Fan Notes from the 1977 Knoxville Nationals Part 3 of 3

Doug Wolfgang (Tom Myers) – It was night 1 and I couldn’t wait for the racing to get started. When it did, I couldn’t believe how many cars there were. 60 cars qualified on the opening night. It was a sunny, beautiful evening and I remember sitting on the wooden bleachers almost directly halfway between turns 4 and 1. It was a big track and the fastest guys were timing 21 second laps. I noticed the smaller tires and there were no wings on the cars. The track dirt was black and greasy and I was struck with the size of the place. Knoxville was much bigger than most of the ovals we saw back home, even a little bigger than Eldora. 

Wolfgang, driving the Trostle 20 timed quickest and I kind of expected that. His motor sounded strong and a little louder than some of the others. I was excited to see a young Sammy Swindell time 3rd quick in the Davis Electric 71, Bobby Marshall, in the blue 19 timed 4th and Gary Patterson, in the blue 56 car timed 5th quick. Two former winners qualified well with Joe Saldana timing 8th fastest in the Cogle 85 and Kenny Weld, using a big block motor in his 92 car, timing 6th. Dad wrote down all of the qualifying times on the handout we got from the track and I know we kept it but I don’t think I have it anymore. When we got home from this Nationals, I took the event program and cut the pictures out of it to stick on the wall in my bedroom. Obviously, a pristine copy of this Nationals program did not survive either. I wish I would have preserved both of these but I was a young kid and didn’t think about it at the time. 

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? 

Ron Shuman Ron Shuman timed 7th in the Williams Farms black 40 car and Leland McSpadden timed 12th in one of the ugliest cars I can remember. The car was primer grey all over and the number 75 looked like it was written on the tail tank with a magic marker! But, the car was a Stanton and it went fast and the driver, I knew, could hustle it as well as anyone.  Lee Osborne timed 13th, Roger Rager timed 15th, in the 4J car that won the Nationals the previous year, Rick Ferkel timed 16th and Dub May timed right behind at 17th quick. Fred Linder tried it again on Thursday after attempting qualifying on Wednesday and timed about the same time as the previous evening, timing 21st. Former Nationals winner Dick Gaines timed 28th, and James McElreath was 32nd. 

Rick won his heat! That was cool, he came up from 7th starting spot. Maybe this will get good! Eddie Leavitt finished last in his heat and he looked not to be a factor anymore. I was disappointed because he was the defending champion. In fact, many of the guys I knew  disappointed because of mechanical problems or a bad setup or just not being good at Knoxville.
 
Ron Shuman won the feature, but Rick made it exciting as he came up from 9th to 2nd…….. but he didn’t have enough to catch Ron. Tom Corbin finished 3rd, followed by Allen, Rager, Tommy Hunt, Dub May, McSpadden, Bubby Jones and Hooker Hood.  Bobby Allen ended up with the most points on Thursday with 488.

Sammy Swindell Saturday night was exciting because Sammy Swindell made it so. He finished 2nd  in the C main to race winner Eddie Leavitt to earn a start at the tail of the B main. Leavitt stayed at the back of the B but Swindell stormed all the way up from 21st and won it! That put him at the back of the A….and the crowd was buzzing! So, who would win this? Wolfgang started on the pole and Allen outside of him. Butch Bahr and Bobby Marshall started in the second row, followed by Jimmy Boyd, who was subbing for Tom Corbin, and Ron Shuman in the third row. Rick started in the 9th spot and I was not discouraged……why couldn’t he duplicate his feat from Thursday evening, I thought? 

Wolfgang grabs the lead from Allen on the second lap and drives away for the 30 lap win. McSpadden finishes 2nd, up from 13th! He was followed by Bubby Jones who came from 8th, Marshall, Allen, Shuman, Weld, and Swindell, who put on a spectacular show coming up to 8th from 21st! Randy Smith finished 9th with Butch Bahr finishing 10th. Rick slid back 3 spots to 12th at the finish. I was disappointed but I felt better when I learned that Rick had finished in 4th in ’73 and 3rd in ’75. Maybe he will win it in 1978?