The 1996 OVDCA season kicked off at Skyline Speedway on April 12th. The 1995 35 Raceway Track champion Kelly Moore proved that he could continue his winning ways by picking up the feature win followed by West Virginia area racers Jeff Shuck and Dave Broadwater. John Hammons took the fourth spot, and Jeff Staggers rounded out the top five. The second show of the weekend, at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne West Virginia feel victim to rain showers.
Columbus Motor Speedway hosted the OVDCA’s first pavement show on April 20th. Bill Vargo of Wheeling, WV held off a hard charging racing legend Dick Dunlevy Sr. for the feature win. Staggers picked up another top five finish in third, with Gary Salyers in fourth and Doug Eagle in fifth.
Action turned to the OVDCA opener at 35 Raceway on April 27th and once again Kelly Moore showed the dominance at the track by taking the feature. Brad Bigam ran strong in second place, with Bo Wiley third, Chad Pendleton fourth and Jeff Staggers fifth. The stage was set for a points battle between Moore, Staggers and Bigam that would last all season.
Following several rainouts, the season’s second asphalt event was held May 18th at Shady Bowl Speedway. Long time Shady Bowl and Columbus mini stock competitor Chet Baldridge showed he still knew his way around the 3/10 oval winning the feature over Staggers, Bob Miller, Dunlevy, and Hammons.
Back to 35 for the May 25th event, and again Moore would not be denied, taking his third feature win of the season. Bigam was close on his heels in second, further tightening up the points race as Staggers took time off to build a new car. Chad Pendleton took third, and Ed Vallette finished fourth. Mel Kiser rounded out the top five with his best performance to date.
The June 1st event at Florence Speedway in Kentucky saw Spence Stearns take his first OVDCA feature victory. Bigam scored third second place finish of the year, followed by Baldridge, Ray Leslie, and Mike Rector.
The high banks of Attica Raceway Park finally hosted the dwarfs on June 21st, after two previous race dates were lost to rain. Buddy McBride made his first appearance of the year a big one, taking the feature win, followed by Moore, and newcomer Randy Rhodes in his first ever dwarf car race. Eagle and Bigam rounded out the top five.
Following another rainout at Flag City Motorsports Park, the OVDCA returned to 35 Raceway on July 4th for the conclusion of the “Dwarf Car Spectacular” which had been halted by rain earlier. West Virginia area racer Terry Hall outran all entrants to take the $1000 winner share of the $4,000 purse. Pendleton continued his strong performances at 35 with another top five finish, with Moore third, Miller fourth, and Bigam fifth.
The second night of the three night Fourth of July weekend saw the dwarfs take on the historical ¼ mile of Lakeville. Fifteen year old Bo Wiley took his first career win over local racer Eagle, with Bigam taking his fifth consecutive top five finish in third. Stearns was fourth in a strong run, and Rector notched his second top five finish in fifth.
The weekend wrapped up back at 35 Raceway, and a familiar name was back in victory lane at the end of the evening. Moore made it three out of four at the 1/5 mile bullring with another feature victory. Once again, Pendleton gave Moore a run, but settled for second. Eagle wrapped up a good weekend with a third, and Staggers made up ground on Moore in Bigam in the points race by taking fourth. Dave Williamson had first best career performance in fifth.
Wiley returned to the winners stand at the July 13th Shady Bowl event, after an exciting duel with second place finisher Vallette. Miller picked up third, with Staggers fourth and Stearns fifth. Staggers recorded his first feature win of the season at Lakeville on July 19th, with McBride taking second. Moore maintained his points lead with a third place finish, Followed by Toby Boetcher and Ike Carter.
Mechanical difficulties struck Moore and Staggers at 35 Raceway on July 27th, moving Bigam back into title contention with a second place finish. Boetcher took his first OVDCA victory, with John Evans third, Wiley fourth and Eagle fifth. Returning to 35 on August 10th, Hall picked up his second OVDCA win, followed by Wiley, Boetcher, Bigam and Todd Barstow.
Wiley notched win number three at Lorain Speedway on August 16th, with Staggers battling to a second place finish. Vargo took third. Mark Anderson had his best finish in fourth and Stearns rounded out the field in fifth. The following night the dwarfs returned to 35 Raceway for the fourth annual Midwest Dwarf Car Nationals. Nearly forty cars from six states competed for the top prize, which went to Chad Pendleton after a late race pass of Boetcher. McBride was third leading Hall and Evans across the line.
The dwarfs were finally able to take to the track at Flag City Motorsports Park on August 31st after several rainouts. Ed Vallette and Bo Wiley battled for the lead throughout, with the outcome decided only after Wiley spun in the late stages. Two OVDCA regulars had their season best performances as Ike Carter took second, and Wayne Fitzpatrick took third. Randy Rhodes picked up fourth, and Shawn Stevens rounded out the top five. The season’ sfinal points race was rained out at 35 Raceway, leaving Moore the season points champion by 32 points over Staggers, with Bigam only 14 points behind Staggers in third.
The season cumulated with a special event sponsored by Pro Chassis Dwarf Cars for the top twenty in points, with the race winner taking home a new chassis package. Buddy McBride made the most of his front row starting position on the inverted start, taking over the top spot following John Hammon’s spin. Chad Pendleton worked his way up to second from the ninth spot, followed by Boetcher, Bigam and Carter. The season concluded the following day at Shady Bowl Speedway with Ed Vallette taking feature win number two for the season, followed by Staggers, Jason Glick , Wiley and Bob Miller.
