Dick
Trickle (left) and Roger Regeth won their respective late model and sportsman
features Sunday afternoon in the Red, White, and Blue State Championship Series
at Wisconsin International Raceway. Miss Debbie Ashauer made the trophy
presentations. - Russ Lake Photo
By Gary Vercauteren
Kaukauna, Wis. (June 10, 1984) – Dick Trickle beat Joe Shear to the finish line by three-car-lengths to the win the 60-lap feature in the first race of the Red, White, and Blue State Championship Series at Wisconsin International Raceway on Sunday afternoon.
Trickle, a six-time point champion in the 13-years the series has been held on the Kaukauna half-mile paved oval, won his tenth feature in the last 11 special events.
High winds seemed to bother most of the drivers but not Trickle. “The wind actually felt pretty good,” Trickle joked.
Several major wrecks marred the afternoon’s contest, although there were no serious injuries.
Al Schill came off the front row to set the pace in the 20-car field for the first 27 laps. Trickle moved into third place on the 13th lap when he roared by Bob Iverson.
On the 18th round he got around Gordie Sannes Jr., for the second position. A yellow flag flew on lap 26 just as Trickle was closing in on Schill for the lead.
Trickle would go to the outside on the restart and had command by the time the crossed the start/finish line for lap 27.
Shear, in perhaps his finest performance of the season, shot past Schill on lap 28 and stayed right on Trickle. Tom Reffner, who would finish third, got around Schill on lap 36 and then battled wheel-to-wheel with Shear for the runner-up spot.
With nine laps to go, another caution flag flew when Mike Kelly spun in the fourth turn. That bunched up the field for the restart, but Trickle was ready for the challenge from Shear and Reffner and he pulled away to the three-car-length win.
Only three of the 16 cars still on the track at the end were lapped as the entire pack remained in tight formation throughout the contest.
The crowd of 4,329 was treated to an excellent race in the 25-lap semi-feature as sensational rookie Doug Herbst of Wausau slipped by Rich Bickle Sr. on the final lap and won by less than a car-length.
Roger “The Bear” Regeth won the 20-lap sportsman feature by two-car-lengths over Rod Wheeler with Dennis Dietzen third and Fred Gignac fourth.
Results –
1. Dick Trickle, Wisconsin Rapids
2. Joe Shear, Beloit
3. Tom Reffner, Rudolph
4. Al Schill, Franklin
5. Tony Strupp, Slinger
6. Bob Iverson, Hyde, Mich.
7. Gordie Sannes Jr., De Pere
8. J.J. Smith, Appleton
9. Jim Weber, Roseville, Minn.
10.Scott Hansen, Green Bay
11.Dave Valentyne, Appleton
12.Lowell Bennett, Neenah
13.Mike Kelly, Vulcan, Mich.
14.Thom Lamon, Hales Corner
15.Robbie Reiser, Allenton
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