Jimmie Bussard

Autographed program cover for the midget races run on this afternoon

Bob Lawrence collection

Midget Races run at the

Bo Stearns’ Racetrack

Wichita, Kansas

Sunday Afternoon – April 24, 1938

Entry List

Car #	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
1	Roy Sherman	St. Louis, Missouri	Raynor special		White	Ben Raynor
2	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	Corbin special	Chevrolet	Green	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado
2	Bud Cooper
4	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Dumbauld special			Jimmy Dumbauld	Denver, Colorado
5	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
6	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
7	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
12	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado
13	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas
14	“Cannonball” Weir	Denver, Colorado	Cannonball special	Harley - Davidson		Vernon “Cannonball” Weir	Denver, Colorado
15	“Sheik” Welch	Denver, Colorado	Welch special			“Sheik” Welch	Denver, Colorado
15	Chuck Vandervort		Geisen special	Continental	Yellow	Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas
17	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri	Lucas Garage special		Rust	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri
23	Roy Leslie	Denver, Colorado	Jurgens special	Ford	Black	Jimmy Jergens	Denver, Colorado
30	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	Miller Beer special		Blue	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado
34	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma			White
38	Paul “Pappy” Headrick	Denver, Colorado	Popp special			Paul “Pappy” Headrick	Denver, Colorado
45	Louie Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas	Continental special	Continental		Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas
4-60	Carl Nelson		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
4-60	Wayne Young		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
X	Fred Harris	Wichita, Kansas	F.W.D. special

Time Trials – 13 Cars – 1 lap

Car #	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From	Time
7	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado	18.1
17	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri	Lucas Garage special		Rust	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri	18.3
30	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	Miller Beer special		Blue	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	18.3
5	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	19.0
4 – 60	Carl Nelson		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	19.1
1	Roy Sherman	St. Louis, Missouri	Raynor special		White	Ben Raynor		19.2
13	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	19.5
12	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	20.0
34	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma			White			20.0
2	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	Corbin special	Chevrolet	Green	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	20.2
45	Louie Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas	Continental special	Contiental		Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas	22.0
6	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	No Time
15	Chuck Vandervort		Geisen special	Contiental	Yellow	Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas	No Time

Dash - 3 Fastest Cars from Qualifying – 4 Laps

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
5	1	1	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
7	2	2	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
17	DNF	3	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri	Lucas Garage special		Rust	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri

Rose spun his car out on the north curve.

First Elimination Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps – Time: 1:58.0

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
30	1	1	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	Miller Beer special		Blue	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado
5	2	4	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
7	3	3	Paul McNees	Cañon	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
17	4	2	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri	Lucas Garage special		Rust	Clarence Rose	Maplewood, Missouri

McNees spun out on the north curve but restarted the race

Rose’s engine was was “cutting out” but he managed to finish the race.

Second Elimination Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
1	1	3	Roy Sherman	St. Louis, Missouri	Raynor special		White	Ben Raynor
4 – 60	2	1	Carl Nelson		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
7	3	4	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
6	DNF	2	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado

Nelson spun out.

Sherman spun out but was able to continue in the race.

Third Elimination Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps – Time: 2:04.0

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
7	1	4	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
6	2	3	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
13	3	2	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas
12	4	1	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado

Fourth Elimination Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps – Time: 2:04.0

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
2	1	1	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	Corbin special	Chevrolet	Green	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado
13	2	3	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas
34	DNF	2	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma			White
12	DNF	4	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado

Clem lost a wheel but finished on the remaining three wheels.

Abbott dropped out.

Boomer spun out.

Fifth Elimination Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
6	1	2	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
12	2	1	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado
2	3	3	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	Corbin special	Chevrolet	Green	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado
15	4	4	Chuck Vandervort		Geisen special	Contiental	Yellow	Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas

Grandstand Choice Race – 4 Cars – 6 Laps – Time: 3:01.0

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
1	1	2	Roy Sherman	St. Louis, Missouri	Raynor special		White	Ben Raynor
30	2	3	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	Miller Beer special		Blue	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado
5	3	4	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
13	4	1	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas

Simi-Final Race – 7 Cars

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
34	1	2	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma			White
6	2	6	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
12	3	3	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado
4 – 60	4	4	Carl Nelson		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
15	DNF	1	Chuck Vandervort		Geisen special	Contiental	Yellow	Louis Geisen	Minneapolis, Kansas
13	DNF	7	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas
2	DNF	5	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado	Corbin special	Chevrolet	Green	Lyle Corbin	Denver, Colorado

Vandervort dropped out of this race with engine trouble.

Clem went out of the race on the north curve.

Corbin went out of the race on the race on the southeast curve.

Feature Race – 10 Cars – 25 Laps – Time: 7:17.0

Car #	Finished	Started	Driver	From	Car	Engine	Car Color	Car Owner	Owner From
5	1	1	Jimmie Bussard	Littleton, Colorado	Bussard special	Hudson	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
1	2	4	Roy Sherman	St. Louis, Missouri	Raynor special		White	Ben Raynor
7	3	2	Paul McNees	Cañon City, Colorado	Spook special		White	Louis Baechler	Ft. Collins, Colorado
13	4	9	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas	Clem special	Indian	Aluminum	D. A. Clem	Wichita, Kansas
12	5	8	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado	Boomer special	Chevrolet	Black & White	Johnny Boomer	Denver, Colorado
30	DNF	3	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado	Miller Beer special		Blue	Walt Killinger	Denver, Colorado
4 – 60	DNF	6	Carl Nelson		Graves special		Orange	Harry Graves	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
6	DNF	7	Ben Nelson		Bussard special	Chevrolet	Aluminum	Julius “Buzz” Bussard	Littleton, Colorado
34	DNF	10	“Snag” Abbott	Tulsa, Oklahoma			White
	DNF	5

13 cars were scheduled to start this race but only 10 of those were still in running condition.

Race Officials

Tom Holden	–	General Manager
Tom Holden	–	Starter / Flagman
V. Luther	–	Assistant Manager
Gilbert Garnell	–	Tape Referee
Jack Copeland	–	Judge
Larry Fitch	–	Timer
J. O. Strain	–	Announcer
Jimmy Dumbauld	–	Track Manager

James M. “Jimmie” Bussard

1911 - 1996

Jimmie Bussard of Littleton, Colorado in the midget that he won the feature race in at Bo Stearns’ Track north of Wichita, Kansas on April 24, 1938. The Hudson powered midget was owned by Jimmie’s father, Julius “Buzz” Bussard.

Photograph from the book One Tough Circuit, Midget Racing in America’s Heartland by Bill Hill