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Bored on a cold day, so I tried to find a race that kinda encompases several recent topics on the Board, so this one has Danny Smith, WoO tension, Chuck Amati, a Mile-long race, cold weather, wings vs non wings...
And as always, additional information is always needed to ensure historical accuracy.
1982 World of Outlaws National Challenge Series
Stroh’s Dream Race
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois
Saturday, May 1st, Preliminary Feature
Race Promoter, Jim DePalma organizes this WoO and USAC Silver Crown double header weekend headlined with the USAC v WoO billed as the ’82 Stroh’s Challenge Dream race. The event would hopefully ease tension as Indiana State Fairgrounds Promoter and former racer, Bruce Walkup cancelled his WoO dates which would have been May 28th and 29th and replaced it with a single USAC event on the 28th. Walkup takes this response to the WoO rescheduling the Easter weekend events at Eldora which were postponed due to cold, blustery winds to May 8th and 9th in conflict with the USAC Silver Crown event at the Indiana State Fair and Terre Haute. Walkup appears to be upset with the decision as it may deprive him of the WoO stars that would have otherwise showed up at his event if the WoO was dark that weekend.
Ted Johnson, President of the WoO and Roger McCluskey, USAC Competition Director reached a gentleman’s agreement in the off season that Johnson would not schedule a WoO event against a USAC Silver Crown event. This was made primarily to allow the WoO drivers to compete in the higher dollar USAC events.
Johnson stated he would leave the dates open except in the case of rain-outs and the need to reschedule and that he had to look out for his group and take the rescheduled events when they were feasible with promoters and track operators.
McCluskey thinks perhaps the move is Walkup wants a one day show to dole out $16,000 rather than the $31,500 for the WoO two-day event. USAC had all along scheduled that Friday until Walkup himself, dropped the USAC show for the Outlaws, but had not returned a signed contract securing the date to Johnson. All in all, Walkup gets the USAC on May 8th and 28th, Baltes gets the WoO on May 8th-9th while Johnson will take the WoO out to Pennsylvania during the last weekend in May-nowhere near the Indianapolis area well away from Walkup.
Today's events were slated to start before noon.
USAC Silver Crown Qualifications:
1. Larry Dickson, Conroy 18, 32.845 / 109 MPH; 2. Keith Kauffman, DePalma 58, 32.870; 3. Kenny Schrader, Fortune 39, 32.953; 4. Tim Bigelow, Hammond 56, 33.039; 5. Steve Kinser, Smith 17, 33.069; 6. Joe Saldana, Snell 70, 33.448; 7. Larry Rice, Middleton 1, 33.460; 8. Ron Shuman, Stephens 21, 33.490; 9. Gary Bettenhausen, Delrose-Holt 7, 33.502; 10. Jack Hewitt, Vance 3, 33.504; 11. Jerry Nemire, Nemire-Syring 22, 33.617; 12. Danny Smith, Spurlock 82, 33.654; 13. Bill Puterpaugh, Robinson 59, 33.670; 14. Bob Cicconi, Cicconi 93, 33.816; 15. Sammy Swindell, Nance 38, 33.870; 16. Bill Vukovich, 30, 33.996; 17. Sheldon Kinser, Leyba 6, 34.020; 18. Jeff Swindell, Jensen 73, 34.041; 19. Chuck Amati, 53, 34.069; 20. George Snider, LeFevre 4, 34.140; 21. Mark Alderson, Enslow 9, 34.143; 22. Eddie Leavitt, GCQ 51, 34.172; 23. Doug Wolfgang, King 75, 34.247; 24. Rich Vogler, Seymour 2, 34.267; 25. Walt Kennedy, Gee 44, 34.289; 26. Jerry Weeks, Lang 87, 34.290; 27. Gary Gray, Gray 83, 34.395; 28. Greg Staab, BUF Racing 71, 34.464; 29. Danny Milburn, BUF Racing 41, 35.016; 30. Rick Ferkel, Roberts 57, 35.554; 31. Johnny Parsons, Marcello 42, 35.825; 32. Manny Rockhold, Rockhold 76, 36.180; 33. Bud Wilmot, Wilmot 84, 34.326; 34. Bob Brutto, Hall 65, No Time; 35. Richard Powell, Powell 77, No Time; 36. Bobby Marshall, Marshall 19, No Time; 37. Bobby Olivero, Wilke 16, No Time.
