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: Jesse “The Rocket” Hockett. one or this country’s best young sprint car drivers, died May 26 in an accident while preparing his equipment for the Memorial Day racing weekend
Hockett, 26. was electrocuted while working on a generator in his trailer: Hockett was getting ready for a weekend of racing. which would include the USAC event at Terre Haute, Ind., and a pair of Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series events.
Hockett’s death came only a few days after he won three races in as many days May 21-23, wheeling his family’s familiar No. 75 sprint car.
“Jesse was an absolutely amazing racer and he proved that again this past weekend, winning all three nights, but more importantly Jesse was just plain and simple an awesome person,” read the statement on jessehockett.com. “He would help anyone at anytime no matter who or what it was. He had a heart of gold and showed it every day. He was a person that just made the world a better place. Jesse was a great friend to everyone he knew, and a great and Ioving husband to his wife, Tina Marie.”
Equally talented with or without a wing, Hockett won 130 features according to his website. Having won five times already this year. Horkett appeared poised for a season that may have rivaled last year when he made 22 visits to victory lanes across the country.
“It’s what I love,” Hockett told National Speed Sport News in its Feb. 25, 2009 issue. “It’s something that when I was just a little kid, I dreamed of being able to race locally here in
Missouri. But as I started to come up through my career; I just raced every chance I got. I don’t care if it’s a 305, or a micro sprint, if there’s an open night and there’s something with four wheels on it, I’ll jump in it. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Hockett’s death comes a little less than four years after his cousin and crew chief Daniel McMillin was killed in an auto accident.
Winners: Dario Franchitti was finally first after 500 miles in the Indianapolis 500, even though he was already an Indy 500 champion in 2007.
Franchitti’s victory three years ago came in a rain-shortened race that was flagged after 166 laps. There was no chance of rain Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Franchitti drove a flawless race, dominating by leading six times for 155 laps in the 200-lap contest before having to conserve fuel to make it to the finish.
The race ended with a spectacular crash between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway in the north chute between turns three and four on the final lap. Conway’s car went airborne and ripped into the fence before landing upside-down on the race track in one of the most spectacular crashes in recent Indy 500 history.
Conway got out of the car and waved to the crowd of more than 300,000 fans afterward.
He was later airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis where he is being treated for a broken left leg and a fractured thoracic vertabra.
Two male spectators were treated for minor injuries after being struck by debris in the crash. One received stitches for a cut in the forehead while the other suffered a head laceration that required no stitches.
Franchitti celebrated his second Indy 500 win in victory lane.
“This (the milk) tastes just as good the second time around,” Franchitti said after taking a swig out of the traditional bottle of milk that goes to the winner of the Indy 500. “I just needed to know what the other guys were doing with fueL There was a gap behind them and a lot of confusion. This means so much after coming back when I went away for a year in 2008 and to come back win a championship and win the Indianapolis 500.”
Dan Wheldon finished second for Panther Racing for the second year in a row. Alex Lloyd started 26th and was originally scored as third and 2008 Indy winner Scott Dixon fourth with Danica Patrick fifth.
But IZOD IndyCar Series officials reviewed tapes of the end of the race and determined that
Marco Andretti had slowed down to pace car speed when the yellow light came on and was passed by Lloyd, Dixon and Patrick.
Andretti has been restored to third place, moving Lloyd to fourth with Dixon fifth and Patrick sixth.
30 Years Ago — 1995
News: Bruton Smith, who recently purchased 24 percent of the stock of North Carolina Motor Speedway, advised NCMS board members last week of his desire to purchase 100 percent of the stock in the 1.017-mile speedway.
His 24-percent stake in NCMS makes Smith the second-largest shareholder after Carrie DeWitt, widow of longtime owner and operator L.G. DeWitt. Jo DeWitt Wilson is chief executive officer and president of NCMS.
“I want all of the shareholders as well as the board members of North Carolina Motor Speedway to know about this development,” Smith said May 31. “I am prepared to be quite generous and hope they will negotiate with me.”
Smith indicated he’d be willing to pay more than $10 per share for the company.
Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the public company which operates Charlotte· and Atlanta Motor Speedways and plans Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth, emphasized that the bid to take control of NCMS was personal and has nothing to do with Speedway Motorsports.
Smith, CMS President H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler and William Brooks joined the NCMS board following. Smith’s purchase of 24 percent, and Walt Czarnecki, president of Penske Speedway, Inc., also was ·named to the board following Roger Penske’s recent 2-percent stock purchase.
NCMS has long been a target of Smith’s, supposedly to acquire its two NASCAR Winston Cup dates for use elsewhere (read Texas). But NASCAR President Bill France, Jr. has long held race dates are track-specific and cannot be changed around by track ownership, citing traditional 1-year sanctioning agreements.
