THIS DAY IN MOTORSPORTS
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MARCH 26th



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MARCH 26

1950
Andy Linden won the 30 lap Pacific Coast AAA Sprint Car race over Cal Niday, Jim Rigsby and Joe James at the Carrell Speedway, Gardena, CA.
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1953
Tom Alley... Died ... AAA driver from 1913 to 1925. Alley was also a fine riding mechanic, most notably to Ralph de Palma.
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1955
Fonty Flock won the 100 mile race on the 1/2 mile dirt Columbia Speedway, (Columbia, South Carolina) in the Frank Christian Chevrolet. Flock got the ride when Christian's 1954 driver Hershel McGriff retired from racing . It was Chevrolet's first ever win in NASCAR Grand National competition.
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1960
Frankie Schneider won the Modified Stock Car race and Buzzy Reutimann won the Sportsman race at the Sunshine Speedway, St. Petersburg , FL. ( Click here for the race report. )
Peewee Griffin won the Modified Stock Car race at the Hialeah Speedway, Miami, FL. ( Click here for the race report. )
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1961
Bob Burdick , a 24 year old driver from Omaha, Nebraska, scored a popular upset win in the 2nd running of the 'Atlanta 500' NASCAR GN race on the 1.5 mile Atlanta International Raceway. Marvin Panch had a comfortable lead when his Ray Fox Pontiac broke an axle with 42 laps left. Burdick took the lead and led the rest of the way in his family owned Pontiac running on used tires and with a borrowed rear end. The race finished under caution, with Rex White taking second. The Fox crew changed the axle on Panch's car in 5 laps and he returned to finish 6th. It was Burdick's only GN win as lack of money soon parked the Burdick family operation.
A.J. Foyt won the 30 lap USAC Sprint Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway, Reading, PA. Jim Hurtubise was second followed by Cotton Farmer, Roger McCluskey and A.J. Shepherd.
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1972
Bobby Allison picked off Bobby Isaac with 5 laps to go and A.J. Foyt with 4 left, going on to take the NASCAR Grand National Atlanta 500 at the Atlanta International Raceway. Allison's Richard Howard Chevy crossed the stripe one tenth of a second ahead of Foyt, driving the Wood Brothers Mercury. Isaac's Krauskopf Dodge was a close third. It was the first superspeedway win for Chevrolet since 1963. ( Click here for the race results. )
Gary Bettenhausen won the USAC Sprint Car race at the Penn National Race Course, Grantville, PA. Jim McElreath was second followed by Larry Dickson, Johnnie Parsons, Charlie Masters, Sammy Sessions and Joe Saldana.
Jan Opperman won the Super Sprint Car race at the Hagerstown Raceway, Hagerstown, MD. ( Click here for the race report. )
Rags Carter won the Modified Stock Car race at the Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Bobby Gerhart won the Modified Stock Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds, Reading, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
Ed Zirkle won the Super Sprint Car race at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown, PA. ( Click here for the race report. )
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1978
Danny Ongais drove his Parnelli to victory in the 200 mile USAC Championship portion of the USAC 'Twin 200s' on the 2.5 mile Ontario Motor Speedway. The races had been postponed from March 4th due to floods throughout Southern California. Team Penske swept the front row with defending Indy Car champion Tom Sneva turning a lap of 202.384 mph to take the pole, breaking Bobby Unser's track & closed course record of 201.9 mph set in 1972. The new record gave Sneva the Ontario and Indy lap records at the time.
A.J. Foyt, who finished an uninspired 4th in his Coyote-Foyt, won the 200 mile USAC Stock Car race in a Chevrolet Camaro.
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1989
Rusty Wallace won the Pontiac 400 over Alan Kulwicki at the Richmond International Raceway , Richmond, VA. ( Click here for the race results. )
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1994
Floyd Trevis ... Died ... Floyd was one of the country's most respected race car builders. He started tinkering with race cars when he was 19 years old back in 1926, and, over the next 45 years, the versatile Ohioan built some of the most interesting and successful race cars in the history of the sport. Trevis built 12 cars for competition in the Indy 500, including Bill Vukovich's first mount, Pete Salemi's Central Excavating Offy in 1951, and George Bignotti's Bowes Seal Fast Offy that A.J. Foyt drove to his first Indy win in 1961. Foyt drove the same car to third in 1963. Eddie Johnson finished sixth and Bud Tingelstad ninth in 1960 at the wheel of Trevis-built lay-down Offys owned by Jim Robbins.Tingelstad was sixth and Bob Wente ninth in Trevis cars in 1964 as Floyd's career wound down. He then worked on the USAC Technical Committee for a few years and finally retired in 1972. Trevis's mechanical wizardry also was felt in sprint car racing. He built cars for many of the top sprint drivers in the 1960s and 1970s, including Larry Dickson, Bobbie Adamson, Mitch Smith, Ray Tilley, Lou Blaney, Ralph Quarterson, Jerry Blundy, Gary Bettenhausen, Tom Bigelow, Sheldon Kinser and Kenny Weld, just to name a few. Weld's mount, the famed No. 29 "Old Blue" built by Trevis in 1971 for owner Bob Weikert, won 146 feature victories, including the 1972 and 1973 Knoxville Nationals and the 1972 IMCA Florida Winternationals. Trevis was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990, the hall's initial year.
