Another Bill Dowd article from 1969. Also included is the advertisment from the same page for the opener @ Shangri-La (check out the crowd!)
from the Binghamton Press April 25, 1969
Checkered Flag
by Bill Dowd
Four former sportsman-modified champions head the list of drivers for the Shangri-La Speedway's season opener tomorrow night. But it wouldn't surprise the aficionados to see some relative newcomers make a strong bid for top honors at the Owego track this year.
Gary Reddick and Binghamton's Wayne Meade and Larry Grover, who ran well in the S-M feature at Fulton Speedway Sunday, 1967 Chemung Speedrome champ Bryan Osgood, Maine's Bill Marean, who drove on the United Racing Club sprint car circuit the last few years, and experienced Graeme Bolia in a new car appear to be the best of the crop of young drivers.
The old standbys shoot for the big cut of the $2,600 S-M purse when tomorrow's program begins at 7:30 p.m. Defending S-M champ Jerry Hayes of Castle Creek, two-time Press "Driver of the Year" Don Diffendorf of Kirkwood, Bath's Dutch Hoag and Candor's "Bullet Bill" Strosahl have all won titles at Shangri-La.
Hayes will be in action despite doctor's orders not to race. He's had two operations on his left leg that was mangled in a Lancaster Speedway crackup last season. Hoag may have a new Dodge-powered car ready and Diff is already driving a new rig.
In the late model class, a cut better than the former modern class which included just about everything from Model A Fords to jazzed-up Henry J's, perennial champ Jim Zacharias of Endicott is the man to watch in his new Buick. The late model regulations rule out cars with bodies manufactured before 1955 or after '62. Overhead engines are also out.
Two safety factors have been made mandatory in both classes this season- fuel cells to eliminate the danger of spillled, flaming gasoline from a ruptured tank, and 3 safety bar minimum on the driver's side. Haye's injury came about when another car's bumper crashed through the weak area that the bar rule will strengthen.
Three qualifying races for guaranteed starting spots in big-track extravaganzas will be held- the May 17 Pocono International Raceway qualifier, the Aug. 9 Langhorne qualifier and an unscheduled-as-yet Trenton qualifier, all at 50 laps.
Area Sports Car drivers get into racing action tomorrow at Lime Rock, Conn., site of a Sports Car Club of America regional race meet.
Binghamton's Fran Larkin and harold Lindsay of Vestal, the Southern New York Region-SCCA "Driver of the Year" in 1968, will both be in action. Larkin is entered in an SR Cooper-Ford, reworked from his previous outing in the car in which he won a Watkins Glen race last October.
Lindsay, who will have to burn the midnight oil to get his KLT Special ready for the DSR running after late delivery of new parts, has a Jabro Mark 4-bodied car which he was driven to the SCCA's Southwest (Texas area) Division title in 1967.
Doug March of Vestal, who ran 12 races last year, has tentative plans to run at Lime Rock next month after completing work on his Formula Vee. March holds the FV lap record at Watkins Glen.
Pit Stops: Bentley Waren, the Massachusetts hotshot who made such an early splash at Shangri-La last season, has been running with the ARDC midgets at Freeport Stadium on Long Island. He took third in a consi race there last Sunday... Upstate track openings- Albany-Saratoga Speedway (NASCAR stockers), Friday, May 2; Oswego Speedway (super modifieds), Saturday, May 31; Chemung Speedrome (stocks), Saturday, May 3; Five-Mile Point (stocks), Saturday, May 10; Lebanon Valley Speedway (stocks), tomorrow night; Pennsy track openings- Penn Can Speedway (stocks), Friday, May 16; Pocono International (super modifieds for first week), Sunday, May 4; Dorney Park Speedway (stocks), near Allentown, tomorrow night... Bill Wimble of Rome, former NASCAR sportsman champion, has decided to retire from competition... Trenton Speedway beat Sunday's checkered flag and completed its track rebuilding early this week. The 1 1/2- mile banked, paved track was to be the site of the 8th annual Trenton 200 Sunday but rain forced postponement until Saturday, May 3... Chris Amon and Mario Andretti won the pole position for today's Monza 1,000-kilometer race in their Ferrari 312-P.