Dave Humphrey

Competitor
CLASS OF 2000

During his racing career, Dave Humphrey has competed with the best, and beaten the best. He’s raced sprint cars against men like A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Johnny Rutherford. In midgets, he’s run with Lew Duncan, Gary Bettenhausen, and John Andretti. In super modifieds, he’s competed against Eddie West, Howie Brown, and Ollie Silva. Driving stock cars, Dave has run with Ed Flemke, Fred DeSarro, Bugs Stevens, Richie Evans, Ron Bouchard, and Leo Cleary.

Dave’s first race was at the Seekonk Speedway, in 1947. The next year, 1948, he won his first feature, driving a stock car. By the time he retired, Dave had won 3 championships at Seekonk (1951, 1952, 1959), plus ones at West Peabody Speedway, Norwood Arena and Waterford Speedbowl during the track’s first year, also in 1951. He beat “Moneybags” Moe Gherzi by 2 points for the Modified title.

Humphrey’s accomplishments in racing are many. He has run a NASCAR Grand National (now Cup Series) race at the Thompson Speedway. He competed in URC, where he drove sprint cars to 10 feature wins. In 1958, in his first visit to Claremont, NH, Dave took down the feature win.

But it was while driving midgets where Humphrey became one of New England’s all-time greats. He won 6 NEMA Championships between the years 1967 and ’78. When he retired, his 6 titles and 72 feature wins were unmatched. Humphrey won his last race at his hometrack Seekonk Speedway in 1986, at the age of 61 during an event billed as “Dave Humphrey Day”.

Humphrey passed away on December 7, 2020 at the age of 95 at his home in Seekonk, MA.