Rauch Holds Off Challengers for Win at Ventura

Challenging the leader in any one of the opening-night races Saturday night before an ESPN audience at Ventura Raceway was a dangerous proposition.

Take the United State Auto Club’s 30-lap main event. Six times the second- and third-place drivers attempted to sneak past leader Keith Rauch of Arvada, Colo., only to either flip or spin out of the race.

In the end, Rauch had enough power and skill to hold off all challengers and claim the victory in a race that had only nine finishers out of a 20-car field.

Ricky Gray of Sepulveda finished second and Bob Davison of Running Springs was third.

Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa, attempting to set a USAC record for career main-event victories, flipped end over end on Turn 2 of Lap 16 while pressing Rauch and Jimmy Sills of Placerville for the lead. Tripp is tied with the late Rich Vogler with 131 wins.

Midget 10-lap heat-race winners were Johnny Parsons of Indianapolis, Ind.; Tripp; Kevin Doty of Milan, Ill.; and Terry Farrar of Ojai.

It was an accident-prone night in all the Midget races.

In the first heat race, Dale Sexton, Jr. of Riverside was attempting to get around leader Joe Winters of San Jose when Sexton made contact with Winters’ right rear tire which propelled Sexton into a six-flip crash into the Turn 1 retaining wall.

It took 15 minutes to cut Sexton free from the roll cage. He was transported to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura where he was reported to have sustained a head injury.