Ronney Householder

5/5/1908 - 11/11/1972

Record updated 04-May-06

Householder raced almost year round during the peak of his midget racing career, spending the summer in the Midwest and fall and winter on the West Coast. Known as a “money driver” who lost an occasional short race to men like Shorty Sorenson and Harry McQuinn, he was invincible when there was a big purse and a long distance.

He won the 1935 Detroit Coliseum Championship and the 1936 and 1937 “Turkey Night” 150-lap Championship races at the famous Gilmore Stadium, which drew crowds numbering over 18,000 fans.

Householder not only drove, but also owned many of his rides, usually painted white. In 1939 the Chicago Shriners built a quarter-mile banked board track inside Soldier Field and drew large crowds. Ronney won the Championship under the AAA sanction which drew the top drivers in the country.

Householder drove in the Indianapolis 500 in 1937 and 1938, placing 12th and 14th. In 1938 he set a new qualifying record of 125.769 mph which still stands, as the qualifying distance at the time was 10 laps.



National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame