By Kyle Ealy
Back in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, one of the mainattractions of many county fairs in the
You made darn sure you got there early on the day of therace to grab a good seat; because this was the only opportunity you’d get tosee the stars and cars of IMCA. People came from near and far to see the bigboys of auto racing competing at their hometown track.
One of the traditional stops for the IMCA stock cars was theNorth Iowa Fair in
Art Combs would win at Mason City on August 19, 1951.
On
Forthe last 40 miles, it was Combs, Froy, an Englishman from Tucson, Ariz., andMagnison, a Minneapolis pilot, electrifying a crowd of 6,000 plus as they ranbumper to bumper, exchanging the lead numerous times. With about 10 lapsremaining Magnison, driving a 1951
HoweverMagnison seemed to come from nowhere and pulled up on the leader to make afinal bid on the last turn. Riding high, he pushed the throttle in a desperateattempt to overtake Combs, but scraped the fence and momentarily lost controlof his car and finished second. Only 11 of the 21 starters finished thegrueling 100-miler.
Wally Dahl of
Dahldrove his battered
RalphDyer of
Shorty Perlick
Shorty Perlick, also of
As the 1953 season was winding down, Ernie Derr of
ErnieDerr beat out his brother-in-law, Don White, by just about a car length in the100-mile race Saturday afternoon before an estimated 3,500 spectators. Derrdrove a1952 Olds to beat out White, who wheeled a 1953 Olds.
Eachwas going hard for the first place money of $500 and as the race moved alongthey kept going faster and faster while lapping other cars in the field. Theirspeed was such that during the last half of the race they each were weavingthrough the field and covering each lap of the track in less time than the bestqualifying time posted prior to the grueling race.
Whenthe program started, it appeared it would be a bad day for racing. The trackwas wet and slippery and the cars could get no traction for about the first 25miles during the light drizzle of rain. The field of 19 drivers eventuallypacked the wet stuff and it was a lightning quick surface the remainder of theway. Halfway through the race Derr held first spot and White was second withHerschel Buchanan of
JohnnyBeauchamp of
Unfortunately,their were no newspaper accounts of the 1954 race at
Herschel Buchanan
The1955 race was billed just like the previous affairs before; 200 laps and 100miles. But it would finally be called after 101 circuits on August 13. Numerousaccidents, terrible track conditions and lack of light curtailed the event andthe end couldn’t come soon enough for the 4,500 fans in attendance.
HerschelBuchanan of
Pottergot the jump to lead at the beginning of the marathon and Buchanan wouldchallenge Potter throughout, his front bumper never straying too far fromPotter’s rear fender. On lap 66, Potter suddenly shot into the fence on thenortheast curve of the half-mile oval.
Buchananinherited the lead and was out front when the checkers dropped a lap after themidway point. Tiny Lund of Harlan, in a ’55 Chevrolet, was scored in second,Bill Harrison of
Buthold on a minute…
Potterwould enter a protest that Buchanan was the cause for him going through thefence, bumping him from behind. Observers from the infield by the northeast turnbacked up Potter’s omission, saying they witnessed Buchanan giving Potter ashove with the use of his front bumper. After some heated discussion, officialsfrom IMCA would still declare Buchanan the winner of the race, despite adamantprotests from Potter and others.
Theprogram got off to a sour start and it would go downhill from there. A sevencar pile-up ensued shortly after the green flag dropped in the feature, takingout notable such as Newt Bartholomew of Carlisle, Iowa, Dick Houdek of Wichita,Kan., and Bob Hilmer of Dysart. There was nearly an hour delay while crewsrepaired the fence and re-graded the racing surface. The yellow flag would waveeight more times before the race finally came to a finish.
JohnnyBeauchamp of Harlan showed why he was the leader in the IMCA stock car nationalpoint standings earning his 19th feature win of the season on
Anoverflow North Iowa Fair crowd of between 4,000 and 5,000 with hundreds morewatching the 100-mile race from the infield after all space was taken in thegrandstand and bleachers.
