Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 92 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 20, 40 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
20 Years Ago — 2006
News: NHRA will limit the number of cars one owner group can field in each of the four professional categories that make up the POWERade Drag Racing Series.
NHRA Effective immediately; owner groups will be limited to four teams per professional category; currently comprised of the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes.
NHRA is experiencing unprecedented investment. and the world’s largest motorsports sanctioning body believes that for the growth and popularity to continue the rule is necessary.
“It is in the best interest of the sport to limit the number of teams owned by one owner group,” said Graham Light, NHRA’s senior vice-president of racing operations.
The definition of an owner group is any affiliated individual or individuals who have a direct or indirect form or amount of common, joint or shared control ownership, financing, management or revenue sharing from a competing vehicle’s performance.
The new rule is designed to preserve the competition in the current 16-car field format utilized in all four professional categories, reducing potential threats to racing competition.
Winners: After coming so close to winning the Indianapolis 500, teenager Marco Andretti became the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history by winning Sunday’s IRL Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
The 19-year-old son of racing legend and team owner Michael Andretti was able to stretch his fuel mileage from lap 45 to the checkered flag on lap 80, defeating Andretti Green Racing teammate Daria Franchitti.
“This kid is good. He drove the way he was supposed to,” Michael Andretti said. “I’m the
luckiest guy in the world to enjoy this. The way he has driven all year long, he totally deserves to be sitting here as the winner.”
Bryan Herta’s spin on lap 72 brought out the fourth yellow flag, which bunched the field but gave Andretti a chance to conserve more fuel. The green flag waved on lap 75, with Andretti ahead of teammates Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, who ran out of fuel and had to pit with one lap to go.
But unlike the Indy 500, in which Andretti was passed by Sam Hornish Jr. just a few hundred feet from the checkered flag, Andretti held on to score a historic victory, joining grandfather
Mario and father Michael as race winners.
Scott Dixon was 20 years, 9 months and 14 days old when he won a Champ Car race at Nazareth in 2001. At nearly 22 years old, Hornish was the youngest winner of an IRL race when he triumphed at Phoenix in 2001.
Andretti is 19 years, 5 months and 14 days old.
“It was a pretty adventurous day,” said Marco, who started second. “I wasn’t even able to be in position one and go for it, but the guys were brilliant in the pits. We really didn’t put a wheel wrong all weekend, and that is a key here. I had to learn how to conserve fuel and stay fast.”
40 Years Ago — 1986
News: In what was described as “one of the most productive meetings in the history of NASCAR weekly racing,” NASCAR and dirt track operators from the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions of the Winston Racing Series met in Atlanta recently to address problems currently being faced by late model dirt track stock car racing.
The largest problem facing dirt track operators, that of decreasing fields of late models, was the main focus of the meeting, said NASCAR Vice-President for Administration Jim Hunter.
“The biggest portion of the reason for smaller fields is the cost of building and racing late model dirt cars,” said Hunter. “Working with our track operators, we viewed the current rules from a cost-conscious standpoint and addressed the problem by coming up with uniform rules for next year.”
Hunter said that the rules would be used in the NASCAR Busch All-Star Super Series, a touring series for dirt cars, and “we are hoping that our tracks will eventually adopt these. rules for their weekly racing in the late model dirt division.”
Included in the rules, Hunter said, are specifications for engines that are more “stock” and are, therefore, less expensive to operate.
“We are trying to use the same engine concept that has been very successful with late model stock cars on pavement in the Mid-Atlantic Region,” he said. “In that region, car counts have increased every year since the rules were introduced, and that region is one of the most competitive in the country.”
Hunter said the rules for next year are designed so as not to “obsolete a lot of equipment that is currently running. We don’t want to do that. The rules are set up so that drivers can still compete with what they have now and then switch to the new engines if they want to.”
Winners: Bobby Allen survived a number of lead changes and challenges en route to victory in the 410 cubic inch division of the 1986 Jackson Nationals sprint car championship Saturday night at Jackson Speedway.
