Dayton Journal Herald: May 2, 1976: SPEEDWAY OPENER: TWO FIRST FOR JOHN VALLO:
John Vallo collected a pair of firsts during yesterday's season-opening stock car races at the Dayton Speedway. He was the first driver to hit the guardrail since the high-banked, .539-mile oval has be repaved. And first in the rain-shortened late model feature race.
The brief shower, combined with the oiliness of the fresh blacktop, made the track surface slick and brought the feature to a conclusion eight circuits short of the scheduled 30 laps.
"I slowed down," said Vallo, who had a half-lap edge over runner-up Don Seaborn, when the race was halted.
The rain forced post-ponement of the semi-late model feature. It will be run as part of the next regular program May 16.
The victory ended a day that nearly proved disappointing for Vallo, a Miamisburg resident. He spun in practice, backing into the second turn guardrail, and finished a close second to Seaborn in both dash and heat races. But his qualifying time of 17.71 seconds led the way and was just nine-hundredths off Larry Moore's track record.
And he escaped trouble, too, when a three-car mishap on the first lap of the feature necessitated a restart.
Dick Dunlevy Jr. spun coming out of the second turn and was hit by Moore. Dave Brandenburg's car wound up slamming into the infield's dirt embankment.
Brandenburg was through for the day, but Dunlevy and Moore returned to action-the latter cutting off the right front fender and installing a different radiator.
Vallo and Seaborn quickly turned it into a two-car race following the restart, with Vallo pushing his blue and white No.28 Camaro into the lead on the sixth lap and then stretching the advantage as the drizzle began.
Seaborn, with his car vibrating and oil pressure dropping, backed off a bit to preserve his engine. Moore also eased up, his car overheating and suffering from a bent tie rod, to finish fourth behind Ted Johnson. A total of just 17 cars were on hand with Sunday events at several other nearby tracks contributing to the lack of entries. But the track's new surface impressed those drivers present.
The only troublesome spot was coming out of turn No. 2, where the handling was a little tricky when the cars hit the old surface. The backstretch of the track was not repaved. When you hit that dropoff," Vallo said, "it kind of puts you up toward the wall.