1986 – Frink Notches Labor Day Win at Freeport

 

Rollie Frink

Freeport, Ill. (September 1, 1986) – The big purse brought the big name late model drivers from across the Midwest and that drew a large crowd for the Labor Day Special at Freeport Super Raceway Monday night.

The late model field boasted a strong contingent of 34 cars including some high-caliber drivers from the rich state of Iowa.

The Labor Day Special was highlighted by a 50-lap late model feature on the half-mile oval Rollie Frink of Davenport, Iowa, took the checkered flag and pocketed the first prize of $1,500.

Frink benefitted from a mixture of luck and skillful driving as he charged from his eighth row starting position to maneuver through heavy traffic and put himself in position for the lead. Frink cashed in on his luck when five contenders, Gary Webb, John Engelkens, Darrell Dake, Bob Grenoble, and Craig Jacobs were all forced to the sidelines just when they were making strides to get to the front.

Grenoble, who won the 25-lap late model feature on Sunday night, was the pole sitter and held the top spot for the first seven laps until he suffered mechanical problems. He yield the lead to Gary Webb, who had started on the third row. Webb was cruising along for 20 laps before he went to the pits during a caution and didn’t return. Engelkens also dropped out because of a flat tire.

Frink then obliged and took the lead on lap 37 with Dake moving into second and Jacobs settling into third place after starting in the seventh row.

Then disaster struck for Dake and Jacobs. Jacobs retired because of an overheating engine and Dake limped to the pits a few laps later when the rear end of his car gave out.

Frink held on the last few laps to secure the victory with Steve Spahr of Monticello, Iowa, giving chase. Bill Breuer of Wapello, Iowa, was third followed by Roger Bruggeman of Dubuque, Iowa, and Red Dralle of Evansdale, Iowa.

Tom Schong of Dakota, Don Robertson of Freeport, and Frink were heat winners. John Provenzano of Hinkley was the semi-feature winner. Jacobs won the trophy dash.

Brad Stewart of Milledgeville was the apparent winner of the 20-lap road runner feature but upon post-race inspection, his car was disqualified for illegal wheels, giving the win to Denny Spradling of Belvedere.

Results –

1. Rollie Frink, Davenport, Iowa
2. Steve Spahr, Monticello, Iowa
3. Bill Breuer, Wapello, Iowa
4. Roger Bruggeman, Dubuque, Iowa
5. Red Dralle, Evansdale, Iowa
6. Denny Ansel, Dubuque, Iowa
7. Gary Tigges, Durango, Iowa
8. Arnie Gardner, Batavia

1975 – Wallace Snares Bethany Reward

 

Bethany, Mo. (September 1, 1975) – Joe Wallace won the late model open competition feature at the Northwest Missouri State Fair on Monday afternoon.

Don Hoffman of Des Moines led off the exciting 30-lap feature with Mike Dibben of Kansas City running a close second. Then, charging up to the front came Wallace, who got by Dibben, then zeroed in on Hoffman.

The Kansas City pilot stayed glued to Hoffman’s rear bumper for the next 20 laps, waiting for the opportune time. That moment came on the next to last lap as Wallace found an opening on the low side, powered by Hoffman, and held on to take the checkered flag and the $500 first prize.

Hoffman dominated the first heat while Dibben eked out a close win over Curt Hansen of Dike in the second heat.

John Oswalt of Kansas City won a hard-fought semi-main over Ed Sanger of Waterloo, Iowa. Gary Crawford of Independence, Iowa, came from the rear of the field to win the consolation.


Results –

1. Joe Wallace, Kansas City
2. Don Hoffman, Des Moines
3. Mike Derr, Keokuk, Iowa
4. Russ Derr, Keokuk, Iowa
5. Curt Hansen, Dike, Iowa
6. Ed Sanger, Waterloo, Iowa

1969 – Yarbrough Wins Dampened Southern 500

 

Lee Roy Yarbrough acknowledges the crowd from victory lane after winning the rain-shortened Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. 

Darlington, S.C. (September 1, 1969) – Lee Roy Yarbrough, known for his exciting finishes, on the NASCAR Grand National circuit, breezed past David Pearson on the last lap to win a rain-shortened 20th annual Southern 500 stock car race Monday at Darlington.

The Columbia, S.C., chauffeur driving a 1969 Ford Torino Talladega from the Junior Johnson stable, barreled down the backstretch and went by Pearson in the third run for his first Southern 500 victory. Yarbrough, who collected a winner’s check for $21,800, boosted his yearly total to a whopping $164,915, the highest single money winning season in NASCAR history.

Lee Roy racked up his sixth superspeedway win as he continued to rewrite the record books. His other triumphs came in the Daytona 500, Rebel 400, World 600, Firecracker 400, and Dixie 500.

Lee Roy’s average speed was a disappointing 105.612 miles per hour, well short of Richard Petty’s 1967 standard. But this was due to the fact that the race was shortened to 230 laps after NASCAR officials waited out a four-hour rain delay. The official time of the race was 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 40 seconds.

Buddy Baker of Charlotte, N.C., was third in a Dodge Charger. The Allison brothers of Alabama – Donnie in a Ford and Bobby in another Dodge Charger – were fourth and fifth, respectively.

