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Show Nothing could stop limited champion Marty West at Roundabout this year By LINDA HARRIS ! There's nothing hanging in the sky ! to stop the late September heat from j penetrating the freshly watered dirt and turning it into a fine dust. As the sun's rays strike car metal and glass and ricochet off, five drivers, lined up in diagonal patterns, attempt to squint them away. Number 4 car pulls into position last car, last row outside. The driver, Marty West, and his top opponent for the season, Norm Rhodes, have just battled for best time in the time trials until Marty won the coveted spot by 1 capturing a time of 18:64, some down , from the new track record of 18 : 11 set by him a few weeks before. Son of racing ace Don West, today Marty will come into his own. It's the last race of the season at Roundabout. Time trials, trophy dashes, heats, and two of three main events have successfully suc-cessfully stirred up the dust. As it hangs in the crisp air or settles indiscriminately in-discriminately on drivers, spectators, hamburgers and hoorahs, the meaning of this win hangs predominantly on Marty's mind. It could mean high point for the season. The pit crew, Lafe and Bill Ellington, have come all the way f j from Heber and Ogden, as usual, to ; check out the '64 Chevelle and make necessary adjustments between races. Marty had worked on the car all season. The second week in April the "Jack Rabbit Express" was a skeleton as cars go engineless and tireless, a $500 wreck. Three weeks of frantic work and about $3000 brought it up to qualifying specs for the first race of the year. But the work hadn't stopped there. Collisions with cars, poles and fences, as well as driving the car at the limit of its capabalities for 16 Saturdays meant overhauling and straightening metal all season. Marty had already won a trophy for the best-looking car based in part on the number of times he pounded smooth the dents, painted it, and maintained it generally. Now they were at the other end of the racing season and his being there 1 meant that he would win yet another prize a Roundabout jacket for making every race. As the drivers warmed up, the roar of the engines bored through the air, made contact with the bleachers and set them vibrating. The sun's rays had failed to lull the crowd into apathy. The cool breeze had not divided their attention. They were alive to see who would win out of Rhodes and West. There were only ten points between them in winning the season high point trophy. Rhodes wanted this race, too. i The flag dropped, and the cars faded into flashes of colored metal in between the dust clouds. ; The cars gained speed as they went , into the straightaway. Thoughts of the 1980 Salt Flats race flashed through Marty's mind. They were up to about 70 mph now. Slow motion compared to the 202 mph he had hit at the Flats, he thought as he climbed into second position behind Ernie Oostveen. Ernie was driving Gary Davis's car. Rhodes, close behind, swallowed up Marty's shadow, allowing no more than a foot between them. Five laps were down; five more to go. High point would mean that he had the highest score overall for the season in combined events. Marty had won two championships in the modified class in '78 and '79. Now he was in the limited class, which meant that he had a little more car to maneuver. Rhodes, as if tethered to the blue Chevelle, was not falling even an inch behind. Together they chased the Davis vehicle. A lot of people had given Marty support throughout the season. Ken Tanner of Ken's Radiator built all his radiators. Exchange Parts of Salt Lake City provided him with a new clutch and pressure plate. Lindon Precision machined out his rims and Don's Automotive supplied numerous parts and a place to put them together. Then there were some other supportershis sup-portershis wife, Sherri, parents, friends. There was one spectator, especially, who was listening intently to the announcer. She had been an announcer herself at the races many times. Marty's mom was waiting to hear the words, "Number 4 in the lead." Racing its thrills and its dangers are no stranger to her. Her husband has raced since 1951 and she herself has guided the ton of metal around a few tracks. But Marty has been the only one of three sons to carry on the tradition. When you start racing at age 14, by 22 you are somewhat of a veteran. Marty was there when Roundabout started at the gravel pit at the mouth of the canyon in '74. Upto this point in the '82 season he held 7 wins out of 9 main events. A bad accident involving in-volving Don Wellingham, Gary Davis, Norm Rhodes and himself during the mid-season races had not been a barrier to his winning that championship. Then he and his crew had changed transmissions between the trophy dash and the heat race, and he went on to take first in his class in the mid-season event. As the cars came into the turn on the sixth lap, the words of the announcer an-nouncer mixed with the suspended dust and fell on the ears of the spectators. "Number 4 in the lead." . He held the lead for the next four laps. Marty had done it. It was his race and his season. It is said he won more trophies and prizes at Roundabout this year than anyone had ever done before. i "- tv : , -1 ' -v j MARTY WEST and his '64 Chevelle. This season Marty won more trophies and prizes at Roundabout than j nave been given out to one individual in any previous year i ' |