Editor’s Note: Each month in recognition of SPEED SPORT’s 90th anniversary, the SPEED SPORT Insider will use the National Speed Sport News archives to look back at what happened in the racing world 50 years ago.
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Fire Cancels Mod Nationals
A horrendous explosion and fire canceled the National Modified Championship race at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson almost as soon as it began.
Veteran drivers Aaron Madden and Jack Petty were critically burned and four race cars were destroyed in the inferno.
The half-mile track was dry and extremely dusty from 116-degree heat. A field of 40 cars started the main event with the tailenders going through the first turn at about 40 mph because of the blinding dust.
On the second lap, someone in the back of the pack spun in the dust and George Armstrong rode over the wheel of another car and flipped end over end three or four times. Armstrong received severe bruises and was knocked unconscious.
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