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WALLY SALEEBA THE VOICE OF 

SEEKONK SPEEDWAY

(BY Adrienne Jeryl Venditti)

Wallace Saleeba passed away Sunday Morning , September 17, 2000 ,  The conclusion of a stunning and impressive life.  A man, whom those that were lucky enough to be his friend will surely miss. It was a long, painful  battle with a relentless illness diagnosed as a rare form of muscle degeneration,  that edged insidiously toward perilous darkness and gloom by   Attacking every muscle until even each breath a tremendous effort.. Not an easy thing for any one man or his family to endure.

The patriarch of the Saleeba family, mentor, friend, contributor to a myriad of interests, in business, and his church, in auto racing, and in the art of being a humanitarian, for Wally Saleeba was that special entity.  There are those, and there are many, that Wally helped, in countless ways, maybe to get a start in the right direction in life, those alone were numerous. He didn't waste his time on just anyone. If he was asked his opinion, or help, the man gave his best.

An easy guy to talk to, one of the reasons for that was Wally didn't  change as his popularity grew. The man's principals, and beliefs, remained stable, no matter how successful he became, he pretty much stayed unscathed, just one of the guys when you talked to Wally, you felt special, and it was sincere, no matter who it was, everyone was treated with dignity, with easy to follow user friendly language, genuine warmth and spontaneity ignited from him. In the later years, a mentor, in his younger years, a mover and a shaker, always, a friend, a leader, and a teacher of life itself. Wally was all that and more, His enchanting charisma said it all. Not just a people person, But top shelf quality.

His affiliation with auto racing was a great asset to the sport. Wally Saleeba was a successful business man, traveling extensively throughout the country, a representative with Wynn's Products Company, a large corporation that produced additives for improved car performance. The company was so impressed with Saleeba's performance and sales record that they choose him over hundreds of other sales representatives to teach his brand of talent at seminars throughout the USA .. It wasn't just by chance that Saleeba got this position, the company saw his leadership qualities, coupled with a sparkle, and warm tones of how he put words together that made you want to come closer and hear more. What ever it was, Wally had it, and for added measure, he made it look easy, 

But fact is, he worked quite hard. In his beginning years, perfecting his talent by practicing his speech and vocabulary over and over each night after a long day at work. He would listen to tapes, and practice, practice, practice. But to those that did not know the man it looked as if he had everything handed to him. He was so good at what he did he made it look easy. Where ever he traveled, Wally received accolades of awards throughout his career, but it was clear that he never forgot his roots, the love, and devotion to his beloved family, his friends, and to auto racing.

Dave Humphrey, who was dubbed with a title, early on, when both were young and foolish, and it stuck for life, Dave was called, "my favorite brother in law",  The Humphrey and Saleeba duo began their racing mission, You will have to ask Dave Humphrey the year.  These two young and carefree characters began the undertaking of their racing adventure in the mid 50's with plans to be great stock car Celebes . That was Wally and Dave as they set out to compete in the  new world of stock car racing at the Seekonk Speedway. Ironically as life would have it, Wally did continued on into the world of stock car racing, holding almost every position within the sanctioned racing club of "ARC" at Seekonk which totaled some 50 years, from gopher to Senior Race Consultant, earning the highest recognition, not easily attained in auto racing, that of " respect "

This first, "Voice of the Speedway " Wallace Saleeba,  and owner/promoter of several facilities in the northeast, at the time, D. Anthony Venditti, struck up a bond as stead fast friends that continued for the rest of their days, they were from similar backgrounds, both families were in chicken farming and the like, that was the base, that  brought a kind of union between these two confident personalities. Wally really understood Anthony, and shared Anthony's, ideas, objectives, priorities, and aspirations.

Dave Humphrey continued on in his racing endeavors through several decades, with an astounding and spectacular racing career. From the Bomber/Jalopy Division to national fame and recognition winning consecutive championship titles in auto racing.

Saleeba liked people, he was a people person. Meeting people, talking to people.  It was something he loved to do, and that he did first, he would talk to everyone on race day as they arrived in the pits, and  than, to the fans in the stands. something he did just as long as he could in his life, right up to his last season, Wally could be found every race night, in his wheelchair, up on the famous fourth turn..... But people would seek Wally out....his wonderful smile and outlook on life was always positive and people loved to banter and talk racing with the senior offchinardo of the sport.

In the beginning, Wally  quickly emerged from assistant handicapper where he and Rusty Rushton managed to coordinate getting over 200 cars in the pit area and out onto the track on time every race event. They devised a system of line ups, and calling cars up for the next race according to that line up on the blackboard. Than it was revamped to calling up the cars over a direct PA system just for the pits.  

