Ray Guss Jr. - Todd Healey Photo
By
Lee Ackerman
Omaha,
Neb. - By 1990, the NASCAR Busch All Star Tour was in its sixth year and was
providing Midwest race fans with some great racing action. Starting in 1985
when they ran a short season of just six races that saw Iowa veteran Roger
Dolan edge out Steve Kosiski by just one point for the title, the series had
grown to 17 events in 1989 when Joe Kosiski won his third tour championship
interrupted only by brother Steve’s title in 1987.
1990
would see 15 races go in the record books with the busiest weekend being over
Memorial Day when the series ran four races in four days. Action would start on
Friday night at Eagle Raceway outside Lincoln, Nebraska move to the
Mid-Continent Raceway near Doniphan on Saturday night then back to Omaha’s
venerable Sunset Speedway on Sunday night and finish up on Monday night at the
West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway.
On
Friday night at Eagle, 40 late models timed in with Steve Kosiski posting fast
time at 15.46. Ironically, brother Joe was the following car to qualify and
turned a 15.47 second lap. Story City, Iowa’s Bob Hill was third on the clock
at 15.53. Fifteen-lap qualifiers would go to fourth starting Rick Wendling in qualifier
one and sixth starting Ray Guss, Jr. in qualifier two. Johnny Saathoff would
take the Race of Champions and then just before the consolation, there was
light. Eagle Raceway turned on their new lighting system and the whole place
lite up. Giltner, Nebraska’s Al Humphrey then stormed from his outside front
row starting position and won the consolation.
At
the drop of the green, Rollie Frink grabbed the lead from his outside pole
position and appeared to be the car to beat, but sixth starting Steve Kosiski
was working his way up to challenge and by lap 34 he was running side by side
with Frink, on lap 36 Kosiski went to the front and despite giving it
everything he could muster, Frink simply had to settle for second. Following
Kosiski and Frink to the line were Bob Hill, Joe Kosiski and Sonny Findling.
Joe Kosiski - Jerry Adams Photo
On
Saturday, the series moved to the Mid-Continent Raceway outside Doniphan,
Nebraska for round two of weekend. When qualifying was over, the third Kosiski
brother, Ed had set fast time at 20.04 seconds. Qualifying races went to Steve Fraise
of Montrose, Iowa, with home track favorite Kent Tucker second and Bob Hill
third. In the second qualifier it was Ray Guss, Jr. of Milan, Illinois picking
up the win following by Rick Wendling and Gary Webb. Sonny Findling took the
Race of Champions. The two consolation races were won by Jerry Wancewicz and
Bubba Harvey.
The
50-lap feature ended up being a an all Kosiski show as Joe and Steve waged a
fierce battle for the top spot with Steve gaining the lead on lap 30 and going
on to win the race. Joe would finish second and Ed finished third. Steve Fraise
and Gary Webb rounded out the top five.
“I
saw him behind me and just tried to use as much racetrack as I could,” said Joe
after the event, “but he had too much for everyone tonight.”
Gary Webb - Todd Healey Photo
Round
three on Sunday night would see the series move to Sunset Speedway on the
northwest side of Omaha and things were about to change. Rollie Frink of
Davenport would set fast time at 19.07 seconds. Gary Webb picked up the win in
the Fierge Auto Parts Race of Champions while it was business as usual with Ed
and Steve Kosiski picking up the Qualifying race wins. Rollie Frink would come
back to win the consolation race.
In
the 50-lap feature Ray Guss Jr. took the Precision Performance Camaro to the
front on the third lap and would never give up the lead in taking home the win.
There were however some fierce battles behind Guss. Sonny Findling would settle
into second place but the battle for third was a war between Gary Webb, Pete
Parker, Willy Kraft, Rick Wendling, Bob Hill and Steve and Joe Kosiski. That
group would provide some great side by side, door to door racing that brought
crowd to their feet a number of times.
Guss,
however would be out by himself and despite a late lap 43 caution that bunched
up the field nobody could mount a challenge on the restart that saw the top
five at the finish include Guss, Findling, Webb, Parker and Kraft. “Our car was
really hooked up tonight.” said Guss, after the race. “The track was slick and
dry, but it made for a good racing surface and we’re happy the way the car
performed.”
Steve Kosiski
The
series moved to Eastern Iowa and the West Liberty Raceway for the four and
final race of the four day Memorial Day swing and once again it was Ray Guss,
Jr. in the Precision Performance #50 that would go to victory lane. Guss would
grab the lead from his front row starting position at the outset of the event
and never look back. The race would see only one caution during the 50 laps,
that for Steve Johnson who blew a motor.
Guss
would end up winning the event by nearly a straightaway with Rollie Frink,
Steve Kosiski, Ed Kosiski and Willy Kraft rounding out the top 5. Gary Webb
would pace the 48 car field in time trials with a lap of 21.30 seconds.
Qualifying races went to Guss and Steve Kosiski with Joe Kosiski winning the
Race of Champions and Steve Hennies the consolation race.
“We
were looking forward to coming here tonight on the tour.” Guss commented. “West
Liberty is our home track and we enjoy running here before our fans.”
The
four-day swing would end with Steve Kosiski and Ray Guss, Jr. both picking up
two wins. Kosiski would use his two wins and three more later in the 1990
season to nail down the 1990 Busch All Star Tour Championship, his second of what
would be a career high seven tour championships.
Willy Kraft
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