Biography

Gary Thacker drove the K-17 Modified at Tri-City Raceway and Big Sky Speedway and finished numerous seasons as high point champion. He also had a wrecker that he operated through his business at the races. Gary had bought the Conoco station in Columbia Falls in 1965 and with his brother-in-law Fred Reimer as mechanic, they fixed & tuned cars all over the valley. But, when Fred was killed in a drowning accident, Gary had to pick up the slack.  Gary's daughter Rela Schneider remembers her dad spending nights reading and studying to keep up on the latest mechanical bulletins.

Week day evenings at the Conoco station saw all the bays full with stock cars. Jim Kruse remembers Gary as quite a good engine tuner and he would work on anybody's race car.  But when Saturday night rolled around all the business was put aside and Gary headed for the track and the racing he loved so dear. Rela remembers a time when her dad drove the Al-Can Highway to Alaska and got back just in time to jump into his Modified and race in the Regionals.  He told her his legs fell asleep on him during the race but couldnt stop talking about how much fun he had.

With all the races he won, Rela says the most important win for Gary came when he took home the first place trophy in the Casey Doane Memorial.  Casey was a young racer who was killed in an auto accident and it hit the community hard.

Gary Thacker was voted into the Hall Of Fame because he was a winner who worked hard to succeed and is respected by his peers. And he gave more than he took to the sport of stock car racing.