2021 Marks 50th Anniversary of First Du Quoin Silver Crown Race
By Jay Hardin
Track Enterprises Staff
Du Quoin, IL-(September 2, 2021)-Saturday night’s 69th Ted Horn 100 marks a milestone in the long history of auto racing at the Du Quoin State Fair. It was 50 years ago that George “Ziggy” Snider won the first ever USAC Silver Crown (Dirt Track Division) event ever held on the Magic Mile. The 50th anniversary of the first Silver Crown race at Du Quoin coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Silver Crown Series itself. The dirt miles of Illinois have been an integral part of the history of the Silver Crown Series.
Rumblings of removing the dirt tracks were heard a couple of years before the 1971 season. USAC was on the verge of a new deal which would bring large sponsorship dollars to the National Championship series. There were some who thought the dirt cars and dirt tracks didn’t fit in with what was being billed as the “Sport of the Seventies”. New drivers were popping up in the champ cars who had neither the experience nor the desire for racing on the dirt. There were new car owners who didn’t incur the expense of maintaining a dirt car and an expensive rear engine machine.
USAC made the announcement in 1970 that the dirt cars and their tracks would be split off into a separate series known as the “Dirt Track Division” for 1971. While 1970 saw 5 dirt miles on the schedule, just four would be part of the initial season for the big cars. A night race at Nazareth kicked off the season, followed by the traditional Bettenhausen at Springfield, the Horn 100 at Du Quoin and the season ending Hoosier Hundred.
Du Quoin fans had a second reason to be concerned. The new California 500 had an early September date and it looked like the Du Quoin event could be short of big name stars. In 1971 the Ontario event went off on Sunday September 5 and crews and drivers took the red eye back from California in time for the Ted Horn 100. Snider, Jim McElreath, A.J. Foyt, Gary Bettenhausen Mario Andretti, and Johnny Rutherford were among those making the trip.
Thirty-three cars were lined up in the pits on Labor Day at Du Quoin. Practice reduced the qualifiers to 30, Jim McElreath’s own 14 among the casualties. McElreath won the season opener at Nazareth but missing Du Quoin would all but kill his title chances. Foyt won the second race of the season at Springfield but could only manage tenth in qualifying. Greg Weld carrying the STP colors again put Granatelli’s Plymouth dirt track creation on the pole. STP teammates Larry Dickson and Andretti lined up second and third, Snider fourth and local favorite Arnie Knepper fifth. Dick Tobias, Gary Bettenhausen and Art Pollard were among the spectators as twenty-four instead of the usual eighteen made it in the new series.
Weld hammered the Plymouth at the start and took the lead from Dickson. On lap three Brucke Walkup stuffed the nose of Louis Seymour’s “Wally” into the backstretch boiler plate bringing out the first caution. Walkup was unhurt but done for the day. Three laps later Johnny Rutherford spun the Tim Delrose Offy in turn one and kept going. The yellow flew again and J.R. would eventually work his way back to eighth. Snider worked his way to third in just a few laps but it would be his friend Foyt that would provide some excitement for the afternoon.
Foyt worked his screaming V-8 Ford to fourth by lap 15 and it became a four-car battle for the lead between Weld, Snider, Mario and A.J. Foyt was all over Andretti for second when Mario’s Gurney-Ford went up in smoke. A blown right rear on lap 40 took Foyt out of contention and he would lose two more tires before finishing ninth. Merle Bettenhausen was running fifth on lap 78 when he lost the exhaust.
Weld continued to lead but looked noticeably fatigued with the car handling poorly. The 88-degree heat combined with an engine that was at 285 degrees took all the energy from the leader and Snider shot by on lap 92.
“Ziggy” let the final 9 laps and took the checker for his first ever 100-mile triumph. Snider may not have been in the Leader Card entry had Mike Mosely not been injured at Indianapolis. When Wilke and Watson went looking for a sub, they chose George who was well respected and had driven for the team before. George had been racing championship cars since 1965 and it was his first win in the big cars. Weld managed to finish second, Billy Vukovich was third and local favorites Bill Puterbaugh and Knepper were fourth and fifth.
Snider’s Du Quoin win plus a second at Springfield and a second at the Hoosier Hundred were enough to make him the first USAC Silver Crown national champion. George Snider would go on to over 20 starts at the Indianapolis 500, a Silver Crown win at Springfield and become famous as the driver of a black Skoal machine owned by himself and Foyt. The Dirt Track Division endured seasons with only three races on the schedule to morph into the Silver Crown Series in 1981 and enjoys a continuing resurgence in its Golden Anniversary season.
Practice for the USAC Silver Crown championship cars begins Saturday, September 4 at 5 p.m. with qualifying slated at 6:30 and the Ted Horn 100 at 8:15 p.m. Tickets will be available on raceday or by calling the Du Quoin Fair office at 618-542-1535. Info and tickets can also be obtained by calling the Track Enterprises office at 217-764-3200.
It’s all part of a Labor Day weekend full of racing which also includes the ARCA Menards Series on Sunday night and Modified both nights. For more info, visit www.trackenterprises.com.