Bobby Marshall
Other notable drivers on hand, drivers that I knew of, either from watching them back home or reading about them in the NSSN were Fred Linder, Paul Pitzer, Johnny Beaber, Jack Hewitt, and Shane Carson. There was this young guy named Steve Kinser, but I didn’t pay much attention to him…at least not until the following year! I was disappointed not to see Steve Smith or Kramer Williamson, who seemed to be winning all the races I went to…. at that time in my life.
I thought Wolfgang would win the feature but he ended up 4th. Weld won it, followed by Butch Bahr, Marshall, and Steve Kinser, who came up to 5th from 16th. John Stevenson grabbed 6th, followed by Pitzer, Randy Smith, Jimmy Sills and Gary Patterson in 10th. Wolfgang earned the most points on the night and the Nationals with 492. Swindell didn’t make the A main because he had a mechanical failure in his heat and finished out of a transfer spot. I think he was done for the evening and ended up scheduled for the Saturday C-main.
The next night was even more exciting for me because we wanted to see Rick Ferkel race. What an amazing thing it would be to see my favorite driver win at Knoxville, right? 62 cars timed on Thursday evening. Our nemesis back in Ohio, Bobby Allen, timed quickest, followed by the reigning Nationals champ Eddie Leavitt, in the yellow Seibert car. Bubby Jones was 3rd quick in the Speedway Motors 4x with Junior Parkinson in the 65 car timing 5th. Who is Junior Parkinson I thought?