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USAC: Sills hopes to become first 3-time winner at 'Hulman Hoosier Hundred'

4 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Jimmy Sills will try to become the first 3-time winner of A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman-Hoosier Hundred" May 26 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The race is the first on the dirt this year for the Coors Light Silver Bullet Series and is the fifth in a 14-race series.

The May 26 race is a continuation of the "Hulman Hundred" which debuted in 1981 and took on the extended name of "Hulman-Hoosier Hundred" when the September Fairgrounds event was discontinued in 1997.

Sills, of Placerville, Calif., is the only driver to start every May Fairgrounds race in the 1990s and is the only 3-time champion in the series' 31-year history. He racked up his second May win last year after scoring his initial victory in the 1994 running of the 100-mile event. In addition, he has led more races (33) and laps (1,510) than anyone else in series history!

Jimmy will drive the #11 True Value Chevy Beast co-owned by USAC's first two Silver Crown driving champions - A.J. Foyt and George Snider - and he's one of only seven drivers with at least 100 or more Silver Crown starts. His 12 series victories include three at the Indiana State Fairgrounds 1-mile dirt oval. In 1994 he won both the "Hoosier" and "Hulman" Hundreds.

"It's been a rough year so far," he admits. "At Nazareth April 8 when Stevie Reeves, Brad Noffsinger and Pat Abold crashed, they blocked the track and I had nowhere to go but through the grass. I crossed the curb to get there but when I went to re-cross the curb the car hopped up in the air and it went straight to the wall. I banged my knee on the steering and bruised some ribs but I'm OK." At Orlando in January he lost an engine after just nine laps and at Phoenix he finished 10th.

"We have a new dirt car for the Fairgrounds," he says with excitement. "It's just like the car Chuck Gurney drove at DuQuoin last year and we should be real good. It's great driving for A.J. and George. We've lost two cars in the last two years but they realize that's part of racing and they always have good equipment for me at every race."

Sills regards several drivers as the ones he's most likely going to have to beat May 26. "Dave Darland is always fast. Last year he got by me and would have been hard to beat but he lost an engine. Russ Gamester finished right behind us so he'll be tough again. Brad Noffsinger, Brett Hearn and, of course, Gurney will also be strong."

Tickets for A.J. Foyt's 20th Annual True Value "Hulman-Hoosier Hundred" can be purchased with VISA, MasterCard or Discover credit cards by calling the Fairgrounds at (317) 927-1482 or (317) 247-5615.

Text provided by Dick Jordan

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