1989 - Red Flag Sparks Moyer to Victory

Iowa native Billy Moyer Jr. won the first leg of the '89 Iowa Firecracker Jamboree at 34 Raceway in Burlington. - Todd Healy Photo

West Burlington, Iowa (June 29, 1989) - The track Billy Moyer could not conquer is no more.

Two of racing's best-known late model drivers - Moyer of Batesville, Ark., and Scott Bloomquist of Knoxville, Tenn. - locked up in a two-man duel at the head of the pack last night, and when the dust had cleared Moyer had his first triumph at 34 Raceway after second place finishes the last two years.

Moyer was also clutching the $4,000 winner's check. The 31-year-old is the defending World of Outlaws national champion and the 1986 and 1987 USAC national champ.

Bloomquist crossed under the checkered flag 10 car lengths behind in the World of Outlaws-sanctioned Iowa Firecracker Jamboree opener last night.

What was billed as “the biggest dirt track race ever to hit eastern Iowa” lived up to it reputation, as 46 drivers (most of them nationally recognized) were on band from 16 states — Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming,

It was really a two-man race that was decided by a red flag, however. Bloomquist, the 25-year-old winner of last year's World 100, ran away from the field during the first 39 laps of the 50-circuit event and appeared well on his way to victory.

Then disaster struck.

John Gill of Bedford, Ind. had just passed Moyer, for second place in turn two, with Bloomquist well ahead of those two. However, Paul Shafer of Portage, Ind., last control on the backstretch, and his car flipped and eventually struck the turn three wall. That brought out a red flag and a halt to the proceedings. But instead of sitting back and resting, Moyer and his crew immediately jumped into action and began changing gears,

Moyer was late getting back onto the track due to the flurry of activity at the rear of his car, but the difference was immediately noticeable. At the drop of the green flag for lap 40, he pulled right up on Bloomquist's tail and then passed on the following circuit,

The rest was academic.

Moyer now leads the World of Outlaw standings with 1,016 points while Bloomquist stands second with 946.

“A guy wasn't able to lay down at all,” Bloomquist said afterward. “There were a lot of good cars coming from the back.”

Gill finished a distant third. Rick Egersdorf of St. Paul, Minn., was fourth, Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., wound up fifth and Mitch Johnson of Fargo, N.D., rounded out the top six finishers.

West Burlington's Jay Johnson (14th place), Montrose's Steve Fraise (16th) and Wapello's Johnny Johnson (17th) were the only three local racers to qualify for the feature.

Defending champion Willy Kraft spun on the backstretch during the very first lap and retired to the pits with a 24th-place finish.

The next 38 laps belonged to Bloomquist, with only lapped traffic and caution flags on laps 21 and 26 slowing him down. Meanwhile, Kraft, Gill and Phillips were in hot pursuit. Phillips quickly fell from second to fourth on the 16th lap, however, and Gill began stalking the new runner-up, Moyer.

Gill finally caught up and made the pass on the fateful 40th lap, but Shafer's incident forced the field to revert to its previous standing.

The evening's only other serious accident involved Doug Wiggs of Amarillo, Texas, who demolished his car when he hit the wall in nearly the same spot as Shafer on lap 2 of the semi-feature.

Moyer, Phillips, Mitch Johnson, and Jack Boggs of Webbville, Ky., were heat race winners, while Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., won the semi.

Bloomquist turned in the quickest qualifying time - 15.666 seconds around the 3/8-mile dirt oval.


Results –


1. Billy Moyer Jr.
2. Scott Bloomquist
3. John Gill
4. Rick Egersdorf
5. Larry Phillips
6. Mitch Johnson
7. Jim Curry
8. Kevin Gundaker
9. Charlie Sentman
10.Rick Aukland