TODD GIBSON, 1969 USAC SPRINT WINNER, PASSES AWAY AT 83
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 2, 2020)………Todd Gibson, the pavement ace who raced to victory with the USAC National Sprint Cars in 1969, and competed on the USAC Championship trail during the 1960s and 70s, passed away December 1. He was 83 years old.
The Morral, Ohio native made 43 career USAC National Sprint Car starts, with his highwater mark in the series coming during the summer of ’69 when he scored his first and only career USAC victory at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. in the Bob Foster/John Kemper-owned No. 0, affectionately known as the Flintstone Flyer.
Gibson initially made his name in Supermodifieds, winning track championships in 1965-66 at Ohio’s Sandusky Speedway and in 1968 at New York’s Oswego Speedway.
He went on to make 23 IndyCar starts between 1969 and 1979, finishing in the top-ten on six occasions with a best result of 4th on the road course at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario behind A.J. Foyt, Gary Bettenhausen and Tom Sneva.
Todd’s footsteps were followed by his sons, Gene Lee and Larry Gibson, who were frequent competitors in USAC’s Silver Crown, National Sprint and National Midget divisions during the 1980s and 90s. Gene Lee was a winner of five USAC National Sprint Car races in his career.
Below is the race report from USAC News, recapping Todd Gibson’s victory at Berlin 51 years ago.
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FLINTSTONE FLYER GIBSON TAKES GRAND RAPIDS GO
By: Steve Kornacki
Grand Rapids, Michigan (August 1, 1969)………Todd Gibson captured his first USAC Sprint win Friday night at Berlin Raceway as the sprinters made their first visit to the 7/16-mile speedway in western Michigan.
As the lights turned on, qualifications got underway and it became apparent that the fans were rooting for the Michigan boys to come through. They were particularly partial to Johnny Benson, a former driver at Berlin making his first appearance in the sprints at the wheel of the Lang No. 85.
Greg Weld turned the track in the night’s fastest time with a lap at 16.86. Gary Bettenhausen got second quick time at 17.00 and estimated that the sprints were running in the 90mph bracket.
Todd Gibson and Rollie Beale shared the front row for the 30-lap feature. At the drop of the green, the pair were side-by-side at the first turn with Gibson coming out in front in turn two. Bill Puterbaugh, Cy Fairchild and Bettenhausen trailed.
In the first turn of the second runed, Clare Lawicki got into the fence and Bob Pratt and Ralph Liguori came together and hit the wall. All three cars were towed to the pits out of commission. The night’s fastest qualifier, Weld, had already fall to 8th with his front end “pushing.”
At the return of the green, Bettenhausen took fourth from Fairchild. Herman Wise pulled alongside of Cy’s number 36 in the third turn trying to drop him t sixth, but the two machines touched wheels and Wise spun to the infield, bringing ut the caution once again. He restarted at the tail end of the field.
Gibson retained command with Bettenhausen testing Puterbaugh for third. In turn, the number one was trying Beale for second. On lap five, Puterbaugh pulled alongside and the Industrial Hardwood Special took over second.
Gibson lengthened his lead over the second and third place drivers while Bettenhausen passed third running Rollie Beale before ten laps had passed.
Gibson held an easy 10-length lead over Puterbaugh who was consistently harassed by Bettenhausen. The only other yellow flag came on lap 22 when Sessions and Weld bumped, and the number 83 of Sessions slammed the third turn wall. However, the blue Gapco Special car was restarted without further incident.
At the 25-lap mark, Puterbaugh enjoyed a five-car length lead over Bettenhausen. But, as the pair came around for the white flag, Gary pulled alongside in turn one and passed in turn two. Going down the backstretch, the second generation driver had a full-length lead and held it to the finish.
Hometown favorite Benson held the attention of the crowd as he passed five cars to finish a credible seventh. Don Nordhorn turned in a good passing job as he came from 16th to 6th. Johnny Parsons wheeled the Iddings number 93 all the way from 17th to 10th.
Jim Hines flipped during qualifications but was uninjured.
Defending champ Larry Dickson broke a crank in the first heat and was forced to watch Bettenhausen whittle down his point lead.
