Doug Wolfgang
Odessa, Mo. (April 10, 1982) - Doug Wolfgang of Sioux Falls, S.D., was scheduled to race in Eldora, Ohio, this weekend but the weatherman didn’t realize that sprint cars run on dirt and not snow. With snow at Eldora, Wolfgang and several other top World of Outlaw stars headed for Odessa and the 1-70 National Speedway’s Saturday night sprint car race, much to the delight of the 3,186 race fans.
During the hot laps Wolfgang’s sprinter developed a problem in the rear end, so while the other cars were timing in, Wolfgang and his crew were changing the rear end.
Danny Smith of Memphis, Tenn., driving Kenny Rogers’ Gambler sprinter set fast time with a time of 17.08 seconds…or so he thought. The track officials let Wolfgang qualify after the first heat had been run and he responded with a lap of 16.97 seconds on the half-mile track.
T.J. Giddings of Kansas City, Kan., looked like a sure winner in the 10-lap semi-feature as he jumped out to an early lead and was pulling away from the rest of the cars until his car started slowing down on the seventh lap. This enabled Terry Smith of Kansas City to pass Giddings on lap 9 for the win. Giddings held on to finish second ahead of Pat McKeehan of Windsor, Mo.
The feature saw Ron Shuman of Mesa, Ariz., lead the 24-car field into turn one and the first lap lead followed by Bobby Davis, Jr, of Memphis, Tenn., Randy Smith. Des Moines, and Wolfgang.
The red flag came out twice on the third lap. The first red was for Rick Howard who hooked a rut in turn one causing him to roll end over end. On the restart, former Outlaw champ, Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind., completely destroyed his sprinter as he did a series of hard flips in turn three. Both drivers escaped injury in the accidents.
Shuman kept the lead for one more lap after the green reappeared before being passed by Wolfgang. From that point on the only thing that slowed Wolfgang down were two yellow flags that came out as a result of car failure.
At the end of the 30-lap feature Wolfgang had a half-lap lead over Davis and Mike Pinckney, Des Moines, who finished third as Shuman dropped out on lap 25 with a blown engine.
Wolfgang said that his car vibrated the whole race from a bent axle housing but that “the car was solid as a rock, and I just avoided the lapped cars.”
The heat races were won by Jack Hewitt, Troy, Ohio; Kinser, Wolfgang and Pinckney.
Results –
1. Doug Wolfgang
2. Bobby Davis Jr.
3. Mike Pinckney
4. Terry Smith
5. Bobby Layne
6. Glen Hughes Jr.
7. Cliff Woodward
8. T.J. Giddings
9. Ron Shuman
10. Terry Doss
11. Tim Gee
12. Gary Scott
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