Todd Gibson, of Richwood Ohio, returned to Oswego Speedway last Saturday night with his famed Flintstone Flyer to take his first feature win of the year. Gibson, who had just come back from Florida, where he won several races and broke numerous records, was almost unopposed the entire night as he won a heat, semi, and the big 45 lap feature. He also set an unofficial lap time of 19.50 during the warmups.
As the race got under way, Bentley Warren in car 21 jumped out into the lead and started pulling away from the pack.
Jim Shampine got an early start coming through traffic, while Gibson followed right behind. In just two laps, Gibson had come from 17th starting position to ninth spot behind Shampine. Slipping by Shampine on the sixth lap down the inside backstretch, Gibson set sail for the remaining cars. He closed the gap on the leader, Bentley Warren, passed on the inside coming off the fourth turn and was out in the lead by the eighth lap.
The race was halted on lap 6 when Johnny Burkholder in car 58 and Johnny Logan in car 25 collided between turns three and four. When the two spun, the remaining cars approaching the third turn found no place to go, and a six car pileup resulted. The other cars involved were: Bob Stelter in car 71, Jim Howard in car 38, Andy Brown in car 00, and Carl Tiberio in the Flyin' 5. No one was injured in the accident, but most of the cars were unable to continue.
The race was stopped once more in the 16th lap when Neil Tooley spun in the first turn. When the race was restarted, Bentley Warren, who was right behind Gibson, made a bid for the lead. Gibson, however, managed to pull away after a few laps, and on the last lap was over a quarter lap ahead of the second, third, and fourth place cars, who had been battling for second for several laps. Red Barnhart, who was running behind Jim Shampine, pulled out on lap 29 with mechanical problems. Warren managed to hold onto second, while Ken Andrews in car 55 placed a very good third, and Shampine took a respectable fourth. Rounding out the top five was Tom York in car 26, the Nulls Chevy that Ronnie Wallace drove last year.
Other feature finishers in order were: Johnny Logan 25, Jim Gresley 7, Nick Rowe 12, Ronnie Wallace 90, Norm Mackereth 23, Jim Muldoon 80, John Burkholder 58, Ron Thring 52, Red Barnhart 66, Jack Greedy 01, Wayne Landon 9, Mark Letcher 15, Neil Tooley 59, Walt Riley 98, Bob Stelter 71, Carl Tiberio 5, Andy Brown 00, Jim Howard 38, and Ken Bartholomew 44.
Heat races were won by Johnny Logan, Jim Shampine, and Todd Gibson, with semi's going to Shampine and Gibson.
Carl Tiberio won the consi.
Believe it or not, Todd almost didn't finish the feature. The new engine was running hot all night, and by lap forty, the temperature was near 230 degrees, well over the normal running temp. Says Todd, "I was ready to pull in and not risk blowing my engine, but when I saw there were only five laps to go, I decided to take a chance.