11 replies to this topic

[Jerry Entin]

Homer Rader in Cooper Formula Junior

Note the 1957 Ford and 57 T-Bird and 60 Pontiac in the background.

 

We are sorry to have to report that Homer Rader died on May 19, 2016, at the age of 79. He had been in ill health for several years.

 

Homer is mainly known in autosport circles for his participation in the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix, where his ride was the obsolete 4-cylinder Lotus/Climax he borrowed from Hap Sharp.

 

His early competition career is still vague. He shows up in our files for the first time at San Marcos, Texas, in April 1960, where he won the 5-lap Novice Race in a still unidentified Ferrari 500TR. In the feature he took the Ferraris to 9th overall [first in EM class].

 

By 1961 he competed in a Cooper Formula Junior, as in the attached photo taken at Hondo, Texas.

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson [from Sports Car Racing in the South, Volume 3]

Edited by Jerry Entin, 25 May 2016 - 23:17.

[Jerry Entin]

 

Homer Rader's close friend John Matlack has provided us with a number of details about the various cars that Homer raced early in his career.

 

The Ferrari 500TR was a bank repossession and Homer bought it while in school at TU or University of Texas in Austin.

 He would use it as a daily driver around town, which must have been quite a sight.

 

John remembers that Homer raced an AC/Bristol at least once.

 

As for the Cooper T52 FJ in the image, it was one of three imported by Hap Sharp. J.C. Kilburn ran the DKW-engined car a number of times in his familiar Black Bull Stable colors, then sold it to Homer.

Homer disliked the color black and he stripped the Cooper's paint, which explained its livery in bare aluminum at Hondo.

 

As for the 1958 Plymouth Fury behind the Cooper, it was Homer's tow car, also driven by his wife Karen.

 

Homer's dad realized the kind of car a young man lusted for, but being a Chrysler man, his son wound up with the Fury.

 

 

 

All information: John Matlack

Edited by Jerry Entin, 27 May 2016 - 21:21.

[Jerry Entin]

Green Valley, June 1961: Homer's Cooper/DKW chasing the Stanguellini of Curtis Muncy.

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson

Edited by Jerry Entin, 26 May 2016 - 22:57.

[Jerry Entin]

Green Valley, February 1962: Homer and his Porsche RSK on their way to 4th overall in the feature.

 

 In October 1961 Homer Rader bought the Porsche RSK from Emory Cantey and promptly won his first feature race with it at Bryan, Texas.

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson [from Sports Car Racing in the South, Volume 3].

Edited by Jerry Entin, 26 May 2016 - 23:04.

[RA Historian]

 

 

As for the Cooper T52 FJ in the image, it was one of three imported by Hap Sharp. J.C. Kilburn ran the DKW-engined car a number of times in his familiar Black Bull Stable colors, then sold it to Homer.

 

Alan Connell raced a Cooper-DKW at Road America in 1960, in July and Sept. Due to his proximity to Sharp, was that car one of the three?

 

Rader drove a Lotus 27 FJ at Road America in Sept. 1963, finishing second overall behind Augie Pabst who was in a Brabham. That same weekend he drove a Lotus 23 in the Road America 500.

 

Tom

[Jerry Entin]

Tom, you are right. Hap Sharp imported three FJ T52 Coopers and raced at least one of them.

 

A few years ago J.C. Kilburn told John Matlack that of those three, one went to the Midwest, one to Alan Connell and one to J.C.

 

Both the Connell car and the Kilburn car had DKW engines. Alan's Mercedes/DKW dealership must have had something to do with it. The Connell Cooper had Mitter engines and caught fire on a regular basis.

 

The Kilburn Cooper was less prone to fires, carrying a DKW built by Burney Russell, who had been very successful in midget racing with two-stroke outboard engines before WW2.

 

The Connell car went to Charlie Barns, the Kilburn car to Homer Rader.

