Sills Wins Midget Main Event for 2nd Consecutive Week

Most in attendance for the United States Auto Club’s Western States 30-lap Midget main event at Ventura Raceway had expected to see history made with Ron (Sleepy) Tripp of Costa Mesa on the outside starting front row Saturday night.

However, Jimmy Sills, a 37-year-old sprint car driver from Placerville, Calif., moved into the spotlight again after winning the Midget main event for the second consecutive week and a bonus purse totaling $3,000.

Tripp had been tied for four weeks with the late Rich Vogler for most USAC main-event wins (131) and he appeared to be on his way to No. 132 after taking the lead on the back straightaway of Lap 1, but his bid was short-lived.

After a yellow flag on Lap 2, Sills came from the sixth position and his quick reaction on the restart propelled him past Tripp, but his win wasn’t that easy.

P. J. Jones of Torrance, who had been racing in the Indy Lights Series the past few weeks, was back in his No. 21 Midget that had won the opening race of the season at Ventura with another driver.

Jones bumped Sills high into Turn 1 on Lap 7 and Jones had opened up a half-lap lead on the field by Lap 26 when his steering failed, sending his car into the wall where it slowly tipped over on its roll cage, bringing out the sixth yellow flag of the race.

Sills once again used his quick restart reactions to race past Whittier’s Robby Flock and into the winner’s circle again.

“When P. J. bumped me from the lead earlier in the race, it cost me five or six positions,” Sills said.

“I told him after the race that I had a good laugh when I went past him and saw him setting upside-down. It took something like that to happen for any of us to catch him.”

Flock finished second, Lealand McSpadden of Tempe, Ariz., was third, and Tripp took fourth.

Midget eight-lap heat race winners were Jones, Kevin Doty of Milan, Ill., McSpadden and Ricky Gray of Sepulveda.