Joe Saldana enjoys the spoils of victory after winning the Tony Hulman Classic at Terre Haute. - John Mahoney Photo
Terre Haute, Ind. (May 5, 1973) - Joe Saldana, overlooked by most observers before the start of the feature, won the third annual Tony Hulman Classic sprint car race, which was plagued by a clay surface made muddy by man, at the Action Track.
Saldana joined other former winners George Snider (1971) and Bruce Walkup (1972), in the now-world famous sprint car race.
For a while things looked dim for the day’s festivities as track conditions were far from good at race time. All available equipment was put on the track in an effort to dry it out after officials had saturated the surface with too much moisture.
Time played a key role in the program as the entire show was to be televised before a national audience via the American Broadcasting Company’s “Wide World of Sports”.
According to assistant track director Bill Hill, “ABC was able to capture the entire main event for its television audience as things shaped up, with the help of rescheduling, with three minutes to spare.”
ABC’s unit manager, Les Lessuk, went on to say…” both ABC and the Action Track learned a lesson here today.” The broadcasting company does plan to leave it’s towers and announcing booth up for next year’s race, according to Lessuk.
Originally the first heat race was to start at 3 p.m. and the second heat at 3:15 with an aero acrobatics show between the second and third heats. Track conditions were such, however, that 3 and 3:30 came and there was still no indication of the start of a race.
Following the air show, drivers met to determine what, if anything, they could do to get the show on the road as well as national television.
The drivers and USAC officials decided the best thing for everyone concerned was to run that feature first so it could be televised and then run the heats later. The agenda was a little out of the ordinary because usually a driver must place high in the heat events in order to qualify for the feature.
To solve this problem every driver (28 in all) was allowed to compete in the main event with only the top 20 receiving points and prize money.
Finally, with most of the problems as well as the track ironed out, the feature began much to the liking to the several thousand fans on hand. Saldana started on the outside of the first row and grabbed the lead from the start. Although he was never headed, it was a tough race for Saldana as he could be seen fighting his car through the turns of the half-mile dirt oval.
Of the 28 cars that started the race, only seven completed the 40 laps of the feature event. The big problem for most of the cars was the mud, which was kicked up in the radiators causing the engines to overheat.
Charlie Masters was the first to go with overheating problems as he failed to make one lap. Others leaving the race with the same problems were Bill Puterbaugh (8th lap), Billy Shuman (9th lap), Greg Weld (16th lap), Sheldon Kinser (22nd lap) and A.J. Foyt (25th lap).
Ralph Liquori left the race with a brake problem and Jerry Nemire went out with an oil line problem on the second and third laps, respectively.
Rollie Beale of Toledo, Ohio, made several charges at Saldana for the lead but had to settle for second place. Beale went the final five laps with smoke trailing from his engine but still managed to finish only two seconds off the pace.
Don Nordhorn of Wadesville, Ind., and defending Hulman Classic champion Bruce Walkup of St. Paul, Ind., finished third and fourth, well behind the leaders.
Results –
1. Joe Saldana
2. Rollie Beale
3. Don Nordhorn
4. Bruce Walkup
5. Sam Sessions
6. John Toth
7. Lee Kunzman
8. Tony Simon
9. Jerry Poland
10.Johnny Parsons Jr.
11.Fred Linder
12.Bob Kinser
13.Rich Leavell
14.Chuck Booth
15.Jim McElreath
16.Mel Cornett
17.Larry Dickson
18.Bill Cassella
19.Larry Cannon
20.Duane Carter Jr.
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