Chicago’s Ray Young became a speedway regular during the ’66
campaign, winning the late model track championship during the Saturday night or
Sunday afternoon competition. Wheeling
his potent 1964 Ford Fairlane, Young finished ahead of Buck Hinkle, Bill Carr,
Otto Richardson and Don Oldenberg in the final points standings. The
track’s annual Bettenhausen Memorial race was increased back to 100 laps with
’65 winner Fort Wayne’s Conan “Moose” Myers and his 1957 Chevy
convertible No. 0 making it two in a row. Myers
bested Bill Lutz, Elmer Musgrave, Cliff Setser and Dave Sorg in the 50-mile
chase, which saw 47 cars start. Carr,
a two-time champion on the dirt at Illiana, flipped his Chevelle convertible
several times during the main event with Carr landing near the pit entrance off
of turn three. Earlier in the
afternoon, Myers lowered the qualifying track record to 22.57 seconds.
Ohio speedsters Warren Rose and Darl Harrison won Midwest Auto Racing
Club sprint car main events during the season.
Buck
Hinkle and his rapid-running Chevelle convertible No. 56 were track champions at
the speedway for the 1967 season. Hinkle,
cousin of earlier Illiana champs, Rabon and Raleigh Hinkle, finished ahead of
“rookie of the year” Terry Nichels in the final points tally. Young, Bob Roper and Oldenberg rounded out the top five.
Venturing from his home in the Detroit area, Joy Fair captured the, twice
rained out, annual Bettenhausen 100 lapper, defeating fellow Michigan drivers
Homer Newland and the Senneker Brothers, Rich and Bob.
Another Michigan speedster Tom Marks and season titlist Hinkle finished
in the top six. Fair and his
Chevelle zipped around the Illiana half-mile in 22.25 seconds during
qualifications to set a new stock car qualifying mark.
A N. Perry Luster promotion saw Ohio’s Todd Gibson wheel his
“Flintstone Flyer” to victory in a 30-lap International Motor Contest
Association (IMCA) sprint car race in June.
During time trials, Gibson set an all-time, one-lap track record with a
run of 21.44 seconds.
William “Whitey” Gerken and his Triangle Service-owned 1966 Chevelle
claimed top honors in the late model ranks in 1968.
Defending track champion Hinkle, Young, Roper and Paul Heitz finished
behind Gerken in the final standings after the weekly Friday night or Sunday
afternoon action was concluded.
Hinkle
and his 1965 Chevelle convertible won the Bettenhausen 100 lapper, becoming the
first local driver and Illiana track champion to win the event.
Hinkle finished ahead of Ray Freeman, Michigan’s Bob Carnes, Musgrave
and Indiana drivers Leroy Skiles and Tom Wible.
Sadly,
Michigan supermodified driver Jack Nichols died from injuries suffered in a
crash at the speedway in July.
Fort Wayne’s Dave Sorg made the weekly trek to Illiana in 1969 and took
top honors in the late model ranks. Sorg
and his Howard’s Photo Lab-sponsored Fairlane seemed to be the team to beat
every race day with Sorg taking the championship ahead of Bob McKay, former
Illiana dirt track champion Whitey Johnson, John Buzinec and fellow Fort Wayne
racer Jim Martin. A sportsman division was added to the weekly racing with Sonny
Roman and his 1958 Chevy winning the title.
Roman bested Rich Stroening, Nick Buzinec, Ted Smith and Jack LaFreniere.
Joy Fair returned to Illiana in 1969 for the annual Tony Bettenhausen
Classic and again went back to Michigan with the winner’s trophy and first
place money. Fair, driving his
Cutlass-looking Chevelle, defeated Rich Senneker, Sorg, Bob Senneker, Musgrave
and Sal Tovella.
Bob Boyce put together a “stretched” Camaro convertible the year
prior and had it running real strong in 1970 with Boyce claiming the late model
championship that season. Boyce, a
former figure eight champion at the old O’Hare Stadium (Schiller Park, Ill.),
finished ahead of Freeman, Wayne Helfogt, Bob Knoll and Paul Mollick in the
final points. Jack Farmer was the
track’s sportsman kingpin.
Michigan’s Gene Eding captured the Bettenhausen 100 lap affair in his 1964
Chevelle. Eding finished ahead of
Bob Pronger, Dick Dunshee, Roy Forbes and Jay Woolworth.
