(1983)
Bud Wilson takes over the tech duties this season, and a little over ten years after Reed turned the trick, Steve McGovney became the second, and last Late Model driver to notch a four-way competition sweep on his way to his first season Late Model championship. Kevin Gottula continued his career upswing with the only track speed record of the year at 14.429 on October 10th. Gottula would go onto a stellar career in which he will rightly earn the fan dubbed title of 'Mr. Excitement'.
The season turned into a stat duel between McGovney and Boyd, with McGovney notching thirteen fast times and tying Boyd with twenty main top five finishes using a Boyd built motor. Boyd answered back with six dash wins, and seven feature victories to finish second in season pints, followed by Ed Dyer in third. George Silva and Harold Maxwell made the semi main contest fun with Maxwell picking up his second career title.
Al Gard Jr. of Stockton was the fast driver in the hobby ranks with ten quick trips in the season to add to his nine feature victories. Jerry Tripp of Stockton, Mike Ray of Ripon, and Lodi's Roger Bentz each shared six dash wins, but the twenty-one main top five finishes by Henk Gaalswyk gave him the season title.
Eric Seely took Late Model rookie honors with most improved going to Dave Catlett of Modesto. Ed Dyer was honored with the season's Sportsman of the year award.
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