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58 CARS

TIME TRIALS:
1. Billy Boat, 2, Bromme- 17.958 (Track Record), 2. Bill Von Helmolt, 66, Von Helmolt- 18.423, 3. Rip Williams, 91, Lewis- 18.451, 4. Jerry Meyer, 28, Meyer- 18.506, 5. Jac Haudenschild, 91X, Lewis- 18.523, 6. Brad Noffsinger, 3, Gardner- 18.530, 7. Cary Faas, 47, Gaffney- 18.572, 8. Ron Shuman, 1, Morales- 18.586, 9. Mike Kirby, 79, Bright- 18.593, 10. Steve Ostling, 12, Pratt- 18.640, 11. Mike Sweeney, 15, Fite/Madden- 18.650, 12. Bob Meli, 71, Meli- 18.664, 13. Tim Green, 11, Wilkerson- 18.686, 14. Walt Kennedy, 48, Leonard- 18.711, 15. Lealand McSpadden, 19, Pivovaroff- 18.720, 16. Mike English, 17, Robertson- 18.753, 17. Brent Kaeding, 69, Miller- 18.785, 18. Rick Gaunt, 68, Gaunt- 18.804, 19. Harlan Willis, 45, Willis- 18.834, 20. Frank Baldozier, 74, Anderson- 18.859, 21. Bubby Jones, 24, Henry- 18.919, 22. Clark Drake, 68X, Gaunt- 18.924, 23. Stan Atherton, 77, Acosta- 18.929, 24. Gary W. Howard, 75, Kelly- 19.011, 25. Verne Sweeney, 98, Sweeney- 19.012, 26. Kim Craft, 72, Craft- 19.055, 27. Ron Wolf, 89, Wolf - 19.074, 28. Mark Sokola, 42, Robison- 19.124, 29. Dennis Rodriguez, 20, Rodriguez- 19.134, 30. Robbie Ferguson, 93, Ferguson- 19.172, 31. Terry Singleton, 94, Singleton- 19.172, 32. Keith Chrisco, 43, Fontana- 19.194, 33. Ron DiDonato, 57, Acosta- 19.205, 34. Ricky Williams, 65, Williams- 19.290, 35. Mike Boat, 7OH, Byron- 19.361, 36. Ed Reed, 31, Lane- 19.370, 37. John Redican, 55, Simpson/Noutary- 19.431, 38. Kenny Cope, 95H, Hallett- 19.433, 39. Gary Bland, 61, Bland- 19.514, 40. Brian Campbell, 14, Campbell- 19.659, 41. Tony Elliott, 39E, Elliott- 19.698, 42. Sid Blandford, 119, Pivovaroff/Babbitt- 19.711, 43. Joe Smith, 30, Smith- 19.721, 44. Dan McLeod, 60, Ruth- 19.792, 45. Scott Sloane, 95, Sloane- 19.826, 46. Tom Downing, 90, Downing- 19.897, 47. Steve Rogers, 86, Jones- 19.975, 48. Frank Bucheit, 33, Bucheit- 20.008, 49. Jim Giardina, 58, Giardina- 20.024, 50. Dan Schuck, 80, Schuck- 20.131, 51. Don Tucker, 32, Tucker- 20.029, 52. Dave Twitchell, 18, Twitchell- 22.316, 53. George Sacks, 85, Sacks- 23.016, 54. D.J. Ruth, 25, Ruth- NT., 55. Dale Laakso, 39, Laakso- NT., 56. Billy Felts, 39F, Laakso- NT., 57. Scott Burns, 26, Burns- NT., 58. Alex Walker, 12W, Walker- NT.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps)
1. Jerry Meyer, 2. Billy Boat, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Bill Von Helmolt. 56:58.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Verne Sweeney, 2. Brent Kaeding, 3. Tim Green, 4. Mike Kirby, 5. Dennis Rodriguez, 6. Jac Haudenschild, 7. Billy Boat, 8. Bubby Jones. 3:09:13.

