After a full season
of dirt track stock
car action, Larry
Jackson and Bill
Knippenberg found
themselves tied for
Late Model
championship honors
at Santa Fe Speedway
in Willow Springs.
This marked the
third time in the
track’s history that
the Late Model
championship ended
in a tie.
The veteran Jackson,
now a three-time
track champion, was
involved in a
championship tie
previously in 1967.
Knippenberg won one
feature race during
the ’91 season.
Charlie Barys was
the track’s
Sportsman division
titlist.
Arkansas’ Billy
Moyer was the winner
of the track’s
National Clay Track
Championship 200
lapper.
Tracy Schuler drove
to four feature wins
during the season on
his way to winning
the Late Model title
at the Grundy County
Speedway in Morris.
A first-time title
winner, Schuler
joined his dad Lee
and older brother
Larry on Grundy’s
track champions
list.
One of Tracy
Schuler’s victories
was the annual Lee
Schuler Memorial
race, which honored
his late father.
Sportsman
competition saw John
Cowman win the
Sportsman title at
the fairgrounds
third-of-a-mile
paved track.
Len Nowosel was the
Late Model champion
at Illiana Motor
Speedway in
Schererville, Ind.,
picking up his first
track championship
crown.
Bobby Gash was the
Sportsman division
champion at the
half-mile paved
oval.
Frank Gawlinski won
his sixth career
Tony Bettenhausen
Memorial 100 lapper.
Twenty-year veteran
Pat Echlin captured
18 feature wins and
picked up his second
career Late Model
driving title at
Blue Island’s
Raceway Park.
Mike Tobuch garnered
top honors in the
Hobby Stock division
at the short
quarter-mile paved
oval.
Kevin Reidy was the
winner of the 50-lap
Late Model season
finale.
The Markham family
seemed to have a
hold on championship
honors on the dirt
at Sycamore
Speedway.
Tom Markham bested
his cousin, Ralph,
by one point to win
the Super Late Model
title.
Roger Markham won
the Spectator
division crown.
First-time titlist
Bobby Wilberg was
crowned the NASCAR
Late Model champion
at the Rockford
Speedway.
Wilberg notched
three feature wins
during the season at
the high-banked
quarter-mile paved
speed plant.
Michigan’s Butch
Miller took home top
honors in Rockford’s
National Short Track
Championships 300.
Todd McGarr picked
up this third
straight Late Model
driving title on the
dirt at the
Southlake Speedway
in Crown Point, Ind.
McGarr won seven
feature races during
the campaign,
including the
speedway’s Harvest
100.
14-time feature
winner Mike Kingma
won the oval’s Hobby
Stock crown.
Tom Rients posted
his first career
Late Model
championship at the
Kankakee Fairgrounds
Speedway.
Rients, who finished
second in the final
overall United
Midwestern Promoters
(UMP) standings, won
10 feature races on
the dirt.
Todd McGarr, winner
of 13 features, was
the track’s Limited
Late Model champ.
Jeff Momper was the
Street Stock
division champion
and Joey Izzo won
the Nimrod (four
cylinder) class
title.
Chicago’s Bill
Venturni picked up
his second
Automobile Racing
Club of America (ARCA)
Super Car Series
championship,
scoring one series
victory and
repeating his 1987
feat.
Locals Bob Strait
and Dave Weltmeyer
were also winners on
the ARCA circuit.
Second generation
speedster Danny Pens
won his second
consecutive United
Midget Auto Racing
Association midget
driving
championship. One of
Pens’ victories was
the annual Bob
Lockard race at
Grundy.
Another
making it two
championships in a
row was ARTGO
Challenge Series
titlist Steve
Carlson, who nailed
down three victories
during the Late
Model stock car
tour.
One of Carlson’s
victories was the
Cabin Fever 100 at
Grundy.
Kevin Cywinski won
ARTGO’s Wayne Carter
Classic at Grundy,
which saw Dale
Earnhardt and Mark
Martin compete in a
special match race
before a capacity
crowd.
Eddie Hoffman took
home the top prize
of $10,000 after
winning an enduro
event at Michigan’s
Kalamazoo Speedway.
Later in the year,
Hoffman would win a
30-lap Street Stock
feature that was
part of the annual
Indiana/Michigan
Challenge Cup at the
Southwest Speedway
in Mottville, Mich.
Indiana’s Michael
Lang had started off
the 1991 racing
season in the
Chicagoland area by
winning a United
States Auto Club
(USAC) National
Midget 100-lap race
indoors at the
Rosemont Horizon on
January 5.
1991