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NASCAR All Pro Slim Jim Series Mannheim Auctions All American 400: Report and Results

20 October 1997

                TEACHER BEATS CLASS IN NASHVILLE

Nashville, TN - The schoolteacher, Freddy Query of Mooresville, NC gave
everyone a lesson as he drove his W.J. Plemons Chevrolet to the win in the
Manheim Auctions All American 400 today at Nashville Speedway USA and
collected a total of $31,705 for his efforts. Query had the dominant car
but had to come from the tail end of the lead lap when he pitted early
during a caution just 33 laps from the end. Query also survived a
three way battle into turn three that had the crowd on its feet and sent
Ron Young and Wayne Anderson spinning into the turn three wall.

        "I had a good car both inside and outside all day," Query stated
after the race.  "We have been building this car slowly over the year, with
the plan of running Concord and here. Our pit strategy worked out exactly
as we planned, we just had better tires at the end and that was the
difference. There was a piece of debris in turn 3 that I did not
want to run over. I made a couple of runs on Ron (Young) but backed out to
avoid the debris. I finally decided to go ahead and make the run in there
and when I got there the debris was gone. I had better tires and they were
running their guts out trying to stay in front. I never touched them, but
they got together and spun out."

        Query took the lead going into the first corner and proceeded to
quickly open up a large lead over the rest of the field. Jeff Purvis fell
into second with Nipper Alsup running third and Hank Parker Jr and Bobby
Gill rounding out the top five. Query would continue to lead through lap
106 when Tony Walls of Albertville, AL went to the inside in turn three to
take over the lead. Walls would hold the point until all the leaders pitted
under caution on lap 130. Mike Cope, who had taken advantage of an earlier
caution period to make his first stop, took over the lead by staying on the
track as everyone else pitted. For the 1996 Series Champion, this completed
a remarkable last to first run in just
130 laps.

        Cope would lead until lap 156 when Ron Young went to the high side
and took over the point on the back straight. Bobby Gill and Mario Gosselin
also followed Young around Cope as they took up positions two and three. On
lap 173 Young and Gosselin would spin in tandem in turn four as they tried
to avoid a slower car that spun to the inside, and once again Query was in
the lead. 

        Query held the point through the halfway point as he collected
$2,000 in bonus money and it wasn't until he pitted on lap 254 under
caution that he gave up the front spot. David Reutimann stayed on
the track and took over the point as Query came out of the pits running in
fifth. Larry Raines managed to unlap himself from leader Reutimann on lap
266 and Mardy Lindley also made a pass to get one of his laps back. Then on
lap 269 Billy Bigley Jr moved  inside Bobby Hamilton to take over third in
turn one and Query made the same pass in turn two. Two laps later Query
moved inside Bigley on the backstretch and on the next
lap he passed Cope on the inside for second. Bigley was able to get around
Cope on lap 273 and Query closed right up on Reutimann's rear deck. On lap
276 Query went to the outside of Reutimann in turns 3 & 4 to retake the
lead.

        On the very next lap Bigley tried to pass Reutimann and the two
cars touched, Reutimann sun and collected Tony Walls, Mario Gosselin and
Dan Matthews. Gosselin's car caught on fire and stopped in the inside of
turn three were the flames were quickly extinguished by track safety
workers. Bigley was sent to the rear of the lead lap cars for his efforts.
On the restart on lap 290, Query now led Ron Young, Hamilton, Hal Goodson,
and Hank Parker Jr. Bigley began a run towards the front, picking off cars
on every lap while Parker also moved up to second and began the chase of
Query. Slowly Parker was able to close the once large gap down and then on
lap 342 he went to the outside of Query in turns 3 & 4 and took the lead.
Parker's turn at the front was not a long one as on lap 350 he went to the
inside of Jeff Fultz on the back straight and as the cars went into turn
three there was contact sending Parker hard into the wall. Officials were
about to put Fultz in the "Penalty Box" for taking Parker out, when Parker
contacted an official and stated that it was his fault. Fultz retained his
spot. During the cleanup, and
before the pits were open, Query came down pit road and took on four fresh
tires. This meant that he had to go to the rear of the lead lap cars on the
restart.

        When green flag conditions again prevailed on lap 365, Query wasted
little time in beginning his charge to the front. He was up to fifth by lap
367 and moved into fourth on lap 377.  Taking his time, Query finally got
around Bigley for third on lap 386 and set off in pursuit of Young and
Wayne Anderson, now engaged in a heated battle for the lead.

        As Anderson looked for a way around Young he went high and then
low, getting alongside on several occasions, but never able to complete the
pass. Query caught the two and was trying to find a way around. He tried
the high line and the low line as the laps wound down until with just 4
laps left he made his move to the inside of Anderson, who himself was going
inside Young. Three wide they roared into turn three and then
Anderson and Young touched and spun up into the wall, leaving Query, on the
very bottom, to take the point. As cleanup proceeded the running order at
the front saw Query ahead of Goodson, Bigley, Fultz and Jody Ridley. 

