Roger McCluskey #1 battles teammate and car owner Norm Nelson #41 during the Miller 200 at the Milwaukee Mile on July 12, 1970.
“A one-two
finish, that’s what we came here for,” said Roger McCluskey after the Tucson, Ariz.,
driver pushed his 1970 Plymouth Superbird to a 77-second victory over teammate
Nelson of Racine, Wis., in a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner. He also set fast time
during Saturday’s qualifying, touring the oval at 34.349 seconds.
McCluskey’s only serious challenge came from Don White
of Keokuk, Iowa, who raced him neck and neck for some
10 laps around the blistering hot one-mile asphalt ribbon. The track
temperature was reported to have reached 105 degrees at race time.
White edged into the lead at the beginning, only to
lose it all when a cracked valve forced him to call it quits on the 52nd
lap. “He (White) pushed it hard for a while,” said McCluskey. “I enjoy driving
against him.”
“My car handled well,” said McCluskey, who picked up $10,360
of the $57,475 purse –the largest for a USAC stock car race on a one mile track
that year. “We didn’t have any problems with the heat.”
McCluskey averaged 98.169 miles per hour for the 2
hour and 2 minute race, leading all but 12 laps. He finished this time - unlike
the 1968 race when his feet blistered from the heat and he had to quit earlier
than he wanted to.
He said his principal worry was not himself, but the
tires and how they would hold up in the sweltering humidity. “We had some new
type Goodyear tires, and we had no projection what they’d do,” he said. “We
planned a tire change on the first pit stop for fuel because the tires wear
more early in the race. The second stop, as it would turn out, was for fuel
only.” Both pit stops were extremely brief.
After the second stop, Roger battled A.J. Foyt
briefly, with the Texan hanging all over his back bumper for 80 laps before a
problem with his transmission sent him to the garage.
Sal Tovella of Addison, Ill., who dueled Nelson most
of the afternoon, finished third, giving Plymouth
win, place and show on the afternoon. Butch Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio took
fourth and Bobby Wawak of Villa Park,
Ill., rounded out the top five,
both driving 1969 Dodge Chargers.
Norm Nelson’s two-headed monster would return to the
Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, July 10, 1971
and again prove to be the kings of the mountain; in qualifying. McCluskey earned
the pole position after shattering the track record (107.242 miles per hour) by
more than two seconds and Nelson put forth the next best mark to share the
front row for Sunday afternoon’s race. But none of it mattered when Sunday
rolled around.
It would be another two-horse team that would steal
the headlines come race day, as Jack Bowsher of Springfield, Ohio
and his able-bodied teammate, A.J. Foyt, would run one-two in the Miller 200.
Jack Bowsher accepts the trophy after winning the 1971 Miller 200.
“We came here to race,” Bowsher said of the difference
between his team’s and Nelson’s on qualifying and race days. If you want to set
a car to qualify and have a week to do it, you can set it up to do a couple of
fast laps, but you can’t run 200 laps that way. We didn’t do a thing to the
cars to qualify or race.”
Foyt, who qualified third, grabbed the lead away from
McCluskey at the start with Bowsher taking his turn at the top spot later on.
The dynamic duo led 173 of 200 laps in their 1969 Ford Torino’s and did so in
convincing fashion. McCluskey would lead 21 laps in taking home the third spot.
Nelson’s team, based 40 miles from the track had spent
all week testing, but it was all for naught. After the race, Nelson conceded
that Bowsher and Foyt did their homework in outrunning his team, and the rest
of the field for that matter.
“When it got hot and the tires got sticky, the track
got oily,” Nelson said.” They were running beautifully and could get around us
anytime they wanted. We were just spinning our wheels, so to speak.”
Bowsher averaged 95.763 mile per hour in winning the
event, which was timed in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 18 seconds. Bowsher collected
$9,048 out of a $55,000 purse, with Foyt cashing in on an additional $6,263.
Not a bad payday for what Bowsher called his “low budget operation”.
“When you talk independents, we’re as independent as
you can get,” he remarked. “I ain’t kidding. I‘ve got my brother here and my
kids helping out. I’ve only got one guy who really works for me.”
