For Immediate Release!! 42nd Tony Bettenhausen
Memorial 100 at 150th Illinois State Fair Saturday August
17th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
42nd Running
TONY BETTENHAUSEN
MEMORIAL 100
USAC Silver Crown Series
National Championship Dirt Track Race
Illinois State Fairgrounds Saturday August 17, 2002 Springfield, Illinois
Mix of Former Winners, Young Guns and Wiley Veterans Makes for Interesting Mix in Bettenhausen Field
Macon, Illinois-August 12, 2002
Traditional American auto racing returns to the 150th anniversary of the Illinois State Fair in Springfield as the machines and drivers of the United States Auto Club Weld Racing Silver Crown Series invade the capitol city for the 42nd running of the Corona-Tony Bettenhausen Memorial 100 on Saturday, August 17th. This year’s running of the summer state fair classic marks the 68th anniversary of National Championship style racing on the one-mile dirt oval, and is promoted once again by Bob Sargent and the staff at Track Enterprises. The 69th championship dirt car event to be held on the Springfield Mile is the 8th of 11 events on the 2002 USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown Schedule.
The star studded entry list for the 42nd running of the Bettenhausen Memorial event consists of at least three former winners, three former Silver Crown champions, four Indy 500 veterans, plus drivers who have competed in the Indy Racing League, IRL’s Infiniti Pro Series, NASCAR’s Winston Cup, Busch and Truck series. The drivers in this year’s Bettenhausen field have amassed over 20 wins in past Silver Crown competition.
Over forty of the big tailed Silver Crown cars are expected to pull into the infield on Saturday to begin an exciting celebration of motorsports during the last weekend of the Illinois State Fair. The brigade of former winners is led by defending Bettenhausen and Silver Crown champion Paul White of Temple, Texas. White, the pilot of the Builder’s Electric Beast won the championship in grand fashion last year, using the points from his victory at Springfield and the win in the Ted Horn Memorial at DuQuoin as a catapult to the title. In the process, White took home in excess of $18,000 from the state of Illinois.
White may be looking forward to the Illinois trek of the USAC schedule, he has yet to score a top ten finish this year and is tied for 21st in the point standings.
Kokomo, Indiana’s Dave Darland is a two-time (97 & 99) winner of the Bettenhausen 100, and the driver of the Galen Fox owned Jarvis Enterprises Beast. Springfield is one of Darland’s favorite venues, and with the 1997 Silver Crown champion fully recovered from a leg injury incurred last year, he could become a three-time winner. Darland is 24th in the USAC Silver Crown title chase this year and coming off one of his biggest career wins, capturing the recent Belleville Midget Nationals.
1998 winner Russ Gamester of Peru, Indiana drives the family owned machine, a Stealth chassis carrying the familiar colors of long-time Silver Crown sponsor Terre Haute First National Bank. The Terre Haute First National Bank logo was also on the winning car driven to victory by Gary Bettenhausen in 1983. Gamester is 10th in the 2002 title chase.
One former winner who will be sorely missed is Jack Hewitt, of Troy, Ohio. The popular veteran was seriously injured in a sprint car accident at North Vernon, Indiana a few weeks ago during Indiana Sprint Week. The 1998 Indianapolis 500 rookie underwent significant neck surgery and is recuperating from his injuries. Hewitt owns four Bettenhausen trophies, three behind Chuck Gurney and tying him with the legendary A.J. Foyt for second on the all-time win list. Due to the injuries Jack will be unable to tie Foyt’s record of 18 for the most consecutive starts in the Tony Bettenhausen 100. Hewitt is second all-time in laps led and number of starts in championship competition at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Jack is the only driver to win championship dirt car races at Springfield in three different decades!
A large crop of veterans and youngsters will be attempting to break into Springfield’s victory circle, led by popular Johnny Parsons of Speedway, Indiana. Parsons is a three-time polesitter at Springfield, and has led the most laps in competition in the Bettenhausen (128) without winnng the event. In his fifth decade of competition, the fifty-seven year-old Parsons put on quite a show in last September’s Hulman-Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, riding the cushion to victory in the last chance race, then using the high side once again to move from 21st to 1st by halfway. Unfortunately, a disintegrating right rear tire cost the Indy 500 veteran a shot at victory in the closing laps. Parsons’ mount is owned by Benton, Illinois tire dealer Ricky Nix.
