USAC: The Week in Sprints, Midgets and Silver Crown
15 September 1998
STOOPS FREIGHTLINER SPRINT CAR SERIESTHOMAS-ELLIOTT POINT BATTLE SPICES IRP'S SATURDAY "DOUBLEHEADER"
Saturday's "Arby's Season Finale" at Indianapolis Raceway Park will conclude the IRP USAC racing for 1998 but the Stoops Freightliner USAC Sprint Car Series continues into October.
The USAC National Midgets join the Sprint cars for a "doubleheader" program on the .686-mile paved oval, with 30-lap features on tap for both series. Practice begins at 4 p.m., with qualifying set for 6 and racing at 8.
Kevin Thomas of Danville, Ind. and Tony Elliott of Kokomo, Ind. will bring their torrid duel for the 1998 Stoops Freightliner championship to IRP, Elliott trailing by 28 points with 87 available Saturday. Elliott is one of only two drivers to win feature events in USAC Silver Crown, Sprint and National Midget competition this year. The other is Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla., who set the 1-lap IRP Sprint car standard of 123.068 mph. last year.
Elliott already owns 1998 Sprint car victories at Kokomo (2), Bloomington, Terre Haute and Beaver Dam, Wisc., while Thomas' lone victory came in June at Attica, Ohio. Thomas, however, has added another dozen "top-5" finishes along the way.
Tracy Hines is the only previous IRP Sprint feature winner this year, winning the nationally-televised July 1 race.
Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway host the final three Stoops Freightliner events in 1998.
Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Kevin Thomas-1,668; 2-Tony Elliott-1,640; 3-Derek Davidson-1,390; 4-Dave Darland-1,223; 5-Tim Cox-1,217; 6-J.J. Yeley-1,189; 7-Jason McCord-1,118; 8-Kevin Doty-1,069; 9-Brian Tyler-1,037; 10-Brian Hayden-1,036.
NATIONAL/16TH STREET MIDGET SERIES
BEECHLER WINS ON "TONY STEWART NIGHT" AT 16TH STREET SPEEDWAY
DRAKE, LEFFLER CONTINUE HOT POINT RACE AT IRP SATURDAY
Donnie Beechler of Springfield, Ill., winner of the recent "Hut Hundred" Midget race at Terre Haute, Ind., captured Saturday night's "Tony Stewart Night" 40-lap feature, presented by Coca-Cola, at the 16th Street Speedway.
Beechler caught Andy Pierce on the 18th lap and led the rest of the way in his WavePhore/Mi-Jack/Miller Lite Gaerte to beat Pierce, Ron Smoker, Jay Drake and Tracy Hines to the checkered flag.
Michael Lang, who was 10th in the main event, clinched the 1998 16th Street Speedway USAC Midget title by a 14-point margin over Pierce.
Tony Stewart, who was making a rare USAC Midget appearance at 16th Street, started on the back row of the feature, worked his way up to seventh by lap 15, then retired with mechanical problems.
Drake's finish vaulted him past Jason Leffler into the National Midget Series point lead going into this Saturday night's "Arby's Season Finale" at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He leads Leffler, who was seventh at 16th Street, by just five points, with 16th Street fast qualifier Ricky Shelton now third in the standings after his ninth-place finish Saturday.
The IRP events begin at 4 p.m. Saturday with practice. The Midgets share the "doubleheader" billing with the Stoops Freightliner Sprint Cars and qualifying is slated at 6 p.m., with racing at 8. A 30-lap feature is set for both series. Although the event will conclude the USAC activity at IRP for 1998, the National Midget Series will continue with three more events in the midwest before moving to the west coast for three final events in November.
National Midget Standings: 1-Jay Drake-770; 2-Jason Leffler-765; 3-Ricky Shelton-700; 4-Jerry Coons, Jr.-557; 5-Tracy Hines-500; 6-Jimmy McCune-485; 7-Travis Welpott-291; 8-Ronnie Johncox-289; 9-Michael Lewis-249; 10-Dave Steele-243.
Final 16th Street Midget Standings: 1-Michael Lang-272; 2-Andy Pierce-258; 3-Ron Smoker-218; 4-Critter Malone-202; 5-Roy Caruthers-197; 6-Rick Treadway-196; 7-Steve Knepper-183; 8-Tony Reed-156; 9-David Bridges-155; 10-Jay Drake-152.
WESTERN STATES SERIES
K.HAMILTON WINS CARSON CITY SPRINT; MIDGETS AT MADERA
SATURDAY
Kenny Hamilton of Boise, Ida. won Saturday night's 40-lap USAC "Western States" Sprint Car race at Silver State Raceway in Carson City, Nev. The win was his first in USAC competition since his USAC Supermodified victories at Boise and Salt Lake City enroute to the 1986 USAC National Supermodified Championship and subsequent Supermodified win at Bakersfield, Calif. in 1987.
Hamilton led all 40 laps from the pole starting position in his Pink Lady Special to beat Rick Williams, Bobby McMahan, Ivan Worden and Mike Ogden.
Williams' finish closed the gap between he and series point leader Jeff Gardner to just 14 points entering the September 25-27 racing program at the Pikes Peak International Raceway 1-mile paved oval in Fountain, Colo. Gardner was 15th in the Carson City feature.
Tony Hunt was Saturday night's fastest qualifier among 21 cars on hand at Carson City.
Rick Hendrix of Simi Valley, Calif. takes a 55-point lead over Bryan Stanfill of Bakersfield, Calif. into this Saturday night's USAC "Western States" Midget race (co-sanctioned by BCRA) at the Madera (Calif.) Speedway. A 30-lap feature is on tap at the 1/3-mile paved oval.
Western States Midget Standings: 1-Rick Hendrix-406; 2-Bryan Stanfill-351; 3-Wally Pankratz-340; 4-Shane Scully-306; 5-Bobby Boone-271; 6-Steve Paden-269; 7-Jason Leffler-266; 8-Marc DeBeaumont-205; 9-Ricky Shelton-197; 10-Dwayne Marcum-195.
Western States Sprint Standings: 1-Jeff Gardner-605; 2-Rick Williams-591; 3-Tony Hunt-376; 4-Tyler Haylett-375; 5-Dave Fitzgerald-268; 6-Rick Sipes-240; 7-Monte Faccinto-212; 8-Davey Pombo-212; 9-Ivan Worden-166; 10-Kenny Hamilton-156.
TQ Midget Standings: 1-Alex Harris-405; 2-Randi Pankratz-298; 3-Gene Godepski-298; 4-Brian Harris-288; 5-West Evans-286; 6-Josh Lakatos-245; 7-Ron Ahrendt-240; 8-Paul Krueger-192; 9-Todd Hunsaker-174; 10-Joe Bishop-169. Regional Rebel Sprint Standings: 1-Monte Faccinto-661; 2-Davey Pombo-656; 3-Mark Barroso-486; 4-Lawrence Edlund-439; 5-Craig Stidham-334; 6-Larry Brown-323; 7-Jeff Gardner-323; 8-H.P. Myatt-254; 9-Mike Faria-212; 10-Ricci Faria-204.
