J.T. "Spud" Simkins 1920 - 2008
Longtime racer and speedway promoter, J.T. "Spud" Simkins passed away on Saturday, December 27, 2008. He was 88 years old. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, January 2nd, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Chapel services for Mr. Simkins will be held on Saturday, January 3rd, at 12:00 p.m., at Greenlawn Memorial Chapel, 3700 River Boulevard. Michael S. Helm will officiate. Spud was born in Wyoming to parents, Edward Hershel and Myrtle Iva (Davidson) Simkins on February 1, 1920. At the age of nine, Spud contracted polio which would leave him paralyzed from the waist down. After many operations and strong determination Spud taught himself to walk again. It did not deter his ambitions. He went on to win a few jitterbug contests in high school. During World War II he volunteered his service to the military but was turned away because of his medical situation. He found his place of service as a cook in the Merchant Marines. After the war, he returned to Santa Maria where he found work at Mrs. Burnette's Caf as a cook. Spud was a legendary local figure with deep ties to Bakersfield and Santa Maria Speedway. He became one of the top roadster, midgets and jalopy drivers in California during the '40's and '50's where he won numerous track championships. Spud had a passion for engineering and building racing machinery. All of Spud's success came with the use of one leg. In the late '50's he began a new facet of his racing career which brought him to Bakersfield Speedway as a promoter. In 1964, he extended his promoting career to Santa Maria Speedway during it's opening and creation. In 1979 he returned to a defunct Bakersfield Speedway which was on the edge of collapse with the arrival of Mesa Marin Raceway. Spud went on to save Bakersfield Speedway by resurrecting it to a mile clay oval. Bakersfield Speedway would go on to outlast Mesa Marin Raceway which ran it's last race in 2005. In the late 1980's, he made the move to Amarillo, Texas as track owner/promoter and also a promoter in Pahrump, Nevada. Spud was quite the gambler. He and Cleo loved to go to Las Vegas. Cleo played the slots and Spud played cards. Texas Hold'em was his game of choice. He was a fixture at the Golden West Casino and owned The Cardroom and Market at Garces Circle. Spud is survived by his daughter, Patty Edward-Lowe and her husband, Wayne; son, Don Simkins; and daughter, Sandy Simkins; grandchildren, Mark Simkins, Billy Simkins and wife, Nicole, Teresa Walters, Loriann Edwards, Angela Simkins and husband, Ramoan, Jessica Warthen and husband, Alex, and Matthew Simkins; sister, Margaret Ferguson; 14 great- grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his wife, Cleo Simkins; son, Danny Simkins; granddaughter, Alicia Simkins; grandsons, David Walters and Gabriel Simkins; brothers, Edward and Edgar Simkins, and sister, Betty Simkins; and first wife, Teresa Meske-Simkins. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in Spud's name to the , on behalf of Danny, Teresa and David, who succumbed to the disease, or the Veterans Administration. Burial will take place at the main mausoleum at Greenlawn Cemetery. J.T. "Spud" Simkins 1920 - 2008