From Sabrina Hill: I have some stories about Terry, just don't know how many of them would make interesting reading on a web site. The clearest memory I have of him... I went to Ross Downs one Friday night with 2 girlfriends--I was probably16 and the other 2 were about the same age. One of the girls was Kathey Tolbert. The main reason she went to the races was because she had a crush on this kid whose older brother raced. The older brother's name was Teddy Poovey. The "kid" she had a crush on was Terry. I remember telling her I couldn't believe she was so excited about a kid who wasn't even old enough to drive yet!! You think he looks young now--if you have seen pictures of him from then, you'll know what I mean. He was 15 then, but he looked about 10, maybe 11. At the time, I thought she was "robbing the cradle". At 16, a year or two is a big deal. And the rest, as they say, is history. They haven't been married since 1973, but they've been together since then.
From Huey : MY NAME IS HUEY , I WORKED FOR SPRINGER A WHILE AGO. TERRY AND I TALKED AFTER ONE THE INDY RACES WHERE SPRINGER WENT DOWN IN TURN 2 DURING A NATIONAL.. I COULDNT SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING, BUT I COULD TELL SOMETHING HAPPENED BY THE CROWD REACTION. IT SEEMSD JAY LOW SIDED IN 2 AND AS HE WAS SKIDDING ALONG, STILL ON THE BIKE , HE THOUGHT TO HIMSELF, I CAN SAVE THIS . HE SAID THAT HE JAMMED HIS LEFT FOOT DOWN AND GRABBED A HANDFUL OF THROTTLE, THE BIKE STOOD UP AND AWAY HE WENT.(SOMETHING MAYBE ONLY JAY COULD PULL OFF). AFTER THE RACE ,I WAS TALKING TO TERRYAND HE SAID, "HUEY, I COULDNT BELIEVE IT, I SEEN SPRINGER GO DOWN IN FRONT OF ME IN TURN 2 , BUT THEN HE PASSED ME ON THE BACK STRAIGHTAWAY."
ONE OF MY FAVORITE POOVEY STORIES.ALL TERRYS FLINT BUDDIES ARE PRAYING FOR HIS SPEEDY AND COMPLETE RECOVERY
From Mitch Reichardt: I am an engineering student at UC Davis, and I occasionally race at the
Lodi Cycle Bowl, in California. One night quite a few years ago there were quite a few national riders at Lodi because of a bigger race being held somewhere in CA. One of those riders was Terry. It was amazing to be sitting in the pits
and see him walk by.Well, that night it was a short track, and there are quite a few local experts who run really good down there, and the track can be difficult to pass on. It just so happened that Terry was behind one of those local experts entering turn one on the last lap of his heat race. That expert made the mistake of leaving just enough room between himself
and the edge of the track to fit two wheels of a CRF 450 with Poovey in the saddle. He made the pass stick, and won his heat race.Terry happened to be pitted fairly close to me, and after that heat race a
District 36 Official comes over and starts ranting and raving..."TERRY, YOU
ALMOST TOOK HIS LEG OFF!"...etc, etc. When the Official slowed down a bit, Terry says so calmly and eloquently:
*insert soft Texas Drawl* "Aw, I was just racin." His reply set the official off again! So Terry let the official wind down a
bit again, then he goes: "Well, let's go talk to him." And with that, I watched Terry and the Official disappear into the hot,
dusty night. I'm not sure of how that little meeting went, and to be honest, I can't remember if Terry won the main that night. (I'm sure he did very well, however, because what I DO remember was his riding was incredible to watch.)
Ever since that night I have been a Terry Poovey fan. Looking back, I wish I had the guts to go meet him that night, me being a C rider I just didn't feel worthy! He's a guy who is as nice as he is talented at riding a
motorcycle. Get well soon Terry, and next time I see you at the track I won’t make the same mistake twice.
From Jim Molloy: first let me say to terry and family is our prays are for you on a speedy and
full recovery, this story is when terry won at harrington,De. years ago,
after the races were over and everybody was packing up to go home we were walking
out by the grandstand and saw terry in the phone booth, and as we walked by we
over heard him say (in his Texas drawl) "hi ma, I won" it was something I'll
never forget, that here is this professional motorcycle racer with people all
over him after he won, shaking his hand asking for an autograph or photo, then
goes to find a phone and call home it was touching.
