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IRL: Leffler to Drive IRL car on the Way to Rocky Mountain Classic

7 July 1998

Young USAC star following paths of Stewart, Boat

FOUNTAIN, Colo. - Jason Leffler will take a 220-mph detour through Atlanta Monday and Tuesday before heading west to Pikes Peak International Raceway to compete in the Rocky Mountain Classics USAC Silver Crown and Midget races.

Leffler, 22, will participate in a Pep Boys Indy Racing League open test session at Atlanta Motor Speedway as a driver for Treadway Racing. Treadway driver Arie Luyendyk will miss the test due to family commitments in his native Holland.

Leffler, who spends his days working on his Midget and Silver Crown cars at Bob East's shop in Indianapolis, passed his IRL test at Texas last month in one of Fred Treadway's cars.

Leffler is a valued commodity based on his fast and aggressive style that is similar to Tony Stewart and Billy Boat, both of whom have logged countless miles in Silver Crown and Midget races.

"I know from my midget and sprint car days that I have to be patient and wait it out," Leffler told Indianapolis Star/News reporter Curt Cavin.

Leffler won the U.S. Auto Club's national midget championship last year and finished in the top five in 21 consecutive races. He is second in midget points to Ricky Shelton and leads the Silver Crown division entering the Rocky Mountain Classic.

Whether anything comes of his relationship with Treadway, Leffler at least knows the seat time he got at Texas will help prepare him for the speed that will be generated in the Rocky Mountain Classic as PPIR is proving to be the fastest mile track in the country for nearly every series that visits.

"Two days after (the Atlanta test) we'll run the Midget about as fast as it will go," Leffler said of the first practice session at PPIR. "The (lap) speed will probably be 138 mph, which is something like 150 down the straight-aways. That's flying in a little Midget."

Leffler's only drawback might be his temper. He and Shelton fought in victory lane recently after a race in Indianapolis after Leffler thought Shelton bumped him. Shelton won; Leffler ended up flipping. Then last weekend, Leffler got into another scrape following a midget race, this one at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway when one of the other competitors, Gene Lee Gibson, hit with Leffler with a helmet then Leffler grabbed a tire iron and the two had to be separated and asked to leave the facility.

And Leffler's only 5-foot-3.

"The kid's got spunk," Treadway said

USAC competition director Mike Devin said Leffler's punishment is decided and an account of it has been mailed to the driver.

"That's OK, they've got to do something," Leffler told the Indianapolis Star/News of USACs decision. "I wouldn't want fights like this every week."

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The second annual Rocky Mountain Classic will include two full days of racing with the USAC Silver Crown and Midget series, Star Formula Mazda open-wheel racers and the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde stock car series, which will be the fastest stock cars to race in Colorado this year.