McSpadden Claims 1st Ventura Win

Lealand McSpadden has won many major Midget and Sprint car races, but victories at Ventura Raceway have been hard to come by.

McSpadden, 45, of Tempe, Ariz., ended his Ventura drought Saturday night before 3,767 with a come-from-behind victory in the nationally televised U.S. Auto Club’s 30-lap Midget main event.

McSpadden, who spends most of his time on the CRA Sprint car tour, started in ninth position and had moved up to third by Lap 24.

That’s when the steering mechanism of leader Jimmy Sills’ car broke. The Placerville, Calif., driver bumped into Doug Kalitta of Ypsilanti, Mich., second at the time, and both drivers lost control. Kalitta’s car rolled over that of Sills, putting both out of the race.

After the track was cleared, McSpadden led to the checkered flag. Russ Gamester of Peru, Ind., finished second and Joe Gaerte of Rochester, Ind., and Ron Shuman of Tempe, Ariz., finished third and fourth. “I’ve been on my top, rolled it, finished in the back, and I finally won it here (Ventura),” said McSpadden, who has raced four other times at Ventura.

Midget 10-lap heat-race winners were Robert Dolacki of La Puente; Brett Horrobin of Auckland, N.Z.; Page Jones of Torrance; and George Ito of Oxnard. Sills transferred to the main event by winning the 12-lap semi-main. Also making the transfer were Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa, Gaerte and Kalitta.

Rick Hendrix of Simi Valley won the 20-lap three-quarter Midget main event after getting past Walt Johnson of Sun Valley on Lap 18. Marc Hart of Ventura was second and Scott Hansen of Simi Valley was third.

Three-quarter Midget eight-lap, heat-race winners were Cory Kruseman of Ventura, Kenny White of Ventura, Russ Nickell of Bakersfield and Hansen.