Current USAC Weld Silver Crown point leader Dave Steele rolls into town after his first ride in the Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series at the Michigan Speedway. Steele, looking for his first USAC National Championship, is the only two-time winner on the circuit this year, winning the opener at the Copper World Classic in Feburary, and then taking the race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The driver of Bob Gratton’s Northside Propane Beast currently has a 58 point cushion on second place man J.J. Yeley.
Yeley, of Phoenix, Arizona is the chauffeur of the Bob East-Gary Zarounian team Beasts, and narrowly missed serious injury in a flip at the Belleville midget event. Yeley, strong on pavement and always exciting on the dirt set quick time at the Pikes Peak event but has yet to find victory lane. The 1998 Indianapolis 500 rookie is the defending polesitter for the Tony Bettenhausen Memorial 100 and is attempting to become only the second man in auto racing history to win the three USAC titles (midget, sprint and Silver Crown) in the same season. The first was current NASCAR Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart in 1995. Yeley is currently second in the national points in all three USAC divisions!
Nine of the top ten drivers in the Weld Silver Crown series title chase should be on hand at Springfield, the lone exception being the most recent winner in the series, Mike Bliss. Bliss won at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 1st driving for George Snider, but is limiting his appearances in the series due to his commitment in the NASCAR Truck Series.
Former Silver Crown champ Jason Leffler (4th) tried his hand at Winston Cup stock car racing last year, winning one pole for Chip Ganassi. A rookie at the 2000 Indianapolis 500, Leffler has moved to the NASCAR Truck Series driving for Ultra Motorsports and his schedule now allows him to return part-time to the Silver Crown series. Jason has aligned himself with one of the best car owners in the series, driving the cars of 1981 Bettenhausen winner George "Ziggy" Snider. Snider’s machines have an added edge this year, for the first time the 1971 Silver Crown champion is using MoPar engines under the hood of his Beast chassis. Leffler rode Snider’s machine on the cushion to his first one mile dirt track victory in the "Golden Hoosier Hundred" at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in May and was leading the Nazareth event when it was called before halfway.
The Silver Crown champion in 2000, Tracy Hines (3rd in points) is seeking his first win in the big cars on the dirt, driving for the Indiana Underground Construction team. Eastern car owner Sharon Duda purchased the Beast cars formerly owned by Bob East and Tony Stewart and has Bloomsberg, Pennsylvania’s John "Hot Rod" Heydenreich (5th) behind the wheel.
There are several other drivers who could contend for their first Bettenhausen Memorial 100 victory. Jay Drake, a native of Val Verde, California is 9th in the points this year and has fully recovered from his nasty October midget crash at Terre Haute. Drake, one of the best open wheel drivers in the United States in 2000, teams with USAC Sprint car star Derek Davidson in the entries of Terre Haute businessman Bill Biddle to form a potent team. Anderson, Indiana’s Jason McCord (6th) drives the Contos Racing machine while Noblesville’s Michael Lewis is a former polesitter for the Hoosier Hundred. Vincennes, Indiana driver Jonathan Vennard has secured a top ride with Mucci-Matczak racing, and rookie Sport Allen makes the trip from Florida.
Second generation driver Rich Tobias from Annville, Pennsylvania has been spectacular on the dirt, his charge to the front in last year’s Hulman-Hoosier Hundred established Tobias as one of the up and coming drivers in the division. Tobias designs and builds his own Silver Crown machines, his father the late Dick Tobias was a very popular modified, sprint and champ car driver. Rich Tobias is currently 8th in the point standings.
Last year’s second place finisher, Jerry Coons, Junior hails from Tuscon, Arizona. Coons is noted for his ability in midgets and sprint cars, and he won the pole for last year’s DuQuoin event in a car built by former driver Dan Drinan. Pequot Lakes, Minnesota native Roger Rager returns in a new Beast sponsored by Donahue Harley-Davidson. Rager is a former Indianapolis 500 competitor, making the 1980 race in a car powered by parts of a school bus engine!
