SPECIAL TO THE PVT Wulfensteins's No. 72 was a vehicle familiar to a myriad of race fans in days gone by. SPECIAL TO THE PVT A December 1969 brochure shows a younger Ray Wulfenstein as the Craig Road Speedway in Las Vegas prepared for Daytone Fund Race. Advertisement

Part Two

Ray Wulfenstein, the original "Stormin' Mormon," was part of tag team that one journalist labeled the "Wulfenstein clan."

This writer was referring to Ray and his sister, Vera Murphy, who terrorized the Craig Road Speedway in the mid-1970s through the mid-'70s. Wulfenstein caught the bug for the need for speed after catching a race up in Salt Lake City, Utah. That flame of competition is still alive even after Ray hung up his helmet after 14 years of oval track competition.

Ray was quick to comment on the article about his sister: "If she would have had more practice, say another 1,000 laps of experience, she would have whipped all those guys' tail ends."

Wulfenstein and his main rival, Bob "Red Feather" Ruppert, each received an equal dose of applause and boos. Their on-track incidents read like a Texas-style "cage match," which enterprising sportswriters exploited as detailed in this 1968 race recap:

"As Wulfenstein started to pass Ruppert for the first spot he was bumped by Ruppert and spun off the track. Wulf returned to the track and waited for Ruppert to catch up to him. He then proceeded to push and bump Ruppert around the track, until Ruppert lost control and spun out. For all his troubles, Wulf was black-flagged off the track, leaving him with no points for the night."

What Ray had forgotten was that there were NASCAR officials on site to monitor the on-track actions of both Ruppert and himself. Wulfenstein received a two-week suspension on top of everything else.

Wulfenstein may be the only driver who had a "bounty" placed on him by a rabid fan of Ruppert, who placed $1,000 on Ray's head "that Ruppert will run Ray off the track." He also had a rule named after him at Craig Road -- the Wulfenstein Rule was devised so that the point's leader was required to start at the pack of the field in the main event.

Seasons of "bumping and banging" left his 1956 Chevrolet beat up and christened the "Tijuana Taxi." The 396-cubic inch, 500-horse engine powered Wulfenstein to track championships (1969 and 1971) for one of the two or three top dogs at the Las Vegas oval. The 1969 track championship earned Ray a place in the 1970 Permatex 300 Late Model Sportsmen World Championship race at the historic Daytona Speedway. A "Ray Wulfenstein -- Daytona Fund Race" was held and helped propel Wulfenstein into national prominence. The race was run Feb. 21, 1970, and featured Lee Roy Yarborough and Cale Yarborough among the 50 competitors that took to the track on that day. Just 23 cars were running when Curtis Turner took the checker after four hours on the torturous track, finishing just ahead of Cale Yarborough. Ray finished in the top 20 according to Jim Wulfenstein's impressive showing at Daytona caught the eye of several prominent NASCAR individuals, in particular the legendary Smokey Yunick. Smokey was the owner of the Turner car, the only other Chevy to run on the big banks of Daytona.

Wulfenstein's second visit to Daytona, this time in a Ford Torino built and prepared by Bill Holler, resulted in a 10th place finish. What is most important is that Wulfenstein had made arrangements with Holler to have Pahrump prominently displayed on the side of the racecar. Here was Wulfenstein, a Las Vegas painter, promoting a town he had yet to call home.

According to Rick Headlee, PV Times reporter, Ray "led Daytona before scraping fenders and finishing 10th." Considered one of his greatest accomplishments, Ray started alongside Bobby Allison and ahead of Darrell Waltrip.

With the demolition of Craig Road Speedway, many of the track records were erased; all that is left are the memories.

Ray Wulfenstein played a huge part in establishing many of the benchmarks at the facility -- seven different times he broke the track qualifying mark and garnered over 150 trophies in 10 seasons of competition. Gone forever is the number of feature wins and trophy dash victories that Ray accumulated, unless there is some poor soul who has managed to chronicle the action at Craig Road. Wulfenstein garnered the two track championships at Craig Road and another at the Silver Slipper Speedway in 1959.

In May 1986, Ray and nemesis "Red Feather" Ruppert staged a nostalgic "match race" at the then Bob Ruud Memorial Speedway. The event was staged as a tribute to Bob Van Norman, who operated the Craig Road Speedway. Several racers that frequented the Craig Road facility were on hand to honor Van Norman, including Dick Attisani, Bobby Clawson, Gus Newman, Phil Hayes, Jimmy Sanderson, Jack Azbill, and Romie Alderman.

Aug. 27, 1990, Ray ended his 18-year "retirement" and captured a crash-filled Sportsman Division main event in storybook fashion.

Las Vegas Sun sports reporter Ron Kantowski, along with 3,000 spectators, had the opportunity to witness the return of the original "Wulfman." Kantowski reported, "As well as Wulfenstein ran, he appeared destined for no higher than a third-place finish before (Dick) Cobb and (Don) Williams tangled coming out of turn two as Cobb tried to take the lead with eight laps remaining."

Ray was driving son Jim's No. 12 entry, which Jim had crashed heavily two weeks prior to Ray taking the wheel.

Wulfenstein had last raced competitively in 1972, when he won titles at Craig Road Speedway and the Silver Slipper Speedway, both long demolished Las Vegas racetracks.

After the race, it was reported that Ray had this to say: "We reached for the star and we got it. You're gambling your reputation when you go out on the track after so many years away from competitive racing. We won it. We were hesitant, age and time having slipped by. I may have lost some of my tricks, but they came back in a hurry."

Coming back after 19 years of retirement in a car he had never sat in and competing against 17 track champions and winning ranks a close second to the race at Daytona.

"It was then that I realized that racing as I had known it had changed," Ray said. "TV cameras and microphones were in my face before I even got out of the car."

Few people remember that it was Ray Wulfenstein who pioneered and sponsored the Pahrump Station 500 off-road race or that he was the announcer at the Bob Ruud Memorial Speedway when it opened in 1985. This Pahrump race replaced the Frontier 500 off-road race, which had been previously held in Las Vegas. NEXTEL Cup regular, Indianapolis 500 qualifier and off-road specialist Robby Gordon laid claim to the second running of this prestigious event, that was covered by ESPN.

Ray and his wife, Irene, raised four children. Jim is the oldest, then there's Cindy, Steve, and the youngest, Judy. He is the owner of Wulfy's Sports Lounge, among other investments. Asked if he had any advice to pass on to either his son or his grandson, Ray said, "I told them not to believe the press clippings."

Perhaps Ray Wulfenstein summed up retirement: "When you're a racer, you never quit, only now if I want to go fishing, I can go fishing. I couldn't do that before." He also added that he would entertain "climbing behind the wheel of a race car one more time when I turn 70."