We resume our coverage of the last 5 record breaking years with 1988. The CD of all the buggy book scans got a big boost this week courtesy of Tom Wood who provided scans of the entire 70s decade. You’re going to want one of these when they’re available on raceday
1988 was not just a record setting year. It was the year that left a record that hung tauntingly over buggy for 20 years. Day 1 set the standard high with DU breaking the record with a time of 2:08.5 with their two wheeled buggy King Eider. DU’s high risk / high reward strategy backfired on day 2 when King Eider “toppled” the crest of hill 2, never to roll again.
Spirit was the defending champion having completed their ambitious 3 year plan to “race, place, and win” in 1987, but some asserted that the victory was due only to a rained-out day 2. They denied they had anything to prove on their buggy book page, but the pressure to validate their surprising ’87 win must have worked wonders on the push team. Spirit seized the opportunity and took nearly 2.5 seconds off of the 1986 record, setting the time that seared into many a mind over the 20 years that followed: 2:06.2. Many people assume that such a lasting record was set on a warm, dry day, the type that is favorable to both pushers and buggies. In fact, the records show that the temperature at 11am on April 16th, 1988 was 32 degrees F and the weather was listed as light snow.