Rusty, Anthony, Wally, and there were others, that created key procedures devising creative ways on getting the large fields of stock cars on and off the track (much of those lessons could be well used in today's events). Wally initiated the driver introductions, with his personal style, an on trackside announcing before the main. He would have the cars backup to the wall, encouraging the drivers to wave to their fans, Always a mention from his microphone in hand, to mention a sponsor when possible. He also was extremely instrumental in incorporating such wording into the division rules on how the race car were to look, the car had to be completely painted, the numbers had to be so high and so big, for the scorers to be able to see them clearly, for more accurate scoring.  Wally's reason was clearly to present a professional class act, along with a colorful presentation. In reminiscing, it is recalled  of Wally, and Dave's first car,  painted in zebra stripes and checker board of black and white, a real show stopper jalopy. It made D. Anthony stop and take notice right from the get go, Did these to young men have what it takes? and so they went...they went on to prove that ....You bet.. They Did......

In the mean time, Wally, went from the pits onto the flag stand, and in just a few seasons, on to announcing,  It was true, Wally became, Venditti's right hand man, though Venditti refused to give out such titles. Saleeba did have important responsibilities, in todays description, Director of Racing would surfice. Even though he deserved that title, it was never officially given .

Saleeba, continued to reigned as the "Voice of the Speedway " along with building his Speedway Distributors business. But, that of auto racing official, remained an intricate part of what made Wally Saleeba the persona for all his remaining years.

 Joan, Wally's wife and business secretary, never did become an avid race fan, her responsibilities on the home front, kept her and the rest of the family very busy, manning the home front.  Life long business secretary, Fran, enabled Wally to be diversified, to build the business up from the ground floor. As time went on Wally's handpicked and trained his sales representatives, along with two son's, Tom and Jim were given more and more responsibilities. The home office, located on Seekonk Speedway's main road frontage. 

The business grew, the Saleeba children grew, learning the business, in order for dad to be able to travel for Wynn's parent company. No easy task.  No, It was not easy for the Saleeba family, with Wally having what is called a "full plate" of commitments, the rest of the family pulled together to get orders completed. It has to be said that this is truly a remarkable family. One that Wally himself was deeply and humbly proud of.

Before to long, Wynn's Distributors needed a bigger location, a new building in East Providence , RI .  Wally was so very proud of getting that building built, He had a wonderful opening day ceremony, with the governor of Rhode Island in attendance, making a grand appearance, many other dignitaries showed for the ribbon cutting, with speeches, and reception.
It was impressive.

In life, the real Wally was rather conservative, never loud, rather humble and spiritual. He did love a beautiful new car and always displayed his Wynn's number plate proudly as he drove in as the " Wynn's man", yes Wally rightfully had much to be proud of. .

Backing up a bit, as to how Wally got to Seekonk's announcer seat ! ....On one particular race night, half way through a season,  the then announcer forgot to show up. It got down to the wire, it was race time....with no one to fill in, Wally took the bull by the horns so to speak, and calmly stepped up to the plate, he was the man, without any notice, Wally did a stand out job. Wally was instantly elevated at that given moment by D. Anthony.

Saleeba literally found out, that  not only was his classification elevated but he found his seat as an announcer high up in the press box,  but it was an ever so tiny space wedged  in between three scorers, all ladies, a virtual hot seat.  He loved it.

Brainstorming the issue, Wally had to find away to bring quality non stop entertainment to the paying fans. Important to Wally was to present this  in a professional way. Just what D. Anthony wanted.  Wally took this challenge very serious, setting out to accomplish his idea of how racing should be presented. This meant making some changes in presenting an event through announcing, doing it  his way.  Anthony gave him full reign. 

That meant combining the importance of sponsorship, an important element and second, getting the fans attention. 

Enter: a 15 year old wide eyed fan. The mere fact that this was a female, and that she was a darling looking little princess. This timid, very sweet teen was picked by invitation to assist the announcer. The very first " Girl Watcher", her name, Sandy Medeiros. The initial campaign Wally instituted, paved the way, showing others how it is done. The man was open to those willing to learn, his generosity was unending, teaching his ideas was a  road to success. 

Sandy and Bugsy

That first endeavor was the campaign for the Seekonk Lyon's Club, eye research foundation, His idea, for the famous " Girl Watchers Club",  included a patch with a unique design, ( a collectors item today) that sold for a donation to the foundation. Thousands of dollars raised, but the added value of PR work and the inception of that royalty, was the marketing of  stock car racing and paving the road to success at Seekonk. Proving just how important Wally was to the sport.