Myers set fast time with a lap of 21.40 seconds.
69 cars entered the event, which had a purse of $6,000.
During the off-season, Ed Hoffman purchased the title-winning Boyce
Camaro and was a terror during the 1971 season.
Hoffman won the late model championship at Illiana as well as at the
Grundy County Speedway (Morris, Ill.). Rich
Sundling and Bob Roper finished in a tie for the runner up spot in the final
late model points tally. Lee
Schuler, Bill Davis and Larry Berwanger rounded out the top six in the final
standings. Farmer, wheeling a
Plymouth, captured his second straight sportsman division title.
Farmer finished ahead of Jim Hamilton and Harold McDonald.
Myers again rang the victory bell in the Bettenhausen 100 lapper.
Recording his third career win, Myers and his 1969 Chevelle took home top
honors ahead of Hoffman, Gerken, Berwanger and Joe Shear.
Leroy’s Elmer Embry was the 1972 late model titlist at Illiana.
Early and late season Sunday afternoons sandwiched in a full summer of
Saturday night racing action. Using his Tom Cellini-owned 1972 Camaro to grab
four feature wins during the season, Embry would be the last Indiana driver
(through the 2000 season) to win the late model crown at the speedway.
Hoffman garnered 13 main event victories during the course of the season,
but missed several races while competing “out of town.”
Seven points separated Embry and Hoffman at season’s end with Roper,
Bob Dotter, Sundling and Berwanger rounding out the top six in the standings.
Driving
a 1963 Ford, Billy K (Kamizeles) copped four feature wins on his way to winning
the sportsman division, finishing ahead of Studebaker-driving Bill Kollasch, Len
Norris, Nick Buzinec and former two-time champ, Farmer.
Bob Richards was the midget champion for the weekly Friday night United
Auto Racing Association (UARA) open wheel action.
Joe Ruttman of Dearborn, Mich., whose older brother, Troy, won the 1952
Indianapolis 500, captured the 11th running of the Tony Bettenhausen
Memorial Classic. The 100-lap race
saw Ruttman wheel his 1972 Chevelle to top honors over Rich Davis, Randy Sweet,
Ray Freeman and Jerry Kemperman. Bobby
Wawak and his Ford Torino were the fastest qualifiers in qualifying runs with a
lap of 22.46.
Hoffman and his familiar black Camaro convertible No. 1 was again the top
man in the late model division in 1973, winning six features. Hoffman raced to the championship ahead of
rookie sensation Larry Schuler, Dotter, Don Axtmann, Roper and Bobby
Wawak, who claimed eight feature wins at the half-mile oval.
Piloting a 1967 Chevelle, Nick Buzinec copped the year’s sportsman
division title, besting Gil Tarbutton, John Greene and Billy K in the final
points wrap-up.
Tom Jones captured the annual Bettenhausen Memorial race in his 1969
Camaro, defeating Hoffman, Dave Evans, Myers and Tom Musgrave.
Tragically, Whitey Gerken died from injuries suffered in a crash during
qualifying for the annual 100-lap event. Gerken’s
car’s throttle stuck, sending him crashing into the third turn guardrail.
Flipping in the process, Gerken’s car struck and killed Dennis Shelton
in the pits.
In 1973, Professional Track Service (PTS) and Illiana management
presented a series of special late model events known as the Illiana-PTS Late
Model Championship with Hoffman claiming the title over Wisconsin’s Tom
Reffner and Roper. Tom Steiner was
crowned the track’s UARA midget champion.
Wawak and his Vern Ladendorf-owned Torino racked up championship honors
in the late model ranks in 1974. Wawak
rode to victory in six main events and finished ahead of Evans, Roper, Larry
Schuler and Hoffman in the final standings.
The sportsman division was discontinued and Steiner again claimed UARA
midget honors.
Reffner wheeled his 1970 Mustang to victory in the 13th annual
Bettenhausen Classic 100 lapper. With
the event postponed three weeks in a row because of rain, Reffner came back each
week and finally won the October 27 event over Larry Schuler, Dick Trickle,
Michigan’s Rick Knotts and Axtmann.
There was still plenty of racing to go in the 1970’s at Illiana with Hoffman about to win his first Bettenhausen 100 lapper; Larry Schuler winning two-straight late model titles; USAC sprint cars trying the track for size for the first time in 1975 and a guy named Gawlinski visiting Illiana for the first time.