Editors Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.

15 Years Ago 2010

News: Dario Franchitti continued to celebrate his second IndyCar Series championship, winning the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Assns Jerry Titus Award for the second time in three years.

President Dusty Brandel announced Franchitti as the organizations Driver of the Year as AARWBA honored its 40th AllAmerica Team and kicked off its 55th year at the John Force Racing facility.

Im very proud to win the Jerry Titus award for a second time. It means a great deal to me to be AARWBAs driver of the year for 2009, Franchitti said. Thanks to everyone at Team Target and all the AARWBA members who voted.

Host Force, a four-time Titus winner, shared the Presidents Award with crew chief John Medlen. AARWBA recognized them for their dedication to race car safety in all forms of motorsports through the Brownsburg-based Eric Medlen Project.

After Erics crash, a roll cage was put on my car. Im standing here because of Eric Medlen, Force said, referring to his own brutal 2007 accident six months later. People say this is John Forces house, but it isnt. Its Eric Medlens house.

Journalist Lewis Franck presented IndyCar and NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi the Pioneer in Racing Award for his longtime dedication and achievement in the industry.

As an industry, we need to stay relevant on the sports landscape, Ganassi said. We need to stay relevant to Detroit. Racing needs to take a leadership role. Innovation is what does it. We need to be bold, like our host. John Force.

The Jerry Titus Trophy is awarded to the driver who receives the most AllAmerica Team votes. It is named m memory of the late journalist and racer. who was a member of AARWBA, the countrys oldest and largest organization of motorsports media professionals.

It is the highest honor AARWBA offers.

Franchitti, the open-wheel honoree, shared First Team status with other Horsepower Trophy recipients Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney (road racing); Donny Schatz (short track); J.R Hildebrand (at-large); Tony Schumacher (drag racing); Ron Hornaday (touring); and Mark Martin (stock car).

Winners: Kevin Swindell added another Golden Driller Trophy to the Swindell family trophy case Saturday night, winning the 24th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.

The 50-lap feature capped off five nights of racing featuring 265 drivers in 92 racing events at the QuikTrip Centers Tulsa Expo Raceway.

After fading at the start from the front row, the 20-year-old driver rebounded to lead the second half of the event. The victory was his third major career midget victory, having previously captured the 2007 Night Before the 500 and Knoxville Midget Nationals last year.

I wish I would of have been too tight at the beginning, but I was way too free and that really worried me and I kinda felt that I wasnt gonna be good enough at the end, Swindell explained.

Polesitter Darren Hagen took the lead at the start. Followed by Cory Kruseman, while Swindell faded outside the top five.

On lap five, defending winner Sammy Swindell, who started last after using the defending race winners provisional, had advanced seven positions to 18th.

Kruseman took the lead from Hagen on lap nine and began lapping slower cars three laps later. S. Swindell, who was up to 16th, tangled with Brent Beauchamp five laps later and restarted from the tail of the field.

Cole Whitt charged past Jerry Coons Jr. and Hagen in a five-lap sequence to take second behind

Kruseman. The event changed dramatically starting on lap 21 when a

seven-car accident saw Brad Loyet flip. 

On the restart, K. Swindell restarted in fourth, but qulckly moved to second before Hagen

spun on the next lap.

One lap after the restart, K. Swindell passed Kruseman for the lead. Brad Mosen spun on lap 28

with S. Swindell up to 10th. Cole Whitt regained second from Kruseman and began challenging

1. Swindell for the lead.
2. Swindell used two caution flags between laps 36-40 to move into the top five. A caution flag with two laps remaining bunched up the field. On the restart, K. Swindell held off Whitt, while his father passed Jerry Coons Jr. for third.

Commenting on his fathers late charge, K. Swindell said, With 10 to go under the caution, I could see he was sixth. Then on the last caution I saw him in third. I thought, Oh, no, he might get me at the end.

1. Swindell drove the Swindell Racing-owned Esslinger-Spike No. 39 and finished two car lengths ahead of Whitt and S. Swindell.

I was trying everything I could and I couldnt really keep up with Kevin, Whitt explained. We were close. If Kevin made a few mistakes, I could kinda get close to him, but he made only a few.

Coons and Chris Wmdom rounded out the top five.

30 Years Ago 1995

News: Those who thought the Indy Racing League would vanish when the clock struck midnight on New Years Day, 1996 got a rude jolt Monday from Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and IRL founder Tony George in the form of a size-9 glass slipper.

The newly-formed Indy car entity announced its inaugural race, the Walt Disney World 200, in front of Cinderellas Castle here at Walt Disney World. The USAC-sanctioned race, which will carry a purse of $1 million, will be contested on a 1.1-mile, low-banked tri-oval to be built on the 43-square-mile Walt Disney World property under the direction of IMS Events, Inc., an affiliate of IMS. The track will be able to seat up to 50,000, depending on demand.

From the standpoint of a team owner or team sponsor or a driver, I think whats important to them is to have quality events in substantial markets where impact can be made, George said. This sport has become a complex business of sport and entertainment, and this marriage (between IMS, IRL and Walt Disney World) lends itself kindly.

