In this photo by Skip Peterson, used here with his permission,

Rich Vogler in the #55 leads Jeff Bloom, #47; Dana Carter, #96;

Jerry Weeks, #35; Greg Leffler, #43; and Pancho Carter, #44

during a yellow flag at Dayton Speedway July 1, 1979.

            When the United States Auto Club (USAC) sprint car contingent dragged their hotrods down the Dayton Speedway pit access road on July 1, 1979, there was no denying that drivers Tom Bigelow and Rich Vogler held the hot hands.  Bigelow was the current USAC half-mile record holder.  He’d tied Larry Dickson for the record number of sprint victories when he won at Dayton in May, 1979, and then set the all-time win record at 45 with back-to-back firsts at Salem Speedway in Indiana on June 16 and 17.

But Vogler seemed set to challenge. The previous week, June 24, 1979, at Salem Speedway, Vogler was on the verge of his first sprint car win of the season when he pushed too hard and blistered his right rear tire. Bigelow pushed past him to take the gold. 

Now, with the Dayton Speedway’s hills towering above the pit area, Bigelow was confident that he could make it two in a row, and Vogler was equally confident that he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

            But Vogler and Bigelow weren’t the only drivers with a shot at taking the checkered flag.  There was a host of other fast wheelmen standing between Bigelow and Vogler, and the Dayton trophy.  Greg Leffler, Chuck Gurney, Pancho Carter, Gary Bettenhausen, and Steve Chassey were entered, as was current USAC sprint point leader Bubby Jones.

Among the drivers entered, Jeff Bloom of Kalamazoo, Michigan, stood out.  The 29-year-old raced for a living, and was sponsored by Stenger’s Ford, a Dayton dealer.  Tom Stenger, the owner of the dealership that carried his name, told reporters that he sponsored Bloom because “he’s super competitive and a helluva showman!”

Going into the Dayton event, Bloom’s resume was impressive; he won a USAC stock car event at St. Paul, Minnesota in 1975 and a sprint car event at Salem Speedway in 1976, and owned no less than two wins (1972 and 1977) in the fabled “Little 500” event at Anderson Speedway, Indiana.  As his crew prepared his car, Bloom no doubt remembered that it was just one year ago, in 1978, that he’d won the USAC sprint event at Toledo.

            And it wouldn’t be hard for the fans to figure out which car Bloom was driving.  His racer was one of the few roadsters in competition, and these low slung beauties stood out next to the traditional uprights like those driven by Bigelow and Vogler.  Bloom’s car was well-used.  According to Bloom it was a former Indy 500 entrant and was the last roadster to make the starting field as a champ car when it took the green flag at Michigan International Speedway in 1968.

“It’s a bit heavier and wider than the conventional upright car,” Bloom said.  “The engine is offset to the left and the driver to the right.  It’s wider but it has a lower center of gravity.”  Bloom could have added that while the great majority of uprights were Chevy powered, his roadster boasted a Ford engine.

Dayton Speedway’s owner, Don Thompson, had put up a cool $500 to any driver who could beat Gary Bettenhausen’s record of 16 seconds flat (112.5 m.p.h.) set May 9, 1976.  Early qualifier Steve Chassey came close with a one-lap time of 16.065, and at the end of the qualifying session no one had gotten any closer.  Thompson folded the five $100 bills back into his wallet.

This is not to say that there wasn’t a new track record set at the speedway that day.  There were several. Fast-timer Chassey set a new 8-lap record in the third heat with a 2:14.37.  It was a record that Chassey would hold for little more than 20 minutes.  That’s when Livermore, California’s Chuck Gurney led the fourth heat to the checkers in a remarkable 2:13.07, with an average speed of 108.214.

The 40 lap USAC event got underway with some in the crowd booing polesitter Jeff Bloom.  It seems that as the cars were circling the track just before the green flag, Bloom came down the front stretch with his index finger held high.  Some misguided souls in the huge crowd thought that he was showboating and proclaiming himself “number one.”  Bloom laughed about it after the event.  “I was just motioning to the rest of the drivers that we had one more lap before the start!”

By the three-quarter mark, Bigelow was leading and looked set to take his second USAC sprint feature in as many weeks.  Vogler followed Bigelow and Bloom was pressing both of them in third.  And that’s how they were running when they reached backmarkers Mack McClellan of Dayton and Marvin Carman of Union City, Michigan.  McClellan was running high; Carman was on the low side.  Bigelow decided to split them and run right up the middle.  It was a fateful decision.

Bigelow bumped Carman, lost control, spun and hit the wall in turn one.

On the restart, Vogler took over as the leader and held that position for the rest of the race.  Bloom finished second right on Vogler’s tail.  Greg Leffler, sponsored by Armstrong Mould, the same company that sponsored Bigelow, finished third, followed in order by Pancho Carter, Sheldon Kinser, and Gary Bettenhausen.  Bigelow, with a wheel shattered in the earlier accident managed somehow to limp home in eighth place.  Mechanical problems plagued Steve Chassey who was an early contender and he ended up in 18^th position.

After the event feathers were still ruffled by Bigelow’s encounter with McClellan and Carmen.  Bloom, who narrowly avoided the accident, thought that McClellan was to blame.

“It’s Mack’s fault for not giving Tom more room,” Bloom told reporters.  ‘He [Bigelow] bumped tires with Carman but it wasn’t Carman’s fault.  They told us in the drivers’ meeting that the slower guys move down.  Usually Mack does.  I don’t know why he didn’t this time.”

Bigelow wouldn’t name names but said “It doesn’t pay to get mad.  I was bumped on the outside before the inside.  And as soon as you bump wheels, things get all screwed up.”

Rollie Beale, USAC’s Chief Steward, had the last word on the crash.  “The rule states that when the lap flag is out and another driver is about to lap you, you must give him consideration.  That’s all it says.  In this respect, McClellan did exactly that.  He stayed in his groove.  He was running according to the rule book.”

With the checkered flag in sight, Rich Vogler in the #55

leads Jeff Bloom in the #47 and Dana Carter in #96. 

Photo by Skip Peterson.