More Sad News: Bill Enters

[ancrdave]

Just got word that Bill Enters of Orlando passed away on Saturday Oct. 29... Bill raced mostly at the old Orlando Raceway and Eau Gallie Speedways from the mid 50s through 1971... Most of his cars were numbered 05 and sponsored by Finnie's, a local wrecker service/salvage yard in Orlando... After he retired, he worked the back gate at New Smyrna for awhile... Funeral services are Wednesday and if I find out more, I'll post it... Bill was one of my early heroes in this sport... After suffering from diabetes and Alzheimer's for many years, he is now no longer in any pain... RIP my friend...

[dd38]

I remember Bill from the old days at the "BIG O" when I was a kid and the Heckle's were basically rasing me. In later years I got to talk with him quite often and he seemed to take a liking to me for whatever reason. When he was at the track we would always talk. RIP Bill.

[gogame]

remember running many laps with bill in the 05 at orlando and eau gallie in 67,68. when you were able to beat him you knew you beat the best. he was the first guy i saw that could run the outside of those 1/4 mile flat tracts. bill was good people, he'll be missed.

[Bigbuck]

Lots of this

Seems like this yr a lot of older racers have passed. Is it me or is it more than some yrs. I didn't know Bill but still wish to say I'm sorry for his friends and family. Boy that red ford is an eyecatcher!! And dd, taking a liking to you? I don't know?? Joking my friend o'k??

[ancrdave]

Nice write-up this morning in the Orlando Sentinel by Linda Florea:

William "Wild Bill" Enters and his red No. 05 Ford stock cars were part of the local racing scene from the mid-1950s to the early '70s at places like Sunbrock Speedway, Orlando Speedway and Eau Gallie Speedway.
In the early 1960s, Enters was one of Dave Westerman's racecar heroes; it didn't hurt that Westerman's father liked Enters, too, because he raced Fords.
"He would take the time with a kid that wanted to ask a racecar driver a bunch of questions," said Westerman, a former racetrack announcer and assistant archivist for International Speedway Corp. in Daytona Beach. "I would pester him about stuff all the time, and he never minded me taking his picture."
Enters, of Orlando, died Oct. 29 of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 82.
He was born July 18, 1929, in Cincinnati and grew up in Milan, Ind., but for health-related reasons his family moved to Orlando in 1946.
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He met his future wife when he went to pick up a date and she was too sick to go out — so he took out her sister, Connie Lee. There was an immediate, mutual attraction, said their daughter Paula Hillier of Orlando, and the two eloped in 1947 because the bride was too young to marry without parental consent. Connie Enters died in 1987.
William Enters learned brick masonry from O.H. Howard, said Enters' daughter. But Howard had a racecar and at one point needed a driver, so Enters volunteered and began a racing career.
He eventually became an independent brickmason, too, and worked on the YMCA in Orlando and on homes in Apopka's Errol Estate.
His daughter said he was known for his brick fireplaces and often had a back-order list of people willing to wait for one. He was also one of the few masons willing to work with coquina, a soft, porous sandstone consisting primarily of shell fragments, which other masons would not handle because it could cut their hands.
Enters retired from masonry in the early 1980s. He came away from his racing days with more than 100 trophies, his daughter said, and several times was the points champion at one or the other of the speedways where he raced.
"I first saw him at Eau Gallie in 1962," recalled Eddie Roche, manager of International Speedway's archives. "His car was always red, and a white number 05. He wore a red-and-white checked shirt with 05 on it — his favorite. He really stood out with all the red."
Roche said Enters raced in the late-model, eight-cylinder class early in his career and then in the early-model, six-cylinder class from about 1967 to 1971.
Former driver LeRoy Porter said Enters had stopped racing by the time he started, but the two became friends through the years. He remembers Enters coming to the New Smyrna Speedway with his grandson to watch Porter race and enjoy the camaraderie — always bringing a snack for the drivers to eat afterward.
"He was one of those really good guys," Westerman added. "He was an excellent driver, very aware of his equipment, and didn't crash a lot."
In addition to Hillier, Enters is survived by another daughter, Diane Coggshall of Orlando; three grandsons; and one great-grandson.
Baldwin-Fairchild Cemeteries, Funeral Homes & Crematory, Lake Ivanhoe Chapel, is handling arrangements.

[egspeedway]

My earliest memories of Bill was at Eau Gallie, He was always competitive,clean driver and a congenial gentleman in the pits. One of his worst accidents was at EG. He was driving Happy Steigles coupe normally driven by Jim McGuirk.and rolled it almost the length of the back straight. He was good in the coupes and late models but seemed to really excell when the 6 cylinder class became popular.He gave Spangler and Narmore fits at Eau Gallie. Saw him at many of the Joslin Memorials and Eau Gallie reunions. He could "bench race" with the best of them as well.RIP Bill and my condolances to the survivors.