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USAC: The Week in Sprints, Midgets, Silver Crown and F2000

22 September 1998

SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
LEFFLER, TYLER SQUARE OFF IN "4-CROWN" SILVER CROWN SHOWDOWN

Jason Leffler and Brian Tyler are separated by only 10 points in the USAC Silver Crown Championship standings going into this weekend's 18th Annual "4-Crown Nationals" at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

The 11th event in the 13-race Silver Crown series is part of the two-night event showcasing three USAC racing series and the UMP modifieds, climaxing with feature events Saturday night. A 50-lap Silver Crown race follows Friday night qualifications and a Saturday night "qualifying race."

Both Leffler and Tyler have Silver Crown victories this year. Leffler won the "DuPont 100" at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July and Tyler won the series-opening 50-miler at Walt Disney World Speedway in January. Tyler finished sixth at Eldora last year while Leffler will be making his Eldora Silver Crown debut.

Friday's timetable calls for practice at 6:30 p.m. to be followed by qualifying and preliminary races. Kevin Huntley of Bloomington, Ind. is the defending "4-Crown" Silver Crown champion.

Silver Crown Point Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-442; 2-Brian Tyler-432; 3-Ryan Newman-385; 4-Jimmy Sills-360; 5-Dave Darland-309; 6-Russ Gamester-305; 7-Jack Hewitt-287; 8-J.J. Yeley-280; 9-Robby Flock-279; 10-Dave Steele-259.

STOOPS FREIGHTLINER SPRINT CAR SERIES
SPRINTS ADD RED HILL RACEWAY OCTOBER 3; HINES LEADS ALL 30 AT IRP
ELLIOTT SLICES THOMAS LEAD TO 7; "4-CROWN" AT ELDORA THIS WEEKEND

Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Ill. will play host to the Stoops Freightliner/USAC Sprint Car Series on Saturday night, October 3. The race will serve as the penultimate round of the 1998 series as Hoosiers Kevin Thomas (Danville) and Tony Elliott (Kokomo) continue their quest for their initial USAC National championship. A 30-lap feature caps the program of events on the 1/3-mile dirt oval.

Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind. wheeled the Tom Cherry Muffler Special to a wire-to-wire victory in Saturday night's 30-lap Stoops Freightliner feature at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He beat Jay Drake, Jason McCord, Jason Leffler and Tony Elliott to the checkered flag in the "Arby's IRP Season Finale." Elliott and Thomas finished fifth and 12th respectively, Elliott slicing Thomas' point lead to just seven points going into this weekend's 18th Annual "4-Crown Nationals" at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

The "4-Crown" timetable has practice Friday at 6:30 p.m., followed by qualifications and preliminary races for three USAC racing series plus UMP modifieds. A 30-lap Sprint car feature is part of Saturday night's final events.

Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. was Saturday night's Turbines, Inc. fast qualifier at IRP.

The October 3 race at Red Hill Raceway marks USAC's first appearance there since 1996 when Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. recorded his initial USAC Sprint Car feature victory.

Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Kevin Thomas-1,718; 2-Tony Elliott-1,711; 3-Derek Davidson-1,443; 4-Tim Cox-1,260; 5-Dave Darland-1,223; 6-Jason McCord-1,190; 7-J.J. Yeley-1,189; 8-Kevin Doty-1,069; 9-Brian Hayden-1,064; 10-Brian Tyler-1,037.

NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES
NEWMAN STARS IN IRP MIDGET 30-LAPPER
DRAKE SLIPS BEHIND LEFFLER WITH "4-CROWN" THIS WEEKEND

Ryan Newman of South Bend, Ind. and Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif. took center stage Saturday night at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Newman winning the "Arby's IRP Season Finale" 30-lap feature and Leffler riding his second-place finish to a 19-point lead in the USAC National Midget Series standings over Jay Drake. Drake was the first driver to exit Saturday night's 30-lapper with mechanical problems.

Leffler and Drake renew their battle for the 1998 title in this weekend's 18th Annual "4-Crown Nationals" at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, a race Drake won last year. Friday night's practice starts at 6:30, with preliminary races for three USAC racing series and UMP modifieds to follow. Saturday night's finales on the 1/2-mile dirt oval include a 25-lapper for the Midgets.