        All Pro rules dictate that the race can not end under caution so it
would be a green, white, checker finish. Query jumped into a two car length
lead, but behind him it was a battle royal as Fultz went inside Bigley,
Ridley tried to get inside the others and Goodson was challenged by
everyone. As the white flag came out, there was little distance between any
of the four cars battling for second and positions changed with every turn
of the wheels. Back and forth for the entire last lap the four cars fought,
coming out of the final turn 3 wide as they headed for the checkers. Fultz
nosed out Goodson at the line for second behind Query, with Bigley taking
fourth and Ridley ending up fifth. A blanket could have covered the four
cars as they crossed the stripe.

        For Query the victory was a sweet one as he collected the bonus for
leading laps 100, 200 and 300 as well as the pole and the winners share of
the purse. It was also a tribute to family racing as his son Alex Query is
the crew chief and his wife Elaine is the spotter. The pit crew is a
pick-up crew from friends at the track, they bring no crew with
them. Query led 272 of the 404 laps and finished in near record time of 2
hours and 53 minutes for an average speed of 83.092 mph.

        There were eight cars n the lead lap at the finish, 11 cautions
flew for 68 laps and there were 13 lead changes among 11 drivers. Combined
with the two thrilling battles at the end of the race, Promoter Bob Harmon
could not have scripted it better himself. It was one of the best races of
the year on the series and at the end, Goodson still held a
slim points lead over Fultz as the tour heads to Homestead, FL for its
final race on November 8th.

John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel

Nashville Speedway USA - Provisional results for the 
NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series, 
All American 400:
          
Ps.Ql.No.  Driver , Car                                          Laps 
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- 
 1  1   8  Freddie Query   W.J. Plemons Insurance           Chev 404       
 2 18  30  Jeff Fultz      JaniKing                         Chev 404       
 3 19  16  Hal Goodson     Greased Lightning Degreaser      Chev 404       
 4 11  28  Billy Bigley Jr Budweiser/Royal Purple/Bilstein  Chev 404       
 5 14  90  Jody Ridley     El Puente/Pro Line Door          Ford 404       
 6 26  60  Bobby Hamilton  Coastal Power Clean              Pont 404       
 7 29   4  Ron Young       Southern Pipe & Supply/Wegner    Chev 404       
 8 15  25  Wayne Anderson  Porter Cable Power Tools         Chev 404       
 9 30  00  David Reutimann Sunstate Recycling (R)           Chev 403       
10 40  58  Mike Cope       Penrose Meat Snacks/Manheim      Chev 403       
11 20  14  Larry Raines    JaniKing/Schaeffer's Lubricants  Chev 403       
12  8  64  Garrett Evans   Betterall Transport/Evans Cars   Ford 403       
13 37  66  Gary McCoy      Catalina Carpentry/Heber Info    Chev 403       
14  6  22  Steve Mendenhall CR Racing (R)                   Chev 402       
15 31   0  Steven Christian BellSouth                       Chev 397       
16 25  33  Conrad Burr     Burr Construction                Chev 397       
17 23   2  Jim Inglebright Wunder Bar/Pepsi                 Chev 396       
18 34  54  Scot Carlson    Advance Construction/Willie's    Chev 389       
19 21  36  Rick Roller     Roller Racing                    Pont 381       
20 35  43  Robert Powell   Regency Olds                     Pont 380       
21 32  88  Scott Sutherland Nortel/Northern Telecom         Pont 377       
22  4  86  Hank Parker Jr  Delco Voyager/Duragloss/NGK      Chev 354       
23  3  74  Nipper Alsup    Lift Services Wire Rope          Chev 343       
24 38  98  Sean Studer     Old El Paso Food/Foodlion (R)    Chev 322       
25 12  42  Brian Ross      Ross Racing & Fabrication        Chev 296       
26  9  81  Tony Walls      Chandler Homes of Boaz,AL        Chev 281       
27 24  71  Mario Gosselin  Paul'e Steakhouse                Chev 280       
28 33  96  Dan Matthews    Lacy Buffaloe Construction       Chev 276       
29  7  10  Mardy Lindley   Palmetto State Transportation    Chev 269       
30 22   6  Billy Deckman   Owens Corning (R)                Ford 259       
31 39  65  Andy Kirby      Bob Williams Grp/Link Automotive Chev 234       
32 16  59  Mark Day        Scogin Ent/31 W Insulation       Pont 228       
33 28  99w Joe Walsh       Posi-Lock Connectors             Chev 226       
34 13  27  Derrick Gilchrist Fairfield Inns/Tarheel Wood    Chev 190       
35  5  51  Bobby Gill      Terminal Trucking                Chev 188       
36 27  20  Ricky Sanders   Moody Brothers Jewelers (R)      Pont 166       
37 10  24  Mike Harmon     Lonesome Pine Timber Co.         Chev  95       
38  2   5  Jeff Purvis     RW Motorsports                   Ford  30       
39 17  57  Eddie Mercer    Eddie Mercer Auto/Phoenix Const  Chev  20       
40 36  53  Robert Burroughs Burroughs Motorsports           Chev  14       
     
Time of Race      : 2 hrs 53 min
Average Speed     : 83.092 mph
Margin of Victory : 1.806 seconds
Fastest Lap       : 19.015 - Query on lap 21
Cautions          : 11 for 68 laps
Track Length      :  0.5960 Miles

John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel