1973 - Bruce Gould sets hot pace to take Louisville ARCA bow

Louisville, Ky. (April 8, 1973) - Making his first ever start on the fast, 1/3 mile paved Fairgrounds Motor Speedway here, Bruce Gould of Milford, Ohio, led all the way to win the opening Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) new car 100 lapper on the 1973 schedule.

Gould earned the pole position in the 24-car feature field by posting fastest qualifying time of 15.66 seconds in his 1971 Strickler Auto Parts Ford Torino, but never let his pursuers by more than six car lengths throughout the main event.

Louisville's Tommy Spaugh provided plenty of competition for Gould in the early going as did Dave Kulmer until his engine blew 11 laps into the race, bringing out the yellow flag. Spaugh slip to third after being passed by Dave Sorg upon resumption of the all clear signal at 22 laps. Overheating problems ultimately force Spaugh to retire early, for closing a determined performance.

Bill Clemens, Herk Herbour, and Elmer Davis became involved in spinning, vendor bashing melee on lap 32, again bringing out the yellow flag. All managed to return to the chase but the field was compressed, with Gould followed closely by Sorg and second Bobby Watson and A. Arnold.

Local favorite, veteran Bill Kimmel, provided a large sure the days action by moving through the pack late in the race, alternately picking off second place man Sorg, but faded when his brakes failed near the 80-lap mark. Kimmel posted the fastest during race lap times and look to be a sure bet the challenge for the lead until experiencing the break problem.

Sorg  held on to Gould's rear bumper and was apparently in second position at the final flag, closely trailed by Bobby Watson, driving brilliantly in traffic though beset by handling difficulties. Kimmel protected fourth, minus his brakes, to the checkered.

At the post race way and, Sorg was found to be well below the regulation minimum weight, dropping him to last place in the final standings Watson was elevated to second position, with Kimmel, third; Delmar Clark, fourth; and A. Arnold, fifth.

Kimmel claimed the semi-main with heat race wins going to Kenny Black, Delmar Clark, and Dave Kulmer. Gould's win, is first under the ARCA banner, netted him $835.

Results –

1. Bruce Gould
2. Bobby Watson
3. Bill Kimmel
4. Delmar Clark
5. A. Arnold
6. Kenny Black
7. Tom Cecil
8. Bill Clemens
9. Elmer Davis
10. Dick Smith
11. N.D. Copley
12. Jim Adkins
13. Wayne Trinkle
14. John Sommerville
15. Larry Clemens
16. Tommy Spaugh
17. Jerry Norris
18. Darrell Basham
19. Ed Richardville
20. Herk Herbour
21. Gil Schildknecht
22. Willard Googe
23. Dave Kulmer
24. Dave Sorg