When Racing Was Simple

1978 – Dale with wife Anita

1979 – Dale with wife Anita

An early Late Model in Dale’s driving career. This car was Frank Smith’s Hales Corners dirt track champion Mustang. Not really the right thing to do is take a great dirt car and try to make it into a pavement car. Dale campaigned this car from 1978 until 1982. It was a good old SCP Ford stub chassis that was SBC powered. No dry sump engines here, no coil overs, and most had a Ford 9″ rear end. Mid American stock cars racing currently are superior to these early late models. This photo was taken in the upper pits at Slinger, long before the hill was hauled away.

1980
ARTGO was the premier traveling series during the 1980’s. Many drivers graduated from ARTGO, to ASA, and on to NASCAR, including names such as Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki, and Rusty Wallace. This picture was from the April opener at Rockford. Even today, Rockford’s early opener is an important event to be at. After some coaching from Jim Hendricks on how to drive this 1/4 mile track, Dale went on to win an important qualifing race which earned him into one of the few ARTGO features he tried to compete in. Dale actually traveled through a SNOW storm on his way back to Wisconsin.

1982 – At Slinger Speedway. Drivers were learning the importance of aerodynamics. This radical fiberglass Mustang body took full advantage of the air @ 90 MPH.

1983 – Again at Slinger Speedway. Dale purchased this Bemko chassis Camaro from the famous Willy Goeden. Raced only one year, it was sold at the end of the 1983 season.

1984
Super Late Model cars at Slinger Super Speedway began with this style car. Howe and Dillon were the most recognized chassis builders of that era. This car was a MK5 Dillon Chassis. Mark Martin was the house driver at this time and Mark designed the chassis. The car came with setup instructions, written by Mark himself. But there was only one set of holes for the control arms, so all you needed was a tape measure and a level to follow Mark’s instruction sheet. This was one of the first cars to break into the 12 second bracket at Slinger. Dale only owned this car for one year before selling it to Rich Somers. Rich drove it until the end of his racing career, winning a few features with it along the way.

1986 – At The Legendary Milwaukee Mile. Dale raced this 3rd design Howe Car. It was bodied with an early FIVE Star Camaro Body.