1972 Miller 200 winner Roger McCluskey is joined by car owner Norm Nelson in victory lane.
What’s a race without some controversy?
The end of Miller
200 on July 9,
1972 would have just that. Roger McCluskey passed defending champ
Jack Bowsher with four laps left when one of Bowsher’s tires began losing air,
then drove his 1970 Plymouth Superbird to what seemed to be a victory in the
race at the State Fair Park one-mile track.
Bowsher, of Springfield,
Ohio, had led for 119 laps in a
1971 Ford, and claimed afterwards he was leading at the finish. He told USAC
officials that instead of finishing five seconds (4.7 actually) behind
McCluskey, he was actually ahead by almost a lap when the checkers waved. He
claimed he gained the advantage early in the race when McCluskey made two pit
stops for tire changes.
USAC officials responded by saying their scoring tapes
and charts, along with those kept by Bowsher’s camp, would be sent to USAC
headquarters in Indianapolis for review, with a decision to be rendered in a
couple of days.
McCluskey averaged 89.644 miles per hour in his “unofficial”
victory, as 54 laps were run under caution flags for a series of minor
accidents. He said afterwards that he was afraid he was out of the race after his
two early pit stops. “When I had two tires go I thought I’d had it,” he said.
“But we switched to a harder compound tire and they wore well.”
Bowsher’s tire problems ended just after the race when
the tire went completely flat, and the soft tire slowed him down noticeably.
“I saw Bowsher slowing down. He slowed even more, so
then I thought I’d put the heat on him,” McCluskey said. “I didn’t run as hard
as I could have, but it was enough to leave him behind.”
Three days later, USAC officials upheld the decision and
awarded the victory to McCluskey.
Contrary to what Bowsher’s team claimed, McCluskey
made five pit stops, all during the caution flag. “Bowsher made three pit stops,
two on the green and one on the yellow,” remarked Richard Sauer, chief of timing
and scoring for USAC. “Bowsher’s scorer gave him credit for a lap he didn’t
complete.”
Neither 90-degree-plus heat nor brake failure could
stop Larry “Butch” Hartman, after he scored one of his infrequent victories in
the Miller 200 on Sunday,
July 8, 1973.
Hartman, who won the USAC stock car point title in
1972 without winning a race, took the lead with 29 miles left and held it the
rest of the way, averaging 90.314 miles per hour in his Dodge Charger, and
earned $10,165.
Don White led from the 79th to the 130th lap before
taking a pit stop. He regained the lead on lap 132 and held it until his
Charger blew an engine and hit a wall on lap 165. That gave the lead to Roger
McCluskey. But he had to stop because of a flat tire on lap 171. Hartman grabbed
the lead at that point and breezed to victory despite having no brakes.
“My brakes started going after the first 50 miles and
for the last 100 miles I didn’t have any brakes at all,” the South Zanesville, Ohio,
veteran said. “I told my crew it was a hard way to do it, but the way the car
handled I should leave the brakes off next time.”
Johnny Rutherford exited the race early when he was
overcome by the heat and high humidity, but Hartman said it didn’t bother him. “The
heat never bothers you when you’re out front,” he said. “You won’t believe the
cold chills I had when I saw the white flag out.”
McCluskey finished second in a Plymouth Roadrunner,
while H. B. Bailey of Houston,
Tex., was third in a Pontiac
Firebird. Ramo Stott was fourth in a Dodge Charger and Jack Bowsher fifth in a
Ford Torino.
Hartman, called the “Cheese Champion", because he
didn’t earn a single win during his title run in ’72, said the label irritated
him at times. “People, don’t realize I’m finishing well and getting the
points,” he snapped. “I’d rather have eight seconds than only one first.”
Ohio's Butch Hartman would successfully defend his Miller 200 title on July 14, 1974.
Hartman could have very well been labeled the “Cheese
Champion” again the next year, but for a different reason. After his Miller 200
victory in ’73, Hartman couldn’t stop winning at Milwaukee, claiming three more USAC victories
and he was the odds-on favorite when the Miller 200 returned on July 14, 1974.
