This message was edited on
May 06, 2010 at
09:25:19 AM by PorschePeteTx
It's 3 A.M.,As (Yawn) Weld WinsBy Jim Moackler (Staff Writer)
KNOXVILLE, IA.-
Ken Weld,20-year-old Kansas City, Mo.,driver, rewarded the durable auto racing fans here early Sunday morning by furnishing an exciting finish to the 1965 national super-modified championship as he repeated as the winner.Weld was hot pursuit of Jerry Blundy of Galesburg, III., from the ninth
lap, took over for an instant on the twenty-fourth lap and then sped past Blundy on the final lap to win by a couple of car lengths.
The 25-lap feature finally was completed at 3 a. m., 6 1/2 hours after the scheduled start of the program and nearly four hours after the actual start.An estimated 8,000 of an original crowd reported to be 11,000 stayed for the finish.
Blundy pushed ahead of qualifying leader Bob Williams of Kansas City, Mo., on the 6th lap and stayed there until Weld's spurt carried him to the $1,500 first prize. Dick Fries of San Diego, Calif., took third and Williams was fourth.
The time for the event, with re-starts, was 10 minutes 51.7 seconds. It was re-started twice.
Two of the scheduled five heat races, the Class B main and the consolation which were to follow the feature, were canceled.
Fans saw nearly as much of two road graders working the track as they did of racers as workers attempted to eliminate mud and ruts from the surface.Drivers had complained about the track being hard and slick during time trials Friday night.
The track was torn up and heavily watered early Saturday. It was 11:15 before the first heat got under way: The first race went off without mishap but drivers encountered trouble on the back stretch in the second heat race.
One stretch described by drivers as bumpy and muddy was the scene of four one'-car mishaps before racing was interrupted at 12:30 a. m., and the graders were put back to work for another hour and 45 minutes!
A number of drivers rushed to the judges stand to complain about the condition of the track after Thad Dosher of Topeka, Kan., flipped several times in tbe most spectacular accident of the night.
A man who identified himself as Bill Taylor of Kansas City, Mo., and who said
he owned two cars, threatened to have the drivers "pull thrir cars out of here."
107 cars registered for the 1965 event.
National championship (25-laps)-
l. Ken Weld, Kansas City, Mo., $1,500
2. Jerry Blundy, Galesburg, III., $800;
3. Dick Fries San Diego" Calif., $500;
4. Bob Williams Kansas City, Mo., $375;
5. Norm Galpin, Altoona $275
6. Frank Lies, Wichita, Ks $200
7) Roy Hibbard, Marshall Mo $175
8) Joe Saldana, Lincoln, Ne $150
9) J.L Cooper, KC, Mo $125
10) Jerry Weld, KC, Mo $100
11) Bill Wilkerson, ElMonte, Ca $80
12) Tom Marshall, Ft Worth Tx $70
13) Bill Marshall, Portland, Mi $60
14) Sam Austin, KC, Mo $50
15) Gordon Wooley, Waco, Tx $40
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