Photo Courtesy of Wisdom Race Photos
The start of the Late Model Stock Car Division introduced our 1st inductee of the 2007 Beatrice Speedway Hall Of Fame Class. Although this gentleman didn’t compete at the Beatrice Speedway for a lot of years, he made his time count. When his #42 pulled through the gates, everyone knew they were in for a battle.
He posted the most wins of any driver during the season in 1976, including 4 wins in the final 6 races, to end the season in the runner-up position behind Rick Hergott in the 1976 Late Model point standings.
1977 would be more of the same. He would, again, collect the most wins in the Late Model Division, with 5. Those 5 wins would propel him to the Divisions Career win lead, up to that point, in the divisions short life. He would again collect the runner-up position in 1977, finishing behind Rick Paulus in another hard fought points battle.
All of this while competing against Beatrice Speedway greats Rick Paulus, Rick Hergott, John Cragg, Les Schaefer, and fellow Hall of Fame member Kenny Parde.
This gentelman’s presence at the Beatrice Speedway was one the crowd came for.
In fact, his name was among the most mentioned, by current racers, at this seasons Racer’s Reunion as one of the guys they grew up watching and cheering for.