|
Dick McCabe built his first racecar, a
'36 Chevy 6 cylinder "Bomber" coupe at age 14. Dick had someone race
the car at Beech Ridge, because he was too young to drive. Unable to
resist getting behind the wheel himself., the 14 year old McCabe
took the car to the 1/5 mile track at Dover, NH, where he was able
to slip out onto the track and compete.
Dick joined Nascar North in 1976,
where he competed against Stub Fadden, Beaver and Bobby Dragon, and
Robbie Crouch. McCabe, known as "the Irish Angel", won the Nascar
North Championship in 1981, then repeated in '82, when he set the
Nascar North record for the most top 10 finishes in a season. It was
also during this period that he became the Oxford Plains Open
Champion for 4 consecutive years. No one else had won even 2 of the
Open Championships, but Dick dominated, winning in 1981, '82, '83,
and '84.
McCabe feels that his job was an
asset in his racing career. A bait salesman, Dick would drive his 18
wheel dump truck 12 hours, picking up ocean perch to sell as bait to
fisherman. At the end of this long drive, he would shovel the bait
out by hand, "working hardest when you were tiredest".
McCabe moved to the Busch North
Series, where he again took down back to back championships, in 1992
and '93. The '93 season was extra special, because Dick won track
and Busch North Championships in the inaugural season at NHIS.
Dick McCabe retired from racing in
1995. We welcome him today, as a member of the Class of 2002, into
NEAR's New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame |
