1968 Advertisement
By Kyle Ealy
Waterloo,
Iowa – On June 22, 1964, Ira “Speed” Chumley died after suffering a heart
attack while driving on old Highway 218 just north of Washburn, Iowa. Chumley
was 59 years of age.
For the northern
Iowa auto racing community, it was a tough blow. Chumley not only raced and
owned cars, but along with Judd Tunis, was instrumental in getting Tunis
Speedway started in 1948. It was Chumley who convinced Tunis that Waterloo
needed a quarter-mile race track.
Chumley was
so well respected in racing circles he was twice elected president of local
racing clubs. In the mid 50’s, Chumley was elected president of the Hawkeye
Racing Association and in the early 60’s, he was head of the Cedar-Loo Racing
Association, a position he held until his death.
To honor
Chumley’s memory, Judd Tunis decided that the mid-season championship at Tunis
Speedway would carry a new name.
“The Speed
Chumley Memorial” was born…
On Sunday,
July 12, 1964, the first annual Speed Chumley Memorial took place at Tunis
Speedway. A capacity crowd of 6,649 watched Lu Vern “Red” Droste of Waterloo,
dominate the evening’s program.
Droste, the
current point leader, started on the pole and led all 50 laps, winning in
record time. In winning his seventh feature of the year, Droste lowered the
quarter-mile record for 50 laps from 15 minutes and 50 seconds to 15 minutes
and 24 seconds.
Mert
Williams of Rochester, Minn., finished a distant second to Droste and Verlin
Eaker of Blooming Prairie, Minn., took third. Lee Kunzman of Guttenberg, Iowa,
grabbed fourth and Bill Zwanziger of Waterloo, rounded out the top five.
John
Connolly of Delhi, Iowa, set a new 10-lap heat record, winning in 3 minutes and
2 seconds, besting the old mark of 3 minute and 4 seconds.
1965 Advertisement
John
Connolly would win the second annual Speed Chumley Memorial on July 11, 1965.
Like Droste the year before, Connolly, the current point leader, started on the
pole and led all 50 circuits. Droste, who started alongside Connolly, held
second place for the first 35 laps before developing mechanical issues and
dropping back, where he finished in fourth place.
Verlin Eaker
slipped in when Droste fell back and took runner-up honors. Mert Williams,
Droste and Charlie Moffitt rounded out the top five.
Joe Wurst of
Blooming Prairie, Minn., was a double winner, copping the first heat and the
consolation.
Charlie
Moffitt may have been second in the point standings behind Red Droste, but that
didn’t deter the Stanwood, Iowa, driver when the green flag dropped on the
third annual Speed Chumley Memorial on July 17, 1966.
Moffitt
roared to the lead and never looked back in winning the 50-lap mid-season
championship. The victory was a popular one with the 5,300 in attendance.
Droste would
settle for second (but still maintain his point’s lead) while Mert Williams
would grab third place. Roger Klingfus and Gale Card, both of Waterloo, won
heat races as did Verlin Eaker. Ty Barger of Cedar Falls, Iowa, won the 35-lap
consolation.
The fourth
annual Speed Chumley Memorial produced its fourth different winner as Cal
Swanson of Reinbeck, Iowa, copped the 50-lap mid-season title on July 16, 1967.
Bob Hilmer of Dysart, Iowa, finished second after dueling with Swanson for the
top spot.
Point leader
Red Droste led the first 35 laps of the race and appeared certain of victory
when his engine overheated and he was forced to the sidelines.
Chub Liebe
of Oelwein, Iowa, took third behind Swanson and Hilmer with Mert Williams in
fourth and “Big” Tom Hughes of Monticello, Iowa, finishing fifth.
You never
counted Red Droste out…no matter what. That proved to be the case at the fifth
annual Speed Chumley Memorial on July 28, 1968. A crowd of 6,000, the largest
at Tunis in nearly five years, watched Droste survive an early-race accident to
win the 50-lap mid-season championship.
Droste, the
point’s leader at Tunis, was involved in a collision with Mert Williams on the
second lap of the 50-lap race, momentarily halting the race. According to the
rules, any driver involved in an accident, goes to the rear of the field. So,
Droste restarted at the rear of the 17-car field.
Droste would
rally, steadily working his way through the field and eventually getting by Dr.
Al Mayner of Winthrop, Iowa, for the lead with 10 laps to go. He would have a
half lap lead when the checkers waved. Mayner grabbed second while defending
champion Cal Swanson took third.
Another new
winner graced victory lane for the sixth annual Speed Chumley Memorial on July
27, 1969. A young driver who was quickly making a name for himself, would take
the win as 2,446 fans looked on.
Ed Sanger of
Waterloo, Iowa, won the 50-lap mid-season title, his fifth feature win of the
season, ahead of his brother Karl, who earned second-place money. Paul
Fitzgerald of Rochester, Minn., would claim third place.
Both Sangers
were also heat winners as was Dave Maxson of Cedar Falls.
While Red
Droste had been the dominant driver at Tunis Speedway in the 60’s, Ed Sanger
was quickly cementing his reputation as the man to beat as the 70’s was getting
underway.
The
season-long point’s leader at Tunis, Sanger would successfully defend his Speed
Chumley Memorial title, winning the 50-lapper on July 19, 1970.
