WHICH CURT BISH IS DRIVING TONIGHT?
by Brian Spaid

May 5, 2006 

   Tri-City Speedway Thundercar racer Curt Bish Sr. and famed boxer George Foreman have careers that hardly compare. But they have one thing in common.

   Each of them named all of his sons after his own name. George has five sons that all are named George Edward Foreman.

   In the Bish household, there are four men named Curtis with a slight difference. First, there’s dad, whose name is Curtis Lee. Then, comes the oldest son Curtis Lee, who is known is racing circles as Curt Bish Jr. He is followed by Curtis Jotham and Curtis Evankard.

   “We just decided to name all of them Curt,” says the proud father and winner of last Sunday’s Thundercar feature. “And they’re all good drivers.”

   The Bishes have made a name for themselves in the Thundercars. Curt Sr. and Curt Jr. have combined to win four features at Tri-City. More impressive is their record at Mercer, where the division is called Strictly Stocks. Since the Strictly Stocks started at Mercer in 2004, Curt Sr. and Curt Jr. have combined to win two track titles and 22 out of 36 features run at the one-third mile oval. That is an incredible 61% feature winning record.

   “We did a lot of homework to run well at Mercer,” said Bish, who lives near Dempseytown. “In 2003, Jeff Manners won the track championship at Tri-City. I wanted to do better than him in 2004. We went out and won 15 features at Mercer that season and I got the track title. Then, Curt Jr. won it last year.”

   Yet, the same success eludes them at the Venango County half-mile oval.

   “I can’t explain why,” noted Bish. “It’s a bigger track and the competition is real tough. It’s an entirely different setup than Mercer. It’s a lot of work to get it right. If you want to win, you have to devote the time to your car.”

   I ttook a few years, but Bish, 47, knows a thing or two about winning. In 1990, he began a career in the old Pure Stock class at Sportsman’s Speedway in Knox. He raced a little over one season and garnered a feature win at Marion Center (Pa.) Speedway. Then, he quit.

   “In 1996, Tri-City was opening, and I decided to get back into it,” said Bish. “I was part of team with Ron and Greg Becker from Titusville.”

   The trio competed in a two-car, one-truck team for a few seasons, but Bish had terrible luck. Two heavy crashes resulted in two trips to the hospital. By the end of 1998, Bish was done.

   Then, the Thundercar division started in 2003. That season, Curt Jr. approached his father about getting back into racing.

   “I told him absolutely not,” recalled Bish. “We were not doing this. And here we are.”

   With all of their success, Bish is thrilled for him and all of his boys. Without the Thundercar division, they wouldn’t be racing.

   “This is a fun class because you have to build the cars,” said Bish. “For lack of a better way of saying it, the Super Sprints, DIRT Modifieds and E Mods just bolt together. I mean, you can buy a chassis and all the parts. With the Pro Stocks and Thundercars, you have to build them. You learn a lot about the cars and your own personal work is in them.”

   Although Curt Jr. has decided to hang up his helmet for now, Curt Sr. was back at it with his second career win at Tri-City on opening night. At first, he said that he would quit the ride after winning and let Curtis Jotham drive it.

   “I probably shouldn’t have said that on Sunday night,” said Bish. “I want to win the track championship at Tri-City. We’ve sacrificed our performance at Mercer early this season because we wanted to test our new car and get ready for Tri-City. We’ll run there each week. We may not go to Mercer as much this season.”

   As for the middle son, Curtis Jotham has a lot of racing experience. He has track titles and feature wins in go-karts at area tracks like Slippery Rock Speedway, Pine Hill Speedway and Double A Raceway. Even the younger boy has some experience. Curtis Evankard raced the car a couple of weeks ago at Mercer.

   “I may open the door to let them both get in the car more,” said Bish. “They want to run it pretty bad, especially after that win on Sunday night.”

   For Bish, however, the thrill of victory may be too much to resist. Like George Foreman, he may have to fight those boys off to get back behind the wheel.

   The sponsors on the Bish Chevrolet Monte Carlo No. 29 include Grandview Auto Body, Jerry’s Auto and Rick and Ray’s Towing of Oil City, Dennis Baker Construction and Lowry Auto Wrecking of Franklin, Campbell Peterson Surf & Turf of Greenville, Seneca Pet Store and Seneca Lawn & Garden of Seneca, 4 Your Car Connection of Cranberry, Honest Bob’s Speed Shop of Kaneville, Les Frisckshun Products of Reno, Deet’s Sugar Shack and Nell’s Auto Salvage of Dempseytown, and Comfort Maker of Pittsburgh.