Obituary
Late MLRA owner, official lauded as 'racer's racer'
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt.com senior writer
Allen "Cowboy" Chancellor (1936-2014)
If there was ever a fitting summation of Allen “Cowboy” Chancellor, it was provided by veteran Dirt Late Model driver John Anderson of Omaha, Neb.
Reacting to the April 25 passing of the former co-owner of the Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association, Anderson said simply, “He was the racer’s racer.” | Slideshow
Indeed, Chancellor, who died at 78 following a battle with cancer, cultivated great respect from MLRA competitors during the 16 years he operated the Missouri-based Dirt Late Model tour with his wife Harriett. A driver and speed shop owner turned race official, Chancellor and his wife took over the Ken Essary and Randy Mooneyham-founded MLRA in 1996 and built it into one of the country’s top regional series, overseeing 355 events in their distinctive home-spun manner before selling the circuit to Lucas Oil Products near the end of the 2012 season.
“Cowboy was a true friend of the racer,” said Dan Robinson, the general manager of Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., and the MLRA series director since the Chancellors retired. “He was kind of a low-budget racer himself so he liked to keep costs down the best he could. Even running the series, Cowboy and Harriett were very frugal with how they did things because they wanted to make sure the racers always had a good points fund and contingency program.
“He knew both sides of it — he was an official running a series, but he also was a driver and he had his own parts business that sold fuel and tires and serviced a lot of racetracks over the years. That parts business is really where him and his wife made their mark and got to know a lot of racers and understand the racers too.”
Chancellor, who grew up on a farm near Warsaw, Mo., and spent most of his life living in Buckner, Mo., was known in pit areas across the Midwest for his cool, calm persona. Friendly but reserved, he struck a contrast to his more outgoing wife of 47 years.
“He was pretty mellow, pretty easygoing,” said Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., who registered 70 of his MLRA record 106 career wins during the Chancellors’ tenure. “Harriet did most of the talking.”
“I don’t know if he was quiet as much as Harriett just talked,” Anderson, a three-time MLRA champion under the Chancellors, said with a good-natured laugh. “But honestly, he just went about his business. He was just the hard-working, old-school type. His philosophy was basically, ‘Let’s make a go at it and we’re gonna be here next year if you support me.’ ”
At Cowboy’s shows, he didn’t exactly rule with an iron fist. But there certainly weren’t any gray areas up for interpretation.
“He was always fair to everyone,” said Anderson, who recorded all 29 of his MLRA victories during the Chancellors’ stretch at the helm. “I won the championship a few times (2008, ’11, ’12), but he didn’t cut me no slack. He threw me out for being 4 pounds light and I had no problem with that because I felt like he’d do that to anybody.
“He had a level, level, level playing field, for sure. You always felt when you pulled through the door that nobody had an advantage. There wasn’t any performance advantage that he was letting go.”
Al Purkey of Coffeyville, Kan., whose seven MLRA points titles won during the Chancellors’ era effectively made him the face of the tour, would agree with Anderson’s assessment. One of his most memorable Cowboy stories centers on the official’s strict adherence to the rulebook.
“Because I ran with them a long time and won seven championships, everybody would say they favored me and took care of me and all that,” Purkey said. “But let me tell ‘ya, that wasn’t the case at all. They weren’t giving me special treatment.
“The year I won my sixth championship (2009) they had a one-MSD-box rule, which I strongly disagreed with and everyone knew I disagreed with. Well, I still ran two MSD boxes, but I always unplugged one for the feature so we’d be legal when we got to tech. One night, though, I ran seventh in a feature and I forgot to unplug my (second) box because we had wrecked and had to rush to get the car ready. I realized that when I got over by my pit area after the race, and as I was unplugging my box Cowboy evidently noticed I was doing something and he made me go through tech even though only the top five (were required) to do that. Then he threw me out for having two MSD boxes.
“He was a very easygoing guy and kind of laid-back until you pushed him to that limit,” Purkey continued. “He had certain things that he was adamant about and he was not very bendable on those things — and I thought that was good. From a series owner or promoter, that’s what you need.”
The way Cowboy and his wife operated the series kept Purkey solidly in their corner for more than a decade.
“I had tremendous respect for Cowboy and Harriett,” said Purkey, who ranks second on the all-time MLRA win list with 49 victories. “One of the reasons I stuck with that deal is because they were doing it for the right reasons. They weren’t concerned about making money. They just loved the sport.
“They took a series that maybe wasn’t supposed to be what it became and made it a success,” he added. “They built it into something the old-fashioned way I guess — with hard work and honesty.”
When the Chancellors finally decided to hang up their official uniforms, their devotion to the sport shined through. They didn’t disappear from the racing scene. They were very visible at many events — and Cowboy even climbed back behind the wheel of a Dirt Late Model for what would end up being one last hurrah at the age of 77.
“When Cowboy ran MLRA he had a two-seater (Late Model) that he gave people rides in,” said Robinson, who served as MLRA’s public relations director before going to work full time at Lucas Oil Speedway. “That kind of kept him in the seat enough to keep him happy, but when we bought MLRA we also bought the two-seater. He still wanted to drive some, though, so he decided he wanted to get back in it last year. He went out and bought a 2004 Warrior, put it together and ran it in our weekly (ULMA Late Model) racing series.”
Cowboy made eight feature starts last year in the spec-engine Late Model class at Lucas Oil Speedway, which sits just a short drive from the country home Cowboy and his wife purchased in Wheatland, Mo. His best finish was 12th on Aug. 17.
“He just loved doing that racing,” Robinson said of Cowboy, who is survived by his wife; a son; three daughters; one sister; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. “He loved the routine of being at the racetrack. He’d come here early and get his car out and wash it and charge the battery. He just liked being in the in the pits and at the racetrack and still being part of it all.”
A racer’s racer, indeed.
