Glen Milton Breed

4/5/1881 - 11/11/1960

Record updated 04-May-06

Glen Milton Breed was born on May 4, 1881 near Breedsville in Van Buren County, Michigan.  He was the younger of two sons born to Silas A. Breed and Emily (Stoughton).  Breedsville was named in honor of Glen’s paternal grandfather who settled there in 1835.

After a quarrel with his father, Glen left home at the age of 18 to work as a mechanic for driver Bob Burman, who was a works driver for Buick. However he soon found himself behind the wheel of one of the factory run cars.

Glen started racing in the early 1900's in stripped down touring cars on the 1 mile dirt oval tracks of Michigan and Missouri.

Sometime around 1910, he moved to Winfield, Kansas where he got a job as a mechanic. He purchased a fire damaged 1910 Buick Model 17 from a Buick dealership, rebuilt it and began racing it on dirt tracks around Kansas, mostly on the ½ mile dirt oval Cowley County Fairgrounds in Winfield.

He competed in the first race meeting held at the Winfield track on July 4th, 1912. There were probably only a half-dozen entries, but the crowd of 4000 saw W. W. Brown (later better known as a racing mechanic and as "Cockeyed Brown") win the first heat and Breed in his Buick win the 20-lap main and $300. Breed was back in Winfield in 1913 and was again a winner.

Glen Breed was married on July 12, 1910 at Hutchinson, Kansas to Martha Elizabeth “Mattie” Krukal.

He continued to race his Buick 17 until 1915. Then in 1916 he purchased a Hudson Super-Six.

Breed had moved his family to Salina, Kansas and over the next two years won 26 out of 27 races that he entered inlcuding two unlimited races in Mexico in 1917.

He raced on the 2-mile dirt oval at Dodge City Speedway northeast of Dodge City, Kansas in September, 1917 and won by a margin of 15 miles!

On September 29, 1922 on the 5/8 mile dirt oval at West Texas State Fairgrounds Racetrack at Abilene, Texas Glen had a lucky escape when he was involved in a fiery crash informt of 17,000 spectators. The Hudson was badly damaged but Glen escaped injury.

Breed moved his family to Austin, Texas in June 1923 and then moved again in September to Corpus Christi, Texas where he opened a small garage.

He continued to race the Hudon on ½, 1 and 2 mile oval tracks until late in 1923. He finally sold the Hudson Super-Six special to Herbert Haas of San Angelo, Texas in the winter of 1924 winter and retired from racing.

In 1948, Glen and Mattie Breed moved to Gobles, Michigan where he worked at the Gobles Auto Supply Company.  In 1949 he moved to Paw Paw, Michigan where he rebuilt engines for the Troy Motor Company, a job he kept until his retirement. 

Glen passed away at his home in Paw Paw, Michigan on November 11, 1960 and is buried in Robinson Cemetery south of Gobles, Michigan.