The victory was worth $7,500, but lap money and qualifying night money pushed Allen’s total earnings for the weekend to more than $9,000.
The initial attempt at a start of the 30-lap event was marred by a nasty flip by Rick Ferkel in the first turn.
The accident not only eliminated Ferkel but Jerry Richards Jr. as well, but neither driver was injured.
On the restart, Allen and Danny Lasoski excited the near-capacity crowd by trading the lead several times during the first six laps.
Each lap, Allen would capture the lead coming out of the second turn only to lose it to Lasoski In the fourth corner, Allen using the low groove while Lasoskl used the high side.
Within two car lengths of the lead duo, were the charging Jimmy Sills and Dave Blaney, creating a four-car battle for the lead.
Within seven laps, the front runners encountered lapped traffic, where Allen took control of the race.
Two laps later, Sills and Lasoski made contact, resulting in a race-ending crash for Sills into the frontstretch wall. Blaney then slipped by Lasoski on the restart and took over the chase for the lead.
Blaney and Allen took turns leading, laps 15 through 19 with Blaney appearing to have the advantage for good on the 20th tour. But the new leader became entrapped in backmarkers, and Allen was able to head the field for the final six laps, closely chased by Blaney.
Brad Doty moved by Lasoski halfway through the race to finish third, and Rodney Duncan came home in fifth.
60 Years Ago— 1966
News: The appointment of veteran Indianapolis 500 driver Don Branson a field manager for Goodyear’s championship and sprint car racing activities has been announced by Lawrence G. Truesdale, general manager of racing.
Truesdale said Branson, a veteran of 20 years in auto racing, will be based in Indianapolis. He will coordinate all activities of Goodyear’s Racing Division with regard to championship and sprint car competition.
Branson, 46, will continue to drive the Leader Card-owner Wynn’s Friction P roofing Special car on the United States Auto Club championship circuit for the balance of this season.
Truesdale said Branson plans to move from Champaign, Ill., his present home, to Indianapolis.
Branson and his wife, Ruth, have three sons. The stocky “racing grandfather” has been a hard charger behind the wheel ever since he began racing midgets at Macon, Ill., in 1946.
Branson graduated to the big cars in 1952 on the International Motor Contest Association circuit.
He soon was driving in USAC and was the Florida sprint car champion in 1956. The following year he was 19th in the USAC national championship standings and fourth in the USAC sprint standings.
In 1959 Branson passed bis driver’s test for the Indianapolis 500 and was the 10th-fastest qualifier. Mechanical failure prevented him from finishing the race.
He has returned to Indianapolis every year since then. In 1962 he was second-fastest qualifier. in 1963, his first year driving a Leader Card racer, Branson finished fifth, his best showing in the Memorial Day classic.
In this year’s 500, Branson started in the ninth position, but his car was wrecked in the first-lap crash that wiped out 11 cars.
Branson has twice been sprint champion, in 1959 and 1964. He was fourth in the 1965 championship point standings, and he stands third overall in career points for the championship division.
Winners: Don White survived a spinout on the 99th lap Friday night to win the State Fair Century at the Indiana State Fair.
White, leading by two thirds of a lap and cruising. spun twice in the third tum when Hank Teeters blew an engine and dunked oil all over the track.
“I got into the fence and killed the engine,” White said afterwards. “Boy, I thought I was done.”
But the Keokuk (Ia.) driver gathered things together and continued on for his record smashing victory. He covered the 100-miles in his Dodge Charger in 1:09: 26.99 for 86.393 miles per hour. That broke the old mark of 1: 11: 30.51 set by Norm Nelson in a Plymouth in July. The purse was a record $21,975 of which White won $6,122.75.
Nelson finished but was in no position to contend with White. The 1963 USAC stock champion took command on the 35th lap and steadily pulled away from the field.
It was White’s third straight victory following triumphs in a 200-miler at Milwaukee and a 100-miler at Springfield, lll., last week.
Third place went to three-time defending Century champion A. J. Foyt in a 1966 Ford. He was the only other driver on the same lap with the winner at the end.
