CHICAGO — George Hill, wheeling a 1965 Chevelle, won 17 features in 1970 to grab championship honors in late model competition at Raceway Park, the tight, quarter-mile, paved oval near Blue Island.
Hill, who won his first late model feature during the season, defeated seven-time track titlist Bud Koehler, Stash Kullman, Bob Pronger and Ted Janecyk in the final standings. Gary Mitidiero topped the track’s 22nd annual 300-lap Classic, ahead of Woody Church and Bill McEnery.
Driving a ’69 Chevelle, Joe Shear won the late model crown at Rockford (Ill.) Speedway. The title was the fourth in a row for the second-generation driving star at the banked, quarter-mile, asphalt oval. One of Shear’s victories was Rockford’s 75-lap Season Championship race as he defeated Roy Martinelli and Dave Evans.
Coming from the Denver, Colo., area to compete, Wayne Stallsworth made off with Rockford’s annual National Short Track Championship 200 in early October, guiding his 1968 Torino to the checkered flag over Don James and ’69 race winner Ramo Stott. Minnesota ace Bud Helm led most of the race and had a two-lap lead until ignition problems forced him to pit.
Ray Young scored 19 victories in his ’66 Mercury Comet on his way to winning the late model championship at the Waukegan Speedway for his second track title in a row. Four-time track champion Jim Cossman, Bob May, Vern Browne and Bob Anzinger finished behind Young in the standings at the flat, quarter-mile, paved oval.
Young was also crowned the late model champion at Mazon Speed Bowl, which would see its final year of operation. Lee Schuler had the distinction of winning the last late model feature race at Mazon on Sep. 18, 1970, ahead of Bob Knoll and Ray Young. The Mazon speed plant was replaced by the new Grundy County Speedway in Morris.
Dick Nelson won his fifth late model driving title on the clay at Santa Fe Speedway. Nelson and his ’70 Chevelle bested Don Waldvogel, Larry Jackson, Jim O’Connor and Bill Van Allen in the points. Piloting a ’67 Chevelle, Arnie Gardner won the track’s annual National Clay Track Championship 200 in late September over Bob Kelly and Nelson.
Nelson was also the late model champion at Kankakee Fairgrounds Speedway, where he scored 10 feature wins and finished ahead of Wayne Etzel, Jim O’Connor, Earl J. Hubert and Tony Izzo.
Bob Kelly was the late model champion at Sycamore Speedway. Piloting a ’70 Chevelle, Kelly finished ahead of Max Zimmerlein, Mel Dorland, Arnie Gardner and Denny Falkos in the points. One of Kelly’s win was the 50-lap Kane County Championship. Larry Fabris won the season finale — the second annual 50-lap Gold Cup National Championship race.
Piloting a Volkswagen, Dave Decker repeated as mini stock champion at Joliet Memorial Stadium. The mini stockers replaced the open-wheel midget action that has been a staple at the flat, asphalt, quarter-mile oval for years. Decker was also the mini stock champion at Raceway Park.
Bob Boyce and his ’69 Camaro convertible took late model laurels at Illiana Motor Speedway, besting Ray Freeman, Wayne Helfogt, Bob Knoll and Paul Mollick. Michigan’s Gene Eding won the track’s annual Tony Bettenhausen Memorial 100, ahead of Bob Pronger and fellow Michigan racer Dick Dunshee. Pronger had won the 75-lap Season Championship race at the half-mile paved oval.
Familiar names in area midget racing — Bob Tattersall, Gary Bettenhausen, Merle Bettenhausen, Roger West, Henry Pens and Ray Elliott — were victors on the USAC midget circuit. One of Gary Bettenhausen’s victories was the Turkey Night Grand Prix at California’s Ascot Park.
Elliott won the circuit’s season opener, racing to victory indoors at Indiana’s Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum in early January. The USAC midgets raced four times on the dirt at Santa Fe Speedway with Billy Engelhart, Jerry McClung, Chuck Arnold and Dave Strickland scoring victories.
United Auto Racing Ass’n midget competition saw Jim Gates take the season championship for the locally-based midget racing organization, wheeling he family-owned open wheeler to the title. Gary Byers, Phil Stebbins, Bill Krueger and George Stefanech finished behind Gates in the standings.
Stefanech, a newcomer to the UARA midget ranks, was crowned the Grundy County Fair midget champion for his two-feature-win performance at Mazon during the annual fair.
Illinois’ Duane “Whitey” Harris was champion of the Interstates Racing Ass’n modified group with Harris taking itrack championship honors at both Waukegan Speedway and Raceway Park in addition to Wisconsin tracks in Wilmot and Lake Geneva.
Harris won 18 IRA feature races and bested Al Schill and Tom Anderson in the final standings.
The story of Meadowdale International Raceways, renamed Illinois International Speedway, in Carpentersville, Ill., was coming to an end as the LaSalle National Bank of Chicago held a lien on the property.