[Sandy Lowe]

OK, here's the final results:

Eight USAC Champions have won features in UMRA:

TONY STEWART
1994 & 1995 USAC National Midget Champion
1995 USAC National Sprint Champion
1995 USAC Silver Crown Champion

UMRA feature wins (11)
7/14/89 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN
7/18/89 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN
9/3/89 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN
9/4/89 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN
7/14/90 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN
7/17/90 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN
8/31/90 Bartholomew Co. Fairgrounds, Columbus, IN
6/29/91 New Paris Speedway, New Paris, IN
7/17/91 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN
7/23/93 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN
7/4/96 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN

TATE MARTZ
2004 & 2005 USAC Midwest Ford Focus Champion
2006 USAC Midwest Pavement Ford Focus Champion

UMRA feature wins (6)
8/31/06 Ripley Co. Fairgrounds, Osgood, IN
7/13/07 Bloomington Speedway, Bloomington, IN
7/20/07 Gas City I-69 Speedway, Gas City, IN
8/17/07 Vermillion Co. Speedway, Danville, IL
8/25/07 Mount Lawn Speedway, New Castle, IN
9/22/07 Mount Lawn Speedway, New Castle, IN

MIKE STREICHER
1991 USAC National Midget Champion

UMRA feature wins (2)
11/28/85 Salem Civic Center, Salem, VA
11/29/85 Salem Civic Center, Salem, VA

DUANE "PANCHO" CARTER, JR.
1972 USAC National Midget Champion
1974 & 1976 USAC National Sprint Champion
1978 USAC Champ Dirt Car Champion

UMRA feature wins (1)
7/21/70 Salem, IN (not Salem Speedway)

ROBBY FLOCK
1986, 1989, 1992 & 2002 USAC Western Midget Champion

UMRA feature wins (1)
7/24/81 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN

BOBBY MICHNOWICZ
2006 USAC California Dirt Ford Focus Champion

UMRA feature wins (1)
7/20/82 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN

GARY HOWARD
1989 USAC TQ Midget Champion

UMRA feature wins (1)
7/12/89 Vermilion Co. Raceway, Danville, IL

ROBBIE RAY
2003 USAC Indiana Ford Focus Champion
2005 USAC National Ford Focus Champion

UMRA feature wins (1)
6/30/01 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN

Originally Posted by Sandy Lowe OK, here's the final results: Eight USAC Champions have won features in UMRA: TONY STEWART 1994 & 1995 USAC National Midget Champion 1995 USAC National Sprint Champion 1995 USAC Silver Crown Champion UMRA feature wins (11) 7/14/89 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN 7/18/89 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN 9/3/89 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN 9/4/89 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN 7/14/90 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN 7/17/90 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN 8/31/90 Bartholomew Co. Fairgrounds, Columbus, IN 6/29/91 New Paris Speedway, New Paris, IN 7/17/91 Decatur Co. Fairgrounds, Greensburg, IN 7/23/93 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN 7/4/96 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN TATE MARTZ 2004 & 2005 USAC Midwest Ford Focus Champion 2006 USAC Midwest Pavement Ford Focus Champion UMRA feature wins (6) 8/31/06 Ripley Co. Fairgrounds, Osgood, IN 7/13/07 Bloomington Speedway, Bloomington, IN 7/20/07 Gas City I-69 Speedway, Gas City, IN 8/17/07 Vermillion Co. Speedway, Danville, IL 8/25/07 Mount Lawn Speedway, New Castle, IN 9/22/07 Mount Lawn Speedway, New Castle, IN MIKE STREICHER 1991 USAC National Midget Champion UMRA feature wins (2) 11/28/85 Salem Civic Center, Salem, VA 11/29/85 Salem Civic Center, Salem, VA DUANE "PANCHO" CARTER, JR. 1972 USAC National Midget Champion 1974 & 1976 USAC National Sprint Champion 1978 USAC Champ Dirt Car Champion UMRA feature wins (1) 7/21/70 Salem, IN (not Salem Speedway) ROBBY FLOCK 1986, 1989, 1992 & 2002 USAC Western Midget Champion UMRA feature wins (1) 7/24/81 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN BOBBY MICHNOWICZ 2006 USAC California Dirt Ford Focus Champion UMRA feature wins (1) 7/20/82 Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds, Madison, IN GARY HOWARD 1989 USAC TQ Midget Champion UMRA feature wins (1) 7/12/89 Vermilion Co. Raceway, Danville, IL ROBBIE RAY 2003 USAC Indiana Ford Focus Champion 2005 USAC National Ford Focus Champion UMRA feature wins (1) 6/30/01 Rush Co. Fairgrounds, Rushville, IN

