Al Unser unbuckles his racing uniform in victory lane after winning the 100-mile Tony Bettenhausen Memorial race at the Springfield Mile.
Springfield, Ill. (August 16, 1975) – Al Unser scored his third USAC Championship Dirt victory on the one-mile Illinois State Fairgrounds track in Saturday afternoon’s 100-mile Tony Bettenhausen Memorial race.
Unser overtook high-flying Jackie Howerton on lap on the 61st circuit and was never headed, pulling away to an eventual 10-second margin over runner-up Jimmy Caruthers. The win was worth $7,000 to Unser and it marked the fifth time in the last six races here that a Vel’s-Parnelli Jones team car posted the victory.
Johnny Parsons would put the ageless Vatis Chevy on the pole with a 33.924-second clocking and jumping out to a sizeable lead at the onset of the race. However, Parson’s engine failed after just nine miles giving the lead to fellow front-row starter Billy Vukovich.
Vukovich held the upper hand for the next 30 laps before the aggressive Howerton passed him on a restart necessitated when Bruce Walkup slammed into the fourth turn wall while challenging for the top spot.
During the 12 laps run under caution, Pancho Carter, running third at the time, was forced to retire with overheating problems and Arnie Knepper bowed out for the same reason while running fourth.
Unser moved up to third and a minute later inherited the runner-up spot when Vukovich’s car was also sidelined by overheating issues.
At the 50-mile mark Howerton led Unser by two seconds, but he had been experiencing handling issues from the beginning and in his words, “was just hanging on”.
On the 60th circuit, Howerton and Unser encountered a trio of slower cars and within a lap, Unser had passed both Howerton and the slower cars and was well on his way to the win.
Caruthers passed Howerton eight lap later to claim second place with Howerton hanging on to third ahead of Bill Engelhart, Billy Cassella and Jim Hurtubise, who started 22nd.
Results –
1. Al Unser
2. Jimmy Caruthers
3. Jackie Howerton
4. Bill Englehart
5. Billy Cassella
6. Jim Hurtubise
7. Spike Gelhausen
8. Jim McElreath Jr.
9. Larry Dickson
10.Lee Kunzman
11.Tom Bigelow
12.Joe Saldana
13.Rollie Beale
14.Lee Osborne
15.Gary Bettenhausen
16.Steve Chassey
17.Bill Vukovich
18.Arnie Knepper
19.Pancho Carter
20.Jerry Miller
21.Bruce Walkup
22.Sam Sessions
23.Johnny Parsons
24.Johnny Anderson
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