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WoO: Stevie Smith Dominates Las Vegas Preliminary

6 November 1997

                

LAS VEGAS, NV (November 4) - Signing a sponsorship agreement with
Ingersoll-Rand a month ago gave Stevie Smith a new lease on his racing
life in more ways than one. Not only does Ingersoll- Rand supply him
with the money he needs to keep his #19 sprinter running among the
leaders in Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series races, it also gives him
piece of mind.

Smith responded with a victory - at I-96 Speedway - in his first race
after announcing the sponsorship. More recently, Stevie has won two of
the World of Outlaws' last three races, including the Preliminary
Feature in the series' season-ending event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Tuesday.

"The Ingersoll-Rand car ran really well tonight," Smith said. "My dad
(Steve Smith) and Devin (Delugio) do a great job with the race car.
It's been really fast lately."

Smith and the #19 were fast enough to lead all 30 laps and lap up to
fourth place in the race televised live on ESPN2.

Stevie, the ninth-fastest qualifier in the strong, 68-car field,
received a break when Dion Hindi finished 10th in the Fourth Heat
Race. Smith, the last driver to qualify for the Vivarin Dash, started
last in the five-lap race and passed everyone in the field except
winner Mark Kinser. The second-place finish gave Smith the luxury of
starting the Preliminary Feature outside the front row.

Although Keith Kauffman, Donny Schatz and Sammy Swindell delayed the
start of the evening's main event with early crashes, Smith took the
lead each time the green flag fell.

Stevie kept the #19 in the high groove, just inches from the retaining
wall, and beat Kinser down the front straightaway as the green flag
fell the fourth time. He rarely left the high groove while the
majority of the field raced in the inside or middle of the
semi-banked, 1/2-mile oval.

Smith entered lapped traffic during the fourth lap and opened a
half-straightaway advantage four laps later. Kinser, winner of the
World of Outlaws' inaugural event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last
November, caught Stevie in dense lapped traffic midway through the
race.

Stevie extended his advantage to six car-lengths within five laps,
only to have Kinser narrow the gap during lap 26. Unable to catch
Smith in the high groove, Kinser steered the #5M Wirtgen Maxim down
low through the third and fourth corners as they headed for the
checkered flag. Smith was equal to the challenge, however, and took
the checkered flag with four car-lengths to spare.

The $4,500 victory was Smith's second in a Pennzoil World of Outlaws
Series' Preliminary Feature this season. Dave Blaney finished in third
place, ahead of Andy Hillenburg, Steve Kinser, Joe Gaerte, Jac
Haudenschild, Jeff Shepard, Greg Hodnett and 23rd-starting Johnny
Herrera.

Swindell and Schatz, who entered the event only needing to score
show-up points to achieve their respective goals, battled through
misfortune throughout the preliminary program. Sammy, the 1997 World
of Outlaws champion, received his 13th Channellock Fast-Time Award
after pacing the qualifying session with a 15.477-second lap. He was
leading the Vivarin Dash early in the second lap when his #1
Channellock Gambler lost power, forcing him to coast off the track in
turn two. Sammy collided with Steve Kinser and spun into the
second-corner retaining wall within seconds after the green flag fell
in the Preliminary Feature.

Schatz rode a roller-coaster that was reminiscent of his Rookie of the
Year season. After flipping in turn three during the hot-lap session,
Donny came back to qualify 17th-quick and win the First Heat Race. He
crashed into the retaining wall between turns one and two as the
Preliminary Feature started a second time. The #15 Blue Beacon Gambler
received substantial front-end damage for the second time in the
program, forcing Schatz to settle for a 24th-place finish. WoO

1997 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series
Second Annual Gold Eagle Nationals
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
Friday, November 4, Preliminary Program

