Route 66 Motorsports

Ken Davis is a well known local drag racer who owns and drives a very unique drag car . He earns his living as a sheet metal technician in the high tech environment of a clean room . The sheet metal skills were acquired through on the job experiences with companies such as Cessna and General Electric He was born in San Diego California where his dad was employed during WWII by Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. Three years later the family moved to Oklahoma then Kansas where his father was employed for many year with Boeing Aircraft Corporation. This employment took the Davis family all over the western United States. Today, Ken and his wife Laura live in Corrales NM. Their son Dean, daughter Deanna and her husband John and seven grandchildren, all now live in Seattle Washington. Ken was bitten by the drag racing bug in El Paso, Texas in 1960 when he was just 14 years old. A	SMOKEY BEAR gets full service from Ken , friends & family in Salt Lake City
family friend took him to his first organized drag race . The first experience behind the wheel of a drag car came in 1962 at the young age of 16. The track was a good distance from San Diego in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ken got to drive a friends 1958 Corvette. He remembers that it went 98 miles per hour. Driving other peoples cars over the last 40 years has become a fairly common situation for Ken. When he got involved with other peoples race cars he had the tendency to make them perform better, no, let’s say significantly better. This created a situation where the owners were not totally comfortable driving them any longer which gave Ken an opportunity to drive them.
SMOKEY BEAR poses for the camera in Witchita .	Anyone who spends the amount of time drag racing that Ken has will have amusing stories to tell about the day that was less than perfect. One experience Ken shared with us actually happened in 1969 at Farmington New Mexico’s race track . The first clue that things were going badly was when he no longer had control of the clutch at the end of the race track which meant he could no longer shift the transmission. So what, just apply brakes, right? Fine if you actually still have brakes. He didn’t! The race car and driver passed through a barbed wire fence and settled nicely facing north west on a track that faced due east. Some cuts were sustained while trying to untangle the barbed wire from the rear end housing. The tow vehicle and crew couldn’t locate him and very nearly drove off a cliff searching for him . One of his dreams is to have an absolutely perfect run which has not happened yet according to Ken, but he will still pursue it .
When asked who his favorite professional driver is he answered "John Force " because John always presents himself to the public with an enthusiastic, upbeat personality, which Ken says provides a much needed role model for young people. John brings quality, respect and legitimacy to the sport, and Ken said he respects the fact that John worked very hard to get where he is today. Of course, his favorite professional class is Top Fuel Funny Cars. This is the class he would choose to drive in professionally. When asked about the performance of front wheel drive drag cars he acknowledged that he is totally impressed with the performance that has been achieved in this new class of race car. The technology that makes it possible is amazing and the people that compete have a keen understanding of that technology. Looking forward 20 years Ken wonders " if a Honda Accord will be considered a nostalgic race car " ? Well what about this race car called SMOKEY BEAR ? How did it get it’s name? Bill Wendt of Denton Texas, owned and named the car . Tony Lewis of El Paso Texas obtained the car from Bill Wendt . Ken Davis drove the car for Tony Lewis, eventually purchasing SMOKEY BEAR in 1996.
Ken & SMOKEY BEAR raise money for the CysticFibrosis Society	Ken uses SMOKEY BEAR to promote seat belt safety during Albuquerque Public Schools Health Days
In years past Ken was a YAFL coach, but as owner of the car Ken has been given the oportunity to work with the youth of this community in a way that he never had before. He has generously donated much time and effort to young people since purchasing the car by working with Bernalillo County and Corrales D.A.R.E. officers, Albuquerque Public Schools Health Days giving seat belt safety talks, Cystic Fibrosis Society fund raisers, and with the Federal Housing Administration disadvantaged youth programs promotion of Low Incoming Housing Fun Days. The car is a Blown Alcohol Funny Car .The vehicle weight for the class is 2200 lbs. minimum SMOKEY BEAR has to meet all the same safety requirements as a Top Fuel Funny Car . The engine displacement is 526 cubic inches of JP-1 Hemi, with Brad Anderson heads. The launch goes off AT 5000 rpm’s and the shift point is 9300 RPM’S. The best 60 foot time was 1.01 seconds in Topeka Kansas. His best mile per hour was 235 in Phoenix Arizona in 1996 at a points race. Ken loves to race in Witchita Kansas because of the tremendous fans . Another favorite race track is in Hermosillo Mexico, a city located approximately 170 miles south of Nogales Arizona. What an adventure! Smokey Bear with Ken behind the wheel set ET and Speed records of 6.67 seconds at 206 miles per hour. After that pass the race fans treated him with a kind of hero status, by pouring out onto the return road as he made his way back. Although there was a language barrier the fans showed Ken that they thought he and SMOKEY BEAR were special . A television interview was conducted through a translator. He hasn’t forgotten those fans in Hermosillo Mexico. The mexican racers bring some pretty strong Super Comp and Super Gas Cars to the race track but do not have easy access to an abundant supply of race parts. Ken has been very happy to share parts with some of these racers. Over the years they have obtained things like his used tire and wheel set ups. Racing in Albuquerque New Mexico, Ken's home base, has been difficult over the past years because the local race track has been closed, but Ken says the fans in Albuquerque are the greatest, most enthusiastic and gracious. He hopes that someday he'll be racing for them once again. Hauling SMOKEY BEAR to 30 or so races per year and competing is quite labor intensive and really cannot be done by one person. Ken knows that none of what he has done would have ever happened without the dedication of his great friends, family and crew members and he would like to acknowledge the efforts of some people that are special to him.
The fans in Hermosillo celebrate a record pass.	Ken is interviewed on TV star in Hermosillo.

Crew Members