A tribute to the late, great Playland Speedway, Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the racers that made it so
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1974 season. After two winters of hard work and devotion, Dutch and I finally rolled the chevelle out of the garage. Done. It has the same 350 in it that I ran last year and the same tire combination (12" rain tires). Decided to put it in the auto show. Came in third place and got a real nice trophy. LETS' GO RACING! 
I AM PLANNING ON RACING THE CHEVELLE AT LINCOLN AND THE "57 AT PLAYLAND. BOTH CARS ARE READY. It is a good year for sponsors: Jimmy Flynn's tavern- $150, Sutherland Lumber, Lincoln-$350, K&M Contractors-$100, D&M Muffler-$50, Schlitz-$150, Ray Kaut-$200, TOTAL- $1000 Dave's '64 Chevelle Build First race- Playland- May 11th- Won my heat. Came in 2nd in the trophy dash and 3rd in the "A" Feature. The '57 is running like old times. '57 has got the 327 that I built 3 years ago. Won $90. Second race- Playland- May 18th- rained out Second race- Playland- May 25th- ran part of a heat and got rained out Second race- Playland- May 27th, 1974- Memorial Day Race- Luck isn't with me this year. Was running good in the heat, then cut my tire on Paul Zdan's tire. So my only chance to get into the "A" Feature is to qualify through the "C" and "B". I worked my way up to 5th in the "A". Something happened to the car. The brakes went out so I fell back to 9th. Won $60. Third race- Playland- June 1, 1974- '57 is running terrific. Figured out how to get it around the track. Won the trophy dash, came in 2nd in the "A". Won $135. Fourth race- Playland- June 8 and 9th, 1974- Rained out. - June 12th, 1974- Ruined the radiator in the heat. Came in 2nd in the "B" and 8th in the "A". WOn $30. I've decided to quit racing because of all the work involved. Kathy talked me into racing the rest of the year. I decided to put the '57 to rest and run the chevelle the rest of the season. Fifth race- Playland- June 15th, 1974- Ruined head gasket in the warm-ups with the chevelle. Sixth race- Playland- June 19th, 1974- "HAWKEYE CHALLENGE"- came in 2nd in the heat, 4th in the trophy dash and 4th in the "A". Won $110. Seventh race- Playland- June 29th, 1974- Had grand slam. Won all three races for a total of $230. Denny is driving the '57 because he wrecked his own car. he won the "B" and I got $30 from him. Eighth race- Playland- July 6, 1974- Came in 4th in my heat and 5th in the "A" Feature. Won $55. Denny got 7th in the "A". I got $20. Ninth race- Playland- July 13, 1974- Came in 4th in the heat. In the "A" Feature, was doing real well (about 5th) when the spindle broke on the left front tire and I flew up in the air about 5 feet- then landed. Got the wind knocked out of me but otherwise was ok. Won $5.00 Tenth race- Playland- July 20, 1974- Came in first in the heat. Blew a transmission in the "A" Feature. Won $15. Denny Won $25. Eleventh race- Playland- July 27, 1974- Came in 3rd in the heat, and 6th in the "B". Blew another transmission but was able to finish the race. Won $45. Won $25 from Denny. Twelfth race- Playland- August 3, 1974- Came in 4th in the heat, and 2nd in the "A". Won $115. No winnings from Denny. Thirteenth race- Playland- August 11, 1974- We were rained out last night and are making it up tonight. Came in 4th in the heat, and 4th in the "A". Won $70. Got n $17 from Denny. Total $87. Fourteenth race- Playland- August 17, 1974- Came in 3rd in the heat, and 5th in the "A". Won $65. Denny gave me $15 and Dave Widtfeldt gave me $20 for renting the 327 engine. Total $100. Fifteenth race- Playland- August 24, 1974- Came in 5th in the heat, and 7th in the "A". It's getting harder to keep up with the other guys. I am going to have to do something if I'm going to get point champion. Won $35 and $20 from Dave. Denny locked up his engine, done for the year. Sixteenth race- Playland- August 31, 1974- Came in 4th in the heat, and 5th in the "A" Feature. We decided to make a gear change- went from a 790 final to an 861 final to try and get the engine to work better and it did. We went for broke and made it. Clinched the point championship by 3 points. Won $60- $20 from Dave. Total winnings $2,184 $321 from Denny and $60 from Dave W. I've decided to quit racing. I'm tired of it. Dad doesn't want me to quit and I can't face up to it. Heb understands my point of view. I don't know about Kathy. Dutch wants what I want. 44 is dead. Long live 44!! Download 10.94 Mb. Share with your friends:
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