Qualifications: 1. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 15.477; 2. Jeff
Shepard, Stewart 4J, 15.495; 3. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 15.521; 4.
Dave Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 10, 15.665; 5. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11,
15.670; 6. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 15.735; 7. Jac Haudenschild,
Elden 22, 15.756; 8. Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 15.764; 9. Stevie Smith,
Smith 19, 15.799; 10. Danny Lasoski, Black 1Z, 15.812; 11. Joe Gaerte,
Gaerte 3G, 15.880; 12. Randy Tiner, Tiner 83T, 15.968; 13. Keith
Kauffman, Johnson U2, 15.970; 14. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 15.986; 15.
Paul McMahan, Stanton 75, 15.998; 16. Craig Dollansky, Wahlie 1W,
16.005; 17. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 16.012; 18. Randy Hannagan, TRH
Racing 1x, 16.075; 19. Kenny Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 16.122; 20. Dean
Jacobs, Holbrook 8H, 16.125; 21. Garry Lee Maier, Rodgers 11x, 16.134;
22. Dale Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 93, 16.154; 23. Sean Fenn, Fenn 36,
16.159; 24. Tyler Walker, Walker 35, 16.172; 25. Rick Ziehl, Ziehl
18L, 16.195; 26. Jason Lund, Lund 8L, 16.210; 27. Johnny Herrera,
Sonner 47, 16.214; 28. Bud Kaeding, Macieal 29, 16.247; 29. Joey
Saldana, Mox Motorsports 17, 16.264; 30. Shawna Wilskey, Fauver 5,
16.268; 31. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 16.290; 32. Terry McCarl,
McCarl 24, 16.338; 33. Brent Kaeding, M&M Racing 2M, 16.354; 34.
Dennis Moore, Jr. Moore, Jr., Moore 71, 16.371; 35. Peter Murphy,
Williams 14, 16.374; 36. Jimmy Carr, Herrera 45x, 16.456; 37. Kevin
Pylant, Pylant 14P, 16.456; 38. Travis Whitney, Whitney 7S, 16.459;
39. Jason Meyers, Carter 14M, 16.470; 40. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners
7TW, 16.561; 41. Jimmy Carter, Carter 26, 16.673; 42. Graydon Cross,
Cross 8C, 16.690; 43. Tommie Estes, Jr., Threatt 29T, 16.710; 44.
Bobby Davis, Jr., Archer 1A, 16.715; 45. Daryn Pittman, Pittman 11P,
16.730; 46. Kevin Whitworth, Whitworth 5K, 16.738; 47. Rich Bubak,
Bubak 9, 16.796; 48. Don Droud, Jr., DOCC Racing 1BK, 16.797; 49. Jeff
Mitrisin, Sereg 5J, 16.806; 50. Larry Neighbors, Neighbors 29N,
16.823; 51. Bill Robertson, Robertson 16, 16.861; 52. Shawn Sander,
Sander 48, 16.862; 53. Bobby Burrow, Burrow 1B, 16.928; 54. Todd
Bammer, Bammer 18, 16.980; 55. Randy Anderson, Anderson 71A, 16.993;
56. John McDonald, McDonald 78, 17.110; 57. Steve Coelho, Coelho 6C,
17.208; 28. Cal Herdson, Herdson 16H, 17.257; 59. Brian Coelho, Coelho
5C, 17.337; 60. Jason Statler, ATM/Rios 00, 17.386; 61. Shane Liebig,
Liebig 10L, 17.480; 62. Victor Hensley, Hensley 51P, 17.484; 63.
Willey Hernandez, Hernandez 1M, 18.231; 64. Randy Rosenboom, Rosenboom
14R, 17.261; 65. Tim Levin, Levin 10T, 18.291; 66. Jay Burns, Burns
2J, 18.753; 67. Bill Martin, Jr., Martin 75M, 18.841; 68. Steve Gray,
Gray 98, no time.