Parsons also turned in a fine job in the semi as he placed second to former Supermodified driver Nordhorn.
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USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 1, 1969 – Berlin Raceway – Marne, Michigan
QUALIFYING: 1. Greg Weld, 6, Smith-16.86; 2. Gary Bettenhausen, 2, Davis-17.00; 3. Bill Puterbaugh, 71, Hughes-17.08; 4. Cy Fairchild, 36, Stahl-17.11; 5. Rollie Beale, 40, Kilman-17.14; 6. Todd Gibson, 0, Kemper-17.17; 7. Bob Pratt, 99, Besecker-17.19; 8. Herman Wise, 12, Ziegler-17.19; 9. Dee Jones, 32, LeFevre-17.24; 10. Larry Dickson, 1, Lay-17.26; 11. Johnny Benson, 85, Lang-17.28; 12. Sammy Sessions, 83, Gapco-17.29; 13. Clare Lawicki, 54, Benovich-17.31; 14. Carl Williams, 4, Hill-17.36; 15. Tom Bigelow, 84, Gehlhausen-17.40; 16. Ralph Liguori, 75, Thomas-17.40; 17. Don Nordhorn, 8, Smith-17.41; 18. Gil Hess, 73, Amerling-17.41; 19. Johnny Parsons, 93, Iddings-17.44; 20. Karl Busson, 17, Cedoz-17.46; 21. Don Brown, 19, Brown-17.50; 22. Bruce Walkup, 25, Smith-17.52; 23. Eldon Rasmussen, 88, Rasmussen-17.58; 24. Charlie Masters, 46, Fortney-17.64; 25. Bruce Jacobi, 59, Vitte-17.71; 26. Larry Cannon, 42, Cannon-17.81; 27. Ned Spath, 38, Alleman-17.84; 28. Doc Dawson, 78, Hoffman-17.88; 29. Wib Spalding, 20, Morse-17.93; 30. Billy Hughes, 52, Smith-18.04; 31. Lee Brayton, 45, Cook-18.29; 32. Duke Cook, 35, Nagel-18.29; 33. Jim Hines, 11, Welch-19.86; 34. Lee Kunzman, 16, Forberg-NT; 35. Lennie Waldo, 80, Wachholz-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Greg Weld, 2. Gary Bettenhausen, 3. Cy Fairchild, 4. Bill Puterbaugh, 5. Todd Gibson, 6. Rollie Beale, 7. Bob Pratt, 8. Herman Wise, 9. Dee Jones, 10. Larry Dickson. 2:16.53
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Rollie Beale, 2. Herman Wise, 3. Dee Jones, 4. Bob Pratt, 5. Sammy Sessions, 6. Johnny Benson, 7. Tom Bigelow, 8. Clare Lawicki, 9. Ralph Liguori, 10. Carl Williams. 2:19.33
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Tom Bigelow, 2. Johnny Benson, 3. Clare Lawicki, 4. Ralph Liguori, 5. Carl Williams, 6. Don Nordhorn, 7. Johnny Parsons, 8. Karl Busson, 9. Gil Hess, 10. Don Brown. 2:20.61
SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Don Nordhorn, 2., Johnny Parsons, 3. Karl Busson, 4. Gil Hess, 5. Don Brown, 6. Charlie Masters, 7. Bruce Walkup, 8. Larry Cannon, 9. Ned Spath, 10. Wib Spalding, 11. Billy Hughes, 12. Doc Dawson, 13. Bruce Jacobi, 14. Eldon Rasmussen. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Todd Gibson, 2. Gary Bettenhausen, 3. Bill Puterbaugh, 4. Rollie Beale, 5. Dee Jones, 6. Don Nordhorn, 7. Johnny Benson, 8. Greg Weld, 9. Tom Bigelow, 10. Johnny Parsons, 11. Sammy Sessions, 12. Herman Wise, 13. Karl Busson, 14. Carl Williams, 15. Don Brown, 16. Cy Fairchild, 17. Gil Hess, 18. Bob Pratt, 19. Ralph Liguori, 20. Clare Lawicki. NT