The Illinois entries are led by rising star Aaron Fike from Galesburg. Aaron won the race at Richmond last year and has been driving for 1996 Indy 500 winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn in the IRL’s Infiniti Pro Series. Randy Bateman of Murphysboro is expected to attempt to make the field, and long-time chief wrench and car owner Bob Galas of O’Fallon puts former Hoosier Hundred winner Gary Heiber of Langhorne, Pennsylvania behind the wheel of his Magnum chassis. Decatur’s Terry Babb has a car entered, as does Jim Mills from Marshall. Mills is the owner of the Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Illinois. Former Olney basketball star Levi Jones was slated to drive the car owned by Gus Sohm of St. Louis.
Missouri drivers entered include Danny Long of Bonne Terre, Carl Edwards of Columbia, young Kyle Steffens of St. Charles and Rod Holshauser of Cape Girardeau.
Last year’s Bettenhausen Memorial featured a first-time winner, the return of a four-time winnerand a rookie with a very famous name.
A large crowd filed into the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the 41st Bettenhausen 100, the 33rd Silver Crown race since 1971 held during the Illinois State Fair. Many came to watch local favorite Donnie Beechler, who sparked a great deal of fan interest in May when he picked up a last minute ride for the Indianapolis 500 with A.J. Foyt, then set fifth fast time for the starting grid. Beechler ran competitively in the "500" until engine woes sidelined the car. Others came to see the return of four-time Indy and Bettenhausen winner Foyt, his appearance on the grounds as grand marshal of the race was the first since his stirring victory in the 1979 Allen Crowe Memorial 100 USAC Stock Car race.
Many more came to see a rookie named Foyt race, as A.J. Foyt IV was set to make his first championship dirt car race, forty-four years after his grandfather’s championship debut on the same track.
The practice session brought hope of a great day after 48 entries were posted at the gate. The track was very fast, with a cushion that developed about two-thirds of the way up the race track. Some cars were very close to the track record in the early part of practice, one of those being Beechler, another that of J.J. Yeley. However, the sun came out and dried the track to the point that the 1 lap track record was no longer in jeopardy.
Disappointment reigned early in the day as Beechler went out and on the first corner of his first timed lap, his Stanton number 24 rammed into the outer concrete. Donnie wasn’t hurt, but the car was through for the day. Later on, Foyt IV timed ninth on his first circuit but the throttle stuck entering turn three, bounced off the outer wall and then flipped. The elder Foyt, acting as crew chief, rushed out to greet the car and driver as they came in. Visibly shaken and upset, A.J. was quite relieved to learn that his grandson was not hurt, but the car was a wash.
Yeley won the pole position with a lap over 117 miles an hour, with Texan Paul White starting second.
When the green came out, it was all White. The Texas veteran, in only his second season of championship dirt track racing, took off and wasn’t challenged again. Leading all 100 circuits to the checkered flag, he became the 13th driver since 1934 to lead all 100 laps of the fair championship race, and the first Texan to visit the Bettenhausen victory circle since 1971. Ironically, the last Texan to win the Bettenhausen had already left the grounds, Mr. Foyt was in the process of looking for another car to replace the one young A.J. had wrecked, and trying to find out how son Larry had done in the NASCAR Busch race at Michigan.
White took home in excess of $9000, while celebrating his first mile dirt track win in victory lane. The 63 points earned made White the overwhelming favorite for the Silver Crown title which he virtually clinched two weeks later with a win at DuQuoin.
In winning, Paul White added his name to the Hall of Fame scroll that comprises the list of racing drivers who have entered victory lane at the historic "Springfield Mile", the fastest one mile dirt track in the world.
Springfield’s racing legacy began around the turn of the century, when Barney Oldfield was barnstorming across the country putting on automobile speed exhibitions around the country. Many of Oldfield’s "races" were actually speed exhibitions, and it appears the first actual racing program was conducted during the 1912 Illinois State Fair, a year after Ray Harroun’s Indy winning Marmon Wasp came by rail to make an appearance at the 1911 exposition.
