|
"LLOYD RUBY CLASSIC" KICKS OFF MARCH TEXAS MIDGET TRIP
JANUARY 20, 2009 --- USAC's two-race National Midget Series trip to the "Lone Star State" in March will open with the inaugural "Lloyd Ruby Classic" at Red River Speedway in Ruby's hometown of Wichita Falls, Texas.
The March 13 race will be followed by a March 14 USAC National Midget race at Thunder Hill Speedway in Kyle, Texas.
Dave Steele won USAC's last Midget race in Texas, at Kyle in 2006. It's been nearly 40 years since Lee Kunzman's victory at Wichita Falls Speedway, the only previous USAC appearance in Ruby's hometown.
A 2008 inductee into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, Ruby competed in every Indianapolis 500 from 1960-1977 and finished third in 1964. Two years later he led 68 laps of the "500", a race many though he was destined to win. In 1966 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Ken Miles and he and Miles also claimed the 1966 and 1968 World Sports Car Championship. In Midgets he began his career in Wichita Falls in 1946. In 1947 he won a Class B title in Oklahoma City, Okla. and in 1948 he won 100-lap races at San Antonio and Oklahoma City. He again claimed the Oklahoma City title in 1950. He won a USAC Midget race at Taft Stadium in Oklahoma City in 1957 and scored a second USAC win at Dayton, Ohio in 1958.
In Championship cars, he earned victories at Milwaukee, Wisc. (3), Phoenix, Ariz. (2), Langhorne, Pa. and Trenton, N.J.
A total of 23 USAC Midget races have been held in Texas. The Bettenhausen family have five wins, Gary with three and Tony and Merle with one each. Mel Kenyon also has three wins, while A.J. Foyt, Cotton Farmer and Lee Kunzman have a pair each. Single race winners have included Gene Force, Bob Tattersall, Buddy Rackley, Dale Swaim, Chuck Rodee, Jim McElreath, Don Meacham, Dave Strickland and Dave Steele.
|
