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By ERALD JOHNSON Plainsman Sports Editor Mr. Excitement — it’s been Ron Droog’s nickname for a number of years and it fit to a tee Sunday night as the Aberdeen late model driver did it again, winning his ninth main event of the season out of 12 racing programs at State Fair Speedway. Droog’s heroic comeback win helped the crowd of 3,500 forget that the racing program lasted two hours and 45 minutes, marred by a dry slick track and numerous restarts. Bruce’s Roger Saathoff was the early leader in the late model main event, but Droog, who started sixth out of the 10-car field, had moved up to second after the opening lap. By the fifth lap, Droog was challenging Saathoff on the inside in curves three and four. The challenge continued down the front straight and into curves one and two where both cars got sideways and spun into the infield. The official ruling from the flagman put both drivers to the rear of the field on the restart and that’s when Mr. Excitement started to shine. With only four laps to go in the abbreviated 10-lap race, Droog had his work cut out. But, on the white flag lap, he passed both Dallas Lafferty of Reliance and Sheldon Reding of Harrold, who were running one-two, and it was another first place payoff for the Aberdeen ace. Droog said after the race he was not surprised by the ruling that both he and Saathoff would go to the rear on the restart. “T had been following Saathoff the whole race and he was running high, so I tried to get by him on the low side,’’ Droog explained. ‘“‘I was as low as I could get. I’ll take half the blame . . . it was just as much my fault as it was his.” What Droog didn’t know was that the race had been trimmed to 10 laps, thanks to the numerous restarts that pushed the usual two-hour racing program into overtime. “I figured if we had at least five laps to go, I could still make it. If it was under that, I was in trouble,” Droog said. ‘‘The openings were there for me. What can you say? When you win, there’s usually a certain amount of luck involved. Tonight, I got the breaks. Reding nosed out Lafferty for second and Saathoff, who was celebrating his 40th birthday, staged a comeback of his own to finish fourth. Fifth went to Rich Thomas of Aberdeen. For Droog, it was a clean sweep as he also won his heat race and the trophy dash. Saathoff won the other heat race. Huron’s Robbin Smith made it two in a row in the sportsman division, winning the 12-lap main event in easy form. A late charge by Doug Myers of Pukwana earned him second place, followed by Miller pilots Kent Wilson and Mike Mareska and Roscoe’s Terry Hettich. Smith, Wilson and Hettich were all heat winners with Wilson also claiming the trophy clash. The consolation was won by Dave Marlow of Redfield. The main event in the street stock division ended up being a slam-bang, four-lap trophy dash with Fred LaRoche of Lower Brule escaping with the win. Second went to newcomer Jeff Priebe of Pukwana, followed by Rick Hovde of Willow Lake, Doug Haber of Huron and Mike Hammill of Miller. Hovde and Mark Becker of Huron won the street stock heat races with Shawn Reed of Bruce winning the consolation and Lorin Johnson of Miller claiming the trophy dash. A total of 37 cars were on hand, comprising one of the biggest fields of the season. Racing action con tinues next Sunday night at 8 p.m. RON DROOG Mr. Excitement Wins Again ROBBIN SMIDT Two In A Row In Sportsman FRED LAROCHE Street Stock Main Event Winner
Newspaper Details
Huron Daily Plainsman
Huron, South Dakota, US
Mon, Aug 02, 1982
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Dustin H.
USA 04 Aug 2026
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