Ron Weedon beams as he clutches the trophy for winning the season
championship at Quad City Raceway. He accepts congratulations from promoter
Lloyd Chick (left) and starter Skip Chick (right).
East Moline, Ill. (September 15, 1968) – Ron Weedon put his Ford on the auction block Sunday night at Quad City Raceway and the dented convertible went out as a champion.
Just prior to the 50-lap season championship, Weedon announced that the car was for sale – after the race.
The car, under Weedon’s guidance, finished it’s career in grand style as it crossed the finish line first in the late model finale at Raceway, and by beating Jim Gerber by a car length in the main event. Weedon also nailed down the point championship.
Pleasant Valley, Iowa, probably wasn’t named for Ron Weedon, but the veteran driver is a living testimonial for the bustling community after he completed the 50-lap affair. He was beaming and he said, “We’re asking $2,500 for the car.”
It has been a great car for Weedon, for he not only drove it to the season championship at East Moline but drove it to the season championship in Davenport one week ago.
“It’s a 1967 Ford,” Weedon said. “We got it last year and got it ready for the last two races of the season. Now, we just bought a 1968 Torino that we’ll have running next Spring.”
Weedon won the Raceway title by 45 points over Gerber, the veteran driver from Mt. Joy. He began the night’s competition trailing Gerber by 75 markers, but he won the second heat to slice off a little bit off Gerber’s lead, although Gerber won the semi-feature.
The start of the event was an exact replica of the July mid-season 50-lapper. Then, Weedon was point leader but elected to start on the outside of the front row, giving Gerber the pole position. Gerber beat him to the first turn and led the entire race to wrest the point led away from Weedon.
Last night, with Gerber leading the point standings, he elected to start on the pole position and put Weedon alongside him. This time, Gerber guessed wrong, because the groove on the track was high, the groove that Weedon was sitting in all along.
Gerber had a four foot lead as the field crossed the finish line, but he couldn’t maintain it as they entered the first turn. The two battled side-by-side heading into the fourth turn, then Gerber, riding the inside groove, fish-tailed on the hard-packed racing surface and Weedon sped into the lead by a car length. Weedon remained in the high groove and in front for good – except for one brief interlude.
On the 32nd lap, Gerber caught him and actually crossed the finish line in front, by the margin of a radiator cap.
But Gerber, who had installed a new hemi engine In his Dodge Charger the week before, was riding low – and directly into the path of Bob Stogdell, who acknowledged the layover flag but simply couldn’t get out of the way in time.
Weedon stayed as close as possible while lapping Stogdell, but Gerber was caught and had to slow down to get around Stogdell. Weedon came out of the turn 50 feet away ahead, and Gerber was never able to catch up, although he was within a car length at the end.
Weedon won season titles at East Moline and Davenport while Gerber finished hot to win the title in Peoria last week – by a point on the final night.
Results –
Heat #1 – Benny Hofer, Rock Island
Heat #2 – Ron Weedon, Pleasant Valley, Iowa
Semi-main – Jim Gerber, My. Joy, Iowa
Feature –
1. Ron Weedon
2. Jim Gerber
3. Dean Montgomery, Milan
4. Shorty Bennett, Moline
5. Ray Guss, Milan
6. Don Bitner, Peoria
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