Jim
Sauter won the ASA-sanctioned Miller 200 at the Wisconsin State Fair Park
Speedway. Joining him in victory lane is Ron Strain of Miller Brewing Company
(left) and Tom Helms of Silver Creek smokeless tobacco, the series sponsor. –
Don Thies Photo
West Allis, Wis. (July 8, 1984) – It was a pub brawl in Beertown and Jim Sauter was the last man standing, taking a hard-fought victory in the Miller 200 at the famous Milwaukee Mile on Sunday afternoon before a reported 27,000-plus approving home state fans.
Sauter finished a scant one-second ahead of Alan Kulwicki after 200 miles of racing that saw a record 16 cautions but a like number of cars battling on the lead lap at the finish.
Just fractions behind the leading duo at the finish were Mike Eddy in third, Bob Senneker in fourth, and Rusty Wallace rounding out the top-five.
Defending ASA champion Wallace made his first ASA appearance of the year during an off-weekend from his NASCAR ride and promptly won the pole position with a new one-lap standard of 30.310-seconds (118.772 mph). At the start, Wallace charged from his pole position to lead the first 92 circuits.
A light rain shower put the race under caution between the 58 and 74 lap mark and many of the front-runners elected to make a pit stop during that period.
Wallace and Sauter, however, elected to stay out but caught another caution on lap 90 and made their stops. For Sauter, it would be his only visit to the pits.
Mark Martin led after the caution but by lap 97, a hard-charging Eddy had run him down to take the lead.
Butch Miller went by Eddy on lap 106 and he headed a tightly-bunched pack including Sauter, Eddy, Martin, Harold Fair, Doug Klein, and Wallace.
Three laps later, Sauter caught Mille and took over for good, but he was harassed the entire distance as a subsequent nine cautions kept his pursuers on his back bumper.
During the last 50 laps, it appeared as though Senneker was setting up Sauter for one his typical late race Senneker move, but despite running nose-to-tail with Sauter during the final 15 circuits, Senneker faded late and settled for fourth.
Sauter collected $10,025 from a total of $75,170 in posted awards.
Results –
1. Jim Sauter
2. Alan Kulwicki
3. Mike Eddy
4. Bob Senneker
5. Rusty Wallace
6. Harold Fair
7. Joe Shear
8. Bobby Allison
9. Mark Malcuit
10.Davey Allison
11.Ken Lund
12.Butch Miller
13.Scott Hansen
14.Tony Strupp
15.Bobby Dotter
16.Dave Weltmeyer
17.Dick Trickle
18.Ed Cooper
19.J.J. Smith
20.Sam Ard
No comments:
Post a Comment