First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Stevie Smith, 3.
Sammy Swindell, 4. Steve Kinser, 5. Keith Kauffman, 6. Brent Kaeding,
7. Garry Lee Maier, 8. Joey Saldana, 9. Rick Ziehl, 10. Daryn Pittman,
11. Kevin Pylant, 12. Jimmy Carter. (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)

Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Randy Hannagan, 2. Danny Lasoski, 3.
Andy Hillenburg, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Jeff Shepard, 6. Greg Hodnett, 7.
Jason Lund, 8. Dennis Moore, Jr., 9. Graydon Cross, 10. Travis
Whitney, 11. Shawna Wilskey, 12. Kevin Whitworth. (first five
qualified for the Preliminary Feature)

Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Kenny Jacobs, 2. Sean Fenn, 3. Mark
Kinser, 4. Joe Gaerte, 5. Jac Haudenschild, 6. Johnny Herrera, 7. Paul
McMahan, 8. Lance Blevins, 9. Peter Murphy, 10. Tommie Estes, Jr., 11.
Jason Meyers, 12. Rich Bubak. (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)

Fourth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Dean Jacobs, 2. Tyler Walker, 3.
Randy Tiner, 4. Craig Dollansky, 5. Dave Blaney, 6. Jeff Swindell, 7.
Jimmy Carr, 8. Bobby Davis, Jr., 9. Terry McCarl, 10. Dion Hindi, 11.
Bud Kaeding, 12. Don Droud, Jr. (first five qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)

Vivarin Dash (five laps): 1. Mark Kinser, 2. Stevie Smith, 3. Jeff
Shepard, 4. Andy Hillenburg, 5. Steve Kinser, 6. Dave Blaney, 7. Sammy
Swindell, 8. Jac Haudenschild. (finish determined the first eight
starting positions in the Preliminary Feature)

C Feature (eight laps): 1. Jeff Swindell, 2. Jason Meyers, 3. Graydon
Cross, 4. Bobby Davis, Jr., 5. Kevin Pylant, 6. Tommie Estes, Jr., 7.
Jimmy Carter, 8. Rich Bubak, 9. Larry Neighbors, 10. Don Droud, Jr.,
11. Kevin Whitworth. DNS - Travis Whitney, Daryn Pittman, Jeff
Mitrisin. (first two qualified for the "B" Feature)

B Feature (12 laps): 1. Johnny Herrera, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Brent
Kaeding, 4. Paul McMahan, 5. Garry Lee Maier ($150); 6. Joey Saldana
($125); 7. Jason Lund ($100); 8. Jeff Swindell ($95); 9. Terry McCarl
($60); 10. Bud Kaeding ($50); 11. Rick Ziehl ($40); 12. Jason Meyers
($60); 13. Lance Blevins ($40); 14. Dennis Moore, Jr. ($40); 15. Peter
Murphy ($40); 16. Jimmy Carr ($40); 17. Shawna Wilskey ($40); 18. Dion
Hindi ($40). (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature)

Preliminary Feature (30 laps): 1. Stevie Smith ($4,500); 2. Mark
Kinser ($2,500); 3. Dave Blaney ($1,700); 4. Andy Hillenburg ($1,500);
5. Steve Kinser ($1,350); 6. Joe Gaerte ($1,250); 7. Jac Haudenschild
($1,200); 8. Jeff Shepard ($1,100); 9. Greg Hodnett ($1,095); 10.
Johnny Herrera ($1,070); 11. Randy Tiner ($1,000); 12. Brent Kaeding
($820); 13. Dale Blaney ($700); 14. Danny Lasoski ($630); 15. Craig
Dollansky ($400); 16. Paul McMahan ($420); 17. Kenny Jacobs ($300);
18. Tyler Walker ($300); 19. Randy Hannagan ($300); 20. Sean Fenn
($300); 21. Dean Jacobs ($300); 22. Sammy Swindell ($300); 23. Keith
Kauffman ($300); 24. Donny Schatz ($300).

Lap leader: Stevie Smith 1-30

Channellock Fast-Time Award winner: Sammy Swindell

Richard Day -- Racing PR