Latt
Upton
Photo courtesy of Wayne Guy Lattney Earl UptonOctober 21, 1913 - July 3, 1996 |
Lattney
Earl Upton Latt Upton was born October 21, 1913, in Richardsville, Kentucky. Latt’s great-great grandparents, Joseph and Frances Upton, led the family to the Green River country in 1801 just about the time of the inaugural of the United States’ third president, Thomas Jefferson. Although many in the family have moved on, the Uptons remain deeply rooted in the Richardsville community. |
Latt
was a pleasant
man to be around. He was
quiet, soft-spoken, unassuming, with a sense of humor. He
never tried to impose his beliefs or opinions on others. Anyone
entering his home was always treated graciously. He
never used profanity, somewhat unusual for a member of the racing
community, and he was slow to anger. He was a man
of integrity, and he insisted that you respect that. The
only time I ever saw his temper was an occasion in which his honesty
was questioned over a car repair he had done. He
was on a creeper under a car at the time, and he came out cocked for
action with a ball-peen hammer in his hand demanding an apology.
He got it. I had the distinct
feeling that he would have used the hammer. Otherwise,
he was the epitome of the “southern gentleman.”
Latt
had a lifetime love affair with automobiles.
During his growing up years in the 1920’s the automobile was the
technological equivalent of the computer at the dawn of the 21st
century. Automobiles were changing the culture of
America, and every farm boy like Latt was absorbed with cars.
His
first
car was a
1926 Star, which he purchased in 1934. A Star was one of those early
day automobiles that were being
built in machine shops and garages all over America. If
a man built one car he was an inventor, if he built two he was a
manufacturer. Latt, age 21, found his Star in a
farmer’s barn, in pieces, covered with dust, parts missing; in a word,
it was junk. He could hardly contain his enthusiasm
as he negotiated the sales price with the owner. He
most likely paid too much for it because it was so obvious that he
wanted the car. The farmer was probably glad to get
it out of his barn. But he could see that Latt
needed that car like he had never needed anything before, so instead of
saying, “Just get it out of my way,” the farmer said, “Hand over the
money and it’s yours.”
Latt
got a couple
of his brothers to help him get the Star home.
Next, he began to scour the neighborhood for replacement parts.
It didn’t matter that most of the parts that he found were not
designed for a Star, all that mattered was that they fit. In
a short time, Latt had the old car running. He
didn’t know how to drive a car, but he got it out on the narrow country
roads around Richardsville and mastered the art of driving by trial and
error. He later tried to teach his father, Eli, to
drive the car, but only proved the truth of the old adage: “you can’t
teach an old dog new tricks.” The first time Eli
drove the Star he tried to stop it by yelling, “Whoa,” as he crashed
into his own barn.
In
rebuilding the
Star Latt found a part of himself. He
discovered a love for mechanics that never diminished. He
made his living as an auto mechanic, and entertained himself by
tinkering with cars in his spare time. His wife,
Betty, said that he reminded her of the postman who took a walk on his
day off. She said this during the days that postmen
actually walked as they delivered the mail.
In
the spring of
1951, Latt and Betty went to Owensboro, Kentucky
with his cousin, Charles Upton, Jr. and his wife, Norene, to see their
first stock car race. Stock car racing was just
beginning to arouse public interest, but was pretty much confined to
the South. Latt and Charles fell in love with
racing that day. Both went on to build stock cars.
At
the time there
was no stock car racing in Bowling Green, Kentucky
but that was about to change. In that same year of
1951 an enterprising trio consisting of Charles Garvin, owner of Beech
Bend Park; Raymond McClard, owner of the local Harley-Davidson
dealership and a local politician; and Hugh Porter Causey, a mechanic
and garage owner provided the impetus that brought an exciting new
sport to an enthusiastic following in Bowling Green. The
first race on August 5, 1951, drew a crowd of 2,500. Within
one year crowds reached an unbelievable 7,000 spectators drawn from a
community with a population of about 18,000.
Latt
became part of
the racing scene by building one of the first
stock cars in town. Larry Graham, who drove Latt’s
car to unexpected success in the 1951 season, recently described the
car as a “Rube Goldberg” type setup because of all the crazy things
that Latt had to do to make the car work. It was a
1939 Dodge coupe powered by a 1936 Cadillac V8. As
a matter of fact, Latt named the car Krazy Kat after the crazy comic
strip cat of that era because everyone was laughing at him for breaking
tradition and going with the big, heavy, powerful car.
Admittedly,
the weight of the car and the power of the
big Cadillac engine made the car difficult to drive. Another
problem was that the weight and torque tended to break the right rear
wheel as the car accelerated out of the turns. Latt
solved this problem by beefing up the wheel with a 7/16” metal plate
that fit over the lugs in the center of the wheel. According
to Graham, he and Latt decided that the secret to winning with this car
would be to use the brute power of the engine as opposed to winding it
up too tight. In driving it one had to let off a
little early going into a turn, drop low out of the groove and
accelerate hard coming out of the turn. Graham
found that he could almost always pick up a car length over the cars on
the outside in the groove. They began to win races,
culminating in a second place finish in the 1951 County Championship
and winning outright the 1951 Regional Championship race that was open
to all comers.
The
1952 racing
season was a year of disappointment for Latt.
First, he built a new, more traditional, racecar but it was not
ready when the season opened. Latt told Larry
Graham to find another ride, which was not a hard thing to do
considering his talent and proven record. Larry was
hired by Ray Fuller, owner of the Hudson dealership, who put him in a
Hudson Hornet. Larry dominated Beech Bend until
July, 1952, when he went into the U. S. Air Force. In
the meantime, Latt’s new car without Larry Graham was never competitive.
The season was consumed with crashes and breakdowns.
At the end of the season, Latt was frustrated and finished.
In
subsequent
years, Latt built other cars, designed for the road, each more sporty
than the last. In 1945 he designed and rebuilt an
old Model-A Ford. He shortened the wheel base and
cut the top off, resulting in a low-slung, canary yellow car that
looked a little like the MG convertible of the 1950’s. In
the late 1950’s he designed and rebuilt a 1937 Oldmobile into a
fin-tailed Batmobile-like convertible. This
candy-apple red car with white interior was built low to the ground
with a shortened wheel base. This lightweight car
was very quick with its supercharged Oldmobile V8 and automatic
transmission.
Betty Upton