Hartman would go on to score his fifth straight
victory at Milwaukee
that Sunday afternoon, but rest assured, his win wasn’t easy. Even with a
half-lap lead in the closing laps of the race, Hartman never started counting
his money. “At no point was I confident,” he said afterwards. Even in those
last 10 laps when I was out in front, I was nervous as hell. Nothing was
certain.”
He averaged 86.884 miles per hour in winning the
event. He collected $10,019 of a $54,800 total purse.
Hartman, driving a 1974 Dodge Charger, took the lead
from polesitter Bobby Unser after 35 laps. Unser would eventually leave the
race after breaking a valve in his ’74 Charger.
Hartman would pit and Dick Trickle of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.,
would inherit the top spot on lap 87 and hold it until lap 117 when Hartman
took over. Trickle would remain behind Hartman until he spun his ’72 Charger on
lap 143 on an oil slick caused by the blown engine of Paul Feldner of Richfield, Wis.,
in a ’72 Charger. Trickle’s car hit the wall, but he walked away uninjured.
Hartman’s final challenge would be from Ramo Stott who
had been hampered by brake problems in his 1972 Plymouth all afternoon long but had somehow
managed to stay with the leaders. “I knew he was right behind me,” Hartman
said. “But I also knew he had some brake issues. It was one heck of a race he
(Ramo) drove.”
Norm Nelson would finish third despite being hampered
when he made a pit stop on the 50th lap, picked up a piece of metal
while leaving the pit area and had to return only three laps later with a flat
tire. Jack Bowsher was fourth and Bay Darnell fifth.
In the 1960’s, you could say that Don White owned the
Milwaukee Mile, scoring an amazing 11 USAC stock car wins during that decade. But
the 70’s had treated the Keokuk, Iowa
veteran differently. He had only won twice at “The Mile” and it had been nearly
three years (September 10,
1972) since his last victory.
On the other side the fence, the 70’s had been overly generous
to Butch Hartman. The four-time USAC stock car national champion and two-time
defending Miller 200 titlist had won seven of the last eight USAC stock car
races at the famed oval and was enjoying another banner season on the USAC circuit.
A familiar face in victory lane during the 60's, Don White of Keokuk, Iowa, would score his final Milwaukee victory on July 13, 1975.
On July 13, 1975, it would be a showdown of the old guard
versus the new star…
The old guard would win out as the 49-year-old White drove
his 1972 Dodge Charger past Hartman on the 142nd mile of the 200-mile event, then
held off both Bay Darnell and Hartman down the stretch for the victory, worth
$9,518 from the record $62,600 purse.
“This has been a long time coming,” said White. “It
gives me a lot of satisfaction because I build my own cars, I drive my own
cars, I do it all myself.”
White had no sponsorship on his car and was so low on
cash he had to qualify using year-old tires. “It gives me a great deal of
satisfaction knowing you can put a car together yourself and still beat the
guys who have money to burn.”
Darnell was second, Hartman managed third despite
losing more than a lap after an early accident, and Irv Janey was fourth. All
drove 1974 Chargers, while fifth place finisher Ralph Latham piloted a 1975 Chevelle.
The 200-miler was delayed by six yellow caution flags
and numerous spins and crashes, including a spectacular collision on the 85th
lap. Ramo Stott’s Plymouth
blew an engine and burst into flames, and then Jack Bowsher crashed into the
wreckage. Neither driver was hurt, but both cars were out of the race.
Butch Hartman would come back with a vengeance the
next year, overcoming both the sweltering heat and an unruly race fan to win
the Miller 200 on July 11,
1976. Hartman, driving a 1976 Camaro, passed Sal Tovella to take
the lead for good on the 158th circuit and ran away unscathed for the remainder
of the contest. The three-time winner of the event picked up $9,734 of the
$60,000 purse, the richest on the USAC stock car circuit.
