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April 26

1899
George Howie... Born ... AAA driver from the 1930's.
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1923
Jimmy Murphy won the 150 mile 'Raisin Day Classic' AAA Championship race on the 30 degree banked 1 mile board Fresno Speedway in Fresno, California. Murphy averaged 115.65 mph in his Miller.
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1947
Ted Horn , driving the Horn #1, won the 20 lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race on the Richmond Speedway in Richmond, VA.
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1957
Johnny Boyd won the USAC Midget race at the Kearney Bowl, Fresno,CA
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1958
Earl Motter won the 100 lap USAC Midget race at the Contra Costa Stadium, Pacheco,CA
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1959
Bob Wente won the USAC Midget race at the Birmingham Int. Raceway, Birmingham,AL
Johnny Boyd won the USAC Midget race at the Gardena Stadium, Gardena,CA
Budd Olsen won the NASCAR Modifiedt race over Charley Cregar, Ed Lindsey, Bob Malzahn and Jim Smith at the Atco Speedway, Atco, NJ
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1963
Elmer George won the USAC Midget race at the Pinecrest Speedway , Toronto, ONT
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1964
Fred Lorenzen continued his recent domination of major NASCAR Grand National short track races by winning the 'Virginia 500' at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. Lorenzen led all but 13 laps, only losing the lead when making routine pit stops, on his way to a 1 lap victory. In the three 250 mile short track races held to this date in 1964, Lorenzen had led 1,349 of 1,400 total laps. A lap behind Lorenzen's Holman-Moody Ford came Marvin Panch's Ford and Junior Johnson, making his first start in Banjo Matthews' Ford after quitting the Ray Fox Dodge. Billy Wade, 2nd in points, did not start after tech inspectors told car owner Bud Moore to re-do the air scoops. Moore loaded up the Mercury and Wade fell to 4th in points.
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1969
Greg Weld drove to victory in the USAC Sprint Car feature over Larry Dickson, Larry Cannon, Sammy Sessions and Lee Kunzman, on the 1/2 dirt oval at the Reading Fairgrounds in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Mitch Smith won the Super Sprint Car feature over Bobbie Adamson, Bob Shaw, Frank Gorichky and Gene Kohr, at the Selinsgrove Speedway, Selinsgrove,PA
Lynn Paxton won the Super Sprint Car feature over Junior Ritchey, Pete Swarmer, Leroy Felty and Don Kimberling, at the Port Royal Speedway, Port Royal,PA
Bobby Allen won the Super Sprint Car feature over Gus Linder, George Weaver, Irvin King and Ed Zirkle, at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA
Milt Miller won the Super Sprint Car feature over Kenny Weld, Lou Blaney, Johnny Hubbard and Bob Marhefka, at the Jennerstown Speedway, Jennerstown,PA
Bobby Hogle won the CRA Sprint Car feature over Don Hamilton, Jimmy Oskie, Jim Steele and Colby Scroggin, at the Ascot Park Speedway, Gardena,CA
Dutch Schaefer won the NEMA Midget feature at the Westboro Speedway, Westboro,MA
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1970
Tiny Lund drove his Chevrolet Camaro to a 7th straight NASCAR Grand American series victory, winning the 'Beltsville 200' on the 1/2 mile paved Beltsville Speedway in Beltsville, Maryland.
Lloyd Ruby outdueld Mario Andretti and Al Unser to win the 200 mile USAC Championship race on the 1.5 mile peanut shaped Trenton Speedway in Trenton, NJ. At the start, pole winner Al Unser took the lead followed by Ruby. Local favorite Wally Dallenbach got by Ruby for 2nd on lap 7 and took the lead at the line on lap 34. Dallenbach closely led A. Unser until lap 59, when Dallenbach lost it and spun into the wall while lapping A.J. Foyt. Foyt spun to avoid and A. Unser's Lola-Ford managed to slip by after just clipping Dallenbach's Eagle-Offy. The yellow flew and the leaders pitted. Andretti's crew got him out first and Bobby Unser fell from contention when his crew had trouble removing the right rear wheel. Andretti and A. Unser swapped the lead 2 more times before Ruby made his winning pass low into the right hand backstretch dogleg on the 104th of 134 laps. A yellow 2 laps later bunched the field, but Ruby pulled out a slight gap on the restart. Ruby kept his turbocharged Drake-Offy powered Mongoose out front, with Andretti closing to 1.4 seconds at the checkered. A. Unser finished 3rd, 3.6 seconds behind Ruby. A. Unser said nicking Dallenbach's car threw the handling off. It was the 7th, and final, Indy Car win for the 42 year old driver from Wichita Falls, Texas, who had only finished one prior start at Trenton.
