Louisville, KY - USHRA

[Tim T]

Date:

Track: Classic figure 8 outdoor race.

Lineup: Not sure but definately Bigfoot #9 / Jim Kramer, Grave Digger #3 / Dennis Anderson, Taurus / I think Jack JR. I can't remember the rest of the field as it's been a long time since I saw the vid. I think one or 2 of Doug Spanier's trucks were there as well.

I wished I knew all the details and maybe somebody else can add to this thread as it was an awesome race that to my knowledge was never televised. What I saw in the footage was Jim Kramer winning one day of the event and I think Dennis Anderson was his competition in the finals. 95 percent sure of that. In day 2 I believe Taurus edged Kramer in the finals but I'm not as sure about that. I definately remember Kramer kept having trouble of it getting up on 2 wheels and he was really hammering it. I think that's what caused him to lose to Taurus if I remember right.

Anybody else see this race or races? It was an awesome race but it's been 16 years since I saw the vid.

Tim

[Tim Smith]

Anybody have this? I am eager to see some of this footage as well!!

[DiggerFan]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsEhzGyHXjQ

Here's video of the only race I have from the event, Grave Digger racing Taurus.

[classicmt]

Would absolutely love to see this entire event and I'm sure there were two days of it.

[kouvre]

DAY ONE

Days: June 8th and 9th.

Lineup:

4 Wheel Crazy II (Rob Morris), Bear Foot V (Fred Shafer), Bearly Tame (Doug Spanier), Bigfoot IX (Jim Kramer), Equalizer (Mike Wine), Grave Digger III (Dennis Anderson), Invader (Ray Piorkowski), Taurus (Jack Willman, Jr.)

Round One:
Willman d. Piorkowski
-Piorkowski broke
Kramer d. Spanier
-Spanier broke(?)
Anderson d. Morris

Semifinals:
Kramer d. Willman
-Willman disqualified
Anderson d. Morris (fast loser)

Finals:
Anderson d. Kramer

Notes:

-Bigfoot IX appeared to have too much traction on the asphalt, as the truck frequently got up on two wheels throughout the weekend after the first car jump. This problem ultimately cost Jim Kramer the final round victory, as Dennis Anderson was able to cruise to an easy win in Grave Digger.
-Jack Willman Jr.'s Taurus was disqualified in the semifinals for skipping the first jump after having spun out coming out of the first turn.
-It is not known why Fred Shafer's Bear Foot or Gary Cook's Equalizer were not able to make the first day of racing.

DAY TWO:

Round One:
Anderson d. Shafer
-Shafer broke
Willman d. Morris
Kramer d. Wine
-Wine broke
-Kramer redlighted and had to run a second time

Semifinals:
Willman d. Anderson
Kramer d. Morris

Finals:
Kramer d. Willman

Notes:
-The semifinal round race between Dennis Anderson and Jack Willman Jr. was at the time likely the closest race wire-to-wire in the history of Louisville Motor Speedway. Taurus suffered such a hard landing at the finish line that the rear fenders came loose. The truck would run in the final round with the fenders removed.
-Both Fred Shafer and Rob Morris got so far behind during a losing run that they had to either stop or pull off the track to avoid risking a collision with their competitor at the center of the track. Shafer's incident likely was due to mechanical problems in the first round, while Morris appeared to get a late start in the semifinals. Since Jim Kramer had redlighted the previous round, it was possibly thought at first by track announcer Scott Douglass that he might have done so again, but this ended up not being the case.
-Despite redlighting in the first round, Jim Kramer was allowed to make a second legal pass due to breakage suffered by both Fred Shafer's Bear Foot and Mike Wine's Equalizer.
-Wine turned out to be a unique footnote in Equalizer's history, serving a temporary driver between David Morris' first tenure and Greg Holbrook's tenure, and at this event serving as a temporary driver between the end of Greg Holbrook's tenure and the beginning of David Morris' second tenure as the driver of Equalizer. This event also marked a very rare sighting of Equalizer's experimental wing. The only previous existing video footage of the wing was at the 1991 PENDA event in Memphis, TN.
-It is assumed that the breakage suffered by Invader and Bearly Tame the previous night kept them out of action for this event.
-Jim Kramer continued to show his 1991 dominance with Bigfoot IX by taking a runner-up the first night, then running hard the following day. Taurus' lack of traction reared its head again during the final round, causing the truck to slide and prevent it from gaining the speed needed to catch up to Bigfoot at the finish line.

VIDEO:

Day one:



Day two: