Sunday 23rd April 1967

Mark Donohue drove Roger Penske’s Lola-Chevy to an easy victory in the 180 mile United States Road Racing Championship Sports Car race on the 3 mile Stardust International Raceway, Nevada. Mechanical trouble sidelined Frank Matich, Jerry Titus and Bob Bondurant before the start. George Follmer jumped into the lead at the start with Donohue moving from row 2 into 2nd. At the end of the long backstraight the first time around, Follmer spun in oil left from the earlier regional race. A rock went through the oil cooler of Follmer’s Lola, which limped to a smoking stop at the start/finish line. Drivers were angry because officials failed to notify them of the oil before the green fell. Sam Posey overreved at the start, which shut his engine off and then spun in his own fuel, but recovered. Peter Revson burned out his clutch on the start and retired at the end of the first lap. By lap 11, Donohue held a 15 second lead over Skip Scott with Lothar Motschenbacher passing defending USRRC champ Charlie Parsons to take 3rd. Parsons retired on lap 15 with a blown engine. On the 45th lap, Motschenbacher pitted his McLaren after losing a cylinder and Scott pitted his Ford powered McLaren with a leaking oil cooler to move Posey’s McLaren into 2nd to stay. As Scott roared into the pits, he nearly hit a crewman for another car. When Scott came even closer re-pitting 2 laps later, the crewman, William Ribbs, threw a bucket of water on the McLaren, breaking the windshield. Tempers flared and Scott wanted assault charges filed against Ribbs. The sheriff took Ribbs into custody but cooler heads prevailed and SCCA officials fined the driver of the other car and recommended disciplinary action against Ribbs. Donohue cruised home almost a full lap ahead of Posey, who came across the line 1 minute, 41 seconds later.