NASCAR All Pro Slim Jim Series Mannheim Auctions All American 400: Report and Results
20 October 1997
TEACHER BEATS CLASS IN NASHVILLE Nashville, TN - The schoolteacher, Freddy Query of Mooresville, NC gave everyone a lesson as he drove his W.J. Plemons Chevrolet to the win in the Manheim Auctions All American 400 today at Nashville Speedway USA and collected a total of $31,705 for his efforts. Query had the dominant car but had to come from the tail end of the lead lap when he pitted early during a caution just 33 laps from the end. Query also survived a three way battle into turn three that had the crowd on its feet and sent Ron Young and Wayne Anderson spinning into the turn three wall. "I had a good car both inside and outside all day," Query stated after the race. "We have been building this car slowly over the year, with the plan of running Concord and here. Our pit strategy worked out exactly as we planned, we just had better tires at the end and that was the difference. There was a piece of debris in turn 3 that I did not want to run over. I made a couple of runs on Ron (Young) but backed out to avoid the debris. I finally decided to go ahead and make the run in there and when I got there the debris was gone. I had better tires and they were running their guts out trying to stay in front. I never touched them, but they got together and spun out." Query took the lead going into the first corner and proceeded to quickly open up a large lead over the rest of the field. Jeff Purvis fell into second with Nipper Alsup running third and Hank Parker Jr and Bobby Gill rounding out the top five. Query would continue to lead through lap 106 when Tony Walls of Albertville, AL went to the inside in turn three to take over the lead. Walls would hold the point until all the leaders pitted under caution on lap 130. Mike Cope, who had taken advantage of an earlier caution period to make his first stop, took over the lead by staying on the track as everyone else pitted. For the 1996 Series Champion, this completed a remarkable last to first run in just 130 laps. Cope would lead until lap 156 when Ron Young went to the high side and took over the point on the back straight. Bobby Gill and Mario Gosselin also followed Young around Cope as they took up positions two and three. On lap 173 Young and Gosselin would spin in tandem in turn four as they tried to avoid a slower car that spun to the inside, and once again Query was in the lead. Query held the point through the halfway point as he collected $2,000 in bonus money and it wasn't until he pitted on lap 254 under caution that he gave up the front spot. David Reutimann stayed on the track and took over the point as Query came out of the pits running in fifth. Larry Raines managed to unlap himself from leader Reutimann on lap 266 and Mardy Lindley also made a pass to get one of his laps back. Then on lap 269 Billy Bigley Jr moved inside Bobby Hamilton to take over third in turn one and Query made the same pass in turn two. Two laps later Query moved inside Bigley on the backstretch and on the next lap he passed Cope on the inside for second. Bigley was able to get around Cope on lap 273 and Query closed right up on Reutimann's rear deck. On lap 276 Query went to the outside of Reutimann in turns 3 & 4 to retake the lead. On the very next lap Bigley tried to pass Reutimann and the two cars touched, Reutimann sun and collected Tony Walls, Mario Gosselin and Dan Matthews. Gosselin's car caught on fire and stopped in the inside of turn three were the flames were quickly extinguished by track safety workers. Bigley was sent to the rear of the lead lap cars for his efforts. On the restart on lap 290, Query now led Ron Young, Hamilton, Hal Goodson, and Hank Parker Jr. Bigley began a run towards the front, picking off cars on every lap while Parker also moved up to second and began the chase of Query. Slowly Parker was able to close the once large gap down and then on lap 342 he went to the outside of Query in turns 3 & 4 and took the lead. Parker's turn at the front was not a long one as on lap 350 he went to the inside of Jeff Fultz on the back straight and as the cars went into turn three there was contact sending Parker hard into the wall. Officials were about to put Fultz in the "Penalty Box" for taking Parker out, when Parker contacted an official and stated that it was his fault. Fultz retained his spot. During the cleanup, and before the pits were open, Query came down pit road and took on four fresh tires. This meant that he had to go to the rear of the lead lap cars on the restart. When green flag conditions again prevailed on lap 365, Query wasted little time in beginning his charge to the front. He was up to fifth by lap 367 and moved into fourth on lap 377. Taking his time, Query finally got around Bigley for third on lap 386 and set off in pursuit of Young and Wayne Anderson, now engaged in a heated battle for the lead. As Anderson looked for a way around Young he went