Glenn Fitzcharles
An outstanding dirt-track Modified stock-car driver, Pottstown, Pennsylvania’s Glenn Fitzcharles seamlessly moved into winged Sprint Cars and took the United Racing Club by storm. He also brought a great deal of positive recognition to himself and motorsports with his skills on and off the race track as he knew the importance of helping young racers, associating with the fans and publicly thanking the many sponsors that he dealt with along the way.
Fitzcharles got started racing very late in 1965 with a dirt-track Late Model in the last race of the season at the old one-third-mile Hatfield (Pa.) Speedway. When all was said and done he had won his heat and then came from the last starting spot to finish a very impressive third in the feature. Then, the next day, he went to the season-ending race at the one-third-mile Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, and won his heat and the feature, too.
A quick start like this made Fitzcharles a driver to watch and as the 1970s approached he raced in the Sportsman and Small-Block Modified divisions at area tracks and did rather well. After this successful apprenticeship – he won eight races at Grandview in the track’s tough Small-Block Modifieds in his No. 96x Falcon – he moved up to the full-blown Modifieds and started his learning process all over again.
Early rides in the Brooke “Crow” Kennedy-Jim Machemer “Birdsboro Bandits” No. 56s – like the blue 1939 five-window Chevrolet coupe, the blue 1937 five-window Ford coupe, the blue Plymouth Valiant and the red 1936 three-window Chevrolet coupe – at the old half-mile Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds showed that Fitzcharles he had the talent to be a big winner.
It was when he got into the Rio Brothers red No. R-10s things really started to happen as he won many races in the team’s 1935 Chevrolet two-door sedan and Ford Falcon, and he used their Chevy-powered Gremlin to win the 1975 Flemington (N.J.) Fair Speedway Modified title.
Then, after the team split, two of its members – Jerry Verona and Jack McCabe – bought one of the cars and renumbered it as No. 10, and Fitzcharles continued his winning ways.
In all the cars that Fitzcharles drove – which include the Verona-McCabe No. 23 Pinto, Tony Sesley’s No. 16, Jim Graham & Herb Olowitz’s “GO” Gremlin and Council Harrell’s No. 35 – he always ran at the front of the pack. His overall Modified career saw him win 36 races at Flemington, 16 main events at the old half-mile East Windsor (N.J.) Speedway, and four at Reading – including three on October 25, 1975, in the Verona-McCabe No. 10.
In late 1976, Fitzcharles – who was that season’s East Windsor Modified Champion in the red and white Verona-McCabe No. 23 Chevette – got a chance to drive Ted Brewer’s No. 35 in a URC race at Flemington. Forced to start in the rear because he was a “rookie,” he picked his way through the field and won the race. But he continued to race Modifieds – with an occasional Sprint Car ride thrown in – until 1985 when he decided that it was time to switch to Sprint Cars.
After two years (1985-1986) with Doris & Roland Squibb’s entry, “Fitz” was told the team was disbanding. So, in a pinch, he drove Don and Darleen Kerr’s No. 26 in the last race of 1986 at Flemington, which he won. And that association began an incredible string in which he won four of his five (1987-1990 & 1996) URC championships and he stayed with that ride – racing and winning in Central Pennsylvania, as well – until Don Kerr died in 1994.
In 1995, Fitzcharles returned to URC in Henry Fenimore’s yellow No. 28 and won the 1996 title. He then began driving for Vince Gangemi in 1997 but decided to call it a career in 1999 and drove his last race at Grandview Speedway – the site of his first-ever victory.
The winner of 81-career United Racing Club main events – including an amazing 21 victories in 1987 alone – Glenn Fitzcharles also served as the group’s president from 1987-1988.
An outstanding dirt-track Modified stock-car driver, Pottstown, Pennsylvania’s Glenn Fitzcharles seamlessly moved into winged Sprint Cars and took the United Racing Club by storm. He also brought a great deal of positive recognition to himself and motorsports with his skills on and off the race track as he knew the importance of helping young racers, associating with the fans and publicly thanking the many sponsors that he dealt with along the way.
Fitzcharles got started racing very late in 1965 with a dirt-track Late Model in the last race of the season at the old one-third-mile Hatfield (Pa.) Speedway. When all was said and done he had won his heat and then came from the last starting spot to finish a very impressive third in the feature. Then, the next day, he went to the season-ending race at the one-third-mile Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, and won his heat and the feature, too.
A quick start like this made Fitzcharles a driver to watch and as the 1970s approached he raced in the Sportsman and Small-Block Modified divisions at area tracks and did rather well. After this successful apprenticeship – he won eight races at Grandview in the track’s tough Small-Block Modifieds in his No. 96x Falcon – he moved up to the full-blown Modifieds and started his learning process all over again.
Early rides in the Brooke “Crow” Kennedy-Jim Machemer “Birdsboro Bandits” No. 56s – like the blue 1939 five-window Chevrolet coupe, the blue 1937 five-window Ford coupe, the blue Plymouth Valiant and the red 1936 three-window Chevrolet coupe – at the old half-mile Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds showed that Fitzcharles he had the talent to be a big winner.
It was when he got into the Rio Brothers red No. R-10s things really started to happen as he won many races in the team’s 1935 Chevrolet two-door sedan and Ford Falcon, and he used their Chevy-powered Gremlin to win the 1975 Flemington (N.J.) Fair Speedway Modified title.
Then, after the team split, two of its members – Jerry Verona and Jack McCabe – bought one of the cars and renumbered it as No. 10, and Fitzcharles continued his winning ways.
In all the cars that Fitzcharles drove – which include the Verona-McCabe No. 23 Pinto, Tony Sesley’s No. 16, Jim Graham & Herb Olowitz’s “GO” Gremlin and Council Harrell’s No. 35 – he always ran at the front of the pack. His overall Modified career saw him win 36 races at Flemington, 16 main events at the old half-mile East Windsor (N.J.) Speedway, and four at Reading – including three on October 25, 1975, in the Verona-McCabe No. 10.
In late 1976, Fitzcharles – who was that season’s East Windsor Modified Champion in the red and white Verona-McCabe No. 23 Chevette – got a chance to drive Ted Brewer’s No. 35 in a URC race at Flemington. Forced to start in the rear because he was a “rookie,” he picked his way through the field and won the race. But he continued to race Modifieds – with an occasional Sprint Car ride thrown in – until 1985 when he decided that it was time to switch to Sprint Cars.
After two years (1985-1986) with Doris & Roland Squibb’s entry, “Fitz” was told the team was disbanding. So, in a pinch, he drove Don and Darleen Kerr’s No. 26 in the last race of 1986 at Flemington, which he won. And that association began an incredible string in which he won four of his five (1987-1990 & 1996) URC championships and he stayed with that ride – racing and winning in Central Pennsylvania, as well – until Don Kerr died in 1994.
In 1995, Fitzcharles returned to URC in Henry Fenimore’s yellow No. 28 and won the 1996 title. He then began driving for Vince Gangemi in 1997 but decided to call it a career in 1999 and drove his last race at Grandview Speedway – the site of his first-ever victory.
The winner of 81-career United Racing Club main events – including an amazing 21 victories in 1987 alone – Glenn Fitzcharles also served as the group’s president from 1987-1988.