Christian Wins Slim Jim All Pro Arndt & Herman Windows 200
11 August 1997
CHRISTIAN CAPTURES CARAWAY ALL PRO RUN
ASHEBORO, NC - August 9, 1997 - First holding off the charges of
Conyers, GA's Ron Young, then surviving a green-white-checkered flag
finish, Sugar Hill, GA's Steven Christian earned his second NASCAR
Slim Jim All Pro Series win of 1997 as he captured the Arndt & Herman
Windows 200 at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, NC on Saturday night. The
BellSouth Chevrolet driver pocketed $8,775 of the $42,150 race purse.
"I had my hands full during the last 25 laps, first with Ron (Young)
working me hard, then, after Ron and Hank (Parker, Jr.) got together,
I had to hold off Hank and Mike (Harmon) on the final restart," an
elated Christian quipped in victory lane. "I want to compliment those
guys, they all raced me clean, and that just goes to show how
professional and competitive the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series is,"
he added. "Sammy (Shumate) and the crew gave me a great race car and
our engine from Clements Racing Engines was stout. All in all it was a
great night," the 27-year-old said in closing. For the second week in
a row, Raleigh, NC's Derrick Gilchrist captured the Busch Pole Award,
and established a new track record in the process. Gilchrist toured
the 0.455 mile oval in a time of 16.810 seconds at a speed of 97.442
to earn the right to start his Fairfield Inns Chevrolet from the pole
position, and erased the previous track record which was held by
Greenville, SC's Toby Porter. Porter's previous mark was 16.930
seconds equaling 96.751 mph. It was Gilchrist's third Busch Pole of
the season and the sophomore driver now leads the annual chase for the
most Busch Poles. Gilchrist leads Christian and Hank Parker, Jr., who
each have two pole positions this season.
Gilchrist grabbed the top spot in turn two at the start of the race,
with Christian falling in directly behind the leader. From the outset
Christian doggedly pursued Gilchrist and on lap 11 he dove low
entering turn three and took over the top spot.
After Christian wrestled the top spot away from Gilchrist he was able
to set a comfortable pace but behind him the battle waged with various
combatants all fighting for the balance of the top five
positions. Gilchrist, holding down the second spot had to fend off
Harmon, Scott Sutherland and Nipper Alsup early on. Series points
leader Jeff Fultz, Parker, Young, Hal Goodson and Larry Raines also
ventured into the top five at various times during an extremely
competitive race.
On lap 71 Harmon looked inside of Gilchrist for the runner-up
position, then settled back into third, but was displaced for that
spot on lap 75 by a hard charging Young. At the race's halfway point
Christian, Gilchrist, Young, Harmon and Goodson held the top five
positions, with 14 of the original 30 starters still on the lead lap.
During the second half of the event little changed. Christian
maintained a steady pace, a heated battle waged behind him, and many
of the drivers began to assert themselves to secure a strong
finish. Young and Harmon slipped by a fading Gilchrist shortly after
the 150 lap mark with Parker cracking the top five on lap 160 after
getting by Raines for that position. Just three laps later Parker
dropped Gilchrist to fourth and on the 170th circuit Raines re-entered
the top five, dropping Gilchrist to sixth.
At the 180 lap mark Christian, Young and Parker were nose-to-tail and
Harmon joined the fracas two laps later. On lap 192 Young and Parker
made contact causing Young to spin and Harmon passed Parker for the
runner-up spot. Young's spin brought out the race's final caution and
set up the final dash to the checkered flag.
Christian executed a perfect restart on lap 204, with Harmon and and
Parker in hot pursuit. As the trio exited turn four, Christian
streaked to a 0.06 second victory with Parker nosing out Harmon with a
great side-by-side finish for the runner-up position. Young regrouped
to finish fourth while Raines notched his first top five finish of the
season. Finishing sixth through 10th were points leader Fultz, Robert
Powell, Wayne Anderson, David Reutimann and Goodson.
Fultz continues to lead the series point standings with Goodson
holding down the second position and Young now only seven points
behind Goodson. Reutimann and Harmon continue to maintain their
respective fourth and fifth place positions while Christian jumps from
eighth to sixth on the strength of his win. Seventh through 10th
positions are occupied by Alsup, Parker, Gilchrist and Anderson. With
his ninth place finish Reutimann earned the $400 Port City Racing
Rookie of the Race Award for the sixth time this year, and continues
to lead the season long points chase in this category. Easley, SC's
Randy Gentry earned Rookie of the Race Runner-Up honors after
finishing 11th. After managing his team's effort to place a solid
racing machine under Christian, Sammy Shumate picked up the $300 check
from Jasper Engines and Transmissions as the Crew Chief of the Race
for the second time this year. As a result of Young's fourth place
finish crew chief Larry Rapp maintained the lead in the season long
crew chief points chase. Shumate now trails Rapp by four points, the
equivalent of two top five finishing positions.
The next event for the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series will take place
at Lanier National Speedway in Gainesville, GA. The Kroger 200
presented by Old El Paso is scheduled for Saturday night, August 30,
and represents the 15th of 20 races on the 1997 schedule.
By NASCAR Public Relations
