Topeka, Kan.
(July 1, 1972) – If the first 30 minutes were any indication to things to come,
July will become a great month for Gene Gennetten.
The Glenwood,
Mo., sprint car driver pocketed $1,000 before the month was hardly started when
the won the Northeast Kansas Short Track Championships at Topeka Raceway in the
wee hours of Saturday morning.
The action
started Friday but with 39 hot shoes racing and all that money riding on the
front end, it took some time to get the program completed. Few, if any, among
the largest crowd in the track’s history decided to go home before it was over.
Gennetten,
who got his start on the short Olympic Stadium track, still prefers racing on
longer tracks, however.
“The money
is on the half-miles,” he remarked. “I guess I’ve won more on short tracks, but
I still rather run the halves.”
As owner,
mechanic, and driver of the #3 machine, Gennetten is quite careful with his
equipment. Last week he loaded up for the Mid America Fairgrounds when the
machine started vibrating after a heat race.
“It turned
out to be the main bearing,” he said of last week’s troubles. “I pulled the
engine and put in the smallest one I have. It’s a 327.”
Small engine
or not, it was all he needed to hold off Dick Sutcliffe of Greenwood, Mo.,
which had to be stopped four times due to spinouts on the dry, slick track.
Sutcliffe
and Gennetten started on the front row, and the former took off in front at the
start – the second start. On the first start, Sutcliffe went too high, hit the
wall and rolled.
“It was an
easy roll, but it fouled up the handling,” he said of the mishap.
Still,
Sutcliffe led the first 16 circuits before Gennetten went to the high side and got
past the leader.
Once in the
lead, Gennetten never let up, managing to open some distance between himself
and Sutcliffe after another restart on the 40th lap.
Eddie
Leavitt of Kearney, Mo., moved from his 16th starting position in the 18-car
field to take third, getting by Jay Woodside of Kansas City on the white flag
lap. Roger Larson of Solomon, Kan., moved from his 15th starting position to
round out the top five.
Topekan Thad
Dosher had the top time trial, 15.65 seconds, but dropped out of the feature
with mechanical troubles.
It appeared
Sutcliffe was en route to a sweep of the evening. He bagged the trophy dash and
won his heat without too much trouble. Gennetten also won his heat and he and
Sutcliffe had identical times, 16.13 seconds, the fifth and sixth fastest,
which gave them the front row since the first six fastest were inverted.
Results-
1. Gene Gennetten, Glenwood, Mo.
2. Dick Sutcliffe, Greenwood, Mo
3. Eddie Leavitt, Kearney, Mo.
4. Jay Woodside, Kansas City
5. Roger Larson, Solomon, Kan.
6. Jimmy McVay, Independence, Mo.
7. Bob Williams, Kansas City
8. Steve Schultz, Chillicothe, Mo.
9. Russ Hibbard, Slater, Mo.
10. Ray
Lee Goodwin, Kansas City
Editor’s Note; Gene Gennetten would
load his car and pack his gear in the wee hours of Saturday morning and then
drive 6 hours to Burlington, Iowa, and race his super modified that evening. He
would win the 25-lap feature.
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