1989 – Martin Tops J&J Steel Summer Series at Indy

 

Curt Martin

By Les Houser

Independence, Iowa (August 12, 1989) – Over the last few years, Curt Martin has shown mastery of his hometown Independence Motor Speedway.

Beginning in 1984, Martin racked up three straight point titles. Saturday night was no exception as Martin added another jewel to his crown, winning the J&J Steel Summer Series feature.

A capacity crowd witnessed a long but exciting night of racing as the pit area was jammed with 110 cars including 39 IMCA late models.

After the parade lap, the 35-lap main event got underway with polesitter Johnny Johnson taking the lead. Greg Kastli followed closely behind and on the third lap tried to nose down inside of Johnson, but the veteran held strong.

Martin, who started on the outside of the third row, started making his run to the front. A yellow waved on lap 9 when Karl Sanger slid off the track. On the restart, Red Dralle spun, bringing out another yellow.

When action resumed, Martin quickly took over second place and pulled alongside Johnson but again he refused to give up the lead. Martin continued to stay on the high side of the track, pulling alongside Johnson again lap 12. Finally, on lap 14, Martin took control, passing Johnson for the lead.

After that, Martin put some distance between himself and the rest of the field and took home the $1,000 winner’s check. Lem Blankenship moved up late in the race to take second while series point leader Jay Johnson wound up third.

Mike Smith, Blankenship, Martin, Kastli, and Dralle were heat winners. Rick Wendling and Dean Wagner were B-feature winners.

In the other classes running this night, Tom Bartholomew continued his winning ways in the IMCA modified division, taking his fourth feature win of the season. There were many lead changes in this race with Larry Schmidt and Tom Fitzpatrick running side-by-side for many laps until Bartholomew passed them both on the outside, then survived a late race bid by Kevin Pittman to score the victory.

Denny Dettman bested an 18-car field to win the street stock contest, and Ken Irvine won the hobby stock feature.


Results –

IMCA Late Models - 

1. Curt Martin, Independence
2. Lem Blankenship, Keokuk
3. Jay Johnson, West Burlington
4. Ron Jackson, Burlington
5. Greg Kastli, Waterloo
6. Mike Smith, Ellsworth
7. Bob Hill, Story City
8. Dave Gerner, Garber
9. Jerry Pilcher, Ottumwa
10.Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown
11.Denny Osborn, Cedar Falls
12.Steve Borts, Ames
13.Dean Wagner, Waterloo
14.Rick Wendling, Hazelton
15.Bob Fisher, Vinton


IMCA Modified –

1. Tom Bartholomew, Waterloo
2. Kevin Pittman, Waterloo
3. Tom Fitzpatrick, Gilbertville
4. Ed Thomas, Waterloo
5. Tim Jensen, Waterloo