The IRL delegation, headed by George, included IRL Executive Director Jack Long, IMS VP Bill Donaldson, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt and driver Eddie Cheever.

Representing Disney World at the formal announcement were Michael Wagner and public relations staffer John Story.

No term other than multi-year was announced, and no title sponsor has been named. Asked if a California copy at Dinseyland near Los Angeles might follow were the event successful, this newspaper was told that is up to Disney.

Since the late 1180s, members of the Walt Disney World cast have worked to bring an auto racing event of this magnitude to Walt Disney World, said AI Weiss, executive vice president Walt Disney World Resort. The impact this race will have on the Central Florida community is immeasurable. This will undoubtedly become one of the largest annual sporting events in the state of Florida, and Walt Disney World Is proud to be part of it.

Under the agreement, IMS will assume the role of the promoter, while Disney will limit itself to providing the venue.

We look at it as a partnership between Disney and IMS, Donaldson said. IMS will be in the promoter role, taking on the construction, the promotion, the advertising and the ticket sales. Disney is primarily the venue, but we look at that as a partnership because theres a lot of things we can do together in terms of marketing.

Questions were raised as to the reaction of the International Speedway Corp., whose flagship Daytona Intl Speedway is located just 90 minutes east of Walt Disney World. It was revealed that ISC head William C. France, also president of NASCAR, was apprised of plans from the outset and is a supporter of the event, reportedly pleased with its proximity to the annual Daytona Speedweeks opener-the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car classic, which will follow the Super Bowl Saturday contest by 1 week.

We obviously consulted with Bill France at NASCAR about out intentions and our desire, and hes been very supportive of our efforts to date, George said. We have a very good relationship with him. I think his initial thought was that it might have an adverse impact, particularly on the IMSA race, but after having a chance to think about it, I think he may have changed his mind a little bit and thinks it may actually enhance that weekend.

Winners: Fifteen months ago, a day after winning his 14th career NASCAR Winston West Series race, Bill Sedgewick was relieved from his ride in the Spears Motorsportts Chevrolet and replaced by Ron Hornaday Jr.

Less than two weeks after returning to the teams driver role when Hornaday jumped to employment with Dale Earnhardts NASCAR SuperTruck Series outfit, Sedgwick was back in victory circle ironically passing Hornaday with 52 laps remaining in the Tucson Raceway Park Winter Heat finale.

Revenge? Maybe.

I wanted to win bad, Ill tell you, said the 39-year-old Sedgwick, who spent the past season as Hornadays crew chief. I lost a few races by not being aggressive enough. I told myself that wouldnt happen again.

And as for Hornaday, who led 90 of the $42,010 events 200 laps? l like to race with Ron but, to this day, hes never beaten me in a Winston West Series race.

60 Years Ago 1965

News: The United States Auto Clubs board of directors Thursday rejected its rules committees recommendation that gasoline be banned from use in open cockpit racing. The rules committee had earlier voted 13-4 in favor of the ban.

Instead, the board bucked the issue back to the committee for further study. As a result, use of the fuel will be permitted in this years 500-Mile Race as. well as other USAC-sanctioned events.

It was the consensus of the board in a unanimous vote that it is virtually impossible to define gasoline, and it was equally impossible to enforce a ban on the substance.

Thomas W. Binford, USAC president, said, We do not want the public to think we are trying to duck a problem. But in our discussion we have found that simply to say we ban gasoline would put us in an impossible policing situation. If the product cannot be defined, we would, in effect, not know what we were attempting to ban.

The problem was turned back to the rules committee with instructions to delve deeper into the subject and to seek further help from the petroleum industry.

Use of gasoline has been the subject of raging controversy within the ranks of USACs membership since the fiery crash of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald in last years 500. It was further fanned when Bobby Marshman was burned when he crashed during tire tests at Phoenix Intl Raceway last November and died several days later.

Shortly after Marshmans accident, the United Racing Club, an eastern sanctioning organization, banned the use of gasoline in its

racing programs. URCs action made it the only sanctioning body to ban the use of the fuel.

Winners: For the third straight year, Dan Gurney captured the Motor Trend 500-mile NASCAR Late Model Stock Car race at Riverside Intl Raceway. 

He drove 1965 Ford over the 2.7 mile, nine-turn road-course in the first major stock-car race of 1965. Gurney, who grew up in Riverside, started his racing career on the twisty course in sports cars, hut has never won a major sports car event here.

Gurney became the first driver in NASCAR history to win three major races at the same track in a row. His winnings totaled $13,510 plus a 1965 Pontiac GTO.

It was a field day for the Ford Motor Co. as their products captured the first eight positions, with 1965 Fords running, one, two, three, four in the grind, as 61,474 race fans watched in 75-degree weather.

Second place went to Junior Johnson, while Gurneys mate on the Wood Brothers team, Marvin Panch, ran third. Fourth went to the team of Darel Dieringer and Dick Hutcherson in another 65 Ford. West Coast speedster Gene Davis, in a 64 Mercury, took fifth.