JULY THUNDER
Story by Mickey Thompson
Photos by Alvis Upitis
When the legendary race promoter Earl Baltes took over Dayton Speedway operations in the late ‘60s race fans across the Midwest knew that adrenalin-fueled excitement was returning to the high-banked facility. The track surface was repaired, the west Dayton plant got a fresh coat of paint, and other repairs and improvements were completed. And at the start of the 1968 season Baltes posted a $1,000 bounty (the equivalent of approximately $6500 today) for the fastest time under 17 seconds posted by any driver in qualifying.
The United States Auto Club (USAC) sprint cars were booked at the track on July 7, 1968, and everyone suspected that one of the USAC drivers was going to leave that event with his wallet bulging and Baltes $1000 poorer.
The most likely candidate to set a new ½ mile track world’s record was Sonny Ates. He held the world record thanks to a 16.98 second circuit of Winchester Speedway in Indiana. But Ates wasn’t very confident that he could set a new mark at Dayton.
“I doubt if I can get a record,” Sonny told reporters before qualifications began. “We were only doing 17.30 in practice.”
Larry Dickson was among the first to qualify and his run electrified the 7000 race fans who
watched him navigate the track. A new record! Dickson’s 16.95 second run put him on top of the speed chart and established him as the new world’s record holder for a ½ mile track.
But Dickson didn’t have much time to consider what he might do with the $1000 bounty. Sonny Ates, shown at the right, soon wheeled Daytonian Henry Meyer’s #93 out of the pits and onto the track, and into the record books. Ates cranked out a 16.85 second lap to recover the world ½ mile track record and pocket Baltes’ bounty cash.
Reports at the time suggest that car owner Meyer was still shaking 10 minutes after Ates’ record run.
“We blew an engine at Salem Thursday and worked Friday night until and Saturday night until ,” Meyer told a reporter. “We didn’t start the new engine until Sunday…didn’t want to wake the neighbors…then towed her over here.”
Ates’ banzai run left the Ates/Meyer crew buzzing with excitement and confidence, while across the pit area Paul Leffler, owner of the reigning USAC Champion sprint car, was hoping only for a change of luck. Driver Greg Weld had pushed the Leffler car to the ’67 championship, but for some reason couldn’t get the car to run in ’68 and abandoned the effort.
Leffler had Dayton native Al Smith behind the wheel for the sprint race that had been run at Dayton earlier in the year on June 2nd and Smith had been running strong, in second place behind Larry Dickson…until the engine blew.
For the July race Leffler asked Bruce Walkup, who had earlier driven the Leffler car in two ‘68 events, to take over the #1 again. Walkup had already quit the sprints once in ’68, apparently for good, but agreed to drive Leffler’s car at Dayton as a favor to the car owner.
Walkup’s qualifying effort was good, but not inspiring. After practicing at better than 17.20, Walkup turned in a 17.40, fifth fastest, when he was officially on the clock.
“Bruce is too eager in qualifying, so he loses time,” Leffler told reporters. “But he listens and does what you tell him.”
The afternoon’s racing action began with heat races, and in the first Ates and Dickson battled to a 1-2 finish in just 2:17.14, a new track record for an 8 lap event.
But the second heat race gave a hint that this race day might not belong to Ates or Dickson. Bruce Walkup won in the Leffler car, followed by Charlie Masters and Greg Weld in 2:19.71.
And then it was time for the main event. A slim field of 14 USAC drivers thundered down the front stretch, under the starter’s green flag, and into the first corner.
By the eighth lap of the 30 lap feature, Sonny Ates was far in front, with Dickson second and Walkup a close third. Walkup later gave reporters some insight to what he was thinking at the time.
“I’ll let Ates go. He can’t possibly keep up that pace,” Walkup thought. “This is a 30-lap race and it’s not Indianapolis. They don’t pay lap money…only to who’s ahead at the finish. So, I’ll stay away from all bumpers.”
On the ninth lap, Bob Seelman spun out and the resultant caution put Dickson and Walkup right back on Ates’ bumper. And that’s where Walkup stayed until lap 24 when he thought “Ates keeps slowing up, must be something wrong. And Dickson is staying right behind him. On turn one, I’ll duck below and take them.”
