By Jim Balentine (senior editor)

From 1990 to the present day, Sprint cars have been the premier division in the eastern Ohio area… however many drivers have not been from the Youngstown Ohio area as only a handful of drivers compete regularly around the circuit. From the 1950s until 1990 the super late models became an established division locally and 3 drivers from the Youngstown Ohio area dominated the local tracks as well as ones farther away.. At one time there were four race tracks from 1970 to 1973 running super late models on a regular basis all along the Ohio/western Pennsylvania border within a half hour from each other. Raceway seven near Conneaut, Ohio, expo Speedway in Cortland, Ohio, Canfield Speedway in Canfield, Ohio, and Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. Canfield speedway was the first one to have the late models or hardtops as they were known then weekly going back to the 1950s when Bill France Sr.’s NASCAR circuit competed at the historic half mile for three years on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. Mike Klapak from Warren,Ohio began racing in 1931 at Sharon Speedway. His first two years he ran 11 times winning six of them and the other five he finished in second. After 1933 he retired but then came back in 1949 right when NASCAR began sanctioning races. He won three championships of the NASCAR Sportsman division, in 1950, 1951, and 1952.He then went to the MARC series winning many races and then competed in USAC Stock Cars, winning the 1957 Trenton 500 and then 2 races at the deadly Langhorne speedway. Mike would continue racing into the 60s competing at Daytona many times as well as his hometown Sharon Speedway,. He retired in 1964 just as the “late model” division was growing in popularity in the area. As Klapak retired another name became dominant from the area. Bill Forney from Boardman Ohio. Forney raced at both Canfield and Sharon Speedways. Forney’s talent earned him the Late Model track championship at Sharon in 1964, and an amazing seven championships at Canfield (1959-1960, ’61, ’63, ’65-66, ’68) – a track that had a national reputation for stiff competition. Forney had hundreds of feature wins, many at these two tracks. He is also credited with winning 27 straight races in a row at Painesville Speedway, and track championship at Cloverleaf,Painesville, and Hickory. Bill was famous with the candy striped 199 car in the late 1960s and he retired after the 1971 season. Jim Bickerstaff from Mineral Ridge, Ohio is a name that is synonymous with many feature wins and track championships even being called “Mr. Sharon Speedway” at one point. Jim won 2 Track Championships at Canfield, and Sharon and Heidelberg in 1967. Jim was the only driver to win the P.R.A Tri-State 150 twice in 1967 and 1970. He also took home the Pittsburgher 250 Championship Race that paid a cool $5000 to win, beating out 90 other entries in 1970 and the TrackChampionship that year. Jim also won the Glass City 200 at Toledo; The Steel Valley 200 at Sharon and then took home the Johnny Appleseed 100 on Dirt at Mansfield. At Midvale, Jim won the Ohio Invitational 3 times. Twice defeating NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison in 1972 and 1973. In the 1970’s he took home Track Championships at Sharon in 1974, ’75 and ’77 before winning it again in 1980. He is the all time late model Feature winner at Sharon with a total of 42 and competed on both the dirt and asphalt at Sharon. Jim also ventured into NASCAR Modified’s, where he beat Geoff Bodine and Ritchie Evans at New Smyrna. He won his last race at Expo Speedway driving for Tom Glass in 1981 in a modified coupe. What made Bickerstaff so great was that He rarely drove his own car driving for a many Hall of Fame car owners over his career. Many other drivers from the Youngstown area competed and won many features and track championships at the 4 Ohio tracks, such as Tom Jarrett, Jim Gillespie, Glenn Gault, Skip Evans; Mike Boraweic, Dave Yobe, Butch Buccella, Phil Wertz, Bob Blaney, and Tom Wimer…all inducted into the Twin state racing club hall of fame. These drivers among others paved the way for the next generation of drivers and show just how tough it was to race against drivers from the Youngstown Ohio area.

Jim Bickerstaff

Mike Klapak

Bill Forney