Don Collins

Any discussion of the greatest driver in Speedbowl history should always include Don Collins, the driver who set the standard for excellence at the shoreline oval during the track’s first 20 seasons. He started winning in the track’s inaugural season, visiting victory lane in the 2nd to last Modified race of the 1951 season.

Collins led the division with 7 wins in 1952 and won his first Speedbowl Modified Championship in 1955 with an unprecedented 14 win season. He won his second title in 1957 with a 12 win season. His black & white #106 coupe was dubbed “Little Jewel”. He would win 56 races at the Speedbowl in the 1950’s, the most of all Speedbowl competitors.

Driving the Vitari & Bombaci V-8 in 1960, he won a record 17 Modified races and his 3rd Modified Championship. He also won 6 Non-Ford races that year for an unprecedented 23 total wins in the 1960 season. On June 4, he won twin Modified races plus the Non-Ford race to become the first driver to win 3 features in one day. He swept both the Modified & Non-Ford wins on 4 other occasions in 1960.

Returning to his “Little Jewel”, he won his 4th Modified Championship in 1963. His last championship came in 1969 driving Billy Simons‘ #9 Excavator Special, becoming the Speedbowl’s first 5-time Champion. Don competed in the first race of the 1970, then notified Simons that he was going to retire, effective immediately. He finished with 101 Speedbowl wins, 95 of them in the Modifieds and 5 track championships – all Speedbowl records at the time.

He largely disappeared from the racing scene thereafter. He was inducted to the NEAR Hall of Fame in 2005. Don Collins passed away on February 21, 2024 at the age of 93.

STATISTICAL SNAPSHOT

DON COLLINS
SPEEDBOWL PHOTO ALBUM