Luck shines on Riddle in 1984
Florida veteran Frank Riddle finally had Lady Luck shine on him during the 36th running of the Pay Less Little 500 with him wheeling his Sergion Hernandez sprint car into victory lane.

Riddle captured the pole position in his first visit to Anderson Speedway in 1980 and again on his return trip in 1983. He hit the turn three wall in 1980 and in 1983 the engine let go sidelining him from the event.

But 1984 would be a different story.

Riddle set a new one and four-lap track record during qualifying to win his third pole position for the Little 500 in as many starts.

On five different occasions, Riddle led the 1984 classic for a total of 268 laps but the win was all but assured.

Robert Smith was leading with seven laps remaining when the tires went away on the Florida drivers sprint car which allowed Riddle to take the lead for the final time and the checkers.

At one point Riddle led for 188 consecutive laps when he pitted for the final time, which gave the lead to Smith. He won by almost a full lap over Jim Haynes.

“We’ve been here four other times and we did very well in qualifying, but had bad luck in the race,”

Riddle told the Anderson Daily Bulletin following his victory. “There were some close calls even before the last lap. I think I nearly hit one fellow’s car with about 10 laps left. As long as you are running on the last lap, that’s the important part.”

The race was notable because the first woman ever to compete in a Little 500, Kelly Sue Braithwaite of Michigan started 32nd and drove to a 12th place finish completing 442 laps. Braithwaite was named rookie of the year.

Sport Allen, the youngest driver to start the Little 500 at age 13, was credited with a 24th place finish after crashing on lap 92.

Riddle would capture the pole position again in 1985 and made it back-to-back wins. He captured his fifth pole position in 1986, finishing 15th retiring after 320 laps with a handling problem.

In 16 career Little 500 starts, Riddle posted four top five and five top ten finishes. Always a fan favorite in Anderson, Riddle ran his last Little 500 in 1997.