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: What might race drivers and race trams do for $20 million? If long-in·the-tooth racing promotor and Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman 0. Bruton Smith isn’t just spouting off into the wind, we may all get the chance to find out.
Smith has said he would offer a $20 million bonus to a driver who could win the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day. Smith said IMS is considering moving its start back to the traditional 11 a.m. time, which would give a driver a chance to compete in both races on the same day.
“That would get people’s attention. wouldn’t it?” Smith said.
A lot of attention we think, but realistically there are not a lot of drivers with the ability to win both races. The best bets would be Tony Stewart if he were to slim down to fit in an Indy and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Sam Homish Jr. and Robby Gordon could do It with a little luck. Dario Franchitti. Danica Patrick and John Andretti are among the others who would likely be able to land rides for both races.
It would be interesting to see what strictly stock-car drivers may be added to the mix if $20 million were on the line? Might Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson give Indianapolis a try?
Winners: Fred Rahmer has done a lot of amazing things in his sprint car career, but nothing like Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.
Rahmer lined up 24th in the World of Outlaws main, avoided a first-lap crash and took the lead with one lap to go to win the 30-lap event on the half-mile oval.
The veteran’s remarkable win, the 82nd of his Grove career, was worth $12,000. The victory also moved the Pennsylvania Posse’s win streak against the Outlaws at the Grove to six in a row.
The program was delayed twice by rain and ended around 1:20 a.m.
Pennsylvania native Stevie Smith and four-time Outlaw champion Donny Schatz started on the front row with Smith getting the lead into turn one. Pennsylvania’s Brian Leppo also drove by Schatz.
As they raced down the backstretch, Brian Montieth was trying to pass Schatz on the outside when Schatz moved up into Montieth. This turned Schatz and sent him into the outside wall.
Schatz, Montieth, Lance Dewease, Adam Wilt and Paul McMahan all flipped with numerous other cars involved.
Leppo got the lead from Smith on the restart and raced away from Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Leppo built a comfortable early lead, but Smith began to close until he spun on lap eight. The cars were stopped for refueling.
Haftertepe got the lead from Leppo following the double-file restart. Leppo began to close the yellow waved again. As Hafertepe secured the lead, Rahmer and Doug Esh raced for fifth with Rahmer securing the spot.
Leppo took the lead back from Hafertepe following a lap-23 restart and Rahmer drove by Joey Saldana and into fourth. Rahmer passed a slowing Craig Dollansky for third before the final cuation flag waved with five laps left.
Rahmer held off Daryn Pittman for third, and passed Hafertepe for second on lap 28. He shot under Leppo in three and four and was the leader under the white flag.
Leppo was running out of fuel and began to slow, allowing Hafertepe to take second. Pittman, Saldana and Steve Kinser, who used a provisional to make the field, completed the top five.
“It’s a chess game with these guys and these restarts,” Rahmer said. “They worked in my favor in the heat and the feature. It was intense.
“To win an Outlaw race is hard to do, but when you get to be 52, you don’t know when you’re going to get your last one.”
30 Years Ago — 1995
News: The racing gods, who smiled so benevolently on Team Penske and AI Unser Jr. here a year ago, turned their backs on Indy car’s entire super team in the late-afternoon shadows at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday.
For the first time since he came to Indianapolis in 1969, Roger Penske won’t have a car in Sunday’s race. For the first time ever at Indianapolis, the defending race winner failed to qualify in defense of his victory. For the first time since 1962, Family Unser won’t be represented in the starting field.
Two-time winner Emerson Fittipaldi was bumped from the field in the final minutes by Stefan Johansson, and defending 500 winner and series champion AI Unser, Jr. wasn’t fast enough to bump his way into the field. And it hurt.
“It just hurts,” Unser said, his voice cracked with emotion. “What Indy means, when I won here the first year, it was hard to put into words, and now it’s really hard to put into words what missing the show Is about.”
After his final try, Unser fought back the tears as he headed to the garage area, pursued by the media hordes.
Later he joined Penske and Fittipaldi for a press conference.
“It’s awful difficult to really be here,” he said. “It hurts an awful lot. My family has been in this race for a long time.”
