Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame

auto racing

Bobby Schnars

Bobby Schnars was born on September 7, 1937, to John and Edna Schnars of Busti. He was raised on Donelson Road along with his brothers Ron and Bill Schnars and sister Donna Schnars.

The 1955 Southwestern Central School graduate made his home on the Busti-Sugar Grove Road near where he started his marvelous racing career at Stateline Speedway.

Stateline Speedway was built in 1956 and in 1961 Eriez Speedway was also built and it was those tracks where Schnars became known as "The King" of stock car racing. Schnars recorded 136 Late Model Feature wins during a career that spanned from 1956-1977.

To give one an idea of how dominant Schnars was, consider this: when Bobby Schnars was inducted, only Dick Barton and Skip Furlow had won half the number of Late Model Feature races as Schnars, who had been retired for nearly 25 years.

Broken down, Schnars won 79 times at Stateline and 57 and Eriez. He captured 21 Late Model point titles on the Stateline-Eriez circuit with eight at Stateline, seven at Eriez and six combined at Stateline-Eriez. The 21 total Late Model crowns has been tied by Barton, but is 14 more than anyone else.

Schnars, nicknamed "Cannonball" in the early stages of his career, and his friend, the late Gary "Frosty" Fosberg, decided to also build a car to compete in the Sportman's Division features. Over a five-year period, 1971-73 through 1975-1976, he drove his M-1 coupe to victories 45 times with 25 wins at Stateline and 20 at Eriez. He is ranked second on the all-time circuit list behind Ron Blackmer, who also is retired.

Bobby Schnars, 1966

Bobby Schnars, 1964

Additionally, "Busti Bobby" as he became known, won four Sportman's titles with two each at both tracks. Exactly how many feature wins he has isn't known, but a good estimate is that the remarkable total is more than 200.

Bobby Schnars was inducted into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.