Dick Barton Still Active at Stateline

For many years, following another Super late Model victory at Stateline (N.Y.) Speedway, Dick Barton and Randy Anderson would enjoy soaking up the applause in front of the grandstand crowd. These days the pair is still making a very positive impression at Stateline but in a much different fashion.

Instead of being on track, they were racing through that same grandstand during the World of Outlaws Late Model Series appearance at Stateline Speedway, May 23. They were very busy selling 50/50 raffle tickets benefitting the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame (CSHOF) located in the Chautauqua (N.Y.) County community of Jamestown.

Barton is a retired driving legend in the sport of Super Late Model racing having scored numerous race victories and championships, mainly at Stateline. Anderson was a member of Barton’s pit crew during all those years. Both men are synonymous with one another. Barton, a 2003 CSHOF inductee is a CSHOF board member and Anderson serves as president.

“The ownership of the race track allows different organizations from time to time to sell tickets and tonight they have allowed, on one of the biggest nights, the CSHOF to take half the proceeds. It’s good for the Hall of Fame,” Barton explained.

It seems like just yesterday that Barton was racing successfully around the dirt tracks driving his way to a collection of checkered flags. But time itself is racing very quickly as well.

“I quit racing at the end of the 2014 season so almost 9 years ago,” Barton said. “I still love the sport. I’m here every Saturday night watching but we fulfilled all the goals we had set for ourselves as a team so I’m happy now to just watch.”

Achieving those goals during his 42 year career included 228 feature wins at 13 different tracks in over 30 years of Super Late Model competition.

Those feature race win triumphs included 80 at Stateline, 42 at Eriez (Pa.) Speedway, 36 at Raceway 7 (Ohio), 24 at McKean County (Pa) Raceway, and 13 at Lernerville (Pa.) Speedway.

Other wins…11 at Little Valley (N.Y.) Speedway, seven at Sharon (Ohio) Speedway and five at Tri-City (Pa.) Speedway. Barton also captured two each at both Hagerstown (Md.) and Challenger (Pa.), two at Freedom Motorsports Park (N.Y.) and singles at Mercer (Pa.) and Woodhull (N.Y.)

Barton amassed an eye-popping ten Super late Model championships at Stateline, 7 at Eriez, four at Raceway 7, a pair at Sharon, a trio at McKean County and five at Little Valley. He also is a two-time ULMS titlist and garnered the PONY Series championship in 2004 and is a six-time Cavalcade Late Model champion.

Barton enjoyed emerging triumphant when the WOO Late Models visited Stateline on July 1, 2006. In 2020, Barton became the only New York based driver to be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. “My biggest claim to fame is winning the World of Outlaws here at Stateline,” said Barton. “That one stands out as the biggest.”

Many times after a driver retires they will never or rarely go back to the races, fearing that by going back they will refuel a competitive addiction and get the urge to get back behind the wheel. Barton, on the other hand, still enjoys going and watching the action.

“Believe me 42 years is enough to do something,” Barton said. “I just love the sport and truly can’t wait until Saturday night. Now I don’t have that nervous feeling like when you’re participating.”

Anderson recalls those days of traveling racing’s highways with Barton and now enjoys his role of overseeing the CSHOF.

“Certainly Dick is well known in the sport of Dirt Late Model Racing. I was just fortunate to be a part of his pit crew for over 30 years and a friend of Dick’s for over 40 some years. I’m proud to call him a friend,” said Anderson.

“Dick and I are still big fans of the sport. We just love what they are doing at Stateline. We’re happy to be a part of it. I’m the unofficial historian of Stateline, and I’ve been able to help the track owners uncover some of the history of that sport. Stateline opened in 1956 so this is 67 years of racing in Busti (N.Y.) Not very many tracks can talk about 67 consecutive years of racing.”

According to Anderson, the CSHOF is a very vital component to the Chautauqua County community.

“The CSHOF has been in existence for 42 years,” Anderson said.

“Our mission is to honor and preserve the sporting history of Chautauqua County. Obviously, Dick and I are very interested in the auto racing history of the county but our hall of fame is much more than auto racing. We cover all sports in Chautauqua County. Over the last 42 years, we have inducted 230 people into this hall of fame and we have a 6,000 square foot museum located on West 3rd Street in Jamestown that’s open daily.”

On the morning after the WOO race at Stateline Anderson stated his appreciation for the fact that Stateline gave the CSHOF the opportunity to hold the 50/50 raffle.

“The owners at Stateline are just tremendous supporters of the CSHOF. We have a great working relationship with them. They’ve been very kind to us to allow our organization to conduct a raffle once a summer at the race track,” said Anderson.

“Last night at the World of Outlaws night as an example our CSHOF half of the pot was $3,800.00. That’s a pretty good night. And two people walked out of Stateline last night with $1,900.00 in their pockets. They were happy. The one lady was actually crying she was so happy. It was a win for everybody.”