Obituary of RAYMOND COWAN

Raymond Dale Cowan was born October 10, 1936. He graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1955. In 1959 he married the love of his life, Jane Callison, who passed away this past July. Ray and Jane never had any children, so the neighborhood kids, nieces and nephews, all became their children. Ray was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1959 and served until 1961 as a Nuclear Warhead Technician. After his discharge from the Army, Ray worked for Mickey Thompson building Pontiac engines. Returning to Oklahoma, Ray took over his dad's trucking business, trailer spotting for Liberty Glass Company. When they were in the 7th grade, Lee Agee, a longtime friend of Ray's said, "Ray could build anything. He could make anything whether it had been done before or not." He and Ray built a rear engine car when everyone said it couldn't be done, including inventing a hydraulic clutch out of old brake parts. Dodge later came out with Hydraulic clutch in 1957. Ray and Lee would sometimes sleep on army cots after working half the night on their cars. In 1957, Ray and Art Mainborough, a custom car builder, won the Regional Drag Championship in a car they built from mail chute tubing and a Chevrolet engine. As a historical note; in 1961 John Brabham ran 3rd and finished 9th at the Indy 500 in a rear engine "Cooper" car, nearly 6 years after Ray and Lee built one while they were still in high school. Lee also said, Ray was the best "wheel man" he had ever seen. Ray and Jane were not only my parent's friends, they were family and they will be missed.