Loy’s toy is a ’79 Malibu, and he drives it very fast

Loy Petersen pops a wheelie in his prized “Hoopster” 1979 Malibu hot rod.

As a basketball player, Loy Petersen was more smooth than fast.

At age 76, though, long after his career gracing the hardcourts had ended, speed is at the essence of Petersen’s latest pursuit.

The former Oregon State standout and NBA player is one of the top drivers on the National Hot Rod Association’s Northwest circuit.

The Madras resident has been either track champion or runner-up in the Super Pro division for each of the past five years at the Madras Dragstrip.

From a dead stop, Petersen has covered the one-eighth-mile straight track in his souped-up 1979 Chevy Malibu in as fast as 6.64 seconds, gaining a top speed of 105 miles per hour. That is zero to more than 100 mph in almost the blink of an eye.

Drag racing is two cars racing at a time, mano a mano, going against each other in two lanes on the track. It helps satisfy the competitive urge that the ex-Beaver great retains in his eighth decade on the planet.

“When you’re up there staging in and getting ready to go, your heart is pumping,” Petersen says. “It’s an adrenaline rush.”

Petersen has been drag racing since 2009, when he retired from farming in central Oregon at 64. His interest in racing was piqued as early as his years at Anaheim High in Southern California.

“They offered vocational education,” Petersen says. “Some of the guys took auto shop. They all had hot rods. I didn’t have a job so I didn’t have one, but I always wanted one.”

It took him almost 50 years, but Petersen got to it eventually. He sold a farm tractor and purchased a purple 1940 Buick hot rod on EBay sight unseen, then had it shipped to Oregon from Cocoa Beach, Fla. A dozen years later, Loy and his son, Eric, both race in NHRA bracket classes — Eric driving the Buick in the Pro Division and Loy the Malibu in Super Pro.

“It’s an altogether different competition than basketball, but I love it,” Loy says today. “It’s much more mental than physical.”

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Petersen — the oldest of four siblings — was born in Salina, Kan., five weeks before the end of World War II. He spent most of his formative years in Portland. His father, George, was an Army man who later worked as a salesman for Frisco Railway. Loy was prepared to attend Portland’s Grant High, but the family moved to Anaheim after his eighth-grade year and he became one of Orange County’s premier players in high school.

Loy started his college career at Pepperdine but transferred to Oregon State, where as a 6-5 sophomore forward he was the leading scorer on an OSU team that cut into a UCLA dynasty that won NCAA titles in 1964 and ’65 and then seven straight from 1967-73.

Coached by Paul Valenti, the Beavers won the AAWU championship in 1966, then beat a Houston team led by Elvin Hayes in the NCAA Regionals before being eliminated by Utah in the Elite Eight.

(The following is an article I wrote for the Portland Tribune about a 50-year reunion of Oregon State 1966 AAWU title team.)

 https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/343677-211938-once-upon-a-time-66-beavers-were-kings-of-the-west

 Petersen played two seasons in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls before going to Cleveland in the expansion draft of 1970. Loy injured his back, was waived and, at 24, his pro career was over.

By that time, Loy was married to Carol, now his wife of 53 years.

“She’s a tolerant woman,” he says with a laugh.

The Petersens moved to Portland, where Loy worked for five years as assistant manager with the Giusti Wine Company. Denied a chance to buy into the firm, the Petersens moved to Madras in 1975, where Loy joined his father-in-law’s farming business.

“I’d never been on a farm in my life,” he says. “Didn’t know a thing about it.”

Loy started with the family’s peppermint distilling operation on a spread that covered 1,400 acres, of which his father-in-law owned about 400.

“After awhile, my brother-in-law and I took it over,” he says. “It was a challenge; a lot of work. We ran two 12-hour shifts. He would work nights one year and I’d work them the next.”

It eventually came to be called “Petersen Farm.” They grew peppermint for oil and tea leaves but raised mostly certified seed — wheat, grass, garlic, onion, flower, carrot.

“One year we had 16 different crops growing,” he says.

Loy and his father-in-law also ran an irrigation business from about 1982-2002. In all, Loy farmed for nearly 35 years. He spent time as a member of several state and local boards, including the Oregon Wheat League, Jefferson County Seed Growers, Jefferson County Peppermint Growers, Oregon Farm Bureau and Oregon Essential Oil Growers. Loy also served 16 years as chairman of the Central Electric Co-Op board of directors.

“That was my biggest involvement in any organization,” he says. “Central Electric was the fastest growing co-op in the United States. Today, it covers 5,200 square miles in rural areas.”

The private utilities operated primarily within urban boundaries. The people in rural areas such as Madras were being ignored.

“It wasn’t cost effective for the private companies,” Petersen says. “That’s why the co-op association was formed, to take care of places in the rural areas that weren’t being served.

“I got entrenched in it. I knew most everybody in the Northwest in the public power business. We became a close-knit group. I enjoyed it. A lot of big decisions had to be made and a lot of money was involved.”

After retirement in 2009, bought his first hot rod. He hasn’t looked back since.

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Petersen says drag racing today is more nuanced than in previous eras.

“The majority of drag racing in America is ‘bracket’ or handicapped racing,” he says. “In the old days, whoever had the most money would go the fastest. In bracket racing, it’s more complicated.

“We rely on the weather to predict what we’re going to run. It’s predicated on the temperature, the adjusted altitude, the humidity and the barometric pressure.”

Loy’s son Eric — who was a walk-on and lettered under Coach Jimmy Anderson at Oregon State during the 1993-94 season — drives an altered open-air custom-made cab in the Pro Division. Loy owns three cars but now personally races only the Malibu in the Super Pros, the top level in bracket racing. He calls his baby “The Hoopster,” paying tribute to his college roots with an emblem on the doors that feature a Beaver head and tail.

Petersen gives full credit to the man who keeps his prize ride humming — a mechanic whom he calls “a damn good coach.”

“Cliff Dwy is one of the best guys around,” Loy says. “He owns Dwy’s Speed Shop in Madras. He has been drag racing on all his life. He has won everything you can win. He knows cars. I’m not a mechanic. He does all my work.”

Petersen figures he races about 16 times a year on tracks in a region covering western Canada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Most of the time he races in Oregon, with tracks also in Woodburn, Medford, Coos Bay and Portland.

There are no age divisions. Loy races against drivers young enough to be his grandchildren.

“We have two guys racing in Madras who are older than me,” he says.

Competition begins the first week in May, going every two weeks through August. The best drivers compete in a Division 6 regional finals. The top six in each division then qualify to compete at the nationals.

Qualifying for nationals “is a dream, but that’s as far as it’s gone,” says Petersen, whose best regional finish thus far has been placing among the top 11. “I’m still trying.”

How much longer does Petersen intend to drag race?

“I’ll continue as long as I’m having fun,” he says. “The people at the track are really good people. Everybody is friends and helps each other. It’s just fun to be out there.”

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