Rich Vogler, #55, leads the field during the 30-lap
USAC sprint car feature at the Dayton Speedway. Vogler won the
race, the next to last USAC race ever held at the track. - Skip Peterson Photo
Dayton, Ohio (July 1, 1979) – Rich Vogler led early and late en route to winning Sunday afternoon’s United States Auto Club (USAC) sprint car feature at Dayton Speedway.
It was the first sprint car feature victory of the year for Vogler, who was the club’s 1978 midget driving title winner.
Vogler grabbed the lead at the outset of the race but was supplanted in the top spot by Tom Bigelow on the fourth go-round. Bigelow, the winner of the division’s 40-lap main on this half-mile paved oval last May 28, then led for 28 circuits before Vogler took over again.
This time Vogler didn’t relinquish the top spot, and he went on to take the checkered flag in front of Jeff Bloom, Greg Leffler, Pancho Carter, Sheldon Kinser and Gary Bettenhausen.
Steve Chassey was unbeatable in the early stages of the show, setting fast time with a 16.06 second time trial lap and then capturing the first heat. Carter, his younger brother, Dana Carter, and Chuck Gurney won the other heats, and Bubby Jones took the semi-feature.
Although Jones won the semi-feature, he finished last in the 20-car field in the main event and saw his point lead shaved to eight markers over runner-up Pancho Carter. Bigelow, who ranks third on the point list, is only an additional 11 points behind Carter, after coming in eighth in Sunday’s headliner.
Results –
1. Rich Vogler
2. Jeff Bloom
3. Greg Leffler
4. Pancho Carter
5. Sheldon Kinser
6. Gary Bettenhausen
7. Larry Rice
8. Tom Bigelow
9. Mack McClellan
10.Chuck Gurney
11.Dana Carter
12.Jerry Weeks
13.Bud Wilmot
14.Malcolm Lovelace
15.Lennie Waldo
16.Marvin Carman
17.Mark Alderson
18.Steve Chassey
19.Billy Cassella
20.Bubby Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment