Columbus racer Gene Petro was a man on a mission in 1971. He was coming off the best year of his racing career money-wise in 1970 and had his sights set on bettering that in 1971.
Petro teamed up with Darrell Woodbury of Woodbury Welding in Union City to drive his Chevelle. Petro, then in his 19th year of racing, started the season red-hot, piling up several victories and by the end of June 50 years ago. He led the late model stock car points at four tracks. Eldora Speedway; New Bremen (Ohio) Speedway; the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio; along with Whitewater Valley Speedway in Liberty all showed Petro as their points leader heading into July of 1971.
Woodbury had previously owned sprint cars before late model stock cars. Besides Petro, Woodbury also had Larry Moore, Floyd Gilbert, Dick DeBolt and Chick…
