Bill Puterbaugh accepts his trophy after winning the 30-lap IMCA sprint car feature at the Nebraska State Fair. Car owner Hector Honore stands next to the Black Deuce.
Lincoln, Neb. (September 5, 1966) – In poker you better play your cards right when deuces are wild. The same goes for sprint car racing.
The black deuce was wild for the second day in a row at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds’ track on Monday as drivers wound up three days of exciting racing activity.
What is the “Black Deuce”?
It’s black car #2 and its driven by Bill Puterbaugh of Roxana, Ill. Car and that driver racked up a victory in the 30-lap feature for the second straight day.
So, the logical question is, What happened the first day when the Hector Honore built car, which has won a staggering 431 feature events in 14 years of racing had to settle for third in the feature?
“It was the right front tire,” Puterbaugh explained. “It was too big and flat.”
“The tire would work like a rubber ball, and I couldn’t get traction. We put a narrow, ribbed tire on the front and that did it.”
If the “Black Deuce” was wild on Monday, then the red #25 was the joker.
The car driven by Grady Wade and owned by Chet Wilson, both of Wichita, Kan., proved to be the fastest starter and the slowest finisher of the three-day meet.
The car zoomed its way to the fastest qualifying time Saturday in a track record time of 25.61 seconds.
After that, everything went black (and not just the #2 black). The final piece of bad luck came Saturday when Wade was running second to Puterbaugh with only three laps to go and the rear axle snapped.
“This has just been a bad track for us,” Wade said as his car was being towed from the pit area. “We have a lot more breakdowns at this track than anywhere else.”
As evidence Wade pointed out that the pinion gears broke in Sunday afternoon’s races. They were fixed but it might have led to Monday’s big turn for the worse.
“I couldn’t keep up with him (Puterbaugh) anyway,” Wade added. But I did have a big lead over the third-place car.”
For the first five or so laps Wade was able to hold off Puterbaugh who kept trying to pass but couldn’t find an opening.
“I was having trouble passing him,” Puterbaugh explained. “But he slipped outside on the first turn and gave me my chance. I just ducked under him and kept going.”
For all practical purposes that was the race as Puterbaugh held a big lead over Wade for 27 laps, then Saturday feature winner Jerry Blundy and Jim Moughan the rest of the way.
Lincoln’s Lloyd Beckman again drove the #52, owned by Red and Irene Lempelius of Minneapolis, Minn. Beckman was third in the first heat and was runner-up in the STP dash but pulled off the track after only four laps in the feature.
“We changed gears and had the wrong tire on it,” Beckman explained. “I pulled out because I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Results –
Heat #1 – Rollie Beale, Toledo, Ohio
Heat #2 – Dale Reed, Wichita, Kan.
Heat #3 – Dick Sutcliffe, Kansas City
STP dash – Buzz Barton, Tampa, Fla.
Consolation – Jerry Blundy, Galesburg, Ill.
Feature –
1. Bill Puterbaugh, Roxana, Ill
2. Jerry Blundy
3. Jim Moughan, Springfield, Ill.
4. Ralph Parkinson Sr., Houston, Tex.
5. Jay Woodside, Topeka, Kan.
6. Gordon Woolley, Waco, Tex.
7. Rollie Beale
8. Roger Lane, Blue Springs, Mo.
9. Don Brown, San Fernando, Calif.
10.Dale Reed
11.Don Hewitt, Troy, Ohio
12.Grady Wade, Wichita, Kan.
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