I have refered to these races a few times in the past; to spare you the search job there were five in all, two in 1927 and one each in 1928, 1930 and '31. There were also some occasional "non-championship" races run in conjunction with the National Championship races at Detroit and Syracuse in the twenties, thirties and early forties. In short, they were support races for (mostly) local dirt track racers, sometimes called "semi-professional races", or "class B events". The cars were the usual dirt track racers of the time, what would be called "Sprint Cars" today.
The 1927 Labor Day meet had a huge entry for the supporting event, at least 36 cars, although only twenty were allowed to start the fifty-miler. Time trials were held in the week leading up to the Sunday before the race, but most drivers appear to have qualified on the Friday. For some reason, five of the twenty fastest entries were disqualified before the race (I either forgot to make a note, or it wasn't properly explained in the sources I used), and only two non-qualifiers joined in to make a field of seventeen. First price was $1,000 (as compared to $7,000 in the Championship event), and second through fifth paid $500, $300, $150 and $75, respectively. The last four entries to retire received consolation prices of $25 each.
Results:
1 Henry Turgeon (RI), #34 Fronty (owner Henry Turgeon), 32'58.4"
2 Benrard "Tubby" McGinley (PA), #17 Chevrolet (owner Bernard McGinley), 33'48.8"
3 Marty Klaus (PA), #25 Essex (owner Marty Klaus), 34'17.4"
4 Ernest Mistlebauer (PA), #14 Olds (owner Ernest Mistlebauer), 35'22"
5 Eddie Murphy (NJ), #36 Fronty, 36'18"
R Frank Bly (PA), #18 Charleroi, 24 laps
R Freddie Bianchi (PA), #45 Bianchi, 23 laps
R Bill Lightner (PA), #31 Fronty, 19? laps
R Guy Clapper (PA), #22 Ford, 21? laps
R Carl Keppler (OH), #19 Fronty Ford, 12 laps
R Tony Boyle (PA), #6 Foster, 11 laps
R Gordy Condon (PA), #8 Dodge (owner Dewey Closson), 9 laps (engine)
R Charley Wall (PA), #5 Scott, 8 laps
R Frank Hollman (PA), #7 Haller, 6 laps
R Speed Gardner (PA), #2 Flying Cloud, 4? laps (engine)
R Lew Shingle (PA), #9 Dodge, 5? laps
R Clifford Hudson (PA), #27 Chevrolet, 1 lap
DNS Ivan Mikan (PA), #11 Fronty, DQ
DNS Lawrence "Mike" Hickson (PA), #12? Bupp, DQ
DNS Joe Spath (PA), #4? Salvatora, DQ
DNS Lou Schempp (PA), #35? Burgwin, DQ
DNS W. T. Morris (PA), #29 Fronty Ford, DQ
DNS Tom Sheehan (PA), #23? Ford, too slow?
DNS William Bordonaro (PA), #3 Oakland, accident in Q
etc.
Time Trials:
1 Gardner, 43.4"
2 Lightner, 45.6"
3 Mikan, 46.2"
4 Boyle, 47.2"
5 Murphy, 47.4"
6 Klaus, 47.6"
7 Hickson, 47.8"
8 Mistlebauer, 47.8"
9 Turgeon, 48.0"
10 Shingle, 48.8"
11 Spath, 49.0"
12 Schempp, 50.0"
13 Keppler, 50.0"
14 Wall, 53.0"
15 Condon, 53.6"
16 McGinley, 53.8"
17 Bly, 55.0"
18 Morris, 55.8"
19 Bianchi, 56.2"
20 Hollman, 56.2"
21 Clapper, 56.2"
etc.
The "semi-professional" track record was 40.8", established by Bill Albertson during the time trials for the June 11 race, driving a 183 CID Duesenberg. Overall track record was 33.0", established by Leon Duray on June 9 and equalled by Cliff Woodbury on September 1, both driving supercharged 91 CID Millers (Duray a front-drive, and Woodbury a rear-drive). The gulf between these performances is (at least mostly) explained by the unsuitability of the dirt track cars for sustained high-speed operation.
Edited by Michael Ferner, 09 April 2013 - 17:12.