There were 19 lead changes among eight different drivers. Lee Roy led seven times for the most laps – 83. Two other pilots, Pearson, and Cale Yarborough were ahead four times each. Baker, Dave Marcis, James Hylton, and the Allison’s led once each.

As the race went 316.5 miles of the scheduled 500, there were eight caution flags for 85 laps. Twice it was stopped for rain.

Pearson, hungry for his first Southern 500 win, passed Yarbrough in the third turn with 10 laps left. Lee Roy lost a little more ground to Pearson when he tapped the wall coming out of the fourth turn.

When they received the white flag, Lee Roy trailed Pearson close until the first turn when Pearson went high for a split-second.

It enabled Lee Roy to gain momentum on his challenger. As they hit the backstretch, Yarbrough let it fly and went inside of Pearson on the third turn and held on for dear life and victory.


Results –

 

1. Lee Roy Yarbrough, Columbia, S.C.
2. David Pearson, Spartanburg. S.C.
3. Buddy Baker, Charlotte, N.C.
4. Donnie Allison, Hueytown, Ala.
5. Bobby Allison, Hueytown, Ala.
6. Charlie Glotzbach, Georgetown, Ind.
7. Richard Brooks, Spartanburg, S.C.
8. Buddy Young, Fairfax, Va.
9. Richard Petty, Randleman, N.C.
10.Richard Brickhouse, Rocky Point, N.C.

1960 – Derr $1,000 Right; Officials Miss Lap

 

Ramo Stott (7) and Ernie Derr battle for the lead in the early going of the 100-mile IMCA stock car contest at St. Paul. 

St. Paul, Minn. (September 1, 1960) – Ernie Derr, the IMCA point leader, had an extra $1,000 in his pocket because he knew he was right.

Officials counted him as placing second to Ramo Stott in the 200-lap, 100-mile stock car feature on Thursday afternoon.

But Derr protested the scoring and after an hour of discussion among officials, won his decision and was awarded first place and the $1,000 paycheck.

“This means $1,000 to me and I’m not going to be fooled,” Derr remarked.

What happened was that Derr had lapped the field before the 21,645 fans and officials simply missed it.

The mix-up came on the 104^th lap when Derr, as the leader, pulled his 1960 Pontiac into the pits. When he re-entered the track again, he slid in behind Stott.

“Sure, he (Stott) pulled out ahead of me,” explained Derr. “But I had a lap lead on him. It’s easy for officials to get confused. They have a lot of cars to watch.”

Derr took the lead from Bob Kosiskie of Omaha, Neb., on lap 71. Kosiskie, Monday’s 100-lap feature winner, had pulled into the pits with a broken ball joint in the left front wheel of his 1959 Thunderbird.

Kosiskie had taken the lead from St. Paul’s Buzz McCann on lap 53.

Derr’s winning time was 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 55 seconds. Second and third place finishers were also from Keokuk, Iowa. They were, respectively, Ramo Stott and Dick Hutcherson.

 

1955 – Buchanan Beats White in 100-Miler

 

Herschel Buchanan

St. Paul, Minn. (September 1, 1955) – Herschel Buchanan, the 48-year-old grey-haired Louisianan, scooted to his first State Fair triumph, the 100-mile main event, before a record crowd of 28,421 fans Thursday.

Buchanan piloted his Ford Thunderbird in the 36-car field through 200 laps of hectic action in which two lap records were broken in 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 14.68 seconds.

The $800 victory was a sweet one for Buchanan. He smashed the two-year reign of Don White and collected his first feature win of the dirt track circuit in several weeks.

White, the young Iowan who had won six straight features over three years here, finished second, three-quarters of a lap behind the winner.

Ernie Derr, who had turned the half-mile dirt oval in 29.58 seconds earlier in the day to shatter the one-lap record mark of 29.67 seconds set by White on Monday.

Stepping out of his car, Buchanan fondled a tiny, brown rabbit’s foot dangling from his neck.

“This is what did it,” he laughed “My eight-year-old daughter, Karen, mailed it to me Tuesday and said if I’d wear it, I’d be sure to win.”

The 1950 and ’51 IMCA national champion said he lost a differential bolt after 100 laps and resulting in loss of grease nearly burning out the car’s rear end.

The part-time auto salesman was aided by the fact that he was driving a relatively light car, better suited to the slick track.

White, who led the first 136 laps, set a new 50-lap mark of 24 minutes and 39.75 seconds. Johnny Beauchamp, who swept into the lead on the 137th circuit with his 1955 Chevrolet, posted a 150-lap standard of 19 minutes and 27.10 seconds.

It was on the 176th time around that Buchanan finally grabbed the lead for good.

Buchanan’s best previous finish here was a runner-up showing to White in the 100-mile feature last year.


Results –


1. Herschel Buchanan, Shreveport, La.
2. Don White, Keokuk, Iowa
3. Ernie Derr, Keokuk, Iowa
4. Johnny Beauchamp, Harlan, Iowa
5. Bill Harrison, Topeka, Kan.
6. Tiny Lund, Harlan, Iowa
7. Bill Bailey, Garland, Tex.
8. Jerry Draper, Moline, Ill.
9. Dick Johnson, St. Paul, Minn.
10.Wayne Chadwick, Des Moines, Iowa