KINSER/LEAVITT WON SILVER CROWN VISITS TO THE GROVE IN 1980/1981

It’s been 35 years since the USAC Silver Crown Series last visited Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania’s legendary half-mile Williams Grove Speedway.  In the most recent visit back in 1981, Kearney, Missouri’s Eddie Leavitt took the victory aboard the Schmidt number 53.  One year prior, in 1980, northeastern USAC racing stalwarts, the Seymour Enterprises team, took the win with Bloomington, Indiana’s Sheldon Kinser at the controls.

Let’s revisit the full rundown of the results from those two events as we prepare for the Friday, June 10th "Horn/Schindler Memorial" 100-lapper for the Silver Crown cars.

The “Horn-Schindler Memorial” featuring the USAC Silver Crown series as well as the ARDC Midgets gets underway with pit gates opening at 3:30pm, the drivers’ meeting at 6:30pm, hot laps at 7pm and ProSource qualifying at 7:30pm.  General admission adult tickets are just $25, persons age 13-20 get in the gates for $10 while children 12 and under are FREE!

USAC CHAMPIONSHIP DIRT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 5, 1980 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway

QUALIFYING: 1. Steve Chassey, 15, Kurtz/DiGeronimo-24.121; 2. Ron Shuman, 55, Middleton-24.250; 3. Pancho Carter, 21, Capels-24.270; 4. Robert Smith, 18, Jo-Ol-24.483; 5. Joe Saldana, 33, Johnson-24.517; 6. Sheldon Kinser, 29, Seymour-24.534; 7. Rich Vogler, 49, Siebert-24.652; 8. Tom Bigelow, 56, Hammond-24.693; 9. Bobby Olivero, 1, Leader Cards-24.794; 10. Kramer Williamson, 4, Amerling-24.828; 11. Duke Cook, 58, DePalma-24.966; 12. Greg Leffler, 43, Armstrong-25.013; 13. Bill Puterbaugh, 7, Linsmeyer-25.058; 14. Chris Cumberworth, 87, Lang-25.242; 15. Gary Hieber, 77, Haller-25.319; 16. Lennie Waldo, 71, B.U.F.-25.352; 17. Smokey Snellbaker, 54, Lloyd-25.366; 18. Steve Cannon, 10, AA Racing-25.535; 19. Van May, 16, Smith-25.615; 20. Bill Tyler, 17, Smith-25.893; 21. Mack McClellan, 20, Peterson-Niebel-25.971; 22. Frankie Schneider, 31, Mataka-26.057; 23. Paul Pitzer, 45, Harmon-NT.

FEATURE: (100 laps): 1. Sheldon Kinser, 2. Kramer Williamson, 3. Robert Smith, 4. Steve Chassey, 5. Rich Vogler, 6. Mack McClellan, 7. Lennie Waldo, 8. Bill Puterbaugh, 9. Gary Hieber, 10. Tom Bigelow, 11. Bill Tyler, 12. Pancho Carter, 13. Frankie Schneider, 14. Ron Shuman, 15. Duke Cook, 16. Steve Cannon, 17. Chris Cumberworth, 18. Joe Saldana, 19. Van May, 20. Bobby Olivero, 21. Greg Leffler, 22. Smokey Snellbaker, 23. Paul Pitzer.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Chassey, Laps 14-63 P.Carter, Laps 64-79 Shuman, Laps 80-100 Kinser.

YELLOW FLAGS: Laps 36-41 Saldana stalled in turn 3, Laps 52-55 Bigelow spun in turn 3, Laps 88-94 P. Carter slid into the turn one fence.

ORGANIZER: Jack Gunn

WEATHER: Clear, Hot

AVERAGE SPEED: 65.180 mph

TIME: 46:01.60

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USAC CHAMPIONSHIP DIRT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 5, 1981 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway

QUALIFYING: 1. Steve Kinser, 75, King-23.873; 2. Ron Shuman, 90, Howard-23.900; 3. Paul Pitzer, 51, GCQ Racing-23.965; 4. Smokey Snellbaker, 54, Lloyd-24.218; 5. Barry Camp, 71, B.U.F. Racing-24.233; 6. Joe Saldana, 49, Cook-24.285; 7. Roger Rager, 29, Seymour-24.291; 8. Rich Vogler, 3, Vance-24.348; 9. Kramer Williamson, 34, Amerling-24.359; 10. Gary Patterson, 45, Aden-24.349; 11. Johnny Parsons, 44, Armstrong-24.456; 12. Ken Schrader, 39, Fortune-24.493; 13. Bill Tyler, 7, Lang-24.505; 14. Eddie Leavitt, 53, Schmidt-24.564; 15. Greg Leffler, 43, Armstrong-24.591; 16. Larry Rice, 55, Middleton-24.702; 17. Tom Bigelow, 17, Smith-24.751; 18. Steve Cannon, 42, Marcello-24.753; 19. Larry Dickson, 18, Jo-Ol-24.825; 20. Jack Hewitt, 58, DePalma-24.828; 21. Gary Gray, 83, Gray-24.891; 22. Mark Alderson, 97, Enslow-24.964; 23. Johnny Coogan, 50, Miller/Vetzel-25.161; 24. Gary Hieber, 47, Hieber-25.167; 25. Bill Compton, 22, Compton-25.289; 26. Charlie Svetec, 60, Murray-25.316; 27. Duke Cook, 25, AA Racing-25.322; 28. Bud Wilmot, 84, Wilmot-26.398; 29. Richard Powell, 77, Powell-27.037; 30. Sheldon Kinser, 11, Leyba-NT; 31. Karl Busson, 31, Mataka-NT.

FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (20 laps) 1. Pitzer, 2. Steve Kinser, 3. Camp, 4. Williamson, 5. Rager, 6. Parsons, 7. Leffler, 8. Hewitt, 9. Alderson, 10. Bigelow, 11. Hieber, 12. Tyler, 13. Wilmot, 14. Svetec. 13:31.10

SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (20 laps) 1. Shuman, 2. Snellbaker, 3. Saldana, 4. Vogler, 5. Leavitt, 6. Schrader, 7. Rice, 8. Gray, 9. Patterson, 10. Cook, 11. Coogan, 12. Powell, 13. Dickson, 14. Compton. 11:49.73

FEATURE: (100 laps): 1. Eddie Leavitt, 2. Barry Camp, 3. Jack Hewitt, 4. Roger Rager, 5. Steve Kinser, 6. Joe Saldana, 7. Ken Schrader, 8. Tom Bigelow, 9. Gary Gray, 10. Mark Alderson, 11. Rich Vogler, 12. Larry Rice, 13. Greg Leffler, 14. Smokey Snellbaker, 15. Duke Cook, 16. Ron Shuman, 17. Paul Pitzer, 18. Gary Patterson, 19. Kramer Williamson, 20. Johnny Parsons.

ORGANIZER: Nick Toro