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1981
Morgan Shepherd won the NASCAR GN 'Virginia 500' at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. Shepherd's Cliff Stewart Pontiac crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of Neil Bonnett's Wood Brothers Ford with Ricky Rudd a lap down in 3rd in the DiGard Buick. It was the first GN win for Pontiac since 1963. Shepherd, 1980 NASCAR Sportsman champ, was making the 15th GN start of his career. Qualifying brought many surprises with Ricky Rudd on the pole, long time independent Buddy Arrington 3rd in his Dodge and short track ace Butch Lindley 4th while rookie Mike Alexander set a new track record in second round qualifying.
Kenny Brightbill won the Modified Stock Car race at the Nazareth Raceway, Nazareth, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Andy Belmont won the Sportsman Stock Car race at the Nazareth Raceway, Nazareth, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Bobby Allen won the Super Sprint Car race at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Steve Kinser won the USAC Dirt Championship Car race at the Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, OH. Jack Hewitt finished second followed by Steve Chassey, Paul Pitzer and Sheldon Kinser.
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1987
Dave Kelly drove to victory in the URC Sprint Car feature over Glenn Fitzcharles, Tim Higgins, Ed Wylie and Bruce Thompson at the Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Doug Wolfgang, in the Bob Weikert # 29, won the All Star Super Sprint Car feature over Dave Blaney, Rocky Hodges, Bobby Allen and Mike Herbert, at the Sharon Speedway, Hartford, OH. ( Click here for the race report. )
Stevie Smith won the Super Sprint Car feature over Fred Rahmer, Jesse Wentz, Joey Allen and Steve Stambaugh, at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown, PA.
Drew Fornoro won the NEMA/ARDC Midget feature over Nick Fornoro Jr, John Heydenreich, Bruce Field and Dick Pole, at the Pocono Raceway (3/4 mile track), Long Pond, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Dale Earnhardt won the Sovran Bank 500 over Rusty Wallace at the Martinsville Speedway , Martinsville, VA. ( Click here for the race results. )
Jim Hettinger won the All-American Midget Series race over John Murphy, Chuck Kryder, Ronnie McLean and Bob Snyder, at the Auto City Speedway, Flint , MI.
Chip Slocum, utilizing his small block powerplant, drove to victory in the 25-lap big block modified feature over Bob Toreky, Newt Hartman, Jerry Tomarchio and Johnny Leach at the East Windsor Speedway, East Windsor, NJ.
Wally Pankratz won the USAC Western States Midget race at the Ascot Park Speedway, Gardena, CA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Rick Donnelly won the NASCAR SK Modified race at the Waterford Speedbowl, New London, CT. ( Click here for the race report. )
Larry Caudill won the 100-lap NASCAR Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series race at the New Asheville Speedway, Asheville, NC. ( Click here for the race report. )
Jack Johnson won the Low Cost Construction100 Modified Stock Car race at the New Venture Speedway, Vernon, NY. ( Click here for the race report. )
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1992
Stevie Reeves drove to victory in the USAC Midget feature over Steve Butler, Kenny Irwin, Kenneth Nichols and Mike Streicher at the Louisville Motor Speedway,Louisville, KY
Sammy Swindell won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature over Steve Kinser, Mark Kinser, Dave Blaney and Stevie Smith, at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville,IA
Mark Martin wins the Hanes 500 over Sterling Marlin at the Martinsville Speedway , Martinsville, VA.
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1997
Brian Gerster drove to victory in the USAC Midget feature over Dave Darland, Jay Drake, Tracy Hines and Jason Leffler at the Sixteenth Street Speedway, Indianapolis,IN
Billy Boat drove to victory in the USAC Western States Midget feature over Jimmy Sills at the Bakersfield Speedway, Bakersfield,CA
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1998
Bobby Labonte wins the DieHard 500 over Jimmy Spencer at the Talladega Superspeedway , Talladega, AL.
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2003
Danny Lasoski won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature over Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser, Mark Kinser and Tim Shaffer, at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville,IA
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