high and then low, getting alongside on several occasions, but never able to complete the pass. Query caught the two and was trying to find a way around. He tried the high line and the low line as the laps wound down until with just 4 laps left he made his move to the inside of Anderson, who himself was going inside Young. Three wide they roared into turn three and then Anderson and Young touched and spun up into the wall, leaving Query, on the very bottom, to take the point. As cleanup proceeded the running order at the front saw Query ahead of Goodson, Bigley, Fultz and Jody Ridley. All Pro rules dictate that the race can not end under caution so it would be a green, white, checker finish. Query jumped into a two car length lead, but behind him it was a battle royal as Fultz went inside Bigley, Ridley tried to get inside the others and Goodson was challenged by everyone. As the white flag came out, there was little distance between any of the four cars battling for second and positions changed with every turn of the wheels. Back and forth for the entire last lap the four cars fought, coming out of the final turn 3 wide as they headed for the checkers. Fultz nosed out Goodson at the line for second behind Query, with Bigley taking fourth and Ridley ending up fifth. A blanket could have covered the four cars as they crossed the stripe. For Query the victory was a sweet one as he collected the bonus for leading laps 100, 200 and 300 as well as the pole and the winners share of the purse. It was also a tribute to family racing as his son Alex Query is the crew chief and his wife Elaine is the spotter. The pit crew is a pick-up crew from friends at the track, they bring no crew with them. Query led 272 of the 404 laps and finished in near record time of 2 hours and 53 minutes for an average speed of 83.092 mph. There were eight cars n the lead lap at the finish, 11 cautions flew for 68 laps and there were 13 lead changes among 11 drivers. Combined with the two thrilling battles at the end of the race, Promoter Bob Harmon could not have scripted it better himself. It was one of the best races of the year on the series and at the end, Goodson still held a slim points lead over Fultz as the tour heads to Homestead, FL for its final race on November 8th. John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel Nashville Speedway USA - Provisional results for the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series, All American 400: Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps -- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- 1 1 8 Freddie Query W.J. Plemons Insurance Chev 404 2 18 30 Jeff Fultz JaniKing Chev 404 3 19 16 Hal Goodson Greased Lightning Degreaser Chev 404 4 11 28 Billy Bigley Jr Budweiser/Royal Purple/Bilstein Chev 404 5 14 90 Jody Ridley El Puente/Pro Line Door Ford 404 6 26 60 Bobby Hamilton Coastal Power Clean Pont 404 7 29 4 Ron Young Southern Pipe & Supply/Wegner Chev 404 8 15 25 Wayne Anderson Porter Cable Power Tools Chev 404 9 30 00 David Reutimann Sunstate Recycling (R) Chev 403 10 40 58 Mike Cope Penrose Meat Snacks/Manheim Chev 403 11 20 14 Larry Raines JaniKing/Schaeffer's Lubricants Chev 403 12 8 64 Garrett Evans Betterall Transport/Evans Cars Ford 403 13 37 66 Gary McCoy Catalina Carpentry/Heber Info Chev 403 14 6 22 Steve Mendenhall CR Racing (R) Chev 402 15 31 0 Steven Christian BellSouth Chev 397 16 25 33 Conrad Burr Burr Construction Chev 397 17 23 2 Jim Inglebright Wunder Bar/Pepsi Chev 396 18 34 54 Scot Carlson Advance Construction/Willie's Chev 389 19 21 36 Rick Roller Roller Racing Pont 381 20 35 43 Robert Powell Regency Olds Pont 380 21 32 88 Scott Sutherland Nortel/Northern Telecom Pont 377 22 4 86 Hank Parker Jr Delco Voyager/Duragloss/NGK Chev 354 23 3 74 Nipper Alsup Lift Services Wire Rope Chev 343 24 38 98 Sean Studer Old El Paso Food/Foodlion (R) Chev 322 25 12 42 Brian Ross Ross Racing & Fabrication Chev 296 26 9 81 Tony Walls Chandler Homes of Boaz,AL Chev 281 27 24 71 Mario Gosselin Paul'e Steakhouse Chev 280 28 33 96 Dan Matthews Lacy Buffaloe Construction Chev 276 29 7 10 Mardy Lindley Palmetto State Transportation Chev 269 30 22 6 Billy Deckman Owens Corning (R) Ford 259 31 39 65 Andy Kirby Bob Williams Grp/Link Automotive Chev 234 32 16 59 Mark Day Scogin Ent/31 W Insulation Pont 228 33 28 99w Joe Walsh Posi-Lock Connectors Chev 226 34 13 27 Derrick Gilchrist Fairfield Inns/Tarheel Wood Chev 190 35 5 51 Bobby Gill Terminal Trucking Chev 188 36 27 20 Ricky Sanders Moody Brothers Jewelers (R) Pont 166 37 10 24 Mike Harmon Lonesome Pine Timber Co. Chev 95 38 2 5 Jeff Purvis RW Motorsports Ford 30 39 17 57 Eddie Mercer Eddie Mercer Auto/Phoenix Const Chev 20 40 36 53 Robert Burroughs Burroughs Motorsports Chev 14 Time of Race : 2 hrs 53 min Average Speed : 83.092 mph Margin of Victory : 1.806 seconds Fastest Lap : 19.015 - Query on lap 21 Cautions : 11 for 68 laps Track Length : 0.5960 Miles John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel