1984 – Sanger Takes Twin-50’s at 34 Raceway

Waterloo's Ed Sanger swept both ends of a twin 50-lapper at Burlington. - Lee Johnson Photo

Burlington, Iowa (May 12, 1984) – The three-and-half hour trip down from Waterloo was well worth it for Ed Sanger as he captured both features during the NASCAR Twin 50’s at 34 Raceway on Saturday night.

Jay Johnson grabbed the lead at the outset of the first 50-lapper before Bob Lekander swept by on lap 7. Johnson, Rollie Frink, and Mike Klinkkammer gave chase as Lekander opened up a respectable margin. Frink moved up to challenge for the lead midway through the contest while Sanger gradually worked his way through the strong field.

Sanger, with Johnny Johnson hot on his heels, moved past Frink on lap 42 and then set his sights on Lekander. Two laps later, Sanger sped to the outside of turn three to get past Lekander and take the victory. Lekander managed to hold off Johnson for second with Frink fourth and Bill Breuer fifth.

The second 50-lapper was missing some top contenders due to misfortunes in the first feature, including Bruce Hanford, Steve Fraise, and Mark Keltner. Ken Jackson opened up an early lead on his hometown track, but it only took until the fifth lap before the pair of Sanger and Johnson worked their way up to challenge.

Jackson held the speedy duo off until lap 9 when Johnson made a nifty move to go from third to first on the backstretch. Sanger kept the pressure on, however, and it paid off when Johnson tangled with lapped traffic in turn four, bringing out the caution on the 21st lap.

It was “Fast” Eddie’s race the rest of the way with Johnson making a charge through the pack to take second on the last lap. Lekander took third with the brothers, Ken, and Ron Jackson, grabbing fourth and fifth, respectively.

In other action, Randy Samberg of Burlington won the street stock feature.


Results –


Feature #1 –

1. Ed Sanger, Waterloo
2. Bob Lekander, Burlington
3. Johnny Johnson, Wapello
4. Rollie Frink, Davenport
5. Bill Breuer, Wapello
6. Dave Goble, Burlington
7. Steve Watts, Danville
8. Mike Klinkkammer, West Branch
9. Del Lankford, Macomb, Ill.
10.Ken Jackson, Burlington


Feature #2 –

1. Ed Sanger
2. Johnny Johnson
3. Bob Lekander
4. Ken Jackson
5. Ron Jackson, Burlington
6. Jim Hollenbeck, Burlington
7. Rollie Frink
8. Dave Birkhofer, Muscatine
9. Mike Klinkkammer
10.Del Lankford