It was something that just wasn’t meant to be.
“We went out and weren’t able to get the speeds,” Unser said. “Roger has absolutely given us the best that can be given. He is the best car owner out there, and I definitely don’t want to
be driving for anybody but Roger. We came here as a team and we weren’t prepared, and we got blown off. We had it awfully good last year with sitting on the pole and winning the race, and it just shows how competitive everything is.”
Winners: The very format of The Winston lends itself to the things that start bareknuckle barroom brawls.
Fortunately, stock car competitors keep cool enough that nothing of this magnitude happens. Tempers flare, how· ever, as they did Saturday night and have in all 11 of these events. ·
When $200,000 rides on victory in a 10-lap dash, following two 30-lap dashes which only warms up the blood, you can hardly expect competitors to get out of their cars and hug the necks of each other after they have beat and banged for position.
Jeff Gordon was the exception in this year’s event. He wanted to hug everybody’s neck when it was over. He was one happy camper after he dominated the all-star race, winning all three segments of the 70-lap race and taking home a check for $300,000 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“Man, that’s a lot of money,” said Gordon, a Chevrolet driver, who easily outdistanced the field in the first two 30-lap segments, winning $50,000 each time. In the final, 10-lap sprint, he started first, avoided an accident that sidelined Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, then sprinted away from runner-up Sterling Marlin to take the $200,000 first-prize money.
Ricky Rudd finished third in the final segment. Rusty Wallace was fourth. Geoff Bodine, last year’s winner, rounded out the top five.
60 Years Ago— 1965
News: A $3.5 million international auto speedway capable of running Indianapolis· type, late model stock, Grand Prix and sports cars and dragsters will soon become a reality in the Southwest.
Construction is scheduled to begin soon on a 2.5-mile speedway and 1.5 miles of additional road track. The racing complex will be situated on a 750·acre plot located in northern Tarrant County, 11 miles northeast of downtown Fort Worth and 25 miles northwest of downtown Dallas on U.S. Highway 377.
The racing plant is being developed by Southwestern International Speedway, Inc., a closed Texas corporation. It will be known as the Southwestern International Speedway.
President of the corporation is Edward Drumwright, who is also president of Century Leasing Company, Inc. of Phoenix. Executive vice·president is Ralph W. Cheek of Fort Worth. Other officers are Fred Bursey, Fort Werth, first vice-president; LeRoy Adair, Dallas, secretary-treasurer and Harry A. Stewart, Jr., Phoenix, assistant treasurer.
Permanent grandstands accommodating 20,000 will be Initially constructed with plans calling for enlargement to 40,000 in subsequent years. Concession stands, offices, garages, a hospital and private dub will be included in the plant.
Additionally, the infield will be able to accommodate about 60,000 persons.
The track will be surfaced throughout in asphalt. The 2.5·mile championship and stock car plot will be rectangular in shape, rounded at the corners, with the two long side straightaways each covering seven-eighths of a mile. Off the large track on the infield, 1.5 miles of additional twisting track will be constructed for road race purposes.
Winners: Ramo Stott added another chapter to his outstanding performances in the Iowa International here Sunday when he won the 300-lap race for late-model stock cars for the third time.
No other driver has won more than one or the 150·mile marathons.
Stott qualified his 1965 Plymouth at 27.10 seconds on the rain-slowed Iowa State Fair half-mile track, then showed more than 8,000 fans how he dominates action in the international.
From his pole position, Stott jumped into the lead and stayed on top until the 189th lap, when he made his second stop for gas.
Iowa rival Ernie Derr, who has never won an International although he’s wo five IMCA season titles, moved ahead at that point in his 1965 Dodge.
But Stott regained the lead for keeps on lap 212, when Derr had to make his second stop for fuel. A yellow flag three laps later helped Stott open a full-lap lead, and it was downhill after that.
Stott’s time was two hours, 35 minutes and 39.96 seconds, the second fastest 300 on record. The only better was in 1961, the year Stott won the race for the second year in a row.
Derr finished two laps behind Stott, who hauled down $5,555.55 for the victory.
