Former local business owner Ron Ambrose also inducted
Henderson native Keith “Skeeter” Wayne was just 11 or 12 years when his oldest brother, Billy Tom (“B.T.”), took him to watch drag races in Chandler, Ind., and Owensboro around 1964 or 1965.
The youngster got further introduced into 1960s car culture when B.T. would let him ride along to cruise the Farmer’s Daughter drive-in restaurant in Evansville or the Dairy Queen in Henderson.
And then there were the hot rod magazines that featured pictures of muscle cars and dragsters, all mag wheels and metal flake paint.
“I just got the bug real quick,” he said.
A lifetime later, Wayne on Saturday got something else: induction into the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame for his decades of success as a competitive drag racer. The Hall of Fame, in downtown Central City, now features a display case of Wayne’s racing accomplishments.
“I’m just so proud, tickled to death, to be in there,” Wayne said last week.
Wayne was one of five inductees in the Class of 2025; among them was Ronnie Ambrose, a Daviess County resident who for half a century owned the former Western Kentucky Trucking Inc. in Henderson. Ambrose was the 1971 United Midget Association Rookie of the Year and the 1978 world champion who set 18 track records and posted 134 feature wins in over a dozen states.
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Skeeter Wayne’s story is pure Henderson—and pure “American Graffiti.”
“After we moved from Rooney Drive to Green River Road … we had a pretty long driveway,” he said in an interview in the kitchen of his home near Robards. “I’d get in my mother’s car and go back and forth, back and forth. I learned to drive in the driveway.
“I loved it when it rained; I could spin the tires and not leave a mark.”
B.T. had a Volkswagen station wagon that he let Skeeter enter into a drag race. “That was my first pass down the race course,” he recalled. “I was 13 or 14.”
In 1965, Skeeter attended his first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, marveling at drag racing cars from all over the country. It became an annual trip for him; he would go on to race there.
In 1970, Skeeter got his first car, a used 1968 V-8 Olds Cutlass. “It had fancy (Crager) wheels, wide tires and golf clubs in the back,” he said. “I had it through high school.”
Then in 1973, he upgraded to a ’72 Ford Gran Torino coupe. “It had a dual exhaust; it had a little rumble to it. It had a 351 (cubic inch) engine. It was a nice car. Then I realized it had a little pep to it.”
He raced others on Airline Road and the not-yet-opened Pennyrile Parkway. “I was racing against (Oldsmobile) 442s and Chevelles, and my little Ford was whipping them,” in part because of his starting-line skills, Wayne said.
“It was my daily driver, but also my street racer,” he said.
“We’d have an audience,” Wayne said of those street races. “Sometimes we’d have an audience of state police.”
Soon, he was taking his Torino to real drag strips. “I raced that car on Friday nights in Hardinsburg, Saturday nights at Windy Hollow (outside Owensboro) and Sunday nights at Beech Bend (in Bowling Green),” tearing down the quarter-mile strips.
A largely self-taught custom car painter, Wayne painted the Torino with rainbow colors in the back. “I had it lettered. It said, ‘Skeeter’s Scooter’ on the side of it.”
At the time, he was winning trophies playing competitive golf—and trophies for drag racing. His golf trophies he brought home for his parents to see; the drag-racing trophies he kept hidden in the trunk of his car.
“I loved racing,” Wayne said. “It was a fun time to be growing up.”
In 1977, he married Claudia Watkins, who he had dated in high school. He was racing a 1969 Camaro in bracket (or handicapped) races; in the early years he would drive it straight to the drag strips without muffler (“headers open”) and with rear slick racing tires.
Wayne won a couple of class championships in 1983 and the 1988 Windy Hollow Championship in the Super Pro category, then traveled the Midwest racing in the Super Street 10.90 index class, doing well in divisional competition.
In 1994, he switched cars. A close friend, Greg Legate of Clay, Ky., was a car fabricator, building racing engines and transmissions. He began working on a 1934 Chevy Roadster that he offered to sell to him.
“I did all the paint and body work,” Wayne said. “We made a helluva good team …
“I started racing that (Roadster) in 1995 in (the) Super Gas (category) … I did pretty good, pretty quick.”
“He definitely had found his place in drag racing, with wins in St. Louis, Indianapolis,” according to the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame. “He also garnered numerous awards for running a perfect 9.90.”
Among his biggest wins were in 1992 in the Super Street category in Martin, Mich.; the 2017 Holley Hot Rod Reunion; and the NDRL Fall Classic in 2019. Wayne, with his mop of white hair, was still showing youngsters a thing or two.
Throughout his racing career, he held down a full-time job, first in the service department at Don Mahurin Chevrolet, then for 33 years at Dempewolf Ford.
“I never missed a day of work,” he said.
Skeeter Wayne continues racing, most recently on Labor Day at the U.S. Nationals in Indy. “I did good,” he said. “I went three rounds.” This was his 53rd year of racing. He’s now 72.
“He’s enjoyed it,” Claudia said. “We’ve done it as a family. We’ve met so many friends.”
Their son, Lance, 44, raced as a youngster. Now an EMT and volunteer firefighter, he since age 18 has participated in the NHRA Safety Safari of highly trained track first responders. The Waynes’ grandchildren have raced as well.
“He loves it,” Claudia says of Skeeter’s racing career. “But it scares me!”
