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30th Anual Snowball Derby: Pete Moore 100 Report and Results

8 December 1997

Pensacola, FL - The 8th Annual Pete Moore 100 took place this afternoon at
Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL. For Tony Walls of Albertville, AL the
race it meant his first win at the Snowball Derby, although not in the big
race. Walls led every lap of the scheduled 108 lap event to take the win
after many years of trying.

"This is great," Walls said later. "As long as we have been trying
to accomplish this, and finally we have a win. Now we want to get the big
one tomorrow."

Walls started from the pole and did not have an easy time of it as
he had to weather assaults from Pensacola, FL driver Donnie Brusso and
Tommy "Texas Tornado" Grimes of San Antonio, TX before taking the checkered
flag. On a track notorious for its ability to eat tires, Walls took
advantage of 8 cautions for 44 laps to run the entire race without a pit
stop in his Chandeleur Homes/Walls Accessories Chevrolet. Second place
finisher Brusso also completed the 113 lap distance without a stop and put
continuous pressure on the front runner. Grimes was able to work his way
from fifth place into second by lap 50, but when Gary Easterling and James
Hollingsworth got together and spun on the front straight on lap 54, Grimes
spun to avoid the melee and restarted in sixth place. 

Although Grimes would move up to third by the end of the event, he
was unable to mount a serious challenge to the leaders with the tires
flat-spotted from the spin. Another young Texas driver who made a good
impression was TIDA Rookie of the Year Bubba Naumann who ended the race 4th
place after running in the top five all race long.

Brusso was never out of the top three al race, and spent almost the
entire time camped on Walls' bumper, but could never find a way to make the
pass. Walls would get a big jump on the restarts and then Brusso would reel
him in within a few laps. Brusso tried everything to get by, but could not
find enough room to put his Ford into the lead.

The end of the race was stretched by five laps when the final
caution flew for a spinning Robert Burroughs on lap 105 and the field took
a long time to get aligned for the restart. Burroughs would dash through
the pack to garner a sixth place position with Butch Gaffnea of Birmingham,
AL taking fifth.

Five Flags Speedway - Provisional results for the 
30th Annual Snowball Derby, 
Pete Moore 100:
          
Ps.Ql.No.  Driver , Car                                          Laps
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- 
 1     81  Tony Walls      Chandeleur Homes/Walls Acc       Chev 113       
 2     22  Donnie Brusso   AAACustom Cabnt/Dennis Ard RacingFord 113       
 3    122  Tommy Grimes    Howe Chassis/Lightning Light     Chev 113       
 4     40  Bubba Naumann   NECO Trucking                    Chev 113       
 5     42  Butch Gafnea    AL Amusement Co/Pelham Travel    Chev 113       
 6     53  Robert Burroughs Burroughs Motorsports           Chev 113       
 7     32  C.W. Sullivan   Shamrock Motorsports             Chev 113       
 8     78  Brad Webb       Shell                            Chev 113       
 9     14  Curtis Galbreath Williams Racing                 Chev 113       
10    151  Tommy Hill      Rebco Paint Works/Phillips M/S   Chev 113       
11     51  Chris Whorton   Oliver Tire Serv/P'Cola Auto BrkrChev 113       
12     98  Gerald Wilkerson Unifirst Uniforms               Chev 113       
13     88  Tim Ramsey      Universal Overspray/S&N Products Chev 112       
14     25  Steve McBride   Guaranty Pest Control            Chev 112       
15     82  Chris Johnson   Comp-U-Help                      Chev 110       
16     39  Gary Sullivan   GLS Ent/S&R Video/JBR Trucking   Chev 108       
17     21  Len Griffin     Griffin Motorsports              Chev  91       
18      3  Jeff Morgan     Nelson Family Racing/Air Flow AwnChev  89       
19      1  Eddie Massengill Bailey Slaughterhouse/Forbes    Ford  88       
20     12  Stephen Mitchell Quality Tool Rep/Mike's Lawn SerChev  88       
21     33  Nathan Ingersoll Manley Sod Farm/Mobile Dirt Trk Chev  83       
22    157  Tim Skiba       Tires 'R' Us                     Pont  66       
23    117  Gary Easterling Phil Dennis heating              Pont  52       
24     91  Bob Johnson     Synergen Racing Oil/Dove Mfg.    Ford  52       
25     27  James Hollingsworth Hollingsworth Auto Parts     Chev  51       
26     65  Scott Campbell  Fritz Whsl Florist/Mopar Perf    Dodg  43       
27     10  Bobby Ingersoll Manley Sod Farm                  Chev  37       
28      2  Wesley Stephens C&S Racing/Evans Norris Auto     Pont  33       
29     11  Steve Rowe      Abita Brewery/Friar Motorhomes   Chev  22       
30     17  Randy Brooks    Butler Auto/Pensacola Auto Brkrs Chev  21       
31      1Y Keith Cahela    Y-Mart/Big Ed's/Boaz Tax Service Chev   9       
32     50  Garry Brooks    Brakins Western Auto/Clyde Harr  Ford   2       
33     71  Johnny Brazier  Frogg Toggs/Moody Monday's       Ford   0       
34     75  Billy Mills     Sunrise Auto/Cruiser's Paint     Chev   0       
35     57  Duwayne Middlebrooks Sports Palace/Baker Auto    Pont   0       
     
Margin of Victory : 1/2 car length
Lap Leaders       : Walls 1-113
Cautions          : 8 for 44 laps
Track Length      :  0.5000 Miles

John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel