1984 Winchester 400

The fifteenth annual Winchester 400 was held under American Speed Association sanction on September 30, 1984, at the Winchester Speedway.

After five-straight wins followed by five-straight years of frustration the undisputed king of the “400” reassumed his throne as Bob Senneker scored his sixth win in the closest “400” finish to date. Starting from the pole for the second-straight year, Wisconsin’s Dick Trickle jumped into the lead at the drop of the green. Holding off ASA Championship rivals Jim Sauter and Senneker, Trickle set a torrid pace in the early stages. Trickle made his first appearance on pit road on lap 128, handing the lead to Senneker. The race would continue on a record pace as Senneker led until lap 224 when Mark Martin moved in front.

Racing in the top-five all day, Sauter began encountering steering problems and spun. Senneker reassumed the lead during a round of pit stops, but would give up the lead on lap 242 when he pitted for another set of fresh tires. That would give the lead back to Martin who would stay in front until he pitted on lap 305. Bobby Dotter then assumed the lead, but it would be short-lived as Senneker went back in front on lap 317. After going down a lap early in the event with tire problems, defending race-winner Mike Eddy worked his way back onto the lead lap, only to have a shock absorber fail and send him spinning on lap 336.

Under the resulting caution, Martin made his final pit stop and took on tires to try and chase down his first “400” win. The late stages of the race saw shades of Martin and Eddy in 1980, as Martin once again tried lap-after-lap to pass an ASA legend. Martin was able to pull alongside Senneker on several occasions, but was unable to compete the pass. At the checkers, Senneker held off Martin by four-car lengths (0.650 seconds), with Trickle a mere 12 seconds behind the winner in third. Butch Miller also completed all 400 laps to finish fourth while Dotter was fifth, one lap off the winner’s pace. Senneker collected an event-record $11,670 for his sixth win.

External links

* [http://www.winchesterspeedway.com/ Winchester Speedway website]
* [http://www.craracing.net/ Official CRA Website]