Don White is interviewed after his 200-mile victory for USAC late model
stock cars at Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway. – Wayne Bryant Photo
Milwaukee, Wis. (July 9, 1967) – Don White isn’t one to hold a grudge, particularly after capturing first place and $7,075 with a split-second victory over Jack Bowsher in the 200-mile late model stock car race on Sunday.
But Bowsher bumped him, said White. “He shouldn’t race that way. It’s not sportsman-like,” White added. “He started chopping on me, banging on me. Maybe he would’ve won had he used his head instead.”
White, 41, who finished in a State Fair Park record time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 17.963 seconds, wheeled his Dodge Charger home less than a second before Bowsher to end a steel-nerved duel that began on the 184th lap.
The Keokuk, Iowa, driver’s average speed was 94.268 miles per hour – a new track record for 200 miles.
Norm Nelson of Racine, a winner over White at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday night, was third. Mario Andretti of Nazareth, Penn., whose Ford survived a spinout on the second lap, came back to finish fourth. Fifth place went to Al Unser of Albuquerque, N.M., in a Dodge Charger.
The lead changed hands five times in the last 16 miles as drivers fought for position on each and every turn.
Bowsher, 36, had some complaints of his own but didn’t freely air them, was all but even with White as both shot for the inside of the first turn on the last lap. White got there first and was in better position as the cars headed for slower traffic on the second turn.
There, Bowsher was forced to tap the brakes and for an instant, he slid. It was an instant he wouldn’t regain. He slid again near the wall on the final turn, but White was already home free.
“I hit the wall out there,” Bowsher said. “But I didn’t hit it all by myself.”
The Springfield, Ohio, driver, relatively new to the United State Auto Club stock car circuit, wasn’t about to get in a feud with the veteran White. “If he feels he won it because I bumped him, more power to him,” said Bowsher, who settled for $4,630 in second-place money. “He ought to win a bunch of races that way.”
A.J. Foyt of Houston, Tex., dropped out with engine problems after only 16 laps. Parnelli Jones of Torrance, Calif., remained in contention through 105 laps before engine problems sent him into the pits.
Results –
1. Don White, Keokuk, Iowa
2. Jack Bowsher, Springfield, Ohio
3. Norm Nelson, Racine
4. Mario Andretti, Nazareth, Penn.
5. Al Unser, Albuquerque, N.M.
6. Bay Darnell, Deerfield, Ill.
7. Sal Tovella, Addison, Ill.
8. Frank Freda, Elmhurst, Ill.
9. Glen Bradley, Lincoln, Ill.
10.Jerry Smith, Appleton
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