Afterwards, Hartman used the ‘ol one-two combination
on a fan using obscenities towards the Zanesville,
Ohio speedster. “I don't like
it,” he said after the scuffle, which ended with the spectator escorted away by
police officers. “I don't allow words like that in my home and there’s no place
for them here either. There’s no sense in language like that in front of women
and little children.”
Hartman, who started on the pole for the Sunday
afternoon race, finished with a winning speed of 88.115 miles per hour,
outdistancing Tovella at the end by six seconds in 97 degree heat that sent the
track temperature to 147. Jack Bowsher, driving a 1976 Ford Torino, finished a
distant third and Larry Moore of Dayton,
Ohio, in a 1974 Charger was
fourth. Fifth place went to Dave Whitcomb of Valparaiso, Ind.,
in a 1976 Camaro.
Defending champion Don White lasted 51 laps before
pulling in because of brake problems. Ramo Stott, the ‘75 USAC national
champion, was knocked out of the race with a broken crank shaft pulley on the
89th lap.
Tovella, driving a 1974 Plymouth, was hampered by rear spring and
right rear fender damage suffered when his car was involved in a multi-car
pile-up on the 72nd lap after Paul Feldner’s 1974 Charger blew an engine. Oil
from Feldner’s car spilled onto the track, and Hartman avoided the oil, but
Tovella spun and crashed into Feldner's car. Four other cars hit either
Feldner’s car or the wall, but no serious injuries were reported.
History was made that afternoon as well as Arlene Hiss
became first woman to drive in a Milwaukee
stock car race. She was lapped twice by the field in the first 16 laps and spun
out in the second turn of the 29th lap. Neither she nor her car suffered any
damage, and Tom Williams, owner of the car, took over the driving duties until
the 72nd lap when his was the third car in the multi-car crackup.
In the early 1970’s, a young man by the name of Dave
Watson started his career in short track racing. His goal was to one day, go
big-time. The Beloit, Wis., driver decided to be patient, though,
and wait until the time was right to pursue that dream. By 1976, the
30-year-old driver had made huge strides, winning 41 of 76 features he entered
and becoming one of the top short track drivers in the nation. After the ’76
season, Watson decided it was time to move up in the ranks, or, as he put it,
“I’ve kinda reached a plateau in racing. I’ve won everything there is to win in
short track racing. We can’t go anywhere else but down.”
Dave Watson is interviewed by announcer Jack Baker after winning the 1977 Miller 200. - Stan Kalwasinski Photo
On Sunday,
July 10, 1977,
at the Milwaukee Mile, Dave Watson got his first taste of big time stock car
racing. And all he did in his rookie appearance was whip everyone and win the
Miller 200 with drivers of the capability of NASCAR star Bobby Allison, who
finished five seconds back in second place, Indy 500 veteran Bobby Unser, who
took third, and USAC champions Don White and Ramo Stott in his wake. Not bad
for a debut…
But things weren't entirely easy for Watson. He was
held up a lap in the pits as a penalty for passing cars in the backstretch
under the yellow caution flag. After getting his lap back, he eventually made
his way to the front and on lap 158 roared past Allison to take the lead.
However, USAC officials had the binoculars out watching him as circled the
track.
“They told us his right rear tire was chunking off and
we’d have to call him in,” said Watson’s car owner Dave Deppe. Deppe, who owned
a disposal company in Baraboo, Wis., convinced USAC officials that everything
was just fine, they conceded and continued to let him race. The whole time,
Watson wasn’t even aware of the incident and didn’t even hear about it until he
was in victory lane afterwards, hoisting the trophy and collecting his winnings
of nearly $10,000.
Still, almost an hour after the victory, USAC
officials still weren’t satisfied and started combing Watson’s car for
violations. Routinely, the top five finishers at Milwaukee were always torn down for
inspection but the perusals usually didn’t go beyond a quick check of the
engine and gas tank.
Deppe was called in to the impound area during the
inspection and was engaged in conversation with officials for over a half hour
before the car finally was cleared and the results declared official. Asked
afterward what the trouble was, Deppe said, “The biggest problem was that a
rookie driver and a guy that owns a garbage truck business won a race.”
