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December 7, 1999 -John Kaiser In The End Bickle Claims Another Snowball
Rich Bickle Jr. claimed the $100,000 bonus for winning the 32nd Annual Snowball Derby after a scoring error was detected placing apparent winner Bobby Gill one lap down at the end of an exciting and crash filled 300 lap event at Pensacola Florida's Five Speedway.
Bickle and Gill both thought they were on the lead lap and put on a thrilling if controversial finish before the scoring recap found that Gill had lost a lap in the pits. Following the review of the scoring, and long after the race was over, Bickle was declared the winner followed by Scott Hansen, Tracy Goodson, Scott Carlson and Ronnie Burkett.
Gary Jones started on the pole for the 32nd running of the Snowball Derby
with Darrell Brown on the outside. Red Farmer made his 32nd consecutive start in 39th position, continuing a tradition that has seen Farmer start every Snowball ever run.
On the drop of the green flag Jones took the lead in turn one followed by Brown, John Wilkinson III, Clay Brown and youngster B.J. McLeod. On just the second lap Wilkinson went to the outside of Brown in turn three to take the second spot while on lap three Wayne Anderson moved into the top five as he dipped inside Clay Brown in turns three and four.
Wilkinson was slowly reeling in leader Jones and on lap 8 he made the
inside move in turns one and two to take the point. On lap 10 Gary St. Amant, one of the three drivers eleigible for the $100,000 bonus if they could win the Derby, made his first appearance in the top five as he moved past both McLeod and C. Brown. McLeod also swept past Brown as the cars roared down the back straight.
Another driver on the move after starting 13th was Freddy Query. Query moved up to challenge McLeod with a move under Brown on lap 11.
By lap 15 the leaders were encountering slower traffic and the ebb and flow
of the lead pack as they moved around the traffic on the half mile speedway provided plenty of thrills and close call for this early in the event. Wilkinson maintained his lead over Jones with Anderson now third, Darrell Brown fourth and St. Amant fifth. Wayne Willard, McLeod, Query and William Wambles rounded out the top ten. Anderson moved past Jones into second before the first caution of the race flew on lap 27 for a Charlie Bradberry spin in turn four. The top ten at that point had Wilkinson leading
Anderson, Jones, D. Brown, St. Amant, Willard, Query, McLeod, Tracy Goodson and Bobby Gill.
On the lap 35 restart, Jeff Myers, a lapped car on the inside of leader
Wilkinson, appeared to get slightly loose as the cars accelerated off turn four and his rear end tapped Wilkinson, causing him to turn left and again there was contact between the two. Wilkinson was able to pull away unscathed, but Myers contacted the inside wall and rebounded across the track collecting two other cars, including St. Amant.
When the green came out again on lap 46 Anderson wasted little time in challenging Wilkinson for the lead, taking the high line around the Hueytown, Alabama driver in turns one and two to claim the point. Wilkinson was not to be denied as he fought back and on the next lap he retook the lead down the back straight.
Another caution flew on lap 49 with Wilkinson leading Anderson, D, Brown, Jones and Wambles. Hal Goodson had moved up to sixth with Query now seventh and Clay Brown in eighth. At the 50 lap point, under caution, Bobby Gill, and Rich Bickle the two remaining eligible drivers for the $100,000 bonus were running 8th and 15th respectively. Once again on the lap 54 restart Anderson challenged for the lead, this time passing Wilkinson along the back straight. Two cars had gotten their laps back on the restart and were running right in front of the leaders when Mike Arnold spun at the rear of the pack in turn two, knocking the spoiler off the car on the inside wall. Arnold quicky recovered and raced down the back straight and into turn three with the leaders fast approaching. With no spoiler on the car Arnold was too fast in turn four and spun again, the two cars in front of Anderson were able to avoid the spinning Arnold, but Anderson was struck in the side as Arnold slid down the track and the whole right side was torn off the car, ending his run on a sour note.
This incident handed the lead back to Wilkinson with Hal Goodson
moving to second as cars went every which way to avoid the melee in front of them. Wambles was now third followed by Jones, Gill, Scott Carlson, Clay Brown, Ronnie Burkett, Tracy Goodson and Donald Long. As the cars circulated under caution and the 'one-to-go' signal was given to the field as they completed lap 63, the rain came and the cars were parked on the front straight for the next two and a half hours while the track was dried.
The race that had begun in daylight, now resumed under the lights following
the rain delay as the cars returned to green flag racing on lap 91. McLeod and Terry Mason were able to get a lap back on the restart and Donald Long began a rapid move to the front that netted him second place by lap 100. On lap 101, under caution, the leaders headed to the pits for fresh rubber and gas with Wambles leading the way off pit road followed by Carlson, Wilkinson, Tim Bryant, Tracy Goodson and the others. This left Long in the lead with Dale Little second, Wayne Niedecken Jr. third, Gill fourth and Query fifth as the green returned on lap 107.
On lap 112 both Gill and Query made their way past Little on the inside to
move into second and third with Steven Howard making his way into fourth. Bickle was now running in sixth place behind Little with Carlson, Wilkinson and Wambles in close pursuit. Following a caution on lap 114 for a single car spin it was racing again and Jack Cook proved that three wide was no problem as he went to the top of the track in turn one passing two cars at once.
