Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
15 Years Ago — 2010
News: Superlatives for what Kyle Busch accomplished last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway are a little hard to come by.
Busch won NACAR Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Truck Series races in four days’ time at the .533-mile track.
Eddie D’Hondt, Busch’s spotter and the man responsible for keeping the front end of the No. 18 Toyota clean all night, perhaps said it best: “We’re in the presence of greatness.”
Crew chief Dave Rogers, who is the man charged with keeping the often-impetuous youngster on the chip, is not often given to hyperbole, so what be said after the race is worth paying attention to.
“Kyle Busch is a special drivel; in my opinion, the most talented driver on the circuit,” Rogers said. “I told him before the race there’s a lot of fans out there booing him, and some wise guy saying some things that were somewhat unprofessional, but it’s an absolute honor to work with Kyle Busch, and I couldn’t be happier to do so.”
One of the things that you don’t want to do, if you are one of the drivers who has to beat him, is give him incentive.
Brad Keselowski, who has had his share of run-ins with too many drivers to count these days, provided some in pre-race introductions.
Stepping to the mic in front of the fans, Keselowski introduced himself as the driver of the No. 12 Fenske Racing Dodge and then added, “Kyle Busch is an ass!”
That came from the night before, when Keselowski kept his nose outside Busch’s car while the latter was battling him for the lead and turned Busch’s car into the wall. Busch
kept his foot in it and punted Keselowski in the next corner.
Third-place finisher Jamie McMurray gave Busch props when it was over.
“It’s pretty remarkable what he’s been able to do this weekend. especially with owning his own truck team I know that’s been fairly stressful for him.”
McMurray said. “And. obviously, the Nationwide, it’s I don’t know – it’s amazing how many
races they can win in that car.
“But then to be able to come out (Saturday night) and win again. He obviously has a really good
feel for this place, and he just had a really good weekend. He’s been close to doing that before, so that’s really impressive what Kyle has been able to do.”
As for the man himself., Busch was understandably humble when it was over and the mark was finally his.
“lt means a lot,” he said. “I’m out of breath. I’ve been screaming the whole time. Normally,
you take your time to get your breath back. but I used it all up. Man. I can’t say enough about
this team, Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports earlier this week. This Doublemint
Camry was awesome today What a great race car. It’s the second time we ran it this year, and the second race for Doublemint and we won for them. Again. I can’t thank these guys enough.”
Winners: Will Power left little doubt that in 2010 the IZOD lndyCar Series driver was the King of the Road.
By driving to a decisive victory in Sunday’s Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway.
Power scored his fifth victory in the nine road course races this season.
He dominated the race by leading all but two of the 75 laps.
More importantly, Power padded his point lead. He entered the weekend with a 41-point lead over Dario Franchitti, but by winning the pole, leading the most laps and winning the race, Power has a 59-point lead over Franchitti with four races remaining all on ovals.
“Man, I’m going to race like I want to win it,” Power said. “I’m going to do what I have done all year.”
Power suffered a broken back at this track when he crashed in practice last year that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2009 season. But Power has proven to be back all season.
“What a perfect weekend to come back here,” Power said. “A year ago I was lying in a hospital watching this race. I’m just so happy. Man. I’m going for it. I want to win this championship. I’m going to win a race on the ovals before this season is over and I’m ready to do that.”
Scott Dixon finished second and Franchitti third as he lost ground to Power in the championship.
“It’s a fairly large deficit, but it is tracks that we have done very well at,” Franchitti said. “I’m not underestimating Will at all. Even though he hasn’t won on the ovals he is capable of winning it. It’s going to be a challenge, but we are up for it.”
Power’s Team Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five.
30 Years Ago — 1995
News: Doug Wolfgang got what he came here for last week when a U.S. District Court jury awarded him $1.215 million in damages stemming from his April, 1992 sprint car crash at Lakeside Speedway.
In an interview with the Kansas City Star following Friday’s decision, Wolfgang said the verdict should “send out the message” that the motorsports industry must train and equip its fire and rescue teams in the future.
“We’re pretty elated,” said Victor Bergman, Wolfgang’s attorney. “Anybody who heard the evidence knew that it was clear-cut, and the jury heard it that way. I hope all race car drivers know what Doug Wolfgang did for them. He hung it on the line at the risk of his own personal reputation.”
The attorney for the defense, Mike Kuckelman, was not pleased with the verdict-or what he perceived as the exclusion of certain articles of evidence–but was not displeased with the amount.
“That’s (the $1.2 million award) was 30 percent of what he (Wolfgang) asked for, so we can’t be all that displeased with it,” Kuckelman told NSSN Monday.
Kuckelman said “We’re going to appeal it to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colo., and ask them to rule on (these) issues as matters of law,” Kuckelman said, talking about the exclusion of the signed release waiver and other articles of evidence during the trial.
