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USAC Sprints: Elliott, Thomas Square off at Winchester for Stoops Sprint Title

20 October 1998

Tony Elliott of Kokomo, Ind. and Kevin Thomas of Danville, Ind. enter Sunday's 25th "Sammy Sessions Memorial" USAC "doubleheader" program separated by only 20 points. One will emerge as this year's Stoops Freightliner/USAC National Sprint Car Champion and earn a test in the Panther Racing Pennzoil Indy Racing League machine.

Elliott is enjoying his best season ever and coming off an $11,000 victory on the dirt at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway October 9. That win, though, came in a "Western States" event and did not impact the National standings. He has scored victories in five different USAC racing series this year, Sprint wins coming at Beaver Dam, Wisc., Kokomo, Ind. (twice), Bloomington, Ind. and Terre Haute, Ind.

Thomas' only 1998 victory came at Attica, Ohio but he has added 11 more "top-five" finishes. Thomas has fared better than Elliott in the four previous Winchester events this season. He has a third, and a fifth, while Elliott's only "top-10" was a seventh.

Sunday's program also features the USAC National Midgets but their season concludes in late-November in California.

Practice at the 1/2-mile paved Winchester oval starts at 11:30 a.m. Qualifying is slated at 1 p.m. and racing gets under way at 2. A 33-lap feature is planned for each series.

A total of 87 points, including the 15-point "appearance" bonus, are available Sunday. A third-place finish in Sunday's feature by Elliott would lock up the title, which would be his first ever in USAC competition.

Both Elliott and Thomas have posted previous "runner-up" USAC point rankings. Elliott finished a distant second to Stevie Reeves in the 1992 National Midget standings and Thomas was a distant second to Brian Tyler in last year's Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car series.

Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Tony Elliott-1,861; 2-Kevin Thomas-1,833; 3-Derek Davidson-1,584; 4-Dave Darland-1,389; 5-Tim Cox-1,340; 6-J.J. Yeley-1,259; 7-Jason McCord-1,222; 8-Brian Hayden-1,180; 9-Brian Tyler-1,165; 10-Kevin Doty-1.084.