Walkup gunned the Leffler #1 low and passed Dickson on lap 24, but couldn’t get to Ates. Seelman spun again on lap 25 and again the yellow was unfurled.
“Ates keeps arcing high on the turns,” Walkup thought. “I’ll pick out a spot on the wall where Ates begins his high arc, hit my brakes about 100 feet before him, so I’ll be ready to shoot past when he arcs.”
And that’s what Bruce Walkup did, passing Ates in the corner to take the lead and a few laps later to be scored the winner. Ates meanwhile had to pull into the pits with an overheated engine, but he left Dayton Speedway that afternoon as the day’s top money winner with $1300 (the equivalent of about $8000 today), followed by Walkup ($850), Weld ($775), Dickson ($635), Wib Spaulding ($420), Charlie Masters ($310), and Cy Fairchild ($300).
The final results of the 30-lap feature: Walkup, Dickson, Weld, Spaulding, Fairchild, Masters, Bill Puterbaugh, Dean Mast, Ates, and Seelman. Only seven of the 14 starters went the distance.
Postscript: Ates and the rest of the USAC sprint circus returned to Dayton Speedway on August 3, 1968, and Ates, still behind the wheel of the Meyer #93, proved that his earlier world record was no fluke when he lowered the record to 16.81, 115.597 mph. That record stood for almost 10 years, until the USAC sprinters again returned to Dayton in 1976. Ates finished fourth in the feature event on August 3rd, behind winner Al Smith, Johnny Parsons, and Larry Dickson and just ahead of Rollie Beale in fifth.
This story was compiled from contemporary reports in newspapers and periodicals.
For the record, here are the results of the other events on the July 7, 1968 USAC card at Dayton Speedway:
Third 8-lap heat race: Johnny Parsons, Mast, and Fairchild in 2:21.13.
Semi-feature (10-laps): Spaulding, Seelman, Lubbert, Puterbaugh, and Busson in 2:59.81.
Non-money heat (12 laps): Dee Jones, Chuck Booth, Ralph Liguori, Jerry Poland, and Steve Krisiloff.
USAC Point Standings after the July 7, 1968 event at Dayton Speedway: Dickson, Gary Bettenhausen, Spaulding, Rollie Beale, Ates, Sammy Sessions/Bob Pratt (tie), Weld, Carl Williams, Billy Vukovich.
Sonny Ates and wife Judy share a pensive moment before the start of qualifying at Dayton Speedway.
History in the making. Sonny Ates aboard Daytonian Henry Meyer's sprint car estabslishes a new world's 1/2 mile track record July 7, 1968, at Dayton Speedway.
If you ever thought that you could have driven a sprint car on the high-banks of Dayton Speedway, this photo ought to clear that up for you. Sonny Ates battles his car and the speedway at the July race.
A dapper Earl Baltes looks pretty happy for a man whose bank account is $1,000 lighter after Sonny Ates (right) showed the world just how fast a man could circle Dayton Speedway. Baltes had put up a bounty of $1,000 for the fastest qualifying effort under 17 seconds. Ates dazzled with a 16.85 circuit.
Sonny Ates shows his race face before the start of the day's racing events.
Sonny Ates, closest to the camera, and Larry Dickson in the Smith Speed Shop #4, prepare to push off for the start of the feature event July 7, 1968, at Dayton Speedway. Dickson held the world 1/2 mile track record for just a few minutes on July 7th before Ates bettered it. Consider how far safety equipment has come since 1968. These two drivers, facing the fastest and, some would say most treacherous track on the circuit, are wearing open-face helmets with goggles and handkerchiefs over their mouths, No HANS devices, no roll cages, no special seats.
Sonny Ates battles to finish the feature with an overheated engine. He had to drop out early anyway.
Bruce Walkup is mobbed by his crew after taking the USAC Sprint win at Dayton Speedway July 7, 1968.
A young Bruce Walkup is interviewed by an equally youthful Tom Hamlin following his feature win.