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| §a§aj§g‘ ' SSiiS** ii1-Race buttonTC, Gladsattempt to 1_ ¥Race buttons, as in past years, will be required for each person entering the TC 25* track for Saturday's race. Buttons will be on sale at the gate for three dollars for adults and one dollar for children under 12. Race officials have advised spectators that, with the new fencing that entirely surrounds the track, the main entrance will be at Rennie School Rd. Parking In that area will cost two dollars, which Includes a free race program. Officials further advised tint, although their is a spectator entrance at the north end of the track, parking costs in that area will not include race programs. Additional programs will be sold at the main building at track side. The TC 250 track . is located just south of Traverse City on ' U.S.- 31.By JOHN DAVIS,Record-Eagie staff writerTRAVERSE CITY - For the second year in a row, Leon McMahon of Traverse City will be at the front of the field when the 1976 running of the TC 250 gets underway Saturday, before an estimated crowd of 12,000 spectators.Race time at the *-mile oval, just south of Traverse City on U.S. 31, is set for 10 a.m., with pre-race ceremonies scheduled to start at 9 a.m.Retired snowmobile racer Roger Griner of Interior hen will act as master of ceremonies for the pre-race festivities, which. will also include appearances by Miss Traverse City Cynthia Downer, the TB 250 and 1-500 race queens and City Commissioner Ray Sutton.Griner, the only driver to compete in all six of the previous TC 250 races, finishing third in last year’s, will introduced the qualifying drivers, their sponsors and backup drivers prior to the start of the event.McMahon, along with Gene Denman Jr. , of Acme and George Patullo of Caro, the second and third place qualifiers, will then lead the field of 50 machines around the track for the start of the seventh annual 250-mile event;expected for TCTrack conditions have been described as good by race chairman Jack Rosely, as freezing temperatures in recent weeks have provided good opportunities for icing the surface, which is done with a 6,000 gallon water truck.“Usually when they’re, icing the: .track, they put down about eight or nine track loads a night,’’ said Rosely. So you can see that, as long as the weather siays cold, they can get quite a bit of ice down each time.Most- of the icing in recent days has been done mainly in the turns, according to Rosely. Temperatures areexpected to remain low enough to maintain a good ice base on the surface that turned to mud and slush in the early going in last year’s race, after temperatures suddenly rose the day before the event.The advanced -weather forecast by United Press International calls for a chance of snow Saturday, with lows from zero to 15 above and highs in the 20s. If that forecast is correct, track condi tions should remain good.Last .year’s warming trend came after a week of time trials had been run under excellent conditions, with theRECORD-EAGLEtrack record being broken by many drivers. McMahon emerged as the eventual pole-sitter with a speed of 78.045 miles per hour, almost seven mph faster than the previous trade record.Poor track conditions resulted in an average race speed of just under 50 mph, representing a decrease for the second straight year,McMahon, who captured the pole position this year with a speed of 77.172 mph, is using the same650cc Yamaha engine he used to set the record, but in a different chassis.His top qualifying run came Saturday morning, after Denman bad held the top spot since the opening time trials run Monday morning. Denman’s speed of 76.654, which kept him in second place, is the fastest ever recorded at a Triple Crown race time trials with a 440cc machine.McMahon said that the only concern with weather from a driver’s point of view is the possibility of snow drifting'.across, the track.“With all the snow we’ve been getting, there might be a problem with dusting for the first 25 laps or so, he said. “But the track surface itself appears to. be in excellent condition.Backup drivers for. McMahon are George Roush, Kim Cook and Bill Snyder, while Denman’s co-drivers are Scott-Worden, Larry Smith and Dave Reeves. All are from Traverse City,Accompanying Denman and McMahon in the front row will be Patullo, the 1972 winner, on a Polaris 436.Patullo is one of only two former winners in the field. The other is defending champion Jim Wohlfiekl ofPontiac, who is starting in 23rd place with a John Deere 650.Seven other local drivers are among the entrants in the all Micfaigna field, who will be competing for $17,850 in prize money. Included in that purse is five dollars per lap for the lead driver.First place is worth $6,000. while second is worth $2,800. The amount tapers off to $300 for 10th place, while the llth through 15th place finishers get $200 each, a new provision this year that was made available by cutting lap money from $10 to $5.Other local drivers and their starting positions are Dave Edmundson (16), Ron Wos (25); Jim Barnhart (29), AI Penney (35), Dave Prevo (37), Ragert Dohm (38) and Leonard Roush (43), all of Traverse City.Cut-off speed for this year’s race was 69.898 mph, while last year’s was 70.112. The overall reduction in speeds this year was attributed mainly to the closeness of the Traverse City and Alpena races, which are being run one week apart, limiting drivers to fewer qualifying attempts.The winner of that Alpena event, Dave Yarhouse of Evart is in the fifth starting position for Saturday’s race with an Artie Cat 650. Among'the popular drivers not entered in the race, is last year’s second-place finisher and former 1-500 winner Leroy Linblad, of Rousseau. Minn.
Newspaper Details
Traverse City Record Eagle
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Fri, Jan 23, 1976
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Traverse A.
MI, USA 23 May 2024
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