On lap 125 the carnage continued with Ted Christopher, now driving in place of Red Farmer, Wambles, Bryant and polesitter Jones all involved in
a front straight melee. Long continued to lead with Gill now challenging
for the top spot and Bickle up to third as the halfway point of the 300 laps came. On lap 152 Gill moved past Long to take the point and Query, who had been running strong for most of the race, began to slide backwards. Bickle was also able to slip by Long and Wilkinson moved into fourth with Carlson fifth by the time lap 152 was in the books. Another caution on lap 156 saw Wilkinson up to third with Carlson and Burkett all trailing the two
leaders, Gill and Bickle.
The most spectacular incident of the race occurred on lap 171 when Ted Christopher's car caught fire as it went down the front straight. Christopher was able to get the car stopped on the turn two exit and jumped out, only to have the car roll after him as he tried to get away from the now fully ablaze machine. Fire and safety vehicles quickly doused the blaze and it was back to racing on lap 179.
For the next 41 laps it was green flag all the way with Query, on fresh tires making a challenge for the top five and Gill on older tires losing the lead to Bickle and slipping back through the field. Gill would slip so far back that Bickle would be able to put a lap on him before the caution came out and allowed Gill to put on new rubber. By lap 200 Bickle was leading Niedecken, Carlson, Wilkinson, Gill, Burkett, Cook, Long and Billy Mills with Scott Hansen and Tracy Goodson the next two in the order. When the caution finally came on lap 221, the lead lap cars headed for the pits for much needed tires, followed the next lap by the remainder of the field.
When everything was sorted out it was still Bickle in the lead with Carlson now second, Hansen third Niedecken fourth and Clay Brown fifth. Wilkinson, Burkett, Long and Cook completed the lead lapcars. When the green flew again on lap 232, Brown was caught on the outside of the slower cars and went high in turn two, making contact with the wall, then drifted down to the bottom and then shot back to the high side where he collected Wilkinson in a violent collisison against the wall. Both drivers were uninjured, but their race was over. This left just seven cars on the lead lap with 14 still running.
On the lap 243 restart both Steven Howard and Gill were able to get their
lap back after making quick pit stops and when Long and Cook made contact in turn three with Cook spinning it allowed both to close up to the rear of the lead lap cars. The order for the lead lap cars had Bickle on the point followed by Carlson, Hansen, Niedecken, Burkett, Long, Cook, Howard and Gill.
Wasting little time once the green came out, and with fresher rubber, Gill
blasted his way into third place in just two laps and on lap 270 took second and on lap 275 he took the lead away from Bickle. Niedecken was now third with Howard fourth and Hansen fifth, but on lap 289 Howard moved past Niedecken for third. On lap 298, Bickle tapped Stanley Smith, sending him around and bringing out the final caution.
All the cars pitted for tires with the exception of Tracy Goodson who stayed out to lead the race. Gill won the race off pit road with Bickle right behind and Hansen fourth. With a green-white-checker finish in the offing the question was could Goodson hold off the two drivers vying for $100,000, both of whom had fresher rubber? The answer was no as both Gill and Bickle blasted by in turn one and set out to settle the big bonus battle among them selves.
Bickle challenged Gill to the inside on the back straight to no
avail and then on the final lap he pulled to the outside through turns one and two. Side by side they blasted down the back straight and into turn three with Gill making his car very wide and drifting up the track to force Bickle into the marbles, diving low and rocketing to the finish line
apparently $100,000 richer.
Bickle finished second with Hansen edging out Goodson for third and Carlson taking fith. But, the action was not over. Bickle and Gill made contact in turn two, sending Gill spinning into the wall and evoking a heated rear end bang from Hansen on pit road. "Bobby and I are good friends and I would never wreck him on purpose," Bickle said later. "He had carried me high in turns three and four, which is exactly what I would have done to him if the positions were reversed. I was going to rub on him a little after the finish, but I made a mistake and tapped him a little too hard. This is my last short track race and I do not want to go out like this, I do not drive that way."
Controversy continued to surround the race the next day and it was not until Monday morning that the final official results were released by speedway officials.
OFFICIAL Results 32nd Annual Snowball Derby
1. 45 Rich Bickle Jr. 306 laps
2. 52 Scott Hansen 306
3. 1 Tracy Goodson 306
4. 54 Scott Carlson 306
5. 31 Ronnie Burkett 306
6. 96 Jack Cook 306
7. 98 Wayne Niedecken Jr. 306
8. 5 Bobby Gill 305
9. 10 Donald Long 305
10. 0 Donnie Hill 303
11. 49 Stanley Smith 303
12. 2 Ronnie Couture 302
13. 9 Steven Howard 301
14. 18 Charlie Bradberry 254
15. 15 Clay Brown 232
16. 11 John Wilkinson III 232
17. 8 Freddy Query 221
18. 75 Billy Mills 221
19. 71 Terry Mason 220
20. 81 Tim Bryant 184
21 16 Hal Goodson 173
22. 24 Red Farmer 160
23. 41 David Hole 156
24. 99 Dale Little 148
25. 53 Robert Burroughs 147
26. 78 B.J. McLeod 139
27. 00 William Wambles 125
28. 6 Gary Jones 125
29. 84 Doug Thorpe 114
30. 17 David Rogers 98
31. 60 Mike Arnold 81
32. 40 Bubba Naumann 76
33. 58 Darrell Brown 75
34. 26. Johnny Henderson 75
35. 86 Wayne Anderson 58
36. 01 Wayne Willard 36
37 7 Gary St. Amant 33
38. 36 Keith Thorpe 33
39. 3 Jeff Myers 32
Also see John Kaiser’s Last Speedvision Short Track article! |
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