MISSOURIAN TAKES MM 150
October 24, 1977 -- Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo. driving a home-built stock car captured the 150-lap open competition championship race before the second larges crowd of the season, 6,500 at Mesa Marin Raceway, yesterday.
Phillips regained the lead from Michigan’s Joe Ruttman with two laps remaining to take home the $3,500 first prize. Ruttman held on for second with Jim Thirkettle taking third.
The Missouri driver, who will be racing in Las Vegas this weekend, started the race on the pole after being the only driver to qualify in the 18-second bracket on Saturday.
Phillips trailed Jimmy Insolo, who started on the outside of the frist row, in the early going before taking the lead on lap 8.
Ruttman gained the advantage when he passed Phillips from the outside on lap 34 with Modesto’s Ivan Baldwin grabbing the second spot.
But Phillips came through the traffic to once again gather the first spont on lap 70 and went into the pits at the 75-lap split as the leader. He held that lead until lap 117 when his tires started coming apart and Ruttman went to the front once more.
It looked like Phillips was going to have to settle for second or third, but on lap 126 Don Knowell blew his engine and the red flag came out to stop the race.
Although knowing a trip to the pits would put him in the back of the pack, Phillips decided his only chance of winning was to pick up two new tires on the right side.
When the race resumed, Phillips began picking off cars and worked his way back to second when the rd flag came out once again on the 143rd lap.
On the restart, Phillips put the pressure on Ruttman, who didn’t quite have the horsepower down the straightaway, and finally took the lead on lap 148.
George Esau of San Diego won the B main despite a dramatic spin with Bill Clarkson on the final lap. Clarkson said he was spun on purpose, but the officials decided Esau won it fair and square, John Hamond placed third.
The C main was won by JD Bose of Pasadena who led from the start. Bakersfield’s Digger Helm took second with Don Linden third.
Article retyped by RacingWest.com. There may be slight variations from original publication. These variations are not intentional, if there are any.
