Columbus racer Gene Petro was a man on a mission in 1971.

He was coming off of the best year of his racing career money-wise in 1970 and had his sights set on bettering that in ’71.

Petro teamed up with Darrell Woodbury of Woodbury Welding in Union City to drive his Chevelle. Then in his 19th year of racing, he started the season red hot piling up several victories, and by the end of June, he led the late model stock car points at four tracks.

Eldora Speedway, New Bremen Speedway, the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio, and Whitewater Valley Speedway in Liberty all showed Petro as their points leader heading into July 1971.

Woodbury had previously owned sprint cars before late model stock cars. Besides Petro, Woodbury also had Larry Moore, Floyd Gilbert, Dick DeBolt and Chick Hale drive his No. 20 late model.

Before the 1971 season began, Eldora owner and promoter Earl Baltes said he would pay a $1,000 bonus to the first driver who could win 10 features in any class. Petro did just that on July 11 of that year, scoring his 10th win at Eldora and taking home the extra money that Baltes had promised.

By the end of July 1971, Petro had racked up 21 feature wins at five different tracks with two of those wins coming on his home track, 25th Street Fairgrounds Raceway in Columbus. It appeared he was well on his way to passing the 30-win mark for the season and a career best in winnings. He also had his sights set on Oct. 3 of that year after Baltes announced he would host the first World 100 stock car race paying $4,000 to win.

At the end of July, Petro would make a move that would send reverberations throughout the dirt late model community when he was hired to take over Morgan Chandler’s 1971 Chevelle, which had been driven by Ralph Latham. Chandler and Luther McDonald had been partners along with Latham whose Queen City Chevrolet-sponsored car Latham had drove to 29 wins in 1970.

But with the team struggling a year later, Chandler and Latham parted ways after Chandler bought out McDonald and Latham. He then hired Petro to drive the car. The car was considered at the time one of if not the best ride in dirt late model racing at that time.

Petro then abruptly left the Woodbury team, bringing the equipment back to Union City. Chick Hale then became the new driver in the Woodbury Chevelle for the rest of the season. In an interview from that year with the Dayton Daily News, Petro gave his reasons for the change.

“I’ve got the No. 1 car now,” he said. “The Woodbury car was a good one, but he (Woodbury) didn’t have time to work on it. I was supposed to do the engine work and the driving. It ended up I was doing almost all the work, hauling the car to the track and driving it. The drive to Eldora from Columbus is 160 miles one way, and sometimes, I was up all night working on it.”

After piloting Chandler’s car for a month, Petro’s season was interrupted with a near tragedy Sept. 11 at Whitewater Valley Speedway. A car careened over the guardrail and came to rest in the pit area. Petro and another man were injured and taken to the hospital.

Petro received 26 stitches in his right ankle, and at the time, he said he would be out of the cockpit for a few weeks, if not longer. Earl Smith took over the ride that night and won the feature.

While Petro was on the mend, gangrene had set in in his leg, and he had to be admitted to the hospital for surgery for a skin-grafting procedure. Petro’s season was officially over. He had not raced since the pit area accident at Liberty. Petro was the odds-on favorite to win the first World 100 held a week later. He had won 11 features at the track during the season.

With his season ending early, Petro also lost a chance to win the points at both Eldora and Whitewater Valley. John Hofstetter would win the Eldora points, and Vern Le Fevers would grab the Whitewater championship. Petro did come back in 1972 and 1973 to win the Eldora track championship. He finished third in the 1973 World 100 after leading the first 14 laps of the race.

Petro passed away at his home in Florida in 2001 at the age of 66.

Local go-kart tracks get underway

Columbus Speedway, which holds events at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds, will open with its first points race of the season tonight.

Gates will open at 1 p.m. with the driver’s meeting at 5:30 p.m., followed by practice.

Jennings County Outlaw Karting, which conducts racing events at the Jennings County 4-H Fairgrounds in North Vernon, will hold its first points race Friday.

Brownstown racing tonight

After being rained out last weekend, Brownstown Speedway is set to be back in action tonight with Kids Night.

Divisions racing will be pro late models, open wheel modifieds, pure stocks, hornets and crown vics.

For information, visit brownstownspeedway.com.

Twin Cities opener tonight

After having the season opener rained out last Saturday, Twin Cities Raceway Park will try again tonight to get the 2021 season underway with crate late models, open wheel modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks, hornets and crown vics competing.

For information, visit twincitiestrack.com.

Lawrenceburg racing tonight

Lawrenceburg Speedway will return to racing action tonight after rain washed out last Saturday’s scheduled activities.

Tonight will be a regular program featuring sprints, open wheel modifieds, pure stocks and hornets.

For the latest info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.

This week in racing history

From 50 years ago in 1971, Sheldon Kinser won the sprint car feature at Bloomington Speedway. Bob Kinser was second, followed by Hal Minyard, Mike Johnson and Calvin Gilstrap.

Also from 50 years ago this weekend, 25th Street Fairgrounds Raceway in Columbus opened its season with Ralph Clary winning the V8 late model division feature over Don Hobbs, William Wampler, Joe Lobb and Galen Fox. Tommy Day took the V6 feature over Doc Telsner, Roger Vellener, Chuck Gilpin, Bill Smith and Don Jeffers.

From 50 years ago, Tommy Day won the season opener for the 1971 season at Twin Cities Speedway. He had won the night before his victory at Columbus at Whitewater Valley Speedway in Liberty, taking the victory there over Vern LeFevers and Ron Baker.

From 40 years ago in 1981 at Brownstown, Ray Godsey won the late model feature over Russ Petro, Don Hobbs, Kenny Simpson and Paul Crockett. Troy Burton won the modified street stock main event over Ernie Niemoeller, David Thomas, Bob Johnson and Gregg Lyle.

Also from 1981, at Twin Cities, Dennis Noppert won the late model feature over Dee Kramer, Chuck Gilpin, John Mitchell and Dewayne Palmer. Willie Sallee took his second straight street stock feature over Ted Pfeiffer Jr., Mark Bruce, R.C. Calton and Bucky Ross.

From 30 years ago in 1991 at Brownstown, it was Bob Pierce winning the late model feature over John Gill, Steve Barnett, Kevin Claycomb and Mike Jewell. Scott Patman won the street stock feature over Darin George, Darren Davis, Brad Barrow and Doug Hall. George Berry took the bomber feature over Scott Barker, Jeff Helton, Ray Hughes and Bob Johnson.