Clarence Nelson “Nut” Cokeley, Jr.
1926 – 2007
|
Nut Cokeley |
Nut Cokeley was born and raised at Gridley, Kansas. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father remarried a few years later.
Nut served in the U. S. Army during World War II and later joined V.F.W. Post 3166 in Liberal, Kansas. He was married to Dorothy J. “Dot” McClellan on August 19, 1949 at Palco and the couple moved to Liberal in 1951.
Nut once threw an inkwell at the school bell to try to get it to ring. A classmate saw him throw it and told him he was a “Nut”. The nickname stuck although at least one of his fans was sure that he got it differently:
“He ate a nut and drank a coke. That’s how he got the name Nut Cokeley.”
- a 5 year-old fan
Nut worked in the oil fields for several years before taking a job with the Hodges Candy where he stayed for ten years. He also drove trucks for C&N Trucking for another eight years but his real passion was for driving dirt track racing cars:
|
1955
Nut drove his first two races at Ulysses, Kansas in this car owned by “Kirton and Sally”. |
|
|
|
1955
Nut and Ernest Rogers owned this car together. The car was Conoco green in color and they only raced it in this paint scheme for a short time before repainting it and numbering it 72. |
|
1955
Nut standing by car he was part-owner of with Ernest Rogers for most of the first part of 1955. This is the same car as pictured above and it was painted Conoco green when they first built it. Nut then bought Rogers out and assumed ownership the car. Nut competed in 25 races that year at Ulysses, Dodge City and Elkhart all in western Kansas. |
|
|
|
1956
Vern Crushay owned 40% of this yellow over black car until July 4th while Nut owned the rest. Nut drove this car in 62 races winning 15 of them and a total of $745.35 but he also rolled this car on three occasions. Click your mouse on this photo to see one taken after one of those rollovers. |
|
1956
Nut drove this car several times during the last half of the year. It was owned by Larry Torson and prepared by John McGee. |
|
|
|
1956
Leonard “Hank” Wedel standing beside a that car he owned and Nut drove a few times in the latter half of this year. |
|
1956
Nut drove this car owned by Andy Clarkson of Larned, Kansas at Larned on July 15, 1956 but rolled it on the second lap of the second heat race. He came back to finish second in that heat race before parking the car for the rest of the day. |
|
|
|
1956
Nut switched over to drive this car owned by Bob Robbins and Virgil McNeil at Larned, Kansas on July 15, 1956 but he wound up spinning it out of the B feature. |
|
1956
Dick Patton purchased this car from Bob Elliott and Nut drove it like looking like this for a few races before it was painted and changing to #62. Click your mouse on this photo to see another photo of Nut climbing out of the other side of this car. |
|
|
|
1956
Nut drove Dick Patton’s car painted gray with red numbers as seen in this photo taken at Dodge City, Kansas on August 27, 1956… |
|
1956
…but later in the year, this was Nut with the same car but with a different paint job. Click your mouse on this photo to see a photo of another view of this car. In all, Nut competed in a total of 59 racing programs this year at racetracks at Dodge City, Liberal, Ulysses, and Larned. |
|
|
|
1957
This photo was taken on May 5, 1957 at Liberal. Nut owned this car with sponsorship from (Liberal Ford Dealer) Spaniol’s Motors, Lowery’s Welding Service, and Bill Weybright who was the local Gulf bulk Oil dealer. A blown engine on July 16, 1957 and some of the sponsorship going away…
|
|
1957
…led to Nut picking up a ride in this car for the remainder of the year. This coupe was owned by Lloyd N. Reccius, Jr. of Hooker, Oklahoma. Click your mouse on the photo to see another of Reccius standing beside the car. Nut competed in 45 racing programs this season at Dodge City, Liberal, Ulysses, Larned, Garden City, and Wichita all in Kansas and at Hooker, Oklahoma winning a total of $1,045.26 in prize money. |
|
|
|
1958
Nut drove this car once at Hooker, Oklahoma on April 26th. |
|
1958
This photo was taken the next day and Nut drove this 1934 Ford coach through July of this year for car owner Bud Hibler of Hooker, Oklahoma. |
|
|
|
1958
This photo was taken in August of 1958 when Nut started driving this 1934 Ford owned by Merle Trahern of Sublette, Kansas. By season’s end, he had competed in a total of 45 racing programs at Liberal, Larned, Ulysses, and Hutchinson in Kansas and at Hooker, Oklahoma. Click your mouse on this photo to see another photo taken on September 13, 1958 when Nut learned that he was the new track champion at Hooker. |
|
1959
This photo was taken on September 1, 1959 as Nut continued to drive this 1934 Ford for car owner Merle Trahern of Sublette, Kansas. He competed in a total of 34 racing programs at Dodge City, Ulysses, and Liberal in Kansas as well as at Hooker, Oklahoma winning the track championship at the Seward County Fairgrounds in Liberal. Click your mouse on the photo to see another photo showing Nut holding his championship trophy in his right hand and the “Trophy Dash Award” in his left. |
|
|
|
1960
With the top cut off and a little new paint, Nut drove the 1934 Ford for another racing season competing in 49 different racing programs at Liberal, Dodge City, WaKeeney, Wichita, Oakley, Stockton, Hutchinson, and Smith Center all in Kansas as well as at Woodward, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas. |
|
1961
Nut continued to drive the Ford jalopy pictured above in races for the jalopy class but now it was for new car owner Bob Lorenz of WaKeeney, Kansas. He also drove this #7 Hudson powered rail in races for that class of car. The rail was owned by Cliff Durr of Derby, Kansas. Nut competed in 48 different racing programs this year at Liberal, Dodge City, Oakley, WaKeeney, Wichita, Hutchinson, Norton, and Colby all in Kansas as well as at Woodward, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas winning a total of $1,112.99. He was also the runner-up for the track championship at Dodge City. At year's end, Durr traded the rail to Lloyd Angel for an antique Ford. Click your mouse on the photo to see a photo of the antique. |
|
|
|
1962
Nut began this season driving this rail for car owner Bill Crites of Woodward, Oklahoma. |
|
1962
By August 4, 1962 though, he was driving this new rail built by its owner, Pete Ansley of Adams, Oklahoma. Nut competed in a total of 25 racing programs this season at Liberal, Stockton, WaKeeney, Oakley, Colby, and Hutchinson all in Kansas as well as at Woodward, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas. |
|
|
|
1963
As you can see in this photo taken March 31, 1963, not much changed on the car this year except the number. Nut competed in a total of 24 racing programs this season at Stockton, WaKeeney, Oakley, Great Bend, Liberal, Dodge City, Hutchinson, and Wichita all in Kansas as well as at Woodward, Oklahoma. |
|
1964
Nut drove this modified sportsman for owner Sam Lewis of Liberal for the first part of the year but on June 28, 1964, the clutch pressure plate exploded at WaKeeney, Kansas putting Nut on crutches for a few weeks. At the end of July, Lewis decided to park the car for the remainder of the season. Click your mouse on this photo to see another photo of Nut on crutches standing beside the car. |
|
|
|
1964
On August 18, 1964, Nut started driving this modified sportsman for owner Frank Morris of Garden City, Kansas. Nut only competed in 18 racing programs this season at Liberal, Dodge City, WaKeeney, Stockton, and Hutchinson all in Kansas. |
|
1965
Nut spent most of this season driving Frank Morris’ #29 coupe (pictured above) but he also drove this modified sportsman in the First Annual Kansas State Modified Jalopy Championship races that were run at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson in September for car owner John Carter of Arkansas City, Kansas. In all, Nut competed in 15 racing programs this year at Hutchinson, Liberal, and WaKeeney all in Kansas. |
|
|
|
1966
The differences from the earlier #29 coupe are subtle but Frank Morris had a new coupe for Nut to drive this year. This photo was taken on June 7, 1966 and he only drove it in seven different racing programs this year at Dodge City and Liberal in Kansas. |
|
1966
Nut also drove this coupe for owner Evart Isaac of Dodge City, Kansas in two different racing programs in July. Once was at Dodge City and the other at Liberal. |
|
|
|
1974
After slowly phasing out of driving, Nut staged a comeback in this car with the opening of Ripper Raceway at Liberal. |
|
1975
This is one of the cars that Nut drove as he continued to win a few “Old Timer” races at Ripper Raceway this season. |
|
Nut Cokeley passed away at his home in Liberal on October 23, 2007 at the age of 82 and is buried beside his wife in Restlawn Memorial Gardens in Liberal.
This web page is dedicated to
Dorothy J. “Dot” (McClellan) Cokeley
1928 - 2000
Without whose meticulous record keeping this web page would not be possible
Thank you
Will Cokeley