Thanks Sandy.
I saw several of Stewart's TQ wins, but the most impressive was that one in July of 1991 at Greensburg. Tony drove Steve Schern's car that night. After a crash on the night before, Schern, Tony and several others worked through the night to reassemble the car. Tony did not crash it the night before, I think Jeff Hess was driving it but am not certain, but Wednesday night's driver helped get the car ready for Thursday night.
They pulled into the pits late, too late to qualify. I don't remember if they even got to run a heat race, if so they did not transfer and started deep in the semi-feature, if not last. Tony did start last in the feature and won it handily.
Steve Schern was a long time supporter of UMRA, having owned a car since the mid-1960s. His car could run well, but not well enough to win. He towed his car to the track in a home-made wooden car hauler and was just proud to be involved in racing. That night, his car was on a rail and Stewart had it flying. I never saw Steve with a bigger smile on his face.
We lost Steve a few years later, but he -- and many others like him -- was why I came to like the UMRA group. A bunch of men and women who just race for the pride of it.
Jim Morrison

[mtek56]

Saw the same race and have to agree with you that Stewarts drive thru the field to the front was very impressive. He was in a class by himself.

[Sandy Lowe]

Jim,

When you go back and look at the statistics I find it hard to believe that Stewart only won one pavement race. From 1989-1991 I show him competing in 7 completed pavement shows (1-win; 1-2nd; 2-3rds; 1-11th). In 2 of those races he must have had car problems because he does not show up in the feature results but he does in qualifications (2nd & 4th). It sure seems like it should have been more wins.

It's also kind of strange that the very tracks that Stewart won on are the ones that UMRA wants to get rid of. (At least it seems that way to me)

I really miss the good ole days of UMRA. Fair Week, Madison, Martinsville, Greensburg, Rushville, Columbus, etc.

I think the diversity of the tracks that UMRA used to run on was a big plus in getting drivers a lot of different experience in a short amount of time. If you look at their 1989 schedule they had 28 races. Rushville (4), Montpelier (4), Greensburg (4), New Paris (3), Angola (3), Anderson (2), Warsaw (2), Columbus (1), Danville, IL (1), Madison (1), Martinsville (1), Indiana State Fair (1), & the indoor show in Nashville, TN (1).

Ronnie Combs was the only driver to start all 33 features. He won 7 times (had a total of 23 top 5's) and took home the championship. Other feature winners were: Ronnie Ambrose (9), Tony Stewart (4), Wayne Mullikin (3), Jess Huggins (2), Page Jones (2), Terry Goff (1), Gary Howard (1), John Linville (1), Mark Rutter (1), and Bobby Smith (1). Some of the drivers that raced that year without winning features were Rick Beaver, Lynn Ambrose, Howard McCormick & Robert Nichols. What a list of drivers!

I don't think I'll ever forget the night that Ronnie Combs won his first feature. Were you there that night at New Paris? We ran double features that night and Combs set a new track record. He had to start 10th and won the first feature. We then inverted the top 10 finishers from the first race and Ronnie had to start 10th again. But this time Wayne Mullikin was on the pole. Wayne had equaled Ronnie's time in qualifying but had problems in the first feature (I think with Dick Young). Wayne led the whole race until going into turn 3 on the final lap he came up to lap Young and hesitated for just a moment & Ronnie just drove around the both of them and took the win. Unbelievable!

And what a rookie class that year. Rick Beaver, Tony Stewart, Lynn Ambrose, Gary *****, Jerry Frickman... And Travis Welpott and Oogie Goff made their first starts that year too.

And I'll say it again, I really miss those days.

[cmp]

Bobby Michnowicz also 1982 CRA co Rookie of the Year

[TQ97]

Sandy,

One race Tony would have won was discussed in his book, where he jumped the initial start twice, and they moved him to the tail, and he jumped again so they DQ'd him.

As for the schedule, we still run 4 at Rushville, 3 at Greensburg, 1 at Columbus. We haven't run Madison or Martinsville for at least 10 years. Insurance won't let us run at Shelbyville any longer. I think size and speed of the cars have something to do with a move away from the smaller fair tracks, as well, obviously as the amount of people we get in front of at a Lawrenceburg Sprint Week show, etc. We have 13 races this year and we run 10 races before we duplicate a track. Since I've been running, I don't remember that happening.