Mike Peters wheels the big bad Hemi powered C.L. Boyd owned No. 65.
Steve Bolan running a turbine engine.
Previous Track Record, WoO on Mile – Steve Kinser, 28.54 in 1980.
WoO Qualifications:
1. Rick Ferkel, Morgan 0, 20.970 / 128.709 MPH (New Track Record); 2. Doug Wolfgang, Howells 4, 28.555; 3. Rickey Hood, Stanton 75, 28.940; 4. Sammy Swindell, Nance 1N, 29.247; 5. Randy Smith, McCarl 7X, 29.424; 6. Rick Ungar, Thomason 80X, 29.436; 7. Dub May, Suiter 1AZ, 29.601; 8. Shane Carson, Garrett 12$, 29.713; 9. Danny Smith, Spurlock 18, 29.737; 10. Bobby Allen, Allen 1A, 29.741; 11. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 29.820; 12. Dave Wickham, Wickham 80, 29.821; 13. Tod Bishop, Bishop 80T, 30.013; 14. Jack Hewitt, Vance 2X, 30.049; 15. Gary Gray, Gray 83, 30.147; 16. Bobby Davis Jr., Davis 71, 30.169; 17. Ed Lynch Sr., Lynch 77, 30.238; 18. Ron Shuman, Stephens 21, 30.334; 19. Johnny Coogan, Vetzel 50, 30.337; 20. Jeff Swindell, Jensen 55, 30.362; 21. Brad Doty, Bowers 28D, 30.459; 22. Keith Kauffman, Weikert 29, 30.361; 23. Kenny Schrader, Marler 38, 30.720; 24. Bobby Marshall, Marshall 19, 30.848; 25. Gary Lynch, Lynch 7, 30.966; 26. Scott Ritchhart, Rousey 96, 30.969; 27. Mike Peters, Boyd 65, 31.723; 28. Tom Corbin, Derry 22, 31.354; 29. Mark Alderson, Fines 17, 31.409; 30. Greg Staab, BUF Racing 44, 31.425; 31. Larry Martin, Hajduk 21X, 31.438; 32. Tim Gee, Gee 88, 31.475; 33. Eddie Leavitt, King 51, 31.752; 34. Tommy Scott, Scott 74S, 31.970; 35. Mike Thomas, Thomas 37, 32.132; 36. Dave Kinsel, Kinsel 30, 32.352; 37. Tom Croft, Croft 55X, 32.554; 38. Cliff Blundy, Shoff 23S, 32.602; 39. Steve Bolan, Bolan 100, 35.541; 40. Jerry Petty, Petty 10J, 37.422; 41. Dean Shirley, Pruitt 14, No Time; 42. Dick Vant, Vant 15, No Time; 43. Bill Danahue Jr., Danahue 50, No Time; 44. Bob Krammerer, Krammerer 79, No Time; 45. Gene Gennetten, Niekamp-Lair 80G, No Time.
First Heat Race (6 Laps)
1. Brad Doty, 2. Rick Ferkel, 3. Gary Lynch, 4. Tod Bishop, 5. Shane Carson, 6. Randy Smith, 7. Mark Alderson,
8. Tom Croft, 9. Eddie Leavitt, 10. Ed Lynch Sr.
Second Heat Race
1. Doug Wolfgang, 2. Danny Smith, 3. Keith Kauffman, 4. Jack Hewitt, 5. Rick Ungar, 6. Ron Shuman, 7. Greg Staab, 8. Scott Ritchhart, 9. Cliff Blundy.