The jury, which deliberated for more than 16 hours over 3 days, found the defendants-Mid-America Motorsports, Inc., RED Racing, Inc. and the World of Outlaws, Inc.-acted “wantonly with reckless disregard toward life and safety by failing to organize, train and equip their fire crew,” according to the Star.
The release Wolfgang signed prior to entering the pits the day he crashed prompted U.S. District Court Judge Thomas.
Van Bebber to dismiss claims of ordinary negligence against the defendants prior to the start of the 2 1/2-week trial.
“This is not a threat to the racing industry,” Bergman said, countering claims that the verdict would have a deleterious effect on motorsport. “The release was upheld in our case. We took the position that it didn’t apply in this case. The judge felt it did, but it’s no real threat to the industry.”
The crash, in which Wolfgang suffered a broken neck and severe burns, happened when his Max Rogers No. 49 sprint car clipped a tire in the infield, skittered across the asphalt track and into the wall. The impact knocked Wolfgang unconscious and his head slammed into the wall, breaking his neck.
Winners: “And the beat goes on.” That lyric could apply to Billy Boat, who extended his USAC Western States feature winning record to 10 straight Saturday night at Doug Fort’s well-prepared banked one-third-mile Santa Maria Speedway.
The first USAC and Bay Cities Racing Ass’n co-sanctioned race in track history provided new challengers to Boat’s continuing dominance of midget racing to California.
However, the 29-year-old Phoenix native prevailed convincingly in the 30-lap main event.
The victory was Boat’s 13th USAC triumph in 18 events this season. It was his 12th consecutive midget main event victory, counting a pair of non-USAC sanctioned features at the Belleville Nationals earlier this month. Boat now has won features at seven different W /S series tracks-five dirt and two paved. He extended his W /S point lead from 111 to 126 points.
Boat started fourth in John Lawson’s Beneto Tank Lines/Lawson Rock & Oil Stealth/ Gaerte and dropped to sixth place on the opening lap. He shot between two cars entering the third turn to take fourth spot on lap seven. He nailed third two laps later and grabbed second place on lap 12.
Fast qualifier J.R. Lawson, son of Boat’s car owner, led in his Stealth/Gaerto team car from lap 10-15, but Boat shot by his teammate at the start of lap 16 following a brief caution period. Boat extended his advantage to half a straightaway by lap 28, but he slowed his pace during the final two laps to avoid lapping cars battling for 10th place. He settled for a quarter-straightaway
margin over runner-up Lawson at Bryan Howard’s checkered flags. Second position was Lawson’s best career finish in a USAC feature.
60 Years Ago— 1965
News: One of the worst spectator accidents in the history of auto racing in the United States plagued the Missouri State Fair International program for late model stock cars Saturday.
Four persons were killed and 11 injured when a 1964 Dodge, driven by Bill Crane, of Liberty, Mo., broke a front end ball joint going into the first turn of the one-mile dirt track and plunged into a chain link fence where non-paying spectators had gathered.
It was the first spectator accident in more than 50 years of auto racing at the fair and took place after a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper had issued warnings over a loud speaker for the fans along that section of the fence to leave.
The spectators had lined up against the chain link fence enclosing the track, crawling under a fence to get into the area.
With 14,000 in attendance, the scene was a bedlam as spectators converged on the area seeking relatives. One trooper broke out in sobs and women, upon recognizing their injured children, screamed.
When the accident scene was cleared, Ramo Stott rode home with top honors in the late model feature.
Winners: The combined talents of driver Johnny Rutherford and mechanic Wally Meskowski won out over a tire-tearing State Fair track Saturday and moved up a notch in the USAC national sprint car standings-not to mention a day’s pay of $1,460.
Rutherford set fast time of 20.32 seconds, cruised to a fifth-place finish in the trophy dash, but when the big money was up, looked like a true champion in the 30-lap feature. Rutherford, who finished with a blistered right-rear tire, stopped the clock in 10 minutes, 21.95 seconds, to erase Jud Larson’s year old 15-mile mark or 10:25.18.
The tire problem plagued all but two of the 18 starters in the feature, Red Riegel and Bobby Pratt. Every other finisher took the checker with their right-rear tires smoking and minus chunks of tread. Rutherford had fought off the challenges of Don Branson for 25 or the 30 laps, badly scuffing his tires.
Branson finished second in the only Offy-powered car in the race, with national Big CM champion A. J. Foyt narrowly preserving third from Mario Andretti.
Tires started to go bad after 10 laps, with Bobby Unser being the first to be so plagued. By the halfway mark, three drivers had thrown chunks of tread and at 20 laps, more than half of the participants were grinding smoke from their right-rear tires on the turns.
