Grady Wade won the rain-shortened IMCA sprint car feature at Des Moines. National Speedways, Inc's Larry Shipley presents the checkers. - Larry Scarpino Photo
Des Moines,
Iowa (August 18, 1968) – The show must go on and it did on Sunday, but it took
officials four attempts to get a rain-shortened IMCA sprint car program into
first gear at the Iowa State Fair.
Once it
began at 4:40 pm – it was scheduled for a 2:00 pm start – the program was
continued at a record pace with Grady Wade of Wichita, Kan., marching away with
the feature victory and the $750 first-place prize.
Three attempts were made to iron
out the track, but each time the rain returned. At 3:30 pm it ceased long
enough to prepare the soggy track and complete five of seven events.
But, rain
began again during the feature and the scheduled 25-lap feature was shortened
to 22. Also, the 5-lap trophy dash was eliminated because of the threat of bad
weather.
Wade,
driving the Chet Wilson Special – a Chevrolet-powered car, won his second
feature in two days. He captured the feature at the Missouri State Fair in
Sedalia on Saturday.
Wade started
in the front row and led from start to finish. He was nearly one-third of a lap
ahead of second-place finisher Bill Utz of Sedalia, Mo., when the checkered
fell.
Two track
records were broken.
Dick
Sutcliffe of Greenwood, Mo., won the 8-lap first heat in 3 minutes and 20
seconds topping the previous mark of 3 minutes and 26 seconds set by Jerry
Blundy on August 20, 1967.
Jerry
Richert of Forest Lake, Minn., lowered the 1960 10-lap standard from 4 minutes
and 15 seconds to 4 minutes and 7 seconds.
Ray Lee
Goodwin of Kansas City, who won the National Super Modified Championship at
Knoxville, Iowa, only eight days earlier, finished third in the feature and
Richert was fourth. Jerry Blundy of Galesburg, Ill., rounded out the top five.
Merle
Bettenhausen of Tinley Park, Ill., the son of the late Tony Bettenhausen, a
star driver in the Indianapolis 500, won the second heat.
Results –
1. Grady Wade, Wichita, Kan.
2. Bill Utz, Sedalia, Mo.
3. Ray Lee Goodwin, Kansas City
4. Jerry Richert, Forest Lake, Minn.
5. Jerry Blundy, Galesburg, Ill.
6. Gordon Woolley, Waco, Tex.
7. Ralph Parkinson Sr., Wichita Falls,
Tex.
8. Dick Sutcliffe, Greenwood, Mo.
9. J.L. Cooper, Kansas City
10. Tom
Stasa, Kansas City
11. Lee
Kunzman, Guttenberg, Iowa
12. Johnny
Babb, Ottumwa, Iowa
13. Ron
Jackson, Burlington, Iowa
14. Dale
McCarty, Kansas City
15. Bill
Hudson, Montezuma, Iowa
16. Roy
Bryant, Wichita, Kan.
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