Emory Collins (1904 – June 2, 1982) was an American racing driver from

Le Mars, Iowa Le Mars is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 census. Le Mars is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area. Histor ...

. He won the

International Motor Contest Association The International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) was organized in 1915 by J. Alex Sloan, and is currently the oldest active auto racing sanctioning body in the United States. IMCA is currently headquartered in Vinton, Iowa, and features s ...

(IMCA) sprint car national championship in 1938, 1946, 1947, and 1948. Collins was inducted in the

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is a Hall of Fame and museum for sprint car drivers, owners, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, promoters, sanctioning officials and media members. The museum is located in Knoxville, Iowa, the ho ...

in 1991. He was known for racing the red number 7

Offenhauser The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly ...

sprint car between 1921 and 1951.

Backgrounds

Collins was born in

Sibley, Iowa Sibley is a city in Osceola County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,860 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Osceola County. Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the State of Iowa, is also nearby. History Sibley ha ...

in 1904 before moving to

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

, Canada in 1907. Collins started working as a mechanic when he was 9 years old. Collins played ice hockey. He played on the

Regina Pats Regina (Latin for "queen") may refer to: Places Canada * Regina, Saskatchewan, the capital city of the province ** Regina (electoral district) ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina France * Régina, French Guiana, a commune United States * R ...

and on the Canadian National Team in the Olympics.

Racing career

Collins started racing when he was 17 years old in 1921. Collins' first win came in a

Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

Semans, Saskatchewan Semans ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Mount Hope No. 279 and Census Division No. 10. The village is located approximately 125 km north of the City of Regina an ...

. He took a Chevrolet "big" car to victory lane at Winnepeg on the following year. J. Alex Sloan, promoter of IMCA, took Collins to the United States to play on a Chicago professional hockey team and determined that Collins should drive race cars instead. Collins and

Gus Schrader Gus Schrader (May 22, 1895 in Newhall, Iowa – October 22, 1941 in Shreveport, Louisiana) was an American racecar driver. He was the 1933–1937 and 1939–1941 IMCA national sprint car champion. He was considered one of the best "Big Car" (as ...

frequently raced against each other in the 1930s and were the class of the field. Schrader won the 1933 to 1937 IMCA national championships. Collins won the 1938 IMCA national sprint car championship at the final race. Schrader won the 1939 and 1940 championships and won the 1941 championship before his death. All racing activities halted in the United States from 1942 until 1945 because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Collins returned to racing after the war and won the 1946, 1947, and 1948 IMCA Sprint car championships. He had several wins in 1950 including

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. Cens ...

, and

Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...

. Collins stopped racing in 1951 and he retired from racing at Le Mars.

Career awards

He was inducted in the

(United States) in 1991. Collins was inducted in the

Kossuth County Kossuth County () is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 14,828. The county seat is Algona, Iowa, Algona. History Kossuth County was founded on January ...

Racing Hall of Fame in 2011. Collins was a member of the inaugural 2018 class at the Iowa Hall of Fame and Racing Museum.

Personal life

Collins died on June 2, 1982, from a heart attack. Collins was survived by his wife Irene. Collins was nicknamed "Spunk".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Emory 1904 births 1982 deaths National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees Racing drivers from Iowa People from Le Mars, Iowa Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan Racing drivers from Saskatchewan