1984 – Schiltz Wins Western World Title

 

Dick Schiltz won the Western World Late Model Stock Car Championship at Manzanita Speedway. - Todd Healey Photo

Phoenix, Ariz. (April 21, 1984) – Dick Schiltz took advantage of a late restart in the race and captured the Western World Late Model Stock Car Championship Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway.

Jack Ickes had wrestled the lead away from Bill Black of Phoenix on lap 8 and had built a comfortable margin over the rest of the field.

Schiltz, who started in the fifth row, made his way through the field and was running second to Ickes by about 2.5 seconds when defending champion Joe Wallace brought out the caution flag in the 35th lap of the 40-lap main event.

It was the break that Schiltz needed. On the restart, Schiltz blasted to the high side of the track, passed Ickes between the first and second turns, and was in the lead entering the backstretch.

Schiltz would fend off Ickes for the last four circuits to claim the top prize.

“Sure, the flag helped,” said Schiltz, of Waterloo, Iowa. “It also gave us a chance to adjust the brakes.”

Schiltz also received another break right before the start of the feature when he borrowed the transmission from Terry Belcher’s disabled car.

Ickes blamed nobody but himself for allowing Schiltz to get by him on the restart.

“We just outguessed ourselves on the gears,” a dejected Ickes said afterwards. “I couldn’t get out of the corners very well.”

Ickes may have held Schiltz off for the last five laps without any caution flags. But the yellow narrowed his lead, and Schiltz took less than one lap to move into first place.

Pole-sitter Red Dralle of Evansdale, Iowa, finished third, followed by Rick Sipes of Tucson, and George Brazil Jr. of Albuquerque, N.M.

Wallace couldn’t escape the car problems that had been hampering him since Friday’s qualifications. Wallace finished sixth in the consolation race to transfer to the semi-main, but he spun out and blew a tie early in that race. He was added to the feature event on thee promoter’s option.

Wallace didn’t fare much better there, becoming involved in a minor wreck on lap 3, and then bringing out the yellow flag when he stalled on lap 35.

Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., winner of the 1982 Western, put on quite the driving performance in the preliminary races. Phillips, who crashed in a qualifying race on Friday, came out of the second row to win the 12-lap consolation and then came from 11th to first in the semi-main to earn a spot in the feature. However, lady luck deserted him as his gear box let go early on and he was finished for the night.


Results –


1. Dick Schiltz
2. Jack Ickes
3. Red Dralle
4. Rick Sipes
5. George Brazil Jr.
6. Bill Black
7. Dean Vance
8. Bill Cheesbourg
9. Mike Gibson
10.Mark Harger