Monday, April 12, 2010

This week in history

1985 - Roger Long (late models), Gary Reinhart (modified) and George Hubbard (bomber) were winners on opening night at East Moline Speedway on April 14. Long inherited the lead when Ray Guss Jr's tire went down on lap 7 and held off the likes of Gary Webb and Ronnie Weedon to secure the win. Reinhart led all 20 laps in besting Rob Conners, Terry Mattley and Mike Cothron in front of his hometown fans.

Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., won the Sunday afternoon segment of the Midwest Spring Swing in Topeka Kan., on April 13, 1980.

1980 - Larry Phillips and Don Hoffman were winners in the three-day Midwest Spring Swing on April 12 and 13. After getting rained out on Friday night at Lakeside Speedway, Hoffman, of Des Moines, held off Viola, Iowa's Kenny Walton to win the Capital Speedway segment in Holts Summit on Saturday evening. Springfield's Phillips took home the $1,000 payday on Sunday afternoon at the Sunflower Expo in Topeka.

1973 - After working very hard to get Stuart Speedway ready for the racing season, track owners Gail and Peggy Miller missed the opening night, April 14. Just before the first event, Peggy decided it was time to head to a Des Moines area hospital for the arrival of the seventh child. Meanwhile, back at the track, Marshalltown's Mike Keen made a clean sweep in the late models, winning the trophy dash, first heat, Australian pursuit and feature.



Les Snow would win the 100-lap ARCA-sanctioned race at Salem Speedway on April 13, 1969. Snow woud finish fourth in points that season.

1969 - Les Snow captured the ARCA-sanctioned 100-lap feature on the 1/2-mile oval of Salem (Ind.) Speedway on Sunday afternoon, April 13. Snow fended off the chalenges of both Bobby Watson and Benny Parsons to take the checkered flag. Iggy Katona and Ramo Stott rounded out the top five finishers.

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJuly 19, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    The little snippit regarding the start of the 1973 season opener at the Stuart Speedway has a tiny flaw in it. I'm the reason Peggy and Gail had to speed out of there. I was born April 7th 1973 at 1:05 PM. Peggy was setting up the concession stand when her water broke. Folks thought that they named me Dustin due to the amout of dust they let fly when they were heading to Des Moines. Actually, it was a decisioin they came to after I was born. Gail, my father had the winning purse still in his posesstion when this occured so, yes payment for that first race was delayed. Granted, it's been 38 years, but I guess I still have a bit of that race car feeling in me. I'm now on a bowling league in Des Moines at Plaza Lanes that is centered around the Nascar Season.You may find pictures of Gail in other areas of this site. He was a flagger before he bought The Stuart Raceway. When I say he bought it, the thruth is that it was a decision my parents left up to my siblings at first.

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