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USAC Silver Crown: Beechler Wins Rain Shortened "Hulman Hoosier Hundred"

26 May 1998

Donnie Beechler of Springfield, Ill. emerged the winner of A.J. Foyt's "Hulman Hoosier Hundred" USAC Silver Crown Championship race Friday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds after an accident and heavy rains forced a premature halt to the event after 39 laps had been complete.

The Foyt Group, organizers of the event, determined due to the lack of a suitable alternate date for the event, to distribute the entire purse to the participants based on the 39 complete laps, proclaiming Beechler the winner in his Gaerte Engines/Pro Shocks Special.

Beechler started fourth in the 32-car field and earned a paycheck in the amount of $10,500 after leading the final nine laps of the race before Chuck Leary, Jack Hewitt and Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. tangled in turn one, bringing out the red flag when Leary's car overturned several times. He was uninjured but the cleanup lasted until the rain started.

Pole winner Jimmy Sills led the first 13 laps before Jason Leffler moved to the front. He led the next 17 laps and his eventual second-place finish boosted him to the series point lead over Brian Tyler, who survived a pair of flips. Brian flipped in turn three during qualifying, then flipped again in turn three on the fourth lap of the feature, bringing out the first red flag.

Sills was third when the race was declared complete and Dave Darland and Chuck Gurney rounded out the "top-five."

The Silver Crown Championship series now gears up for round five, at the brand-new 3/4-mile paved Memphis Motorsports Park oval in Tennessee June 5-7.

Silver Crown Point Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-194; 2-Brian Tyler-159; 3-Ryan Newman-148; 4-Dave Darland-139; 5-Jimmy Sills-136; 6-Russ Gamester-133; 7-J.J. Yeley-129; 8-Tony Stewart-123; 9-Jack Hewitt-122; 10-Chet Fillip-121.