Ricky Shelton, third in the series points, led the first three laps of Saturday night's race before Leffler moved to the front. Jason then yielded to Newman on the 19th lap and Newman led the rest of the way in his Drinan/LCI Telecommunications Brayton-powered machine. Leffler was followed by Dan Drinan, Shelton and Ronnie Johncox.

Dane Carter, son of former USAC champion Pancho Carter, posted fast qualifying time for Saturday night's IRP Midget race.

National Midget Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-809; 2-Jay Drake-790; 3-Ricky Shelton-733; 4-Jerry Coons, Jr.-573; 5-Jimmy McCune-507; 6-Tracy Hines-506; 7-Ronnie Johncox-321; 8-Travis Welpott-305; 9-Michael Lewis-264; 10-Dave Steele-243.

WESTERN STATES SERIES
TRIPP NOTCHES #158 AT MADERA; SPRINT POINT RACE ACCELERATES AT PPIR

Jeff Gardner of Fresno, Calif. and Rick Williams of San Leandro, Calif. square off this weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo. as the USAC "Western States" Sprint Cars take to the 1-mile paved oval as part of the track's "Children's Hospital Grand Prix" weekend. Gardner leads Williams, the 1996 and 1997 series runner-up, by only 14 points with 66 available at PPIR. Practice and qualifying are slated Saturday and Sunday's 25-lap feature is set for a green flag at 2:45 p.m.

Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa, Calif. notched his 158th career USAC feature victory Saturday night, leading the final six laps of the 30-lap USAC/BCRA co-sanctioned race at the Madera (Calif.) Speedway. The win was Tripp's 102nd in USAC "Western States" Midget competition and vaulted him into the "top-10" in the 1998 standings. His 158 career wins are compared to the late Rich Vogler's 170 and A.J. Foyt's 162, the two all-time leaders.

Trailing Tripp at Madera were Kasey Kahne, fast qualifier Chad Nichols, Wally Pankratz and Shane Scully. Pankratz' finish boosted him past Bryan Stanfill into second in the series standings behind Rick Hendrix, who finished sixth at Madera. Kahne led the first 24 laps of the race.

The "Western States" Midgets resume action September 30 at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.

Western States Midget Standings: 1-Rick Hendrix-436; 2-Wally Pankratz-371; 3-Bryan Stanfill-367; 4-Shane Scully-335; 5-Steve Paden-287; 6-Bobby Boone-281; 7-Jason Leffler-266; 8-Marc DeBeaumont-224; 9-Dwayne Marcum-211; 10-Sleepy Tripp-200.

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.

FORMULA 2000 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
F2000 CONCLUDES SATURDAY/SUNDAY IN COLORADO

This weekend's "Children's Hospital Grand Prix" United States Formula 2000 Championship races at Pikes Peak International Raceway will determine final point rankings for the 1998 season, although the USAC/SCCA National and USAC Oval Crown Championships have already been clinched by Australian David Besnard. Besnard will not compete at PPIR, creating a wide-open battle for supremacy on the track's 1.34-mile road circuit.

Two 37-lap, 49.58-mile features will be nationally-televised on a tape-delay basis by Speedvision. Saturday's race, scheduled for 12:45 p.m., will be televised Sunday, October 18 at 5 p.m. (ET). Sunday's feature, which gets the green flag at 11:15 a.m., will be broadcast Sunday, October 25, at 5 p.m. (ET).

Although Besnard wrapped up the National and Oval Crown titles at Atlanta, Ga. August 29, a tight battle for second in the standings will be waged by Ryan Hampton of Glendora, Calif. and Robby McGehee of St. Louis, Mo. McGehee trails by 28 points but won the Atlanta round.

Andy Lally, of Northport, N.Y., is fourth in the National standings and top "Rookie of the Year" candidate Marc-Antoine Camirand, of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Can., completes the top-five in points despite missing the first two rounds of the season.

Formula 2000 National Point Standings: 1-David Besnard-333; 2-Ryan Hampton-275; 3-Robby McGehee-247; 4-Andy Lally-206; 5-Marc-Antoine Camirand-186; 6-Mike Johnson-172; 7-Bobby Oergel-169; 8-Jonathan Bottoms-164; 9-Sam Hornish, Jr.-151; 10-Steve Rikert-147.