Friday, June 6, 2014

1976 – Arnold wins Salem ‘ARCA 100’

Salem, Ind. (June 6, 1976) – A rousing, three-car battle for the lead throughout the entire 100 laps of racing around Salem Speedway’s high-banked half-mile gave veteran A. Arnold of Brooks, Ky., a hard-earned victory in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) national championship late model program on Sunday afternoon.

Although starting on the inside of the fifth row of the 23-car field, Arnold wasted no time fighting his way to third place behind front row starters Moose Myers of Fort Wayne, Ind., and LaMarr Marshall of Louisville, Ky., who had fought a heated duel since the drop of the green flag.

Early caution flags to clean up blown engine remains allowed Arnold to close on the leaders by lap 15 when Bobby Dotter’s engine expired and again on lap 23 when Bill Noel experienced the same issue.

By the halfway mark in the race, the Chevelle’s of Myers, Marshall and Arnold formed a three-car draft, often running side by side and performing hair-raising maneuvers to work through slower traffic.

After 15 laps of abortive attempts, Arnold finally squeezed by a determined Marshall and seemed to gain momentum by it, setting himself up for Myers, and making a clean pass on lap 78 when track immediately ahead cleared of slower cars.

Arnold then put a five-second advantage on the battling Myers and Marshall, who both suffered from late race tire problems, causing obvious handling problems. Myers bested Marshall by a car length to finalize second and third positions, while Dave Dayton drove his Chevelle to a fourth place finish, the only other car on the same lap as the leaders.

Kenny Black of Indianapolis, Ind., was taken to a local area hospital and held for observation after his car cleared the turn four guardrail in the first heat and rolled end over end down a 35-foot embankment. Although the car was destroyed, Black was thought not to have sustained any serious injuries.

Results –

  1. A. Arnold
  2. Moose Myers
  3. LaMarr Marshall
  4. Dave Dayton
  5. Tom Meinberg
  6. Ralph Jones
  7. Larry Scott
  8. Gary Sharp
  9. Darrell Basham
  10. N.D. Copley

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