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USAC: Silver Bullet finale on TNN Sunday from Memphis

26 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Ryan Newman of South Bend, Ind. needs at least a 25th-place finish in Sunday's 100-lap race at Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee to claim his first USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet championship. The race will be televised live by TNN.

Newman leads runner-up Russ Gamester of Peru, Ind. by 59 points, with 66 available for a "clean sweep," which includes winning the pole and leading the most laps. The championship would be Newman's first under the USAC banner, while Gamester won the 1989 USAC MCI WorldCom National Midget Car title.

Thirty cars will start the 100-lap race on the 3/4-mile paved oval which will immediately follow the 250-lap NASCAR Busch Series race. Qualifications are slated for Saturday afternoon.

Newman has finished out of the "top-10" only once on the pavement this season and scored victories at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Memphis' sister track - Gateway International Raceway. Gamester, despite recording 11 "top-10" finishes, is still seeking his first 1999 win. He finished second to Newman in May at IRP.

Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla. is the defending race champion, leading all 100 laps of last year's Memphis debut. Newman finished eighth in the 1998 race while Gamester was forced out of competition after just 26 laps with radiator problems.

Steele also holds the 1-lap track qualifying record of 129.789 mph drivers will aim at on Saturday.

Other top challengers entered in the Memphis series finale are 1999 series race winners Brian Tyler of Parma, Mich., Jimmy Sills of Placerville, Calif., Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind., Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif., Dave Darland and Tony Elliott of Kokomo, Ind. and Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio.

Hewitt leads in terms of career series wins with 22, while Sills leads the 1999 list with three, all on the dirt.

1999 USAC COORS LIGHT SILVER BULLET SERIES STANDINGS

1. Ryan Newman 627
2. Russ Gamester 568
3. Jack Hewitt 516
4. Brian Tyler 501
5. Jimmy Sills 474

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