Bob Tattersall, the former stock car driver and front-running UARA pilot, won four USAC features during the season and finished fifth in the points. Tattersall scored a USAC victory indoors at Chicago’s International Amphitheatre on Dec. 17, the first USAC-sanctioned event presented at the Halsted Street arena. Tattersall and his Iowa-based Leon Mensing-owned Ford V8 defeated veterans Byron Fisher and Danny Kladis. In early April, Tattersall and Riva were feature winners indoors at the Amphitheatre during the Speed Jamboree event.
Bettenhausen claimed a 100-lap USAC midget win at Milwaukee, wheeling Howard Linne’s car to victory in August. Another area speedster, Johnny Roberts, picked up two USAC wins, one at the Springfield, Ill., quarter-mile dirt oval and one indoors at Fort Wayne, Ind.
Local racer Elmer Musgrave and his ’59 Ford won four Midwest Association for Race Cars races, including one at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta and one at the tricky, and sometimes treacherous, D-shaped, one-mile dirt Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania in addition to two at Ohio’s Powell Speedway.
Nelson Stacy and his ’60 Ford won the MARC-sanctioned 250-mile Illini 250 at the 3.27-mile Meadowdale International Raceways in Carpentersville, Ill., on Aug. 14. Stacy, the Kentucky-born driver, had fast time at the Meadowdale road course, which featured the track’s signature – the steeply-banked turn Monza Wall. On May 29, Augie Pabst wheeled his Scarab to victory in sports car action Meadowdale.
Bryant Tucker and his ’57 Buick claimed top late model stock car honors at both Soldier Field and at Mance Park Speedway in Hodgkins. 1960 would mark the final season of racing at the paved fifth-mile Mance oval, which was built, owned and operated by the Mance Brothers — Hal and Bill.
Indiana’s Red DuVall won the Mid Season Championship race at Solider Field while Whitey Gerken closed out the season with a victory in the 100-lap Season Championship. Tucker won two features on his way to the Soldier Field title and won five feature races at Mance Park, including the track’s last main event in September.
Dick Nelson nabbed 13 feature wins on his way to winning the late model title on the dirt at the Santa Fe in Willow Springs. Indiana’s Kenny Boyer, the track’s ’53 and ’57 champion, won the stock car season opener in May and Roy Martinelli captured the 100-lap National Clay Track Championship season finale. Milwaukee’s Greg Krieger was the modified stock car champion on the dirt at the Waukegan Speedway.
Arnie Gardner in a ’57 Chevy, who won late model features at O’Hare, Mance Park and Soldier Field, was also named the Mazon stock car champion in 1960.
Don Harvey was the stock car champion at the Rockford Speedway. Art Brady of Peoria won a 100-lap International Motor Contest Ass’n-sanctioned stock car race on June 22. Brady and his ’57 Chevy defeated fastest qualifier Ernie Derr, Mert Williams and Dick Hutcherson. Earlier in June, Bill Lutz won a NASCAR Midwest 100-lap race at the banked quarter-mile asphalt oval.
The reopening of Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Ind., saw Indianapolis 500 veteran Bill Cheesbourg win an open-competition 50-lap late model stock car feature on July 29. Cheesbourg and his ’58 Ford defeated Iowa’s Darrel Dake and Rich Sutkus. Les Snow grabbed fast time honors at the half-mile dirt oval. On Aug. 26, Nelson Stacy won a 100 lapper at the Northwest Indiana speed plant.
Northwest Indiana champions included Luke Gilbert at the Broadway Speedway in Crown Point and Ted Schroeder at the Rensselaer Speedway, both racing coupes at their respective dirt tracks.