Troy N. Smith, Sr. died at age 87 in Oklahoma City. In the 1950s, he ran the Top Hat Drive-In which had car-hop service in Shawnee, Oklahoma. he started using call boxes for ordering which reduced trips the car-hops had to make and led to the slogan "Service at the speed of sound. Unable to trademark the Top Hat Name, Mr. Smith used his slogan and came up with the name "Sonic."
Today, the Sonic Drive-In chain is one of the fastest-growing ones in the US with 3,600 units in 42 states which served over a million customers daily. We just got one up in our area, Chicago's Northwest Suburbs, in Lake Zurich, Illinois. Surprising because it gets so cold around here.
Mr. Smith was born in 1922.
He was helped in establishing the chain by Charles Pappe who stopped into the Stillwater site and was so impressed he invested.
A Self-Made Man. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
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