. He discovered that the person with the most dollars and cubic inches usually won. About this time he also discovered stock car racing. The mechanic at the gas station where he worked raced a stock car on a dirt track, and he convinced Kent to pit for him. He was soon hooked as he realized that it was really man against man; the best driver usually won, not necessarily the best car.
“My first stock car was a 1957 Ford with a 292 cubic inch engine. At my first race I remember my stomach churning; I was nervous and scared until the green flag dropped. After that all I thought about was going as fast as I could.” Kent admits that he was very good early in his career with several wins during that first season. He got even better with experience. “I was the ‘Anthony Madrid’ of New Mexico when I was a young buck,” said Staley without bragging. Any fan at Manzanita Speedway knows that means “real good.”
As the old saying goes, all good things come to an end. In Kent’s case, work and family responsibilities took center stage. Like his father, Kent worked for Mountain Bell as an engineer, transferring to Arizona in 1983. With the deregulation of the telephone system, Kent’s workload increased. First, the company sent him to Denver for over a year, then to Flagstaff for two years, ultimately managing 43 offices. All this time Bev maintained the family’s home in Mesa while operating W. C. Fields Towing, a company they owned. It was a brutal schedule for the entire family. As Kent put it, “We were workaholics.”
Finally, in 1999, Kent and Bev were burned out, so Kent retired at age 50. His only regret he says is that, “I wouldn’t have retired so early if I could do it over. But I was so tired; Bev was tired too. Retirement is awful, and I’m bored silly now. Only my cars keep me busy.”
The Staleys are a racing family. In 1972, Kent took Bev to a stock car race for their first date. To his delight she liked it! She became a stock car champion in her own right. For the past 25 years Bev has been a scorekeeper, first in Albuquerque and now at Manzanita Speedway. There is no one better at this difficult task.
Kent raced off and on after moving to Arizona. He was the Late Model Champion at Firebird Raceway in 1984 and the Super Stock Champion for 1990 at Manzanita Speedway. In 2002, he got his son, Reeve, involved in the Factory Stock Division at Manzanita. “I was feeling old and tired until I discovered that racing with my son is a blast; it made me feel young again.”
In 2003, Kent entered his own car, number 46, into the fray at Manzanita. Now he was busy again. When asked about his keys to the winner’s circle, Kent responded, “When I first started racing I let the adrenaline take over. Over time I learned to control it and stay calm and patient. I think patience is the number one key. Of course, you must have good equipment and take care of it. I enjoy taking care of my car, and I help other drivers, too. I feel like I’m paying back for the guys at the Rick Shaw Car Club.”
Kent
Staley remains a workaholic in spite of what he may say. Work is part
of his upbringing; it’s always been a part of his life. He tells a
memorable story of his father’s last few years of life. Fay Staley was
also a busy man with lots of projects to do. One day he said, “We
finally got everything done.” He passed away that night. Kent said, “I
have never forgotten that. If you have something to do, you have
something to live for.” Kent Staley is going to be busy for a long time.