JOHNNY COY
"The Original Mr. Excitement"
At the NASCAR awards banquet in 1958,there were two champions at the head table. Lee Petty in the Grand National division and Johnny Coy in the midgets. Many people don't know that NASCAR once sanctioned open wheel racing,just as many people have forgot that Johnny drove anything with wheels on it. But no one who ever saw him run the first 500 lapper at Islip Speedway and win it in the #18 Offy in 1959 will ever forget it. The #18 is on display at the Himes Museum in Bayshore and Johnny Coy is a frequent visitor there.
He started running midgets in the late '40's at Freeport. He drifted out to Oklahoma where they ran 6 nights a week. Returning to Long Island in the '50's he jumped into the stocks and ran both. He ran NASCAR Grand Nationals at Langhorne in 1957 , beating Buck Baker and the Keikhafer crew in his own "ill prepared" Chrysler 300.
He continued driving midgets with ARDC until arthritis got the best of his hands in 1984. The full story on the original Mr. Excitement's career is documented in the book Long Ride On A Short Track.
FREEPORT or DEXTER PARK early '50's
AT TRENTON IN THE 1960's