1978<<1979 >>1980

Saturday, September 8, 1979
Ray Bray Starts on Pole
St. John Defends Crown

In many ways the third time was a charm for the World Figure Championship Three-Hour Endurance race.

It was hard to imagine but the 1979 race topped the two previous events. Those two heart-stopping endurance races resulted in the World Championship Figure 8 receiving national acclaim in Stock Car Racing magazine.

Admittedly those were exciting races. Two front-runners from Michigan got in trouble late in the inaugural race, which paved the way for Jim Fox to make stock car racing history. Then in 1978, Kenny St. John overcame obstacles such as two flat tires and a late-race crash to win by a mere lap.

However the best was yet to come in 1979. A record 28 lead changes officially took place at the start finish line but did not include the entire passing among the leaders during each lap.

The winner completed a near record 453 laps. And dark horse Ray Bray set a one lap qualifying record of 19.226 seconds to snap the previous mark of 19.908 set in 1977 by the Yard Stick Ron Hargesheimer of Louisville, Kentucky. Bray turned the hottest lap among all qualifiers in a 1978 Camaro oval car previously driven by Denny Breedlove in Late Model Open Competition racing.

St. John emerged with his second consecutive World Figure 8 Championship endurance win by leading the last 73 laps. He survived a Herculean battle with Jim Fox, Wayne Arnold, Ed Sutton, Bob Studt, Billy Simmons, Billy Arnold, Charlie Reed and Ray Bray.

The battles for the lead added to the frantic pace of the event contested for three hours of green flag racing. At the end St. John was one lap short of tying his 1978 record of 454 laps.

St. John drove the same car he drove during the regular season to a Pro-Stock Championship the 1978 season.
St. John led the most laps, 195, among the 11 different leaders. He snared the lead for the first time on lap 78 but lost it to Reed, Bray, Fox and Tunny before taking over the lead for good on lap 381.

Memorial awards named in honor of the late Sonny Thompson and the late Sonny Eaton were awarded for the first time. Eaton died after suffering a heart attack after the finish of the 1977 race. Thompson, an 11-time Speedrome champion and two times Islip World Figure 8 Champion died less than a month before the 3rd annual World Championship. Sonny was a Speedrome ambassador and the most popular driver in Speedrome history.

Kenny St. John stated, “Sonny was the greatest figure 8 driver to ever live.”

Mike Harris earned the Thompson Memorial award for best start-finish improvement after starting 42nd and finishing 16th. Rick Tomasik earned the Eaton Memorial award for the top-finishing rookie by finishing ninth.

Lap Leaders
1 Billy Arnold
2-5 Ed Sutton
6-12 Charlie Reed
13-14 Ed Sutton
15-19 Charlie Reed
20-22 Billy Simmons
23-29 Charlie Reed
30-39 Billy Simmons
40-43 Wayne Arnold
44-57 Billy Simmons
58 Wayne Arnold
59-60 Billy Simmons
61 Wayne Arnold
62 Billy Simmons
63-77 Charlie Reed
78-82 Kenny St. John
83-87 Charlie Reed
88-89 Ray Bray
90-135 Bob Studt
136-147 Jim Fox
148-227 Kenny St. John
228-263 Ray Bray
264-340 Jim Fox
341-345 Kenny St. John
346 Jim Fox
347-378 Kenny St. John
379-380 Jim Tunny
381-453 Kenny St. John

1979 World Figure 8 Final Results

Finish Position Start Position Car# Driver/Hometown Laps completed
1 5 1 Kenny St. John Indpls. IN. 453
2 13 73 Jim Tunny Indpls. IN. 421
3 6 6 Jim Fox Greenfield, IN. 410
4 21 25 Bill Frazer Indpls. IN. 403
5 22 7 John Handlon Indpls. IN. 398
6 17 37 Bob Belz Mt. Clem, MI. 359
7 8 98 Forest Halliburton Indpls. IN. 345
8 7 4 Ed Wilson Greenfield, IN. 318
9 20 4T Rick Tomasik Danville, IN. 298
10 26 8 Jack Dossey Sr. Indpls. IN. 295
11 32 69 Jerry McCluskey Indpls. IN. 278
12 35 63 Marion Hester Indpls. IN. 278
13 1 17 Ray Bray Indpls. IN. 276
14 34 35 Bob Foster Sr. Indpls. IN. 253
15 38 82 Doug Burge Indpls. IN. 247
16 42 11 Mike Harsin Indpls. IN. 235
17 3 4 Charlie Reed Whiteland. IN. 232
18 43 714 Sandy McIntyre Gtown, OH. 199
19 37 32 Gary Grose Indpls. IN. 155
20 24 779 Ray Gaddis Romulus, MI. 154
21 15 771 Billy Simmons Livonia, MI. 151
22 11 54 Bob Studt D.Heights, MI. 135
23 18 14 Ben Benedict Mville, MI. 117
24 44 93 Nick Weaver Indpls. IN. 109
25 27 60 Leathal Bowles Indpls. IN. 108
26 16 22 Chuck Cloud Indpls. IN. 106
27 10 43 Billy George Indpls. IN. 102
28 31 1 Joe Jackson Indpls. IN. 89
29 12 47 Joe Lucas Indpls. IN. 88
30 25 37 Jerry Kincaid Indpls. IN. 87
31 9 70 Bobby Ellett Indpls. IN. 82
32 29 65 Tom Gregory Indpls. IN. 75
33 41 46 Barb Supple Indpls. IN. 65
34 14 69 Wayne Arnold Indpls. IN. 64
35 50 85 Danny Barnd Indpls. IN. 55
36 33 58 Bob Hayden Indpls. IN. 49
37 4 0 Ed Sutton Crown, MD. 45
38 51 50 Mike Hughes Indpls. IN. 34
39 28 57 Bill Tunny Jr. Indpls. IN. 31
40 2 40 Billy Arnold Indpls. IN. 31
41 23 73 Jim Weigle Indpls. IN. 30
42 45 76 Jim Koontz Dayton, OH. 29
43 49 79 Dave White Indpls. IN. 27
44 52 72 Bob Supple Indpls. IN. 24
45 39 39 Cecil Karr Indpls. IN. 21
46 40 39X Bob Rodgers Indpls. IN. 19
47 46 80 Danny Turner Indpls. IN. 18
48 19 4L Dennis Love Indpls. IN. 17
49 36 17 Jim Smith Whiteland. IN. 16
50 30 23 Al Rackley Indpls. IN. 4
51 48 55 Lloyd Sutton Indpls. IN. 4
52 47 18 Gene Stallings Indpls. IN. 0