Racing was held on the original track until the end of 1926, then the track was reconfigured to it’s present position and the massive grandstand constructed. The first race held on the new mile was during the 1927 Illinois State Fair and won by Wilson Pingrey. Auto racing continued through 1929 until series of unfortunate accidents that caused driver and spectator fatalities and injuries. After much debate, the fair board decided against the return of auto racing for the 1930 fair.
Auto racing’s popularity grew during the depression years as a form of inexpensive entertainment, however, the demise of the board tracks forced championship racing’s sanctioning body, the American Automobile Association to look for new venues. That search returned them to the one-mile horse tracks of America’s state fairs, AAA championship racing gave the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee a championship event in 1933, and put on an event during the New York State Fair in Syracuse later that year.
Promoter Ralph Hankinson always thought the track at Springfield was one of the best, so during 1933 he began to lobby for an event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds receiving the blessing of not only the fair board but AAA as well. The rest, as they say, is history.
Billy Winn won the first 100-mile national championship event in 1934 and the second in 1935. A whole list of championship race winners at Springfield are located in various Hall’s of Fame, including Wilbur Shaw, Rex Mays, Ted Horn, Jimmy Bryan, Rodger Ward, Foyt, Jim Hurtubise, Mario Andretti and Al Unser. But perhaps the most popular driver ever at Springfield is the race’s namesake, the late Tony Bettenhausen.
Bettenhausen’s racing career started before World War II, and resumed after World War II in midgets and championship machinery. The Tinley Park, Illinois native won his first championship race at Springfield in 1947, and again in 1950, this time at the wheel of Murrell Belanger’s beautiful blue number 99. Unfortunately for the "Tinley Park Express", he made the decision to sign on with a different team at Indianapolis in 1951, and Lee Wallard won the "500" driving the Belanger dirt car. Tony resumed driving duties in the Belanger 99 after the 1951 "500", and won his third 100-mile championship race at Springfield.
Bettenhausen’s quest for an Indianapolis 500 win continued throughout the 1950’s, as he won national championships in 1951 and 1958, but never captured the elusive Borg-Warner trophy. In 1961, Tony appeared to have one of his best chances at winning the "500", nearing the magic 150 mile an hour barrier in Lindsey Hopkins’ DowGuard roadster.
Sadly, Tony’s dream would end at Indianapolis in May of 1961. Testing friend Paul Russo’s roadster, the car lurched violently into the mainstretch wall at Indianapolis and flipped. Bettenhausen’s injuries were fatal.
The Illinois native was so popular the State Fair board decided to honor the memory of Tony Bettenhausen by naming the national championship race in his honor. On August 17, 1961, the racing program sold in the grandstands simply stated, "Tony Bettenhausen Memorial". The late Jim Hurtubise won the first Bettenhausen Memorial, and the tribute to one of American auto racing’s finest drivers is now in it’s fifth decade.
Tony’s oldest son Gary Bettenhausen began his racing career in the sixties, making his first start in his father’s race in 1968. Gary became very good in championship machinery, landing a ride with the Roger Penske organization and nearly winning the 1972 Indianapolis 500. A dirt car crash at Syracuse in 1974 left his left arm paralyzed and his career in question. Recuperating and gaining a smoother style on the dirt, Gary kept trying desperately to win his father’s event. That dream came true in 1978, when an emotional Gary held off charges by Jim McElreath lap after lap to pull into victory lane. Gary’s other Bettenhausen win in 1983 was just as spectacular, he braved temperatures in excess of 106 degrees and dominated the 100-mile race.
Tribute to one of racing’s greatest families is paid once again August 17th with the 42nd pilgrimage to the "World’s Fastest One Mile Dirt Track" in honor of the late Tony Bettenhausen. Spectator gates are slated to open at 8:30, with practice at 9 a.m. At 10:30, drivers will be taking aim at Robby Flock’s 1996 world record lap of 29.994 (120.048) in qualifications, and at least one consolation race to fill the field will be run at 12:30. When the green flag drops on the field at about 1:30, thirty brave dirt track warriors will try to run 100 miles faster than Jack Hewitt’s 1987 race record of 56:07 (106.920 MPH).
Tickets can be obtained at the Illinois State Fair Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster, or Track Enterprises at 217-764-3200. Additional information can be found at www.trackenterprises.com, or www.usacracing.com.
