1952 - Perlick wins 100-miler on slow track

Cedar Rapids, Iowa (September 14, 1952) - Shorty Perlick of Minneapolis, Minn., boosted his lead in the national IMCA stock car point standings Sunday as he captured the 100-mile race on a rough, narrow Hawkeye Downs half-mile track.

Perlick, driving a 1950 Oldsmobile, took advantage of one of a dozen heart-breaking incidents that plagued cars and drivers as they ran the gauntlet of a muddy, slow track to a fast, hard surface.

He took the lead on the 194th lap when the previous front man, Bill Harrison of Topeka, Kans., was forced into a half-minute pit stop. Harrison returned to the track and finished second.

Perlick, who was leading the IMCA point standings going into the season's second Cedar Rapids 100-miler, thus goes further ahead in his bid for the 1952 point title.

Only, a dozen cars were still in the running when the checkered flag dropped after two hours, 57 minutes and 22 seconds. Five times the pace was slowed by caution flags as cars plowed through the wooden guardrails.

Robert “Doc” Narber of Cedar Rapids, who started 20th in a field of 21, worked his way up to fourth spot in his ‘51 Nash, when his car's radiator gave out on the 176th lap.

Sonny Helms of Des Moines, who took the lead on the first lap then lost it to Glen Larson of Aurora, Ill., and then returned to the lead on the 20th lap. He held first until he blew a tire on the 101st lap, and was forced out because of a broken wheel.

Larson, who had led between Helms’ two episodes, was forced to the pits several times and wound up 11th. Harrison set the pace from the 101st to the 194th laps, when he went to the pits.

Ernie Derr of Ft. Madison, Iowa, another point leader in the IMCA, ran a steady race to take third honors and Wally Dahl of Minneapolis, who won the first Cedar Rapids 100-miler earlier this year, took fourth after coming back from the pits twice to set hot paces.

An unusual incident enlivened proceedings on the 75th lap, as Jimmy Clark's Oldsmobile lost a wheel coming into the stretch. The wheel rounded the turn perfectly, rolled majestically down the stretch a scant foot from the outer guard fence, and then crossed the track into the pits - all under its own power.

Results –

1.      Shorty Perlick, Minneapolis, Minn.

2.      Bill Harrison, Topeka, Kan.

3.      Ernie Derr, Ft. Madison, Iowa

4.      Wally Dahl, Minneapolis, Minn.

5.      Dick Noudek, Wichita, Kan.

6.      Pat Patterson, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

7.      Mel Krueger, Anita, Iowa

8.      Delmar Donaldson, Burlington, Iowa

9.      Chris Skadal, Des Moines, Iowa

10.  Doc Narber, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

11.  Glen Larson, Aurora, Ill.

12.  Darrell Dake, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

13.  Chuck Magnison, Minneapolis, Minn.

14.  Eddie Anderson, Grinnell, Iowa

15.  Sonny Helms, Des Moines, Iowa

16.  Dick Johnson, St. Paul, Minn.

17.  Jimmy Clark, Ft. Worth, Tex.

18.  Dick Nau, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

19.  Ralph Dyer, Shreveport, La.

20.  Ken Stattler, Davenport, Iowa

21.  Gordon Howard, Marshalltown, Iowa