I previously posted the results of the '61 event won by cecil98's hero, Parnelli Jones. In the interest of equal time for my favorite, I submit the following:
Qualifications - 23 Cars
-3 Roger McCluskey - 18.87
-1 Parnelli Jones - 18.58 - FQ & NTR by .01 sec.
10 Johnny Rutherford - 19.61
-7 Mickey Shaw - 20.03
37 Claire Lawicki - 20.91
93 Harold Smith - 19.30
11 Chuck Engle - 19.44
53 Dick Northam - 20.26
83 Tommy Copp - 20.27
22 Bobby Baughan - 19.65
16 Bob Smith - 20.73
96 Dave Weir - 20.45
-5 Al Miller - 19.39
-2 Bud Tinglestad - 19.21
77 Dave Norris - 19.69 (Kerry Norris' Dad)
28 Don Branson - 19.20
-9 A.J. Foyt - 18.62
17 Bobby Black - 20.37
12 Cotton Farmer - 19.54
-8 Ronnie Duman - 19.27
76 Bobby Marvin - 19.42
54 Don Brown - 20.53
21 Elmer George - 19.27
The #7 of Mickey Shaw (Offy), the #5 of Al Miller (Offy), the #37 of Claire Lawicki (GMC), and the #83 of Tommy Copp (Dodge) were the only non-Chevy powered sprinters on this day.
The No-Names :wink Fast Car Dash 4 Cars - 3 Laps - No Time
28 Don Branson.........................3
-3 Roger McCluskey....................1
-9 A.J. Foyt..............................4
-1 Parnelli Jones.........................2
All among the very best it has been my privilege to watch.
Semi-Feature - 7 Cars - 20 Laps - No Time
53 Dick Northam........................3
83 Tommy Copp........................4
17 Bobby Black.........................1
96 Dave Weir............................2
54 Don Brown...........................7
16 Bob Smith............................6
37 Claire Lawicki.......................5
Joe James - Pat O'Connor Memorial - 16 Cars - 100 Laps - 32:44.44
-1 Parnelli Jones.......................16
-9 A.J. Foyt ..................THE WINNER
-3 Roger McCluskey....................2
28 Don Branson.........................13
-2 Bud Tinglestad......................12
21 Elmer George.........................3
-8 Ronnie Duman........................4
93 Harold Smith..........................8
-5 Al Miller.................................7
76 Bobby Marvin........................14
11 Chuck Engle..........................10
12 Cotton Farmer.......................15
10 Johnny Rutherford....................6
22 Bobby Boughan........................5
77 Dave Norris.............................9
-7 Mickey Shaw...........................11
+The Speedway was offering a $1000 bonus for a new one lap world record. At that time Don Branson held the record in the Bob Estes Spl. with a 18.28 (106.301) at the Dayton Speedway in 1960. The highly overated Parnelli (just joshin' Craig :wink) missed by .31.
+That brings to mind a driver's meeting several years later at Winchester Speedway when then owner/promoter Roger Holdeman announced a $1000 bounty to bring the record to Winchester. Lee Kunzman then asked Holdeman how much he would pay someone who skinned his ass trying to get the record. Roger said that would not be rewarded.
+Earlier in the year Salem had a USAC sprint race scheduled for July 1 but the champ car race at Langhorne on 6/24 was rained out and rescheduled for.......uh oh.....7/1. Henry Banks told Salem they could go ahead and run the sprint race but Salem knew most of the big dogs would be at The Horne so they switched the sanction to IMCA. Come 7/1 the Salem race was rained out and finally ran on 7/15. Tom McClellen was FQ at 19.17. The IMCA 30 lapper was won by Johnny Rutherford followed by Arnie Knepper, Bill Kimmel and Johnny White.
+The aforementioned 7/1 Langhorne event, won by Foyt, took the life of one of my Lawrenceburg favorites, Hugh Randall. He got in the Vargo Offy already given up on by Elmer George and Bob Mathouser (if memory serves) for ill handling. Hugh met his demise in "puke hollow" as several others had done and would do later, including Jimmy Bryan.
+Some of the TQ guys here at IOW might be interested in some of these names. We attended a 50 lap UMRA TQ Midget show at the Salem Fairgrounds the night before this USAC race. Unfortunately I didn't record any results but some of the drivers were Jim Gettlefinger, Rick Myer, Sonny Ates, Mel & Roland Harpring, Dick Dwenger, Russ Hankins, Bob Parsons, Mike Muncie, Don Ralston, Billy Campbell, Sam Mustard, and Pete Benn. I wouldn't bet the farm on it but I believe Sonny Ates won the feature that night. They ripped us off for a $1.25 :eek: :O:
admission. They did let us carry in our cooler however which might explain why I didn't get any results down on paper.
Those were indeed the days my friends.
:checkered:
