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The 'Sophomore Season', 1989

By Gene Ostrowski

 

After the 'learning curve' from the re-opened Evergreen Raceway (Mountain Speedway) in '88, many drivers decided to move up into the modified ranks. One imparticular was Jerry Hildebrand from Wapwallopen. Butch Yamelski picked up first career-modified victory that season, and Russ Frantz captured his first Evergreen crown in the same division over Roger Hellelfinger, Jr. Some of the names that visited victory lane were Mr. Mopar, Jerry 'Magee' Miller, Carl Jones, Don Kepping, Keith Kocher, Bob Dresser, Clete Spaide, Jeff Rex and Frank Kunkel. The late Don Kepping took 'rookie of the year' in the modifieds.

Whelen modified tour drivers, Jan Leaty and George Kent raced in an open competition show, while another NASCAR star by the name of Steve Park, failed to qualify for the feature! Former open competition standout, Tony Siscone went on with his winning ways in the 'open' events.

Dave Reynolds took the street stock championship with three feature wins and Dean Kline, Sr. led the division with six feature wins. Many rookies took to the 1/3-mile for the Evergreen 'tour' some of which included the #68 street stock of Mark Magda. Mark had two wins, while Freeland's Gordy Buchman displayed his rookie season in the familiar #55B. Names such as Jim Lamoreaux, 'Hot Rod' Rodriguez, Joe Kulaga, Pete Comstock, Brian Gallucci and Charlie Klatt were also victorious during the season. Don Wagner joined street stock field for a full Evergreen season. In his second start, Wagner was in victory lane. He finished second in the standings and took 'rookie of the year' honors.

The thrillers made their debut, with Steve Clark taking the crown and picking up 10 feature wins. Clark's wife, Gloria Clark, also scored a feature win in becoming the first woman driver to win a feature event at Evergreen. Former 'High Mountain Hare Scramble' motorcycle rider, Kirk Buchanan, came to Evergreen to try his hand at auto racing and visited victory lane in his very first thriller start! A driver from New York by the name of Bill Verwys won a feature event in his #88 Mopar powered machine.

Modified Street Stock Thriller
1. Russ Frantz 1637 1. Dave Reynolds 1918 1. Steve Clark 115
2. Roger Heffelfinger, Jr. 1443 2. Don Wagner 1705 2. Ed Uhrin, Jr. 104
3. Don Kepping 1347 3. Charlie Klatt 1661 3. Bill Verwys, Sr. 100
4. Keith Kocher 1260 4. Tommy Brown 1657 4. Gloria Clark 46
5. Bob Dresser 1194 5. Dale Fey 1499 5. Brian Wozniak 41
Other 1989 moments:
· The Berlin Wall comes down after being erected 28 years prior.
· The Ruptured Exxon 'Valdez' tanker sent 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound.
· Gorbachev was named the Soviet president.
· Army general Colin R. Powell became first black chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff.
· Czech Parliament ended Communists' dominant role.

A few facts:
· The first World Wide Web server and browser was developed by Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN.
· Arsenio Hall became first African American to host nightly talk show.
· The 'Cold War' comes to an end.
· The Soviet Union officially withdrew from Afghanistan.

1989 music notes:
· Milli Vanilli won the best new artist of 1989, but was stripped of their Grammy later, when it's discovered they were lip-syncing.
· Pepsi pulled the commercial set to Madonna's "Like A Prayer" because religious groups are offended.
· The very first Heavy Metal Grammy given to Jethro Tull.

A Few Films:
Some great films were released in 1989 including Batman, Dead Poets Society, My Left Foot

Popular television programs:
Rosanne, The Cosby Show, The Wonder Years, Unsolved Mysteries, Who's the Boss and Murder, She Wrote.


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