Beauchampwas driving a 1956 Chevrolet while Funk was behind the wheel of a ’56 Dodge.Beauchamp’s winning time was 1 hour, 51 minutes and 20 seconds, whichestablished a new record previously owned by Wally Dahl in the ’52 race. Even amulti-car pileup on the west turn early on in the feature couldn’t slow downthe record-breaking effort.
Theaccident claimed four top contenders and certainly made Beauchamp’s march tovictory lane that much easier. Knocked out of the running were; Chub Liebe ofOelwein, Bernie Hentges of
Afterthat, Beauchamp and Funk were well ahead of the rest of the pack. To show howdominate Beauchamp was in the race; the last five laps he ran in the race wereactually faster than his qualifying laps in time trials.
TheMason City Globe Gazette reported that the field of cars was not as big asexpected and the program was delayed an hour. “That was probably due to the fact that many of the drivers weredetained in their trip by the highway patrol. Many drivers were pulled over andticketed for illegal towing of their race cars. One of the drivers had to pay awrecker $25 to pull him from
Beauchampwould give a repeat performance on
Burdick,driving out of
Despitethe dust, another record crowd of 5,200 saw the Saturday afternoon race, makingit one of the larger crowds to witness a sports event in
PromoterAl Sweeney called the scheduled 200-lap race at 101 circuits, citing the racingsurface was too dusty and too dangerous to continue. Beauchamp’s winning timefor the 50.5 miles completed was outstanding; 55 minutes and 11 seconds.
Takingsecond in the race was Lennie Funk of
Anyoneof the estimated 4,000 racing fans who saw the 100-mile MCA stock car race atthe North Iowa Fair on
Theman who performed the act was Don White, the IMCA national stock car pointleader. He smashed the listed mark by nearly a minute - a little more than 50seconds to be exact. The Keokuk speedster was driving a 1958 Ford.
Whitewhizzed the 200 laps at better than a 60 mile per hour clip on the fast trackas he went inside, outside and up the middle in easily whipping all but two other drivers. His timewas 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 3 seconds. The old mark, set at the Minnesota StateFair in 1956, was 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 53 seconds set by Johnny Beauchamp ofHarlan.
Whitewas so dominant, he took a 30-second pit stop to take on more gasoline anddidn’t even miss his place in line. But at the time he held a 2-lap lead overhis brother-in-law Ernie Derr and Bob Burdick of
Derrand Burdick finished second and third respectively, each covering 199 laps. In thefourth position was Scott Cain, a newcomer from
Whitealso set a local record in the half-mile qualifying with a mark of 28.56seconds. The old mark was held by Beauchamp last year at 29.81 seconds.
Anotherrecord of sorts was set as well that afternoon. According to promoter AlSweeney of National Speedways, Inc., no caution flags flied that afternoon, thefirst time that had ever (or never) happened in a 100-mile race, Sweeneyremarked.
Again,for a lack of information, I don’t have much in the way of details for the racethat occurred on
There would be no IMCA stock car races at the fair in 1960.Modified stock cars (rained out) and Aut Swenson’s Thrillcade would be thefeature auto attractions that year.
The IMCA stock cars would return to
Acrowd estimated at 2,000 saw the afternoon sprint show. The evening affair, whichwas under the lights at the
Inthe 50-mile nighttime finale, the fans almost witnessed an upset. Derr postedquick time in qualifying (28.48) and the Keokuk star proceeded to take theearly lead. Chub Liebe would press Derr and on lap 25, the Oelwein veterannudged ahead of Derr and was off to the races.
Liebehad his car hooked up on this day, building up a commanding lead on Derr andthe rest of the field. Unfortunately, Liebe’s bid for first prize would fall 8laps short. The rear end on his car would break, slowing Liebe to a snail’space and allowing Derr and the rest of the field to catch up. Derr would passLiebe as he pulled into the infield.
Derrcollected $415 for the victory, his eighth of the ’61 season. Bob Reynolds of
Derrset a track record for the 50-mile race of 46 minutes and 6 seconds, more thanfive minutes under his own mark set in May of this year of 51 minutes and 19seconds. Derr also set a qualifying time of 28.48 seconds to start theafternoon. To show how fast they were going at night, Liebe actually turnedone lap in the 50-mile race of 26.91 seconds. The Friday night rainshelped the track and it was in near perfect shape by Saturdaynight.
Forany of you old-timers out there who were fortunate enough to follow the IMCAstock car series back in the 50’s and 60’s, you know as well as anyone it wasbig news across the
So,on Sunday evening,
Thewinner of the feature race of the day’s doubleheader was Mert Williams of
Itappeared that it would be another typical “Big Three” day. Derr was the winnerin a 25-lap sprint affair during the afternoon. In the evening, he won a 10-1appreliminary race in the record time of 4 minutes and 43 seconds to snap a markhe had set a year ago. And Stott, in the afternoon, had set a new qualifyingmark of 28.15 seconds for the half-mile oval.
Underthe lights, Stott led the 100-lap, 50-mile feature until the 36thlap when mechanical failure forced him from the race. Chub Liebe, who almostwon the year before, also dropped out. That left Derr alone – almost - with thelead and Williams close behind.
LikeLiebe the year before, Derr looked like he had the race in the bag. Although Williamswas still in his rear-view mirror, the always smooth driving Derr looked to bein total command. But on the 94th lap, Ernie would start to slow withdifferential trouble. To the delight of the race fans, Williams sped his 1962
GilHaugen of Sioux Falls, S.D., in a 1961 Plymouth was second and Eddie Harrow,the Texas champ from Corpus Christi in a 1962 Ford, was third, Jerry McCredieof Keokuk, took fourth and Derr managed to limp home in fifth.
Therewould be no IMCA stock cars for the 1963 North Iowa Fair and unbeknownst toeveryone at the time, when the popular series rolled into
Itwould be only fitting that the most dominant driver in IMCA stock car serieshistory win the very last North Iowa Fair race. And Ernie Derr would go outwith a bang…
The“Keokuk Komet” would have another field day that Sunday and when he hadfinished his afternoon and evening series of wins and record smashing, Derrloaded his 1964
Itwas your typical Ernie Derr day at the office; in the afternoon he led off bysetting a new qualifying record of 26.03 seconds. This was well under the markof 26.8l set by Dick Hutcherson. Hutcherson, the point leader on the IMCAcircuit, did not compete in the
Alsoon the afternoon program, Derr set a pair of dash records in winning. The firstcame over five laps at 2 minutes and 21.85 seconds and the next when he took the 25-lap featurein 11 minutes and 33.87 seconds.
Buthis day wasn’t finished. During the evening show, before about 3,200 racingfans, Derr copped a 10-lap heat event to get loosened up for the big 100-lapfeature race. Then the record smasher went out and took the windup in 44minutes and 40 seconds, not a record but still an excellent performance.
LennieFunk, the Otis,
And that’s what Funk did – for a while. Derr,starting on the pole position, led for 19laps with Funk right on his tail.Derr hit loose dirt high on thesouthwest corner of the trackand Funk shot in front.
Drivinga 1964 Ford, he held the lead until the 44th lap when he got into some loosedirt himself on the northeast corner and Derr recaptured the lead. It was Derr allthe way from that point and Funk had to go to the pits on the 83rd lap becauseof low oil, lost three laps and finished seventh.
OleBrua of
Eventhough the modifieds and hobby stocks would be the headliner at the North IowaFair starting in 1965 and for years to come, the IMCA stock cars would alwaysbe remembered for bringing star power to the half-mile in Mason City.
