Sonic founder Troy Smith dead at 87

[GG]

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=11395867

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Troy N. Smith, the founder of a drive-in chain that became Sonic restaurants, has died in Oklahoma City. He was 87.

A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City-based restaurant chain says Smith died Monday at an Oklahoma City hospital after a recent decline in health

Smith started the Top Hat root beer stand in Shawnee in 1953 and later converted it into a drive-in restaurant where customers used an intercom speaker system to place orders from their cars.

He eventually changed the name to Sonic Drive-Ins. There currently are nearly 3,600 restaurants in 42 states.

[GG]

RIP in the big Sonic Blast in the sky.

[FOTD]

This guy did the bankruptcy/franchise reinvention better than anybody.....wanted to be Ray Kroc II....his pall bearers will be on roller skates and pray tell there will be a shake and wake.

He'd a lived to be 100 had he stayed away from his own fast food.