Winners: Kyle Petty was exhausted. He could barely walk or talk. But, he was elated after capturing his first Winston Cup victory in 60 races and nearly 2 years Sunday afternoon at Dover· Downs lnt’l Speedway.
In winning the first race on the new concrete surface here, Petty provided Pontiac its first victory of the season and its first since 1993 as the largest crowd in track history (101,000) watched the Miller Genuine Draft 500.
Starting 37th in the field, Petty came from the deepest in the pack for the victory of any Dover winner. However, he dominated the event leading six times for 271 laps.
“We’ve had a junk 2 years,” Petty said, while being treated for exhaustion in victory lane. “We’ve been junk since 1993. My family isn’t even here, they are spread all over the country. I never run good at Dover so, they didn’t’ come.”
While Petty cruised comfortably ahead of the field through most of the event, the final third of the race, especially the last 40 laps, were a dog fight.
After winning his first Winston Cup race at Charlotte, Bobby Labonte ran in the top five all day and gave Petty all the opposition he wanted in the closing laps.
Riding a late-race charge, Ted Musgrave made it a three-car battle late in the event.
“The 18 and the 16 really wore my butt out at the end,” said Petty, who was given oxygen in victory lane, being totally exhausted. “I was really glad to see the 16 up there at the end because he really took Bobby’s attention off me for a while.”
Petty beat Labonte to the finish by 22/100ths of a second as Labonte tried to make a winning pass using the high groove. Labonte edged Musgrave by inches to take third.
60 Years Ago— 1965
News: Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Anton (Tony) Hulman divided up a record purse of $628,399.23 at the Murat Temple here last Tuesday night, and Jim Clark, winner of the 49th annual classic, was awarded a check for $166,621.
The speedway contributed $102,681 to Clark’s total winnings, plus $28,500 for leading 190 of the 200 laps. The 29-year-old Scotsman also won $35,621 in accessory money.
In addition to the money, Clark won the Plymouth Fury pace car, six trophies, an engraved watch, a diamond victory ring, a $1,000 wardrobe, and an assortment or other special prizes.
Second-place finisher Parnelli Jones won $&4,661, while Mario Andretti won $42,051 for third place. Andretti also walked off with the rookie-of-the-year honors, receiving 23 of the 24 votes.
The honor brought him the Stark and Wetzel Trophy, a year’s supply of meat, and a $500 check.
Fifth-place finisher Gordon Johncock received one vote for top rookie honors.
The division of money among the 33 drivers ranged from Clark’s top to $7,596 for Johnny Rutherford, who finished 31st. Jim Hurtubise, the last-place finisher received $8,626, while first alternate starter Rodger Ward picked ap $200, the lowest payoff for him here in 14 years.
The total purse was more than $100,000 above last year.
“Without Colin Chapman, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Clark told the nearly 1,000 persons attending the victory dinner. “I want to thank all of the drivers here for letting me win the race.”
Car owner and builder Chapman told the audience, “We’re glad to win this race. We tried jolly hard. I must say thank you to Jim.”
Winners: Parnelli Jones of Torrance, Calif. continued to exercise his option on the one-mile paved track here as he won the 100-mile national championship speedway big car race Sunday. Jones took the lead on the 29th mile when leader A. J. Foyt came in for a new right-rear tire.
A crowd of 35,938 saw Jones score his 10th national championship race here. This includes a string of six consecutive wins covering four late model stock car wins well as a win in the 200 big car race here last summer.
Jones toured the 100 miles in 58 minutes, 57.292 seconds, 101.78 mph as he won the 16th annual Rex Mays Classic in the J. C. Agajanian-Hurst Lotus Ford.
Jones dropped in fourth place at the start of the event and was in second spot by 20 miles.
When leader Foyt pulled in for a new tire, Jones took the lead and had a six second advantage when starter Duane Sweeney’s checkered flag was dropped.
Foyt was fastest qualifier with a time of 32.504 seconds in the Sheraton-Thompson Lotus Ford, 110.76 mph.
Parnelli’s move into the lead coincided with defending champion A. J. Foyt’s pit stop to change a tire. Things didn’t get better for Anthony Joseph, the king of the United States auto racing going out for good on the 56th time around with the gear box sabotaging his Lotus Ford.
Others had troubles of sorts, Roger McCluskey spinning out on the first lap and spending the rest of the afternoon chasing Jones only to finish sixth when be thought he had third place won.
McCluskey, also in a Ford, was penalized for falling to come into the pits for a restart after a spinout and subsequent engine kill, and the tow truck job cost roughly $1,900. He got $1,860 for his trouble.
As a result of McCluskey’s misadventure, Jim McElreath, in a rear-engine Offy, moved up to third and pocketed $3,820. Ahead of him was renowned bike jockey Joe Leonard, who needed six more seconds than Jones and settled for $6,252, also in a rear-engine Ford.
