Jules Goux... Born ... AAA driver from 1913 to 1923. He was a Grand Prix racing champion and the first Frenchman to win the Indianapolis 500 (1913) , as well as the first European to do so.
Tommy Hinnershitz... Born ... Eastern AAA driver from 1932 to 1960. Also known as "The Flying Dutchman", Hinnershitz ran in the Indy 500 three times with a best finish of 9th in 1948. He captured seven Eastern sprint-car championships and posted 103 feature victories during his 30-year racing career. While he first gained success and popularity near his Pennsylvania home, racing at the Reading Fairgrounds and Williams Grove Speedway, he also was very popular with fans and fellow racers in the Corn Belt. From the very start of his career, Hinnershitz preferred driving his own cars as opposed to wheeling machinery owned by others. He was an excellent mechanic and did all the work on his cars, including rebuilds on his Offenhauser engines. During the midget racing boom in the late 1930s, Hinnershitz wheeled an outboard-engine car with great success on the board track at the Nutley (N.J.) Velodrome. He was one of a handful of racers, who won races on dirt, asphalt and boards. He retired from driving in 1960, only hours after his friend and rival, Johnny Thomson, was killed in a race at the Allentown Fairgrounds. Hinnershitz was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in the first class in 1990.
Dick Linder... Born ... In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the Linder name was one of the biggest in racing in the entire country. Dick Linder's career was cut short in a USAC "big car" event at Trenton in 1959. He was Indy-bound and had the talent to become one of the real good ones.
Herb Thomas... Born ... A NASCAR pioneer who won the Grand National Racing (now Winston Cup) championship in 1951 and 1953; ranks 12th on the career victory list with 48 wins in 230 starts; won Southern 500 three times in the 1950s; inducted in International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Dick Rathmann scored his first career NASCAR Grand National win, driving his Hudson Hornet across the line first in a 100 mile race on the 1/2 mile dirt Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. Earlier leaders Buck Baker and Tim Flock both retired with wheel assembly problems on their Hudson Hornets. Rathmann took the lead from Bill Blair on lap 181, taking the flag 5 seconds ahead of Blair's Olds 88. Point leader Fonty Flock suffered a dislocated shoulder when his Olds threw a wheel and flipped while running 2nd.
Tommy Hinnershitz , driving the Hinnershitz #1, won the 23-lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race (cut short by rain) on the 1/2 mile dirt Reading Fairgrounds in Reading, PA.
Bobby Isaac started on the pole and led every lap in winning the NASCAR GN 'Hickory 250' on the 4/10 mile paved Hickory Speedway in Hickory, North Carolina. Richard Petty's Ford finished 2nd, 2 laps behind Isaac's Nord Krauskopf Dodge. Top independent James Hylton qualified 2nd with his new Dodge and ran on Isaac's bumper before being sidelined with ignition failure.
Tom Bigelow won the 30 lap USAC Sprint Car race at the Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, OH. Gary Bettenhausen finished second followed by Larry Dickson, Chuck Booth and Bruce Walkup.
Kenny Weld won the Super Sprint Car race at the Hagerstown Speedway, Hagerstown,MD. Mitch Smith was second followed by Bob Tester, Hal Browning and Elmer Ruby.
Lee Osborne won the 40 lap USAC Sprint Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway, Reading, PA. George Snider was second followed by Jan Opperman, Bruce Walkup and Pancho Carter.
Paul Pitzer won the KARS Super Sprint Car race at the Selinsgrove Speedway, Selinsgrove,PA. Kramer Williamson was second followed by Lynn Paxton, Bobby Allen and Kenny Weld.
A.J. Foyt scored a milestone victory, earning his 50th career USAC Champ Car win in the 200 mile race at Trenton Speedway. Foyt's 50th win came in his 229th start and 2nd on the active drivers list at the time was Mario Andretti with 32. With gusting winds and below freezing temperatures cancelling qualifying, a draw determined the grid for just the second time in USAC Champ racing history to that point. Tom Sneva drew the pole and Foyt 10th as just 16 cars lined up, and when Jim McElreath's Brabham-Chevy failed to start, just 15 cars took the green flag, the smallest field at Trenton since 13 cars started the 1958 race. With 20 to 30 mph winds and a wind chill of 10 degrees, drivers requested the first 5 laps be run as green/yellow in order to warm up tires. Sneva held the early lead and when Johnny Rutherford ran out of fuel and coasted to the pits on lap 47, Foyt took over for good. Other than the 5 lap warm-up period, the yellow did not fly and Foyt averaged 154.625 mph around the unusual, 1.5 mile peanut shaped track. It was Foyt's 13th career win at Trenton. The win also was Foyt's 3rd in four 1975 races.
Richard Petty wins the Gwyn Staley 400 over Cale Yarborough at the North Wilkesboro Speedway , North Wilkesboro, NC.
Rich Vogler won the 40 lap USAC Sprint Car race at the Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, OH. Sheldon Kinser finished second followed by Larry Gates, Bill Tyler and Sammy Swindell.
Dale Earnhardt won the NASCAR Winston Cup Valleydale 500 over Ricky Rudd at the Bristol International Raceway , Bristol, TN. ( Click here for the race report. )
Charlie Jarzombek won the 200 lap NASCAR National Championship Modified race at the Martinsville Speedway , Martinsville, VA. ( Click here for the race results. )
Brett Bodine won the 200 lap NASCAR Busch Late Model Sportsman race at the Martinsville Speedway , Martinsville, VA. ( Click here for the race results. )
"Barefoot" Bob McCreadie won the Modified Stock Car race and Rich Ricci, Jr won the 320 Modified race at the Orange County Fair Speedway , Middletown, NY.
Kevin Cogan, taking the lead when Michael Andretti blew a motor with 35 laps to go, went on to win the 200 mile CART Indy Car race on the 1 mile paved Phoenix International Raceway. Cogan's Patrick Racing March-Cosworth finished a full lap ahead of runner-up Tom Sneva. It was the only career CART win for Cogan. Mario Andretti won the pole and was joined on the front row by Michael, marking the first time in Indy Car history that a father and son had qualified for the front row of a race.
Rusty Wallace wins the Valleydale 500 over Ricky Rudd at the Bristol Motor Speedway , Bristol, TN.
Rich Vogler won the USAC Jolly Rancher Candies Western States Midget race at the Ascot Park Speedway , Gardena, CA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Shane Hammond ... Died ... Shane was a NEMA midget driver that died as a result of crash at the Thompson International Speedway , Thompson, CT. ( Click here for the story. )
Graham Rahal won the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg IRL Indycar race in St. Petersburg ,FL. The 19 year old son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing history.
Eddie Flemke Jr won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at the Thompson International Speedway , Thompson, CT. ( Click here for the race report. )
Kerry Madsen won the 30-lap Invasion of the Posse 410 Sprint Car feature at Bridgeport Speedway, Swedesboro, NJ. Tim Shaffer was second followed by Anthony Macri, Brent Marks, Ryan Smith, Kyle Reinhardt, Freddie Rahmer, Danny Dietrich, Tyler Ross and Justin Peck. Also Dominick Buffalino won the 30 lap modified feature over Ryan Krachun, Mike Maresca, Billy Pauch Jr. and Alex Yankowski.
ONE DAY
To report wrong information, click here to send E-Mail to webmaster@wheelsofspeed.com 
Back to the Wheels of Speed home page