House Bill 9553

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9553

        By Representative Posey






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution in memory of Dick Joslin.

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  4         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin followed his childhood friend

  5  Glenn "Fireball" Roberts to racetracks until he started his

  6  own racing career, competing at such local racetracks as the

  7  Orlando Raceway, Sunbrook Speedway, and the DeLand

  8  Fairgrounds, and

  9         WHEREAS, by the early 1950's, Dick Joslin was one of

10  the most recognized drivers in Central Florida, including as a

11  driver of O.H. Howard's #17 and #71 sportsman modified

12  entries, in which he won many track titles and was a two-time

13  Florida State Dirt Track Champion, and

14         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin ran his first Daytona Beach Road

15  Race in 1952 and became Promoter M.L. Vaughan's "hired gun,"

16  using his winning ability to stop too-frequent winners at

17  Vaughan's Jacksonville and Oglethorpe (Savannah) Speedways,

18  and

19         WHEREAS, after winning the prestigious Daytona 100-mile

20  Sportsman Race and then placing fifth the next day in the

21  modified race with the same car, Dick Joslin relocated to

22  drive George Miller's #356 cars formerly driven by NASCAR

23  champ Jack Choquette, and

24         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin continued winning both sportsman

25  and modified races with the sportsman car, including the

26  Tournament of Champions at Memorial Stadium in Daytona, the

27  Palmetto Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina, one of the

28  toughest tracks to win in the country in 1954, and many other

29  races in the Carolinas, and

30         WHEREAS, when he was not winning, Dick Joslin was a top

31  five or ten finisher, including at the first Grand National

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9553

    532-206-98






  1  (now the Winston Cup), driving J.C. VanLandingham's new Buick

  2  Century, and during the 1956 NASCAR Convertible circuit season

  3  against highly financed factory teams, and

  4         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin drove in the first two Daytona

  5  500's and was a charter member of the Darlington Record Club,

  6  whose first-year members included Richard Petty, Fireball

  7  Roberts, Marvin Panch, and Cotton Owens, and

  8         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin won many short track circuit races

  9  and finished tenth in the Daytona Convertible during 1957, ran

10  the first and second Daytona 500 and Firecracker 250 races

11  beginning in 1959, and became a charter member of the Unocal

12  Record Club at Darlington in 1960, and

13         WHEREAS, Dick Joslin raced locally during 1961 and 1962

14  and, after winning his last race in a late model built by

15  Dumont Smith, he became pit manager at Orlando Raceway and

16  then promoter and owner promoter at Orlando Raceway, where he

17  remained until his death in 1972, and

18         WHEREAS, in addition to his winning career, Dick Joslin

19  will be remembered for forming the Southeastern Promoter's

20  Auto Club (SEPAC), which brought all area tracks under

21  standardized rules, NOW, THEREFORE,

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23  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

24  Florida:

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26         That the House of Representatives pauses in its

27  deliberations to honor the achievements of Dick Joslin.

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