Baker takes rain delayed feature
For the first time in three weeks, the weather man had shed his blessings on us here at the Oswego Speedway as last Saturday night beautiful weather allowed us to complete our card without much problem. In fact, fans who attended the events were treated to some of the finest racing seen in a long time and when the checkered flag dropped at the end of the 75 lap Mid Summer Championship, it was a new face, but an old veteran, picking up top honors - as Johnny logan of Charlotte, Michigan guided his Max Dowker prepared number 7 to the championship. In the rained out feature from the week before, Baldy Baker took a dramatic victory with his car 93, edging out Jim Cheney laps before the finish.
When the green flag was waved at the start of the 45 lapper (rained out feature from the prior week), we saw John Clapham in the Gioia roadster taking off to the lead. Baldy Baker came charging through traffic like gangbusters and assumed the lead on lap 13. At the same time, Jimmy Shampine pulled his 8 ball into the pits and thus eliminated a bit of competition for Baldy. Baldy was on his way looking as if no one had a chance to catch him as he practically held a third of the track lead. With other plans in his mind was popular Jim Cheney in the 19 who never gave up and consistantly started cutting away at Baldy's lead and finally caught the Ohio pilot in heavy traffic on lap 42 to take the lead. But Cheney's lead was shortlived as a lapped car forced him to the outside on lap 43 allowing Baker to dip low and regain the lead.
At the finish, Baldy held a good ten car length advantage over Jim who turned in his finest performance ever at Oswego finishing second. Third went to John logan in the 7, with Fred Graves taking fourth and fifth going to Doug Syer. Other feature finishers in order were: Nick Rowe 12, Skip Manning 35, Bob Stelter 10, Jim Gray 31, John Clapham 9, Brian Herb 01, Ron Matteson 80, Scott Wilson 43, Ron Buckner 36, Jim Winks 71, lou Dabrowski 04, Jack Murphy 13, Dave Norton 69, Ray Sand 16, Warren Coniam 28, Bill Crosby 25, Jim Muldoon 47, Mark letcher 29 and Jim Shampine 8.
The night cap Mid-Summer Championship saw Johnny logan jump from his front starting position to grab the early lead. With logan running with a full head of steam, it seemed nearly impossible to catch the quick Michigander. Several yellow flags forced logan to lose long leads. Each time he was pressed ever so hard by Nolan Swift and Don Maclaren. Laps later Stormin' Norm Mackereth entered the picture and he easily brushed off Maclaren and Swift and after running side by side with logan for two laps, put the 40 out front on lap 14. Mackereth then opened a good lead on the rest of the field. But this lead was shortlived too as on lap 31, during a yellow caution lap, Mackereth's car 40 headed for the pits. With Mackereth out of the race, logan had a much easier time and found Jim Shampine and Don Maclaren to give him a bit of a problem but neither one had the material to get around the veteran pilot.
The 75 laps quickly dwindled and John logan took top honors in the championship event. Jim Shampine placed second with Don Maclaren right there third. Rounding out the top five were Nolan Swift and Jimmy Cheney. Other finishers were: Baldy Baker 93, Nick Rowe 12, Doug Syer 72, Scott Wilson 43, Fred Graves 37, Jim Winks 71, Skip Manning 35, Paul Richardson 52, Ron Buckner 36, Sam Carista 30, Brian Herb 01, John Clapham 9, Tom Rose 4, Norm Mackereth 40, Warren Coniam 28, lou Dabrowski 04, Ken Andrews 55, Jim Gray 31, and Ron Matteson 80.
Heats were won by Norm Mackereth, John logan and Jim Shampine, while the semis went to Nolan Swift and John logan. The consi went to popular Nick Rowe in the 12.