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Jim,
When you go back and look at the statistics I find it hard to believe that Stewart only won one pavement race. From 1989-1991 I show him competing in 7 completed pavement shows (1-win; 1-2nd; 2-3rds; 1-11th). In 2 of those races he must have had car problems because he does not show up in the feature results but he does in qualifications (2nd & 4th). It sure seems like it should have been more wins.
It's also kind of strange that the very tracks that Stewart won on are the ones that UMRA wants to get rid of. (At least it seems that way to me)
I really miss the good ole days of UMRA. Fair Week, Madison, Martinsville, Greensburg, Rushville, Columbus, etc.
I think the diversity of the tracks that UMRA used to run on was a big plus in getting drivers a lot of different experience in a short amount of time. If you look at their 1989 schedule they had 28 races. Rushville (4), Montpelier (4), Greensburg (4), New Paris (3), Angola (3), Anderson (2), Warsaw (2), Columbus (1), Danville, IL (1), Madison (1), Martinsville (1), Indiana State Fair (1), & the indoor show in Nashville, TN (1).
Ronnie Combs was the only driver to start all 33 features. He won 7 times (had a total of 23 top 5's) and took home the championship. Other feature winners were: Ronnie Ambrose (9), Tony Stewart (4), Wayne Mullikin (3), Jess Huggins (2), Page Jones (2), Terry Goff (1), Gary Howard (1), John Linville (1), Mark Rutter (1), and Bobby Smith (1). Some of the drivers that raced that year without winning features were Rick Beaver, Lynn Ambrose, Howard McCormick & Robert Nichols. What a list of drivers!
I don't think I'll ever forget the night that Ronnie Combs won his first feature. Were you there that night at New Paris? We ran double features that night and Combs set a new track record. He had to start 10th and won the first feature. We then inverted the top 10 finishers from the first race and Ronnie had to start 10th again. But this time Wayne Mullikin was on the pole. Wayne had equaled Ronnie's time in qualifying but had problems in the first feature (I think with Dick Young). Wayne led the whole race until going into turn 3 on the final lap he came up to lap Young and hesitated for just a moment & Ronnie just drove around the both of them and took the win. Unbelievable!
And what a rookie class that year. Rick Beaver, Tony Stewart, Lynn Ambrose, Gary *****, Jerry Frickman... And Travis Welpott and Oogie Goff made their first starts that year too.
And I'll say it again, I really miss those days.
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