Dale C. Maley: Midget car builder, racer Shorty Headley part of Fairbury racing history
Shorty Headley built and raced midget race cars, making a name for himself on the racing circuit, especially in Central Illinois.
The story of the Headley family began with Amos B. Headley (1796-1872) marrying Experience Lindley (1802-1848) in Green County, Pennsylvania. They had a large family with 12 children. Unfortunately, Experience Headley died when she was only 46 years of age. Upon her death, son Gilbert L. Headley was 16 years of age. Gilbert had to support himself and began working for a salary of $6 per month in Pennsylvania. As a result, Gilbert was unable to complete high school in Pennsylvania.
In 1855, Gilbert moved to LaSalle County in Illinois. He lived there until 1870, when he bought a 150-acre farm in Section 6 of Saunemin Township. Gilbert L. Headley began farming his land in Saunemin. In 1863, Gilbert married Miss Persis S. Thompson of LaSalle County. She was a native of Vermont. She came with her parents from Vermont to LaSalle in 1857. Her parents were pioneer farmers in LaSalle County.
Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert L. Headley had eight children. Their fourth child was Samuel W. Headley (1869-1942). He married Mary Jane Ruston (1871-1949) in 1888 in Livingston County. They lived in Saunemin and had three children. Their children were Earl G. Headley, Ina M. Headley and Gilbert W. Headley. Son Gilbert W. Headley (1898-1964) was likely named after his grandfather, Livingston County pioneer farmer Gilbert L. Headley (1834-1914).
Gilbert W. Headley grew up in Saunemin. In 1927, at the age of 29, he married Retta Louise Young in Morris. After their wedding, the couple made its home in Fairbury. They rented a house located at 201 N. Seventh St.
Gilbert was known in Fairbury by his nickname, "Shorty" Headley. He was an auto mechanic and operated an automotive garage just west of where Popejoy Plumbing is now located. Gilbert built and drove racing cars in the 1920s. He later quit as a race car driver but continued to develop and sell custom cars for other drivers and owners.
Gilbert W. Headley and Retta Louise had two boys. They were named Gerald and Kenneth Headley.
On July 16, 1938, The (Bloomington) Pantagraph published a human interest story about Gilbert "Shorty" Headley of Fairbury. The story was titled “Fairbury Man Builds Midget Auto Racers: Says They Are Safer And Earn More Money Than Big Ones”. Gilbert Headley recounted to the Pantagraph reporter that he raced cars for about five years between 1923 and 1928. In his first race in 1923, he ran a homemade car on the Peoria fairgrounds. Gilbert did not finish this race because his motor was too tight. He raced on local race tracks, including Watseka, Loda and Lexington. Gilbert's wife was a racing enthusiast and traveled to the midget car races with her husband.
Mr. Headley also recounted briefly holding the Illinois state dirt track record at Springfield in 1926. He ran the mile in 46.2 seconds. Unfortunately, Johnny Gerber of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, came along a few minutes later and broke his speed record.
Mr. Headley had only one accident during the five years he drove and escaped without a scratch. In a feature race at Loda, he had a blowout while traveling about 100 miles an hour, and his car swung nearly out of control.
"I knew a crackup was coming," he related nonchalantly. "It was either head for the center of the field and the dense crowd or pull her to the rail and take a chance. "I pulled to the rail and went through like a shot. I crouched down in the cockpit of my car and didn't get hurt. The car rolled over the bank three times before it stopped."
"When I got out and shook the dust off, I saw my car was a heap of junk. It looked like an accordion. That was the only time I had an accident, except to knock holes in the fences when I'd skid around turns."
The biggest race Mr. Headley ever won was at Jerseyville in 1928, the last year he drove. "The purses were bigger in those days than they are now," he said.
Mr. Headley also recounted that he went to work in a garage in Gridley when he was 16 years old. His mother used to say, "He has a great love for machinery. When he was a little boy, he had a gasoline engine that he always was tinkering with."
"On midget racers," Gilbert explained, "you have to make everything over, usually from used parts of other cars like I used in mine. Axles must be cut down to size, wheels built, motors rebored and fixed up."
"Some small cars use motorcycle engines, others outboard motorboat engines, and some, like mine, use small motors from commercial cars. On the better tracks, rules as to the size of the car are in force. The average car that will qualify for almost any race has a wheelbase of not more than 75 inches or less than 65 inches. The cars are 40 to 45 inches between treads. The cars weigh not less than 450 pounds or more than 950 pounds."
When photographic negatives were used to print newspapers, the quality of the photo degraded when it was printed on newsprint. Then many years ago, paper newspapers were scanned and converted to microfilm. This step also degraded the quality of the original photograph. Microfilm from The Blade and the Pantagraph was converted to digital files in the last decade. The quality of digital files of pictures printed today from these newspapers is inferior compared to the original photograph.
In 2019, the McLean County Museum of History announced a new project. The museum will gradually digitize old photographic negatives donated by the Pantagraph in this new project. The first batch of digitized old Pantagraph photos released in 2019 included four excellent quality black and white images for the July 16, 1938, story about Gilbert Headley. One of these images accompanies this article. As additional old Pantagraph photos are converted to computer images, it will help us better appreciate other aspects of Fairbury's exciting history.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Midget car builder and racer Shorty Headley Fairbury racing history