From Belton McDaniel: I was a novice in 1979, we were in Little Rock, AR. for a pro short track. Time trails went well for me and I qualified fourth out of the sixty something riders there. They had a dash for cash of the top four fast qualifiers, of course I finished fourth behind the experts with Terry wining. It was supposed to be winner take all but while in the winners circle (all four of us was there) Terry announces he was going to share the purse with all four of us. This attitude is what has kept Terry on the top shelf all of his life and I know he will be his warm, smiling self after this is over. God bless you Terry. Belton McDaniel Trussville, AL
FROM RICKY DAUTRIEL: HERE FROM SULPHUR LOUISIANA DOWN HERE ANY RACE I I RACED AT IN TEXAS /ARKANSAS /OKLAHOMA AND LOUISIANA WAS A MINI NATIONAL DOWN HERE IN THE 70S AND EARLY 80S THERE WERE SO MANY GOOD RIDERS OUT OF THE SOUTH THAT WERE NATIONAL NUMBERS YOU COULD EASILY HAVE 15 TO 20 NATIONAL NUMBERS AT A REGULAR AMA CLASS C DIRT TRACK RACE WITH ONLY A STANDARD PURSE AT STAKE AND THE ONE THAT ALWAYS STOOD OUT WAS TERRY JUST TO HEAR HIM SPEAK WITH THAT TEXAS SLANG AND HUMOR WAS A TREAT HE IS A CLASS ACT I ALSO REMEMBER ONE OF THE RACES OUTSIDE LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS IN BENTON ARK. WENDYS WOULD SPONSOR A BIG RACE TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY THERE EVERY AUGUST FOR A FEW YEARS WELL IT WAS GREAT RACING AND AT THE END OF THE NIGHT TERRY WAS IN THE WINNERS CIRCLE HE SPOKE TO THE CROWD AFTERWARDS AND THANKED WENDYS AND EVERYONE INVOLED N THE EVENT AND THE CROWD FOR SUPPORTING THE EVENT AS HE ACCEPTED THE TROPHY HE TOLD EVERYONE THAT THIS WAS THE MOST IMPRESIVE TROPHY HE HAD RECIEVED AT THAT TIME THAT IT WAS SO IMPRESIVE MORE THAN ANY GRAND NATIONAL TROPHY AND WAS SO SINCERE ABOUT THIS IT TOUCHED EVERYONES HEART AT LEAST IT DID MINE I KNOW TERRY AS POOH BEAR
From Dee Crump: My family met Terry back in the 70's when he rode out of Bultaco Sales of Dallas for Arlie Hutsell. We all rode Bultacos. The only difference was that he rode FlatTrack and we rode MotoCross.My brothers and me lived in Richardson and use to ride our dirtbikes down the railroad tracks to Garland where Terry would be messing around on a minibike or some kind of bike. Can't recall how many times we did that until the police were on to us.I remember him signing up in the Expert class at Ross Down's and lying about his age because he had to be 16 in order to go Expert. He was only 15!! He even raced my younger brother's Yamaha 60 (??) one night out there as my brother got a little un-nerved to do it. We have a great picture of him racing it. I will have to find it.
From Dale Lineweaver:I was @ Sacramento with my buddy Dennis Cameron (31z) years after Kenny Noyes had returned to Spain. I had really never officially met Terry albeit we did have friends in common. I bumped into him @ the riders meeting. I began to introduce myself and before I could do so he called me by name. I was shocked, as he could obviously tell from the look on my face. He then said "I never forget a good tuners name". (His words really meant alot to me)
From Dan and Jackie Maurel: One of my fondest memories of Terry is when we would race at Ascot Raceway in Southern California, as soon as the races were over, you would find Terry loading up his truck to get as far out of California as he could before stopping for the night. His reason still makes me laugh today! He said that the earthquakes in California scared him and he could not understand how we could live here. But what is so funny about this is that Terry lives in Texas where they have hurricanes and tornados, now that scared me. I guess its what your used to. But we had a good time teasing Terry about racing out of So Cal as fast as he could. Hang in there Terry! Love and Prayers Dan and Jackie Maurel
From Vicki Poovey McCarter As Terry's older sister I often had the "watch the younger kids" job. I was 15 or 16 and Terry was 5 or 6. As teenage girls will do, I was on the phone alot and this particular time, he wanted me to get off. When I wouldn't, he just went in the kitchen and got the butcher knife and heated on the stove until it was nice and hot and came and laid it on my leg!!! I still have the scar! Around that same time period I was leaving for a date and Terry wanted to go. I told him he couldn't and he didn't say anything, just went outside. I finished what I was doing and we got in the car to leave. We driven far enough away from the house that I guess he knew we wouldn't take him back home and up jumped Terry from the back floorboard Please thank everyone for their prayers and encouragement. All the Family is so very appreciative of all the love and support.
From Tammy Mahanay:I have known Terry since I was a little girl at my dad's motorcyle shop in Roxana,IL. I remember many nights sitting at the shop, sometimes until 3 AM while my dad worked on his Bultaco so that it would be ready for the next day at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City. I was about 7yrs. old and Terry was about 18 and I had the biggest crush on him. I remember that I drew a picture of a teddy bear that said "Poo Bear" on it for him and gave it to him while we was in the pits. To this day, I can still remember that one time when he was at my dad's shop, he wanted me to walk down to the gas station to get him a pack of cigarettes and gave me enough to get myself a candy bar. When I came back with them, he gave me a kiss and told me thank you. I will never forget that. I went to Spingfield last year and was disappointed when he told me that he retired because he was too old for it and it hurt too bad when he crashed. I didn't know that he was racing again this year and if I had known, I would have been in Springfield this year. It greatly upset me to hear about the accident and I hope that he makes a full recovery and I wish him and his family the very best.
From Phil Prater: I have known Terry since he was five or six years old. I remember when Teddy got him a Honda cub 50, and Terry wore a track in the back yard with it. When he started racing the little Honda 50, Teddy was working for me at Astro Cycles, and he used to regularly bring it in after a night at Ross Downs, and we would weld the frame up again, and again, and again. Terry has always been a class act and I wish him and his family the best of everything. Phil Prater aka Phillip T to those who are old enough to remember
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