THE TRADITION OF CHAMP CAR RACING AT THE GROVE RETURNS
The return of the USAC Silver Crown series to the historic Williams Grove Speedway marks the continuation of a tradition that has been absent for 35 years with roots that date back to just after the end of World War II.
On April 14, 1946, Bernardville, New Jersey’s Walt Ader took the first recognized AAA National Championship points race at the Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania half-mile in the Ted Horn Engineering number 4, a 30-lap, 15-mile “Big Car” feature in which Ader had to contend with the likes of stuntman Joie Chitwood, three-time AAA National champion Ted Horn, the “Flying Farmer” Tommy Hinnershitz and 1949 Indianapolis 500 winner, Bill Holland.
Twenty-one AAA National Championship events were held at “The Grove” between 1946 and 1959 with one of the Horn/Schindler Memorial’s namesakes, Ted Horn, earning two National Championship wins among the 10 appearances at the track in 1946: one on April 28 and again three months later on July 28.
After a three-year sabbatical, starting in 1949, the AAA National Championship made an annual, yearly pilgrimage during the summer months to Williams Grove for non-championship events that carried no points toward the season’s standings.
The first such race, the “Indianapolis Sweepstakes” was a 50-mile event won by future USAC Stock Car champ Johnny Mantz in July 1949. Throughout the 1950s, the winners of championship races at “The Grove” included some of the most accomplished names in the sport, including Indianapolis 500 champions Troy Ruttman (1950 & 51), Jimmy Bryan (1955 & 56) and Rodger Ward (1959) as well as National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Famer Paul Russo (1952), three-time USAC Midget champ Jimmy Davies (1953 & 54) and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jud Larson (1957 & 58).
The lineage of history of Champ Car racing at Williams Grove extends to this year’s event. Ralph Liguori, who competed in, but did not qualify for the 1957 and 1958 USAC Championship races at Williams Grove, is a car owner for grandson Joe Liguori in Friday night’s race.
Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. is entered for the 100-lap, 50-mile event as well. His father, Bill, qualified 13th and finished 8th in the USAC Silver Crown series initial race at the track in 1980.
Casey Shuman is a series rookie in 2016, but his legendary father, Ron, competed in the two previous Silver Crown events at Williams Grove. He qualified 2nd and finished 14th after leading 16 laps in 1980. In 1981, Ron timed in second fastest again, but had to settle for a 16th place finish.
Billy Pauch, the recently announced 2016 “Horn/Schindler Memorial” grand marshal made 12 starts in his Silver Crown career, but none came at Williams Grove. However, Pauch was victorious in USAC’s last visit to the track in September 1996, a USAC National Sprint Car event. Pauch’s son, Billy Jr., will make his Champ Car debut Friday night at “The Grove.”
Friday night, we honor racing legends Ted Horn and Bill Schindler. Ted Horn’s biography is extensive. His record at the Indianapolis 500 is simply incredible despite not registering a win at the Brickyard. He finished in the top-four in nine consecutive starts from 1936 to 1948. In the meantime, he earned three consecutive AAA National Championships in 1946-47-48.
Middletown, New York’s Bill Schindler was an accomplished driver of midget, sprint and championship cars who competed at the Indianapolis 500 on three occasions from 1950-52. The 1952 “Springfield 100” winner is a member of both the National Sprint and Midget Hall of Fames.
Drivers will be shooting for a pair of long-standing track records held by the Kinser family on the half-mile. Steve Kinser’s one-lap record of 23.873 seconds from 1981 still holds as does Sheldon Kinser’s 100-lap mark of 46:01.60 from 1980.