Larry Phillips
Larry Phillips Gains Victory in A Feature
Leader and Press, August 24, 1968
A daring move by Larry Phillips, left, midway through the race paid off in another A feature victory at last night’s Fairgrounds Speedway stock car races.
Phillips, driving a 1964 Chevrolet, went into a sweeping power slide to get by Bob Perry and leader Lloyd Tabor at the same time.
George Baxter came from behind in the closing laps to get second and Don Kordalis finished third. David Goldsberry was fourth with Perry fifth.
Tabor led until the ninth when Perry and Phillips went by, and a lap later Tabor spun and was hit broadside by Lester Friebe.
A grinding head-on crash into the east turn wall halted the race with four laps to go. Eddie Williamson and Fred Tiede were sent to Burge-Protestant Hospital with undetermined injuries. Both Tiede and Williamson’s cars were heavily damaged when locked together.
The B feature lead changed hands between three drivers on the last lap as John Friebe, narrowly beat Gary Elliott to the finish line. Harry jean, as well as Elliott, had the lead on the final lap. Jean spun just short of the finish.
Larry Lurcher won the C feature by several car lengths, as he did the first heat race. Don McClelland came from far behind to second in the C event with Frankie Davis returning to Fairgrounds racing and getting third.
Larry Phillips took the lead on the final turn and won the special match race. The other two contenders, David Goldsberry and Don Kordalis, finished in a dead heat for second. The race started three abreast and lasted that way much of the five laps.
The photograph of Larry Phillips, 75, is from the Harry Lightfoot Collection. David Goldsberry, 7, and Don Kordalis, 5, are from the Lester Friebe Collections at the Springfield-Greene County Library.
Find this article at