The rookie driver mentioned afterwards that he wasn’t
awed by who he was competing with, not even the veteran Allison. “I thought he
was at as much of a disadvantage as I was,” Watson said. “He hadn’t raced here
before either so I figured he and I were on equal ground.”
Allison would get his revenge the next year, July 9, 1978, but amidst a
little controversy. Allison, driving an AMC
Matador, was the first to cross the finish line when the checkers came out,
three seconds ahead of runner-up Sal Tovella.
But, to a lot of people’s confusion, both drivers
proceeded to take a victory lap…
Tovella’s crew signaled for him to head to the winner’s
circle and two and a half hours of conflict followed. Tovella’s crew was under
the impression that Allison was one lap behind at the end of the 200-mile race.
They argued that Allison had made a series of illegal pit stops under the
yellow flag during laps 131 through 134, which according to their own scoring,
put him one lap back at the finish.
Neither Bobby Allison (left) or Sal Tovella (right) were willing to concede the 1978 Miller 200. - Stan Kalwasinski Photo
A couple of hours later, long after fans had left and
race cars had been loaded up, Bill Saxon, the USAC stock car director, said an
investigation of records showed that Allison had completed the required 200
laps and was the winner. The confusion, Saxon said, developed because Allison
had been credited with one long pit stop when actually he made three quick pit
stops under yellow flag conditions.
The final Miller 200 of the decade would take place on
July 8, 1979
with Joe Ruttman of Upland,
Calif., the younger brother of
racing legend Troy Ruttman, leading more than three-quarters of the way and
pulling ahead for good at the Wisconsin
State Fair
Park track. Ruttman’s
victory, his first at the Milwaukee
track, came before a crowd of 21,169 and earned him the winner’s share of a
$75,000 record purse
Joe Ruttman receives the celebratory kiss after winning the Miller 200 on July 8, 1979. - Stan Kalwasinski Photo
Ruttman, who led 152 of the 200 laps on the paved
one-mile oval, took the lead for good when he passed Terry Ryan of Davenport,
Iowa going into the third turn of lap 130. Ryan, Ruttman, A.J. Foyt and
defending race winner Bobby Allison had battled for the lead for the previous
20 laps. Ruttman managed to stay a second ahead of Ryan and Foyt for the next
10 laps and then began increasing his lead to as much as five seconds.
Foyt had won the pole position on Saturday with a
record speed of 112.15 miles per hour. He led the first seven laps but was
slowed throughout the event having to pit on seven different occasions,
including one when he was called in by USAC officials for pitting too early
when a yellow flag was posted. Foyt was bothered most of the day by handling
and tire problems.
Ruttman averaged 96.33 miles per hour in his ’77
Pontiac Phoenix and finishing ahead of Ryan and Foyt, who both drove ’78
Camaros. Tom Sneva of Spokane,
Wash., was fifth in a ’79 Ford
Granada, and Jim Cushman of Mount
Vernon, Ohio, was
sixth in a ’78 Plymouth Volare.
Even though he won by five seconds, Ruttman didn’t
feel he was the best driver on the track. “I had the better car today,” Ruttman
said. “I didn't finish ahead of (A.J) Foyt because I’m a better driver than he
is. I could see that he had lots of problems with his car today. I felt sorry
for him, but then he’s beat me an awful lot of times, and I wanted to beat him
for a change.”
The Miller 200 at the Milwaukee Mile would be
USAC-sanctioned for two more years, in 1980 and 1981. Rusty Wallace, an up-and-coming star from St. Louis,
Mo., would give race fans and
fellow competitors a sneak preview of his driving talents by winning both
races.
Rusty Wallace of St. Louis, Mo., would win the last two USAC-sanctioned Miller 200 stock car races in 1980 and 1981. - Stan Kalwasinski Photo
By 1982, however, the USAC stock car division was
losing its luster and while the Miller 200 would continue at The Mile, it would
be sanctioned by the American Speed Association for the race’s remaining years.
By 1984, the USAC stock car division had faded into
obscurity.