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1995
Sterling Marlin wins the TranSouth 400 over Dale Earnhardt at the Darlington Raceway , Darlington, SC.
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2000
Rusty Wallace wins the Food City 500 over Johnny Benson at the Bristol Motor Speedway , Bristol, TN.
Max Papis won the Marlboro Miami Grand Prix for his first CART Champ Car victory.
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2006
Kurt Busch wins the Food City 500 over Kevin Harvick at the Bristol Motor Speedway , Bristol, TN.
Paul Dana... Died ... An American race car driver in the Indy Racing League. After competing in 3 Indycar series events, Dana suffered a spinal fracture while practicing for the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and missed the rest of the season, replaced by Jimmy Kite. He returned to the series to race for Rahal Letterman Racing after he recovered from his injuries. In the practice session for the first race of the 2006 IRL season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dana collided with Ed Carpenter's disabled car after Carpenter's tire went flat, thrusting the car into retaining wall, before sliding to the bottom of the track. Paul Dana, in the Rahal-Letterman car, was told to "go low" by his spotter. Slow-motion footage showed that Paul had hit debris from Ed's car just before impact, which caused damage to the right-front suspension. ABC/ESPN's telemetry indicated Dana's car hit Carpenter's car at about 176 mph, while Scott Sharp, who was running alongside Dana, reported that he had slowed to approximately 50 mph by the time of Dana's impact. Dana was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
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2011
Brent Marks won the 410 Sprint Car race over Jim Siegel, Greg Hodnett, Brian Leppo, Fred Rahmer, Alan Krimes, Aaron Ott, Gerard McIntyre Jr., Brian Montieth and Tyler Walker at the Lincoln Speedway , Abbottstown, PA. In the 358 Sprint Car feature Dale Hammaker was the winner over Billy Dietrich, Michael Ruttkamp, Cris Eash, Nathan Berwager, Brook Weibley, Logan Schuchart, Ted Thomas, Niki Young and Adrian Shaffer.
Jeff Strunk won the Race of Champions Cabin Fever Modified race over Jimmy Horton, Billy Decker, Stewart Friesen, Ryan Watt, Bobby Varin, Danny Johnson, Brett Hearn, Pat Ward and Frank Cozze Jr. at the New Egypt Speedway , New Egypt, NJ. In the Sportsman Stock Car feature Bob Lineman Jr. was the winner over Jeff Crambo, Clay Butler, Mike Lyons, Mike Butler, Kyle Borror, Rocco Infante, Brad Szulewski, Nick Petrilak and John Aumick.
Roy Deese Jr. won the Late Model race over Jamie Lathroum and Keith Jackson at the Winchester Speedway , Winchester, VA.
Kyle Busch won the Royal Purple 300 Nationwide Series race at the Auto Club Speedway , Fontana, CA. Carl Edwards was second followed by Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski and Jason Leffler.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the 38th annual Devil's Bowl Spring Nationals Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Car race over Shane Stewart, Jason Johnson, Danny Lasoski and Brian Brown at the Devil's Bowl Speedway , Mesquite, TX.
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2021
Kevin Nagy won the opening race of the 2021 season for the Delaware Auto Exchange MASS 305 Sprint Cars at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Bridgeport, NJ. Dave Brown finished second followed by Dom Melair, Rory Janney, Bryant Davis, Larry McVay, Zack Bealer, Cody West, John Brennfleck and Eddie Wagner.
Kevin Nagy (45) and Dave Brown (44) Battle for the lead. (Wheels of Speed Photo).

Michael "Buddy" Kofoid won the 30-lap Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget feature on the first night of the 8th annual Turnpike Challenge at I-44 Riverside Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK. This marks Kofoid’s third victory on the 2021 season, and he also goes down in the history books for the first to capture all three wins of any Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League to start the season. Daison Pursley was second followed by Jake Neuman, Bryant Wiedeman and Cannon McIntosh.
Justin Peck of Mooresville, Indiana, won the 25-lap 410 sprint car victory at Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA. for his first ever oval victory. T.J. Stutts was second followed by Chase Dietz, Tim Shaffer, Steve Buckwalter, Freddie Rahmer, Kyle Reinhardt, Ryan Taylor, Danny Dietrich and Kerry Madsen.
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