1976 - Trickle Takes Feature at Capital Track

Oregon, Wis. (June 25, 1976)  - Dick Trickle captured the feature race at the Capital Super Speedway Friday night, but the real winners were probably the fans.

The drivers began racing under the new tire rules Friday night and fans were treated to some super fast racing.

The Madison Area Racing Association had specified Firestone tires of a certain compound for all late model stock car racing at the track this season, but owner Sam Bartus made several attempts to have the ruling thrown out when northern Wisconsin drivers boycotted the track because they couldn’t use their own brand of tire.

Bartus took his complaint to the Attorney General's office and they ruled Friday that the MARA ruling was an illegal restraint of trade. They stated that the only things that can be regulated are the width and compound run of the tire. There can be no limitation on the brand or price of the tire.

So the northern drivers were there Friday night along with Lennie Pond of Petersburg, Va., one of the top NASCAR Grand National stock car drivers.

Veteran Joe Shear of South Beloit, Ill., had the top time in the trials, but in the feature race, Trickle took control on the tenth lap and finished with a half lap win.

Johnny Ziegler of Madison was second behind the Wisconsin Rapids driver with Rick Somers of Stevens Point third. Pond, driving Jim Sauter's car, finished back in the pack after experiencing steering problems.

Trickle also took the trophy dash while Rich Bickle of Edgerton captured the semi-feature. Bickle, Fred Bender of Sun Prairie, Jim Back of Vesper and Tom Reffner of Rudolph were heat winners.

Rick Smith of Columbus again dominated the hobby stock competition. He led the time trials and won the trophy dash and feature. Mike Rudd of Cambridge and Paul Kloss of Oregon were heat winners.