1967 - Sun Valley schedules 125-mile endurance run

Anderson, Ind. (July 13, 1967) - Sun Valley Speedway, home of the classic short-track races, will add another long-distance event to its impressive list of speed shows when the First Annual “Redbud 500” race, a 125-mile endurance test for new cars, is presented here Saturday night at the local quarter-mile, high banked asphalt oval.

It will be 33 new cars on the line, in 11 rows of three each, with 500 laps to go when the green flag is dropped at 8:30 p.m. EST, for the race run under the sanction of John Marcum’s Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA).

Qualification tests from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the 15th, which will be witnessed free of charge by race fans, will determine the 33-car starting field which will battle for a payoff in excess of $10,000.

The race will have an international flavor in its debut with the announcement that Robbie Francevic of New Zealand, 1966 road course stock car champion in his country, is one of the early entrants for the race.

Marcum has predicted that nearly 60 cars and drivers will be on hand for the qualification time trials and heading this list will be Iggy Katona of Willis, Mich., a 25-year veteran of racing and currently leading ARCA’s point race.

Other highly-regarded drivers slated to be on hand include, Les Snow of Bloomington, Ill.; Dick Freeman, Indianapolis; Dorus Wisecarver, Zanesville, Ohio; Ralph Latham, Cincinnati; and Bill Kimmel, Louisville, Ky.

An added attraction for fans witnessing the time trials will be a performance by the Falling Falcons, widely known sky-diving aggregation.

All seats for the 500-lap event, longest short-track new car race in the country, will be reserved and tickets are now selling at the Sun Valley Speedway ticket office.