1972 – McDonough Shares in $3,000 Purse

Bill McDonough drove his Fleck Sales-sponsored Chevrolet to the late model feature win at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds. Miss Southern Iowa Fair Queen, Diane Roberts, presents the trophy to McDonough.

Oskaloosa, Iowa (August 2, 1972) - Bill McDonough really found the right combination last night when he captured the big 30-lap super stock feature at Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night.

McDonough of Cedar Rapids whipped his Rapid Chevrolet sponsored '65 Chevelle into the lead on the backstretch on the third lap from Ron Hemsted of Lone Tree. Lady Luck has never shone much on Bill here at the speedway this year, but last night was his night as he took home the lion's share of the purse.

Not only did McDonough win the feature, but he was the only driver to win more than one race during the evening as he also won the fourth heat. Bill really had his 454-power plant honking as he held off hard challenges of Ed Sanger of Waterloo and John Babb of Ottumwa the first half of the race.

By lap 20 McDonough and Sanger had pulled a bit away from Babb for a time. Then on the 27th lap Joe Merryfield of Des Moines broke a ball joint and lost a wheel bringing out the red flag.

This closed up any gaps (very few) in the field and the race was once again tight on McDonough's bumper; but Bill had those checkers in sight and wasn't letting anyone around. Babb jumped into the second spot on the restart to place runner-up to McDonough.

Babb was never further back than third. Ernie Derr of Keokuk steadily moved thru the pack holding down seventh the first twelve laps. By lap 20 Derr was fourth then on the 27th lap followed Babb passed Sanger to finish third. Sanger was fourth and John Moss of Iowa City placed fifth. Last week's winner, Ron Perdock of Washington finished sixth.

John Babb led all the way in win (he first heat by a wide margin over Bill Beckman of Lisbon. Randy Sterner of Blair, Nebraska, held off Curt Hansen to take third spot after holding second place until the last lap when Beckman squeezed by.

The second heat race was a very tight one with three drivers: Ron Hemsted, Ed Sanger and Earl Tice of Ames fighting for the lead. They finished in the above order with Hemsted a scant three feet ahead of Sanger in a side-by-side photo finish.

Ron Perdock managed to hold off Derr and West to cop the third heat. West was on Perdock's bumper until the eighth lap when he and Derr see-sawed and Derr gained the edge to finish second.

Tagging McDonough to the fourth heat finish line was John Moss. Bill Ludington of Carlisle took the checkers for third spot.

George Barton of Ankeny started in the front row and held onto that front position the full 15 laps to capture the semi-main event. Chris Maurer of Colfax was right on Barton's bumper all the way with Don Hoffman of Des Moines on his tail most of the time. Those three finished in that order followed by Roger Dolan of Lisbon, Tim McDonough of Cedar Rapids and Phil Recce of Des Moines.


Results –


Heat #1 – John Babb, Ottumwa, Iowa
Heat #2 – Ron Hemsted, Lone Tree, Iowa
Heat #3 – Ron Perdock, Washington, Iowa
Heat #4 – Bill McDonough, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Semi-main – George Barton, Ankeny, Iowa
Feature –
1. Bill McDonough
2. John Babb
3. Ernie Derr, Keokuk, Iowa
4. Ed Sanger, Waterloo, Iowa
5. John Moss, Iowa City, Iowa
6. Ron Perdock
7. Roger Dolan, Lisbon, Iowa
8. Bill Beckman, Lisbon, Iowa
9. Bill Ludington, Des Moines
10.George Barton