Oskaloosa,
Iowa (July 2, 1980) – Fred Horn of Marion, Iowa, accomplished the unheard of on
Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds as he lapped the entire field
to win the “Pepsi 10,000”.
The
unbelievable feat was even more astonishing considering the quality of cars and
their drivers. Many of the best late model pilots in the Midwest comprised the
27-car field that took the green for the 100-lap event, the last 51 laps run
under green.
Twenty laps
after the final caution went off on the track, Horn had a nine-second lead over
Kevin Gundaker of St. Louis, Mo. Five laps later, that lead was paddled to 11
second, and another 10 laps later Horn’s advantage was 16 seconds.
By lap 89,
Horn was right on the heels of a three-car battle for second place between
Gundaker, Joe Kosiski of Omaha, Neb. and Tom Hearst of Wilton, Iowa.
Horn flew
past both Hearst and Kosiski on lap 94 and then went around Gundaker three laps
later to complete his performance.
It was the
second time out for Horn in the car he had recently purchased from Rodney Combs
of Lost Creek, W.Va.
Finishing 99
laps and rounding out the top five were Gundaker, Hearst, Kosiski and Dick
Schiltz of Waterloo, Iowa. Sixth was Ed Sanger of Waterloo, Iowa and seventh
was Bill Breuer of Wapello, Iowa, each with 97 laps completed.
National
Speedways Contest Association official Dave Van Patten said it was the first
time he could recall a driver lapping the entire field.
Gundaker set
fast time for the evening and again lowered his own track record on the fast
half-mile. It was Gundaker’s third appearance at the track aand it was his
third straight record-breaking qualifying run. Wednesday, he toured the track
in 22.060 seconds, lowering his mark from 22.13 seconds.
The top 20
cars in time automatically qualified for the 100-lap main event. A last chance
race was held for the 17 cars who did not qualify and the top four from that
race were slated to start at the rear of the field.
However,
things didn’t quite work out that way…
On the final
turn of the final lap, the lead four cars – Craig Jacobs of Des Moines, Bill
Rice of Des Moines, Ron Jackson of Burlington and Ron Boyse off Kalona, Iowa –
collided and spun on the race track. Boyse was able to get past the melee and
came across the finish line followed by Chuck Anderson of LeGrand, Iowa, Bill
Breuer and Charlie Moubry of Novelty, Mo.
After
discussing the situation, NSCA officials decided to add the top four as they
ran on the white flag lap, plus the top four to cross the finish line. Since
Boyse figured in both, seven cars were added to the rear of the field. It paid
for both Breuer, who started 26th and finished seventh and Moubry, who started 27th
and finished eighth.
Mike
Niffenegger of Kalona, Iowa, led the first seven laps of the feature before he
spun and crashed in turn four. Horn inherited the lead for good.
Results –
Time trials
– Kevin Gundaker, St. Louis, Mo. (22.060)
Last chance
– Craig Jacob, Des Moines
Feature –
1. Fred Horn, Marion, Iowa
2. Kevin Gundaker
3. Tom Hearst, Wilton, Iowa
4. Joe Kosiski, Omaha, Neb.
5. Dick Schiltz, Waterloo, Iowa
6. Ed Sanger, Waterloo, Iowa
7. Bill Breuer, Wapello, Iowa
8. Charlie Moubry, Novelty, Mo.
9. Ron Boyse, Kalona, Iowa
10. Bill
Martin, Council Bluffs, Iowa
11. Joe
Merryfield, Des Moines
12. Chuck
Anderson LeGrand, Iowa
13. Dan
Dickey, Packwood Iowa
14. Billy
Moyer Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
15. Don
Hoffman, Des Moines, Iowa
16. Ron
Jackson, Burlington, Iowa
17. Bill
Beckman, Lisbon, Iowa
18. Red
Dralle, Evansdale, Iowa
19. Ken
Walton, Viola, Iowa
20. Craig
Jacobs
21. Tony
Stewart, Washington, Iowa
22. Ken
Schrader, Fenton, Mo.
23. Bill
Rice, Des Moines, Iowa
24. Darrell
Sells, Waverly, Iowa
25. Mike
Niffenegger, Kalona, Iowa
26.
Johnny
Johnson, Morning Sun, Iowa
27. Ron
Fisher, Centralia, Ill.
No comments:
Post a Comment