AJ

[Sandy Lowe]

Originally Posted by TQ97 One race Tony would have won was discussed in his book, where he jumped the initial start twice, and they moved him to the tail, and he jumped again so they DQ'd him.

AJ,

Was that at Warsaw?

I also remember when Tony's qualifying time was DQ'd at Rushville for a safety violation. Tony was already running USAC and had just run a race at IRP. I remember watching it in TV and noticing that he didn't have on a horse collar.

Well, he shows up at Rushville and completes his 2 qualifying laps & then is informed that it doesn't count because he doesn't have a horse collar on. I remember him running over to the announcer/scorer stand trying to get it straightened out. (I didn't make the call, the tech inspector did & it stood.)

That put him behind the 8-ball all night (since he didn't have a qualifying time) but I think he still got a top 5 in the feature.

I know what you mean about the safety of the fair tracks. But I still miss the old Rushville with 14 or 16 cars starting the feature. And how great was it to race in front of a packed house in which everyone who was there came to see UMRA. Where UMRA was the headliner and not the support series.

Sandy

[TQ97]

Not sure....I was thinking it was Angola. I know my father in law was the flagger that night and if you ask Nelson he still gets ticked off telling the story, because Tony probably would of lapped the field from the tail, lol.

I don't disagree on the old Rushville....the new Rushville...well, it makes me long for the old Rushville.

Originally Posted by TQ97 Not sure....I was thinking it was Angola. I know my father in law was the flagger that night and if you ask Nelson he still gets ticked off telling the story, because Tony probably would of lapped the field from the tail, lol. I don't disagree on the old Rushville....the new Rushville...well, it makes me long for the old Rushville.

Sandy
Unfortunately, I was not at New Paris the night of Ronnie Combs' dramatics. Probably was busy with my "real" newspaper job. I only made New Paris once, when Rick Baily was driving Larry Dwenger's pavement car. As happened a few times that year, Bailey set fast time, won the dash, the heat but dropped out of the feature. I think Ron Ambrose won in one of Larry's other cars. I might have seen Stewart run on pavement only once, and that would have been at Anderson. I believe Terry Goff won that night in one of Larry's cars so that might have put it before Tony started UMRA. If that's the case, I did not see Stewart on pavement until he started running USAC. I was there the day Stewart tested in O'Leary's midget and Chrisman's sprinter at Winchester, but am not certain of the year. Rode up with the Dwengers and shot photos.

That pavement car is still my favorite, in all divisions, with its beautiful candy-apple red paint job and graceful lines.

If my memory serves me correctly the move away from some of the traditional UMRA tracks began during the Linville tenure as president when it was stated several times the club should be running on "real" race tracks. On some of the old UMRA, safety issues were concerns. I was never at Martinsville but was often told this was the case there. Shelbyville had some its own issues, most importantly the lack of some type of safety devise separating the pits from the tracks. Granted, it set back from the track several feet but it was still possible for a car to get into the pits. Just ask Jason Goff who ran into the port-a-potty sitting just the pit side of the chain link fence.

I don't miss some of the tracks; I miss some of the people. The Ambroses, especially Hillbilly. Joan Dwenger, and the hole left when we lost Larry and Dick within three weeks of each other; Bill Case; Steve Schern and Lois; The Covingtons; Bob Lowe, Sandy, R.T. and their mother; Wayne Mullikin; Howard McCormick and even ol' Norm Trowbridge, the much cussed official who was always there to help in any way he could -- often sleeping in his van at the race track.

That is not to say there are not people like those in the club today. There are. The Goffs. Jerry Riley. Warren Welpot, Billy Reeves, Kevin Alford and many new faces. The think about UMRA is I have always been greeted with open arms and accepted into the family. You don't get that everywhere.
Jim Morrison

[OZ11]

Sandy, a known fact of what umra has done for us all. Its really helped Zac advance his skills. It wasnt usac but MSCS feature he won at Union County holding off Clayton that night was things he had learned from the likes of Terry Goff, Robert Nichols, Ron Ambrose, and Tony Stewart. We have moved on but will never forget the good old days with the umra club. I miss it alot. Thanks for the memories

JAY:checkered: