Dave Birkhofer scored the first-ever late model feature win of his
career at West Liberty Raceway. – Dick Kleindolph Photo
By Ruth Smith
West Liberty, Iowa (May 27, 1978) – “Wild and wooly” is the only way to describe the action at West Liberty Raceway on Saturday night. The level of excitement from the stands mirrored the level of competition on the half-mile and it helped everyone forget the turbulent skies and potential threat for rain.
It was especially exciting for Dave Birkhofer of Muscatine who won a hard-fought late model event, marred with a number of accidents and restarts. For Birkhofer, it was his first career late model win in four years of racing in the division.
A multi-car pileup in the second turn of the first lap caused an original restart. On the third lap, after yet another restart, Birkhofer, who started in the third row, took command and never looked back.
For the last 10 laps, Birkhofer was briefly challenged by Roger Dolan of Lisbon and Jim Burbridge of Delhi but neither driver had anything for Birkhofer, and they finished 1-2-3 with less than a couple of car lengths separating the trio.
The first thrill of the evening came in the second heat of the sportsman division with a photo finish between Gail Brenner and Jess Erwin.
Late model heat winners were Mel Morris of West Liberty, Dolan, Burbridge, and Byron Buchele of Muscatine. Tom Hearst of Wilton won the semi.
In the sportsman class, the three-week domination of Mark Keltner came to an end when Ron Boyse of Kalona grabbed the feature win.
Sportsman heat winners Brenner, Boyse, and Dick Vitosh with Mike Haller taking the consolation.
Over 60 cars were in Saturday’s competition at West Liberty.
Results –
Late Model –
1. Dave Birkhofer
2. Roger Dolan
3. Jim Burbridge
4. Gary Webb
5. Dave Dodder
6. John Simenec
7. L.B. O’Brien
8. Butch Cassidy
9. Mel Morris
10.Tom Hearst
Sportsman –
1. Ron Boyse
2. Gail Brenner
3. Mark Keltner
4. Mike Klinkkammer
5. John Brumley
6. Charlie Brockert
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