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The Rest of the Story
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- Category: Corner Workers and Other Small Animals
- Published on Sunday, 14 July 2013 17:24
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THE REST OF THE STORY
The Gasket Gazette’s story by George England on the 1968 Trans-Am race at Warbonnet ( http://gasketgazette.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20:trans-am-comes-to-oklahoma&catid=18:racing&Itemid=119) contained this paragraph:
“Malcom Starr provided the ultimate excitement late in the race by running through two fences and into the crowd at Turn # 10. No one was injured but the race was red flagged in the resulting confusion.”
Here’s the rest of the story. The supply officer for my Tinker-based outfit – Sixth Weather Squadron Mobile – was a young 2ndLieutenant named Stewart. He and his A1C assistant attended that race as spectators, driving over in Stewart’s VW beetle. By Sunday, the pair was already in trouble with the race track, having turned several laps lateSaturday night in the VW, barely escaping apprehension.
They were leaning on the nose of the bug Sunday when Starr careened through the fencing and into the front of the VW giving the appearance of an unfolding tragedy. However, all the Mustang did was pin their legs against the VW’s front bumper. According the Stewart, “We didn’t feel a thing.” Alcohol was involved.
However, the race was stopped because one ambulance was already on a hospital run, leaving the track with but one emergency vehicle. I don’t know who broke an arm, but it wasn’t Lt. Stewart--
Bill King
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Bill King started flagging in 1961 at VIR (Virginia International Raceway), joined the SCCA in '64 and was stationed at Tinker AFB from 1965 to '68. Together with another Airman, Bob Donley, Bill literally built the Oklahoma Region Flag & Communications program. Currently living in Charlotte and working on the history of VIR for the racetrack, Bill was inducted in 2011 into the prestigious Road Racing Driver's Club.
Here's his bio from the RRDC Web site:
Publicist, marketer, journalist and race series organizer, working for Nick Craw, Leo Mehl, Paul Pfanner and Roger Werner. Original program manager, SCCA Spec Racer/Sports Renault, ’84. Created Playboy Endurance Series (now World Challenge) from clean sheet of paper, ‘85. PR manager for Goodyear Racing. ’86-’92; contributing editor and special projects manager for RACER, ’94-‘01, general manager, Speedvision.com, ’99-’01; and busines s development for Swift Engineering and Morse Measurements. He received the 1976 Area III John C. Reuter Award. King's amateur racing career was highlighted by the SEDIV SSB title ('76). He was instrumental in launching the Renault Cup ('82). This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.