1979 - All Star 10,000 Title to Crawford

Gary Crawford won the annual “All Star 10,000” at Fairmont Raceway. Pictured, from left, are promoter Jim Edgington, Crawford, second-place finisher Clayton Petersen of Grand Island, Neb., and Dick Schiltz of Waterloo, Iowa, who finished third.  – Bill Haglund Photo

Fairmont, Minn. (September 22, 1979) – Fairmont Raceways’ All Star 10,000 was a huge success with more than 110 cars in attendance. The large crowd and field increased the payout to about $12,500, and there was some hard, fast, close racing by some of the Midwest’s finest drivers trying to win a share of the purse.

The man who took home the lion’s share pf the purse was Gary Crawford of Independence/ He had run second in all three of his preliminary races over the two nights but when it came down to the big-money event, he completely dominated the40-lap feature.

Jerry Wancewicz and Bill Martin, both from the Omaha area, had earned front row spots for the feature, and exchanged the lead in the early laps. But Crawford, who had started on the inside of the fifth row, worked the inside of the track to his advantage while the rest of the field ran the high side and took the lead with less than 10 laps down.

From there on, he was never challenged, running in front by himself all the way to the checkered.

There was some extremely good racing behind Crawford, though, with Wancewicz and Martin rarely more than a car length apart throughout the early and middle stages of the race.

The intense racing between the two, however, would eventually put wear and tear on their cars.

Clayton Petersen Jr., of Grand Island, Neb., who started alongside Crawford in the fifth row, would get by the Omaha pair and take off in pursuit of Crawford. But with only five laps to go, Crawford had built up an insurmountable lead and won by almost a straightaway’s length over Petersen.

Dick Schiltz of Waterloo, Iowa, was a story in himself for the weekend. He broke during heat action on Friday night. He repaired his car and started on the fourth row in Saturday’s second consolation. He would win that race easily. He would finish second to Bob Hill in the B-main to qualify for the feature.

Starting last in the 24-car field, Schiltz would slice and dice his way to the front only to run out of laps and time, finishing an impressive third. Wancewicz and Martin would round out the top-five.


Results –


Heat #1 – Bill Martin, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Heat #2 – Arnie Braland, Boone, Iowa
Heat #3 - Jerry Wancewicz, Omaha
Heat #4 – Jim Bruggeman, White Bear Lake
Heat #5 – Em Fretheim Decorah, Iowa
Heat #6 – Steve Egersdorf, St. Paul
Heat #7 – Denny Selting, Huron, S.D.
Heat #8 – Al Druesdow, Omaha
Consolation #1 – Dwain Hanson, Lakefield
Consolation #2 – Dick Schiltz, Waterloo, Iowa
B-main – Bob Hill, Story City, Iowa
Feature –
1. Gary Crawford, Independence, Iowa
2. Clayton Petersen Jr., Grand Island, Neb.
3. Dick Schiltz
4. Jerry Wancewicz
5. Bill Martin
6. Jim Bruggeman
7. Dan Nesteby, Waterloo, Iowa
8. Billy Moyer Jr., Des Moines
9. Bob Shryock, Estherville, Iowa
10.Randy Sterner, Blair, Neb.