Third Heat Race
1. Galen Martin, 2. Kenny Schrader, 3. Dave Wickham, 4. Mike Peters, 5. Bobby Allen, 6. Johnny Coogan, 7. Rickey Hood, 8. Mike Thomas, 9. Bob Krammerer, 10. Gary Gray.
Fourth Heat Race
1. Steve Kinser, 2. Sammy Swindell, 3. Tom Corbin, 4. Jeff Swindell, 5. Dub May, 6. Bobby Marshall, 7. Bobby Davis Jr., 8. Tim Gee, 9. Dave Kinsel.
Preliminary Feature (12 Laps)
1. Sammy Swindell [4] $1,000; 2. Danny Smith $700; 3. Rick Ferkel $600; 4. Doug Wolfgang $550; 5. Brad Doty $500; 6. Shane Carson $450; 7. Rick Ungar $400; 8. Kenny Schrader $250; 9. Jeff Swindell $200; 10. Tim Corbin $200;
11. Tod Bishop $150; 12. Gary Lynch $125; 13. Dub May $125; DNF-14. Dave Wickham $100; DNF-15. Galen Martin $100; DNF-16. Keith Kauffman $100; DNF-17. Mike Peters $100; DNF-18. Jack Hewitt $100; DNF-19. Steve Kinser $100; DNF-20. Bobby Allen $100.
Lap leader: Sammy Swindell 1-12.
Sammy into the lead entering turn 1 and the distance winning by about two seconds over Smith. Lap-4: Red is out after Kauffman suffers from a seized engine which locked the rear end sending him to smack the turn 2 wall.
Lap-9: Wickham was running a solid 4th when he suffers terminal engine failure.
The Stroh’s event is head-to-head USAC v WoO drivers in a race featuring Silver Crown Dirt Champ Sprint Cars. A purse of $15,000 is up for contention, as the winner of the race earns $1,200 straight-up. A point tally system will be used to score the two sanctions with lowest score winning. The winning sanctioned team each earn $1,500. Losers earn $800.
Stroh’s Challenge Dream Event (12 Laps)
1. Jack Hewitt (USAC) $2,700; 2. Kenny Schrader (USAC) $1,500; 3. Danny Smith (WoO) $800; 4. Sammy Swindell (WoO) $800; 5. Tom Bigelow (USAC) $1,500; 6. Rich Vogler (USAC) $1,500; 7. Gary Bettenhausen (USAC) $1,500; 8. Larry Rice (USAC) $$1,500; 9. Doug Wolfgang (WoO) $800; DNF-10. Steve Kinser (WoO) $800; DNF-11. Bobby Marshall (WoO) $800; DNF-12. Dean Shirley (WoO) $800.
Lap leader: Jack Hewitt 1-12.
Hewitt into the lead and the distance of the twelve miler. Lap-3: Shirley falls by the wayside as Marshall is pit side two laps later. Lap-7: Red is out after Kinser smacks the turn 3 wall. Under the stoppage, Hewitt, Smith and Swindell change tires. Schrader challenged Hewitt for the lead in the closing laps but not able to take the lead.
The USAC bunch overwhelming beat the Outlaws in lowest cumulative scoring of 29 to 50.
Jack Hewitt-“When you run with wings, you have to go with the Outlaws, but when it comes to the Dirt Cars, there’s nobody like USAC.”
Sammy Swindell offered the USAC bunch a friendly invitation to race in a proposed 1983 event with the wings.
Tom Bigelow-“I think this year we had the advantage, next year give it to them.”
What is kinda cool, Ron Shuman and Danny Smith have done very well for themselves racing in both sanctioned series’ events as Shuman is currently in 2nd spot in USAC points behind Dickson by 21 and 9th in the WoO. Danny Smith is currently 3rd in WoO and 7th in USAC Silver Crown standings, coming off his huge win in the Branson-Larson Memorial event last week at Eldora.
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