Community Submission
Nelson Jay Carter Sr., loving father and friend to many, passed away February 9, 2023. He was born May 19, 1944, to Alva (Red) Carter and Sophia Young Carter. He was raised in the Osage Indian Camp Village in Pawhuska, Okla., with cousins, friends and brothers George and Dean.
He attended the Old Indian Camp School and Pawhuska High School, graduating in 1962. He played football in High School and worked on the pipelines during summer break. While in school he got the bug for drag racing. He attended NEO-A&M in Miami, Okla., on a rodeo scholarship, riding bulls and bulldogging.
He met his wife Pamela Wyle during high school, they married then started attending NEO-A&M after having son Nelson Jay Carter Jr. (Jay). Four years later they had son Jeff Carter. In 1968, the family moved to California and Nelson started his drag racing career with the Super Chief. He broke the 200-mile-per-hour record, with a Keith Black Aluminum Hemi Engine and many others. His car was in many publications, including “Hot Rod,” and “Car Craft” magazines. He also had a Hot Wheel named after his famous record-setting Funny Car.

While in California he had a Webelos Den part of the Cub Scouts, specializing in soap car derbies.
The family moved back to Oklahoma in 1977. Nelson was a founding member of the Pawhuska Elks Lodge, and also the founder of the Elks Take Down Club. Later in life, he was a reporter and photographer for the Pawhuska Journal Capital.
In1978 and 1979, Nelson and Pam had the Utopia Mountain Music Festival, featuring bands, “David Allan Coe,” “Black Oak Bliss,” “Laroux,” “Mickey Crocker,” “Head East,” and “Mahogany Rush.”
He and Pamela were the founder of the Osage County Independent Biker (OCIB) Rallies (The Biker Days in the Great Osage, and May Fit Biker Park). You could find him talking to everyone there with a cigar hanging out of his mouth and a hug for anyone. The OCIB was a major contributor to changing helmet laws: giving bikers over the age of 18 the choice to ride without a helmet in Oklahoma.
He was Eagle Clan, a member of the Osage Nation, and he and his younger brother Dean attended to the arbor during the Inlonshka dances in June.

Nelson is preceded in death by his parents, Sophia and Alva (Red) Carter, ex-wife Pamela Wyle Carter, brothers George Carter and Dean Carter and sister-in-law Bobbye Carter, and nephew Jason Brock Carter.
Nelson is survived by son’s Nelson Jay Carter Jr. and Jeff Carter (Trish); daughters, Mallory Hamilton (Jim) and Elizabeth-Ann Boaz; granddaughters, Jayla and Carly (Dante Viviani), Harley; grandson, Wyatt; great-grandsons, Enzo and Wyler, and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, at the Wakon Iron Chapel in Indian Camp, Pawhuska, Okla.
Honorary Pallbearers: Bill Bills, Earl Brunger.