1978 – Leavitt Posts Wire-to-Wire Win at Reading

Eddie Leavitt is joined by USAC official Don Peabody after winning the 40-lapper at Reading.

Reading, Penn. (April 22, 1978) – Eddie Leavitt of Kearney, Mo., scored his first United States Auto Club sprint car win of the season at the Reading Fairgrounds Saturday night. Leavitt also won the second heat but was denied the clean sweep when Chuck Gurney posted fast time in qualifying with a lap of 23.57 seconds.

Leavitt, last year’s sprint division rookie-of-the-year, started the feature on the pole position and led all 40 circuits around the half-mile dirt oval to pick up the win.

Ron Shuman, Dick Tobias, Gurney, and Rich Leavell followed Leavitt to the finish line and round out the top-five in the non-stop event.

The victory was the second USAC feature win in Leavitt’’ career. His previous victory came in a 50-lapper at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, on October 9, 1977.

Tom Bigelow, Junior Parkinson and Duane “Pancho” Carter joined Leavitt in picking up heat wins while Shuman took the semi-feature.


Results –

1. Eddie Leavitt
2. Ron Shuman
3. Dick Tobias
4. Chuck Gurney
5. Rich Leavell
6. Junior Parkinson
7. Tom Bigelow
8. Joe Saldana
9. Dana Carter
10.Bobby Olivero