Sanger would
have to earn the win, however, as Glen Martin would grab the lead at the start
and hold on to it for the first 21 circuits. Sanger, who was playing bumper tag
with Martin the whole time, finally got around the Independence, Iowa, veteran
and then storm away from the rest of the field en route to a $400 payday.
Sanger, driving a 1970 yellow
Monte Carlo, virtually ran away with the race after Martin fell out of
contention, lapping every car in the 18-car field except runner-up Jerry LeCroy
of Des Moines.
Waterloo's Bill Zwanziger, who
fought off Sanger's lapping effort until the 49th circuit, finished third with
Dave Bedard of LaPorte City, Iowa crossing the line in fourth.
Karl Sanger of Waterloo and Bill
McDonough of Cedar Rapids put on the best show of the feature event, battling
side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper for nearly 40 rounds before Sanger finally
edged away for the fifth-place spot, leaving McDonough in sixth.
If all the other drivers at
Tunis Speedway thought “Fast Eddie” Sanger was tough to beat coming from the
rear of the field, imagine their disappointment when they saw Sanger sitting on
the pole position for the 50-lap feature event of the seventh annual Speed
Chumley Memorial on July 11, 1971.
Sanger, on the pole for the
first time that season, charged away at the opening green flag and was never
seriously challenged through the 40 laps as he picked up the $550 first prize.
Sanger, the point’s leader at
the season’s midway point, inherited the pole because the mid-season championship
featured a regular start opposed to the inverted start Sanger was accustomed to
during weekly races.
The Waterloo ace, who had won
five of the eight features, shot into the lead and won going away, prevailing by
a quarter lap margin over Stan Stover of Reinbeck, Iowa. Curt Hansen of Dike,
Iowa, finished third and Red Dralle of Evansdale, Iowa, took fourth. Roger
Kruse of Independence finished fifth – the rest of the 19-car field was lapped
by Sanger.
A Sanger would win the eighth
annual Speed Chumley Memorial, but it was Karl, not Ed, who was in victory lane
after winning the 50-lap mid-season title. The only driver to win more than one
late model feature at Tunis that season, Karl wasted little time in moving from
his front row outside starting position to the lead on the first lap.
He would never surrender the top
spot, leading all 50 laps, en route to $650 payday - $400 for the win and $250
in lap money. Sanger would win by five car-lengths ahead of Glen Martin – but
the distance was deceiving.
Twice during the contest, Karl
had built up sizeable leads only to have restarts tighten the pack. Early in
the race, he was leading by six car lengths when his brother blew a tire,
bringing out the caution flag. On lap 34, D. Arthur Nesteby and Dave Bedard
tangled, forcing another restart.
Curt Hansen of Dike had run
second on most of the laps between the two restarts, but on the second restart,
Martin slipped by into the spot behind Sanger and Hansen never caught up,
settling for third. Stan Stover and Jim Burger of Cedar Falls completed the top
five.
Curt Hansen had been paying his
dues over the last few years and the Dike, Iowa, youngster was starting to see
dividends. The hot shoe had won the mid-season title on Saturday at
Independence, Iowa, and his good fortune continued on Sunday, July 15, 1973,
winning the Speed Chumley Memorial.
Driving a new Chevrolet, Hansen
started on the outside of the front row alongside point leader Stan Stover.
Stover jumped out to the lead and led for the first 45 circuits of the
scheduled 50-lapper. Hansen would patiently wait for Stover to slip up and with
five laps to go, Stover drifted high in between turns three and four, allowing
Hansen to slip into first place and eventually claiming the mid-season championship.
Stover would recover to take
runner-up honors while Karl Sanger, Tom Bartholomew and Bob Hesse, all of
Waterloo, rounded out the top five finishers.
1974 Advertisement
The 1974 Speed Chumley Memorial,
held on July 14, would be marred by a serious accident that left one driver in
critical condition and the program cut short for the evening.
On lap 38 of the 50-lap late
model mid-season championship, the accelerator on Roger Klingfus’ car stuck,
causing his car to go off the first turn, through a fence and straight into the
pit area.
Klingfus’ car collided with
Dennis Peters’ parked roadrunner machine, which was parked 100 yards beyond the
retaining wall, critically injuring the 20-year-old Peters who was pinned
between two race cars.
The race was called at that
point and race leader Tom Bartholomew of Waterloo, Iowa, was declared the
winner.
Peters would spend nine hours in
surgery at Allen Memorial Hospital. The Denver, Iowa, resident sustained
multiple fractures of both legs and severe injuries to the lower body.
Klingfus, himself, was treated for shock at Scholtz Memorial Hospital and
released.
After he and other track
officials were able to clear out a throng of curious on-lookers from the
roadrunner pits and get the crash victims on ambulances, promoter Claus
Stricker met with the 12 drivers still left in the Chumley Memorial, who agreed
to call it a race after 38 laps instead of continuing it next Sunday. The
roadrunner feature, which was to be run after the 50-lapper, was postponed
until the following Sunday.
The tragedy-marred victory was
one of the biggest wins of Bartholomew's career. The crowd of 2,700 witnessed
Bartholomew lead the entire race after electing to start on the pole position.
Bartholomew, the point-leader
going into the race, had the option of starting at the back of an inverted top
10 order (outside of the fifth row) and gun for a $250 bonus to win or start on
the inside of the front row.
The 1974 mid-season championship
would be the last one billed as the Speed Chumley Memorial. Tunis Speedway
would stop weekly racing in 1979.