USAC Ted Horn 100 Night Race at DuQuoin State Fair Sept 5

Brian Tyler and Dave Darland Seek to Dethrone Tobias at DuQuoin!

It would be hard to imagine that the excitement of last year’s Ted Horn 100
at DuQuoin could be topped, but that may be exactly what happens Sunday,
September 5 as the teams of the United States Auto Club Weld Racing Silver
Crown Series invade the park like setting of the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds
for the 54th running of the “Ted Horn 100”, the 10th race of the 13 on the
2004 Silver Crown schedule.  After the fantastic competition during last
year’s event, promoter Bob Sargent of Track Enterprises and DuQuoin State
Fair manager John Rednour have placed the event under the lights during the
fair!  This marks the first time the Silver Crown cars have run at night
during the DuQuoin State Fair.

Last year’s event was postponed one week by rain, the first time in ten
years that the DuQuoin championship race was moved from it’s original date
due to weather.  Ironically, that postponement marked the first year of
promotion at DuQuoin for Sargent and Track Enterprises.  Suffice to say,
last year’s postponement went much better than the one ten years ago, as the
Saturday night Horn Memorial featured a new world record lap, close racing
and a first time winner.  A large crowd also returned for the first ever
night time championship race at the “Magic Mile”.

USAC advises that about forty entries are expected by the time the lights
are turned on Sunday, September 5 led by defending Horn Memorial winner and
second generation driver Rich Tobias, Junior of Annville, Pennsylvania.
Tobias’ journey just getting to DuQuoin last year is quite a story in and of
itself.  Tobias had been on the verge of winning one of the coveted 100-mile
dirt track grinds for the past couple of years, he had finished second at
the Hoosier Hundred twice and was very strong on the dirt.  At Springfield
two weeks before DuQuoin, the part-time modified driver and car builder was
involved in a violent flip that destroyed his dirt track machine.  Walking
away sore but otherwise uninjured, Tobias looked at his wrecked machine and
wondered how he would make the DuQuoin event.

A Herculean effort followed, with Tobias cutting up and lengthening a sprint
car he had intended to run at Eldora’s Mopar Million.  The rainout on the
original Labor Day weekend was a break for Tobias, it allowed him additional
time to prepare the machine, and it was greatly needed.  The car arrived at
DuQuoin untested, and with an unpainted tail tank to boot.

Handling was a bit of a problem early on, Tobias failed to make the top
twenty in qualifications and had to run the last chance race.  Unable to do
no better than 5th in the “hooligan”, Tobias was forced to start on the
inside of the 13 of the 15 rows of the starting lineup.  Tobias began slowly
working his way through traffic as front runners Dave Steele and Dave
Darland set a blistering pace, Darland would be eliminated from competition
in an early race accident that also took out Steele.

By the mid point, Tobias had cracked the top ten, and by the three quarter
mark took the lead from J.J. Yeley much to the delight of the fans, but the
excitement wasn’t over.  Riding a cushion that was just inches from the
wall, Tobias and many other drivers were using a groove seldom seen on the
“Magic Mile”.  While they were putting on an excellent display of rim
riding, Springfield’s Donnie Beechler, an Indy 500 veteran had found a
groove that suited his machine in the middle of the raceway.  A late race
yellow bunched the field, and gave Beechler a shot at the leader.  Donnie
was able to get close, but not around Tobias as the second generation shoe
beat the home state favorite by a car length at the checker.  A jubilant
Tobias took home over $9,000, and accomplished something his famous father,
Dick “Toby” Tobias was unable to do, post a victory in one of the big dirt
cars.

Tobias finished second at Springfield two weeks ago and thrilled the crowd
with a brilliant high groove pass to move from 12th to first in 2 laps.
Repeating at DuQuoin won’t be easy for, Tobias will have to contend with a
stellar field of former champions, former winners, veterans and an eager
crop of rookies wanting a victory on the historic DuQuoin mile.

Leading the pack trying to keep Tobias from repeating will be Parma,
Michigan ace Brian Tyler.  Tyler won the Sumar Classic at Terre Haute in
Jun, a race that followed his stellar drive from 19th to second at the
Hoosier Hundred in May, before a flat tire cost him a top finish.  Tyler
came from 21st to win the Tony Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield on August 21,
and could become the 13th man since 1948 to sweep both of Illinois
championship dirt car events.  Tyler is currently fourth in the national
point standings.

Lincoln, Indiana’s Dave Darland, the 1997 Silver Crown champion has yet to
post a win on the "Magic Mile" and is currently sixth in the USAC Silver
Crown point standings.  Darland is a former track record holder at DuQuoin
and owns victories at Springfield and the Indiana State Fairgrounds,
capturing the Hoosier Hundred there in May.  The former USAC Sprint and
Midget champion would like nothing better than to become the 14th man in
racing history to post champ car wins on the three dirt miles of the
Midwest.  Darland has 8 wins in the Silver Crown cars and drives for
legendary car owner Galen Fox.

Californian Jay Drake has been the star of the Silver Crown Series this
year, posting three consecutive wins in July and August.  Those three wins
have propelled him to fifth in the series points.  His car owners know quite
a bit about racing the “big cars”, Tony Stewart is a past champion of the
Silver Crown division as is co-owner George Snider, an Indy 500 veteran and
the 1971 winner of the Ted Horn 100.

Current Weld Racing point leader Dave Steele of Tampa, Florida enjoys a 100
marker cushion over his closest pursuer.  Steele is known for his ability on
pavement, but came close to winning the Hoosier 100 in May and winning two
races this year.  Steele ran very well in last year's Horn 100 before
exiting the event as the result of an accident.  Other drivers in the top
ten in points expected for DuQuoin include Anderson, Indiana's Jason McCord
(3rd), Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania's John "Hot Rod" Heydenreich (8th) and
Indiana's Tracy Hines (9th), the 2000 USAC Silver Crown champ.  Hines
participation may be in question, depending on his current NASCAR Busch
Series and Truck commitments.

Veterans of the Silver Crown series in the hunt for a DuQuoin victory
include Mopar Thunder winner Kevin Huntley, 1997 Horn 100 winner Russ
Gamester, 1999 Horn 100 winner Tony Elliot and 2001 Horn 100 winner Paul
White.  Another driver who is recuperating from an injury