Saturday, March 30, 2024

1969 – Daniels Wins USAC Opener at Reading


Jerry "Scratch" Daniels won the USAC sprint car season opener at the Reading Fairgrounds. 


Reading, Penn. (March 30, 1969) – Jerry Daniels of St. Paul, Minn., took the lead on the 27th lap of the 30-lap feature and went on to win Sunday’s United States Auto Club season opener before 5,000 chilled fans at the Reading Fairgrounds.

Daniels had been dueling with Guttenberg, Iowa’s Lee Kunzman from lap 3 until the backstretch on lap 27. At that point, Daniels powered past Kunzman for the lead and three laps later, took the checkered flag. 

Kunzman was also nipped on the last lap by Herman Wise of Atlanta, Ga., and had to settle for third place.

Larry Dickson of Marietta, Ohio, the defending USAC sprint car national champion, turned in the fastest qualifying run with a time of 23.37 seconds. He also won the first 8-lap heat. But tire trouble early in the feature put Dickson a lap behind – a deficit he could never make up.


Results –


1. Jerry Daniels
2. Herman Wise
3. Lee Kunzman
4. Bill Puterbaugh
5. Bob Pratt
6. Paul Jones
7. Ralph Liguori
8. Tom Bigelow
9. Todd Gibson
10.Chuck Allen


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