 

 

 

All research: John Matlack

[ReWind]

Obituary

Homer John Rader, Jr., passed peacefully on May 19, 2016 at the age of 79. He was born in Dallas, Texas on August 8, 1936 to Homer J. Rader and Jane Bolton Rader and has been a resident of Dallas since childhood. He attended Highland Park High School, Hillcrest High School, and St. Marks School of Texas. He then attended Tulane University and University of Texas at Austin. Thereafter, he was involved in ownership and management of a number of small companies. He founded two banks and was on the Board of Baylor College of Dentistry.
Homer is survived by his beloved wife, Karen Arnett Rader, of fifty-six years; their children, Elizabeth Rader of Dallas, Texas; John and wife Courtney of Dallas, Texas; and Scott and wife Marcia of Austin, Texas; grandson Chris and wife Katherine of Herndon, Virginia; siblings Caroline and William of Dallas, Texas; granddaughter Catherine and sister Miranda of Austin, Texas; great-grandsons Garrison and Caeden of Herndon, Virginia. Homer is lovingly known as "Papa" to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Homer had a love for understanding how things work. Those close to him knew they could find him tinkering in his machine shop, building, rebuilding or modifying anything he could get his hands on. He was an accomplished pilot, racecar driver, golfer, and fly-fisherman. Homer enjoyed spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He especially enjoyed time in Colorado with his family, skiing during Christmas holidays and golfing in the summers. Homer was a hardworking gentleman and a man of integrity who was kind and generous to all.
We want to thank all of Homer's caregivers, especially Patricia Barnes who had been with him for 5 years.
A Memorial Service will take place Monday, May 23, 2016, 2:00 pm at Sparkman/Hillcrest. In lieu of flowers the family requests that you make donations to Alzheimer's Association , Alzheimer's Foundation of America, or a charity of your choice.

[Jerry Entin]

 

That same weekend things went less well during the Green Valley Formula Junior race, when Homer took his Lotus 20 through a wooden fence.

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson [from Sport Car Racing in the South, Volume 3]

Edited by Jerry Entin, 28 May 2016 - 00:42.

[Jerry Entin]

Homer Rader in his light blue Lotus 23 at Green Valley in October 1962.

 

 In 1962 Rader and Ed Tucker founded Lotus Southwest, the marque's distributorship for the region. Homer's Lotus 23 was the first such model around the Southwest.

At Green Valley the combination had just returned from an overall victory in Mexico.

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson [from Sports Car Racing in the South, Volume 3]

Edited by Jerry Entin, 28 May 2016 - 16:10.

[Jerry Entin]

The following comes from R David Jones:

 

HomerRader --I was working at a foreign/race car shop in Austin (Dick Hodgkins Motors) and trying to continue with schooling --- that effort failed.

However Homer and Karen came by often (in the Plymouth Fury in the Homer thread). He obtained an Ace Bristol without an engine. Somewhere he got an engine out of a wrecked car. Another mechanic there (my roommate Wesley Sweet who later made his career with Jim Hall's team). Worked on the Ace Bristol with me.

 

At Alan Connell's I worked on the two Cooper Mitter DKWs that were kept at Alan's dealership. Alan's kept bursting into flames. I don't remember what type of carbs they had, but the needle and seats or float didn't work right and it dumped a bunch of fuel at each heavy braking. Unfortunately, The return spring on the starter bendix was broken and no one knew, but at each severe stop the starter gear would go into the flywheel starter ring and cause many sparks ----whooosh!!!!! 

[Jerry Entin]

Homer Rader's Lotus 23 lined up next to the Chevy-powered Testa Rossa of Willis Murphey at Galveston in 1962.

 

 

Photo: Willis Murphey

Edited by Jerry Entin, 31 May 2016 - 16:00.

[Jerry Entin]

Anotherr shot of Homer's Lotus 23 at Galveston in September 1962.

 

In the background Dale Duncan [in Big Jim Hall's Ferrari 410S] leads Herb Stelter's Chevy-powered Kurtis Aguila in their 3-lap exhibition race on Saturday. Stelter prevailed after three laps.

 

Photo: Willis Murphey

Edited by Jerry Entin, 06 June 2016 - 23:00.