  Wally needed someone to make the system complete, Sandy was that girl, right from the start, the fans loved her, before long, after each feature, Sandy would find the time to run down from the "press box" to trackside with a trophy in hand, for a photo shoot. Sandy was great, with true showstopper looks, a trophy girl, and a trouper. going that extra mile. The "Voice of the Speedway " had an eye for those talents in a person, he made a person use their talents to the max. As an added side note; Sandy, now Sandy Gustafson is still profoundly involved, in presenting racing on race night, up in what is now called the tower. Sandy 's daughter, Tammy, carrying on in the family tradition, as scorer, 

There is a genuine phenomena at Seekonk, for instance Seekonk's chief scorer, Jenn, is another who from a very early age grew up in auto racing, playing, running up and down the stairs of the tower, every Saturday during  race night while  her mom, Charlotte Fornier did the scoring, and there comes to mind, a tall, skinny, quiet  kid,  named Kevin Boucher who would slide through the pit gate and into the pits,  who today is chief announcer, they learned as their parents tended to  jobs at the Speedway.  They all grew up and you guessed it, learned some from Wally Saleeba all those years.

An added note, Tammy's dad, Steve Gustafson, and Jenn's dad, Butch Fornier, were  racing back then, Kevin's dad Ernie Boucher, a car owner for champion driver Wayne Dion, and also an assist handicapper in the ARC ranks at Seekonk!  Just a very few of the many people who have worked  and raced together for 2 generations,  A community of people, a family in racing.

Even though computers are now doing what Wally put together years prior. Wally's card -x- system is still in use. So many earth breaking ideas were initiated by Saleeba, one that comes to mind, commenced back in the 1960 era, the first radio talk show from, WHIM the country/western station in Providence, and WALE in Fall River, where Wally promoted stock car racing, his way, encouraging driver fan clubs, sponsorship, and making the drivers at Seekonk racing stars. (Wally always wanted to put a message on the tunnel before the drivers went trackside saying " Smile Your a Star Act Like One").  Priorities set back then still stand, the Importance of starting on time and ending early. Anthony and Wally would synchronize their watches before each race, keeping  close track of time throughout the night. Another was to present exciting and interesting entertainment for the fans. 

Stock car racing at Seekonk flourished with the combination duo of Venditti and Saleeba. The drivers were not just numbers, but were dubbed with nicknames that made them stars, A Marriott of information poured from the speakers, it was unending. ....The Frito Bandito, Gentleman Jim Wilkins, The Kid From Fitchburg, Flyin Freddie Astle, Leo the Lion(animal), Storm'in Norman Holden, and the Godfather, to name a few, all dubbed by the "Voice of the Speedway", Wally Saleeba. Wally made every event he announced and officiated something special using his brand of promoting, presenting each division, his way, with style, full of information that made sense, Wally believed in giving credit to the sponsors that supported the financial aspect of getting a racer to trackside on race night. His ideas were major breakthroughs in the early days of stock car racing.

Wally thought up a unique way to put all the information he needed to remember enabling his brand of announcing right at his finger tips, a hospital card-x system appeared, 3x5 cards were slipped into place the moment information arrived from the pits of a run down of the line up. This was the announcer's assistant's job. Wally had special pads printed with carbon copies of three for each page that could be ripped off.  These pads had his business name on the top as a way for advertising for his company, but more importantly he was showing others how to market a product.  How to present a fast pace event filled with interesting information for the fans. The three carbon copies, were used by the handicappers, who wrote the line-ups for each race per Anthony's handicapping system. These copies were hand carried to flag man, announcer, and scorer. 

Wally put up a blackboard in the pits called " Victory Lane " for pictures with a cement checkerboard floor, Winner signs for photo shoots to be sent to local newspapers were made up. A than young Val Lasuir worked a shirt and novelty stand, at Seekonk. Le Sieur latched on to Saleeba's ideas. Val and wife Anne opened a new racing weekly called "Speedway Scene".
Still published today.
 
A mic for on the spot intros, and after race interviews drew hundreds of people to the pits after the races. This started back in the early 60's.

Introductions before the feature event, to market the stars and sponsors was yet another innovation.

Wally was alway energetic in his ideas for the betterment of auto racing. You just knew he loved the sport.

 A Personal Note:

   Wally was a big help to us at Pronyne Motor Sports, he loved racing and he loved what we were doing with our nostalgic cars.  He donated money for Pronyne to display our cars from Vermont to Florida, to help pay the gas and travel expense.  Wally never forgot your name even if he only met you just once.  I remember at the Narragansett Park Speedway, (Cranston, Rhode Island), 100th Anniversary, it rained all day, and someone asked Wally, is there a rain date, his reply was ya, it will be a 100 years from today.  There will never be another Wally.  We at Pronyne were very lucky to have known Wally Saleeba.

God speed.

your friend Mickey Miller.