Gene Schattschneider
Boone, Iowa (July 22,
1972) - Gene Schattschneider, Algona, used hard driving
and some luck Saturday night to win the Boone Speedway super late model
feature.
He captured the
feature by less than half a car length over Denny Hovinga of Laurens, the
current point leader at the track.
Hovinga held the lead
on the last lap, but in the final two turns he slowed just enough for
Schattschneider to get by just as they crossed the finish line. Hovinga said
after the race a tire had gone flat on the last lap, dropping him back to second place.
Schattschneider had
taken the lead early in the race from Arlo Dorenbush, Boone; who held the lead
at the end of the first lap. Schattschneider shifted from his high groove to go
low and take the lead away from the Boone driver.
Hovinga, who started
alongside Schattschneider, worked his way up to sit right on the Flying
Dutchman’s bumper. He tried to take Schattschneider on the outside, finally
going into the lead on the front straightaway. Schattschneider took the lead
right back, but Hovinga again went low to regain the lead and held it until
just before the checkered flag fell.
This was
Schattschneider’s second feature win of the season.
He started the night
by setting the fast time of 18.09 seconds, with Arnie Braland, Boone, second
with a time of 18.10 seconds.
Then trouble set in
for Schattschneider. Running third in the last lap of the trophy dash, he lost
a wheel in the fourth turn and spun out. In the heat race he was unable to get
around the slower cars and finished fifth, one place out of qualifying for the
feature. He made that up in short order in the B-Feature.
Starting at the back
of the eight-car field, he charged into first place in the first turn of the
second lap and led the rest of the way.
Hovinga made the
trophy dash a close contest as he took the low route around Greg Davis, Boone,
on the last lap for the win. It was his second trophy win of the year.
The super late model
trophy dash eliminated two cars for the night. Wayne Meyer, Algona, took the
first lead, only to have his steering break in turn one. He held the car the
rest of the way: through turns one and two, but it went out of control on the
backstretch and spun out in
turn three. Braland slammed into him and both cars were damaged. The Boone
driver tried several times to get back in the action in later races; but each
time had to go back to the pits.
In the second heat,
Del McDowall, Ames, had another streak of bad luck. Running a 350-cubic inch
Chevy engine, he was running close to Davis when the harmonic balancer on the
front of the crankshaft flew off, smashing the radiator. In addition, the
engine revved up too high when the balancer flew off and wiped it out.
“At least I have a
day to change it (the engine before Boone Speedway’s Grand Nationals which
start tonight),” was McDowall’s comment. Judging from his comments, he planned
to go back to a 327-cubic inch engine he has used earlier in the season.
Results -
Fast Time - Gene
Schattschneider, Algona, Iowa (18.09)
Trophy Dash - Denny
Hovinga, Laurens, Iowa
First Heat - Denny
Hovinga
Second Heat - Greg
Davis, Boone, Iowa
B-Main - Gene
Schattschneider
A-Main -
1. Gene
Schattschneider
2. Denny Hovinga
3. Arlo Dorenbush,
Boone, Iowa
4. Greg Davis
5. Dwight Engleen,
Ogden, Iowa
6. Bruce Sommerfeld,
Fort Dodge, Iowa
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