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Kim Craft, 2. Rick Gaunt, 3. Brad Noffsinger, 4. Walt Kennedy, 5. Steve Ostling, 6. Bill Von Helmolt, 7. Robbie Ferguson, 8. Clark Drake. NT.

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Ron Wolf, 2. Harlan Willis, 3. Lealand McSpadden, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Cary Faas, 6. Terry Singleton, 7. John Redican (#15), 8. Stan Atherton. NT.

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Keith Chrisco, 2. Mark Sokola, 3. Jerry Meyer, 4. Ron Shuman, 5. Frank Baldozier, 6. Gary W. Howard, 7. Bob Meli, 8. Mike English. 3:34:30.

C-MAIN: (10 laps)
1. Ron DiDonato, 2. Ricky Williams, 3. Ed Reed, 4. Mike Boat, 5. Kenny Cope, 6. Tony Elliott, 7. Gary Bland, 8. Brian Campbell. 3:13:07.

B-MAIN: (12 laps)
1. Billy Boat, 2. Bill Von Helmolt, 3. Cary Faas, 4. Bob Meli, 5. Jac Haudenschild, 6. Steve Ostling. 7. Frank Baldozier, 8. Bubby Jones, 9. Mike English, 10. Gary W. Howard, 11. Ricky Williams, 12. Dennis Rodriguez, 13, Ron DiDonato, 14. Stan Atherton, 15. Robbie Ferguson, 16. Terry Singleton. 3:46:15.

FEATURE: (50 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Ron Shuman (2nd), 2. Cary Faas (3rd), 3. Mike Kirby (1st), 4. Jerry Meyer (5th), 5. Rip Williams (6th), 6. Brad Noffsinger (4th), 7. Brent Kaeding (13th), 8. Tim Green (10th), 9. Bob Meli (9th), 10. Bill Von Helmolt (7th), 11. Rick Gaunt (14th), 12. Keith Chrisco (20th), 13. Ron Wolf (18th), 14. Harlan Willis (15th), 15. Mark Sokola (19th), 16. Verne Sweeney (16th), 17. Billy Boat (8th), 18. Walt Kennedy (11th), 19. Kim Craft (17th), 20. Lealand McSpadden (12th). NT.
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-Ron Shuman wins 3rd Don Peabody Classic (1988, 89, 90).
-It was his second Peabody Classic victory in the famed Morales "Tamale Wagon."

I remember the race and the night well as I was living in Los Angeles at the time.

There was a huge crowd and the late, great Dean Thompson came out of retirement to drive that night to drive the pace car.

I spent the entire race evening in the top deck of one of Freddie Spencer's London bus vehicles parked above turn one. Billy Boat's first sub-18 second Ascot qualifying lap in the late Bruce Bromme's "Little Red Sucker" was not only a new track record that obviously would last forever but truly spectacular.

The closing of Ascot was a great loss to sprint car fans. It ranked right up there with Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix which is now also closed.

At least I've still got the United Sports Arizona track here in Tucson.

Tucson Osty

That night in a word was "Electrifying". Especially when Billy Boat turned that oh so fast qualifying lap. Huge car count as everybody wanted one more chance at Ascot.

I was sitting as I always did in the stands in front of the double decker bus. It was always a thrill to have the cars hurdling straight at you only to be yanked sideways into turn one.

I'll never forget that fast time by Billy Boat as long as I live. That was awesome. That was also the night that I became a huge Mike Kirby fan as he led most of the race only to be passed near the end by Shuman (and obviously Faas). What great memories.

My best memory of Ascot was sitting in turn one and watching Dean Thompson get pushed off for qualifying. As soon as the engine lit off, Dean was on the hammer and up to speed by the time he threw the "Little Red Sucker" into the first turn one his warm up lap.

To me Dean will always be the greatest overall driver at Ascot. He truly was something else!

Tucson Osty