Jackie
Howerton is joined by his family after winning the 1974 Hoosier Hundred. Famed
Indianapolis 500 announcer Sid Collins is ready to interview the winner.
Indianapolis, Ind. (September 7, 1974) - Jackie Howerton, driving the George Bignotti prepared STP Oil Treatment Special, made his first “Hoosier Hundred’’ a good one by leading all the way and taking $11,540 of the $53,390 purse.
The 31-year-old Tulsa, Okla., native took the lead on the first lap and built up a 17-second lead by lap 43, that was wiped out by a yellow flag that should have never flown.
Al Unser and George Snider bumped wheels going into turn three and both kept going without any trouble, but the yellow allowed the field to bunch up on Howerton with Mario Andretti running second.
On the restart Howerton again built up a small lead over Andretti and Snider with Al Unser in fourth Howerton, who helped build the car he was driving, slowed somewhat, giving the 15,000 fans a close finish as Al Unser had gotten by Andretti and Snider and was challenging on the last lap.
Howerton never lost his cool and won the final United States Auto Club Dirt Track Championship event by a scant six tenths of a second over Unser.
Howerton and another rookie in the race, Sheldon Kinser, made up the front row of the 24-car field making some of the veterans look twice But Kinser’s debut was short-lived as he spun on lap one taking Jim McElreath and John Hubbard out with him.
The only other yellow during the event was created by Jan Opperman who lost a wheel going into turn one on lap 11.
A.J. Foyt, six-time winner of the “Hoosier Hundred,’’ blew his engine on his second lap of qualification treating quite a stir among the fans who came to see him race.
He sent his crew to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a police escort where they picked up another engine and brought it back to the fairgrounds and installed it in less than an hour
His efforts were in vain, however, as ignition problems forced him out in lap nine of the 100-mile run over the one-mile dirt oval.
The only serious accident of the day came during qualifications when Ralph “The Racer” Liguori flipped the McGinty Conveyers-Offy end over end in the third turn. Once again Liguori walked away from a spectacular crash unharmed.
Results –
1. Jackie Howerton
2. Al Unser
3. Mario Andretti
4. Tom Bigelow
5. George Snider
6. Rollie Beale
7. Duane Carter Jr.
8. Arnie Knepper
9. Bruce Walkup
10.Bill Cassella
11.Joe Saldana
12.Ronnie Burke
13.Lee Osborne
14.Bill Puterbaugh
15.Mel Cornett
16.Bill Engelhart
17.Bill Vukovich
18.Johnny Parsons
19.Jan Opperman
20.A.J. Foyt
21.Jimmy Caruthers
22.John Hubbard
23.Sheldon Kinser
24.Jim McElreath
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