Butch Miller poses with his trophy after winning the ASA-sanctioned
Wisconsin 200 at Wisconsin state Fair Park Speedway. – Russ Lake Photo
West Allis, Wis. (July 11, 1987) – Butch Miller survived 90-plus degree temperatures and the efforts of Joe Shear and Dick Trickle to win the Wisconsin 200 ASA Racing Series event at Wisconsin state Fair Park Speedway, Saturday afternoon, for his third win in the circuit’s last five features.
Originally scheduled for July 5, the event was postponed until Saturday by rain.
Miller, who also won the event last year, had a little difficulty in figuring out where he was supposed to go after the contest, making three rounds of the one-mile paved oval before finally finding the pit entrance.
“I knew I had enough gas left to make three laps,” Miller joked. “I just lost the pit entrance.”
Miller won the race by .78 of a second over Shear, after getting the jump on the Clinton driver and Trickle coming off a caution flag with 10 laps to go.
Shear, who ran with Miller all day long, had seen the final restart as his big opportunity to take the lead.
“I thought I could catch him then, but he was just too strong,” shear said afterwards. “He was getting much better restarts than I was. I just couldn’t get going like he could.”
Trickle settled for third place while ASA rookie Ted Musgrave grabbed fourth and Harold Fair took fifth. Tom Jones, Ken Stauffer, and Bobby Dotter, who placed sixth through eighth, rounded out the list of lead lap finishers.
Miller, who led the event three times for a total of 68 laps, assumed command for good by passing Russ Urlin on the 154th mile. The event feature six lead changes.
Miller out-dragged polesitter Trickle to the first turn and paced the first 11 miles before giving way to Mike Eddy. Eddy, who had started third, seemed in complete control during the next 44 circuits before a fuel-feed problem slowed him down. After surrendering the lead back to Miller, Eddy completed 11 more laps before parking his disabled machine.
Fair replaced Miller at the front of the pack on lap 69 but relinquished the top spot to Musgrave on the 106th revolution. Musgrave remained in front until a round of pit stops left Urlin back in charge on lap 138. Miller then accounted for the final lead change by overhauling Urlin on the 154th circuit.
Miller’s Chevrolet ran among the top-five all afternoon despite making two pit stops.
“My crew chief made the right decision for me,” Miller said. “He pulled me into the pits at the right time and we went from there until the end with no trouble.”
Results –
1. Butch Miller
2. Joe Shear
3. Dick Trickle
4. Ted Musgrave
5. Harold Fair
6. Tom Jones
7. Kent Stauffer
8. Bobby Dotter
9. Dave Jackson
10.Buddy Schrock
11.Robby Reiser
12.Kenny Wallace
13.John Wilson
14.Peter Gibbons
15.Bret Miles
16.Gary St. Amant
17.Doug Mayr
18.Ken Christenson
19.Bill Stephenson
20.Glenn Allen
21.Russ Urlin
22.Gene Harsch
23.Dan Christal
24.Frank Giuffre
25.Dennis Vogel
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