Charles "Charlie" Shinkle (Like many Charlie Shinkle came from a humble family, who like many struggled day-to-day to make ends meet. It was not nothing to see Charlie doing odd jobs like painting, hauling trash, mowing lawns to help with the family expenses. Living in Charlie’s neighborhood was Junior Hower. Junior did not realize the impact he would be to a young man at the age of twelve, that had the desire to be a mechanic/race car driver which would be in his shadows for years. It all started out quite simple for Charlie, he would go down to Junior’s garage and watch him work on his race cars, and like any young man Charlie was full of questions on how things worked. Junior saw the drive this young man showed so to get him involved he would let Charlie clean parts to earn some extra spending money. Soon Charlie was Junior’s shadow, soaking up all the knowledge he could from Junior. Many visitors were always dropping by Junior’s garage, and one visitor in particular took a liking to Charlie, Jerry Weld. Junior would also take him to the races, but for Charlie to be in the pits at this young age, Charlie’s mom would have to sign a waiver granting her permission. This led him to becoming a part of Junior Hower’s team. With Jerry having sons of his own also saw something in Charlie, the willingness to help in the garage and helping at the racetrack land a job for Charlie. The Weld’s offered Charlie a summer job working in his garage for $40 a week plus lunch, which later turned into a full-time job. They kept him busy, racing in Topeka on Friday, then back to the shop Friday night to work on the cars all night long to get ready for Riverside on Saturday. Then do the same process on Saturday to get ready for Olympic Stadium on Sunday. Charlie developed into a well knowledge individual who had the passion to race. With the thirst to drive, Charlie eventually bought Jerry Weld’s white #91 and was given a spot in their garage to work on the car. His driving career began around the Midwest at Riverside, Olympic, Topeka Fairgrounds, Sedalia, and Knoxville. His pit crew was Junior and Buster Hower. Charlie drove his heart out winning fifteen heat races and at least six “B” features and was consistently in the top ten. His competition was stiff, he had to run up against many of the best drivers: the Weld brothers, ‘Tiger’ Bob Williams, Dick Sutcliff, and Ervin Schick but was never able to pull off a win in the ‘A’ Feature. Charlie earned the most improved driver award in 1966 at Olympic Stadium. He also had several different drivers drive for him including Eddie Leavitt, ‘Tiger” Bob Williams, Jerry Weld, Whitey Harmon, J.L. Cooper, and Dick Sutcliff. You may also know Charlie as ‘Mr. Versatile’ for his walking/talking knowledge of Kansas City history. Everything Charlie has done was done for fun and continues to enjoy it to this day. His advice to future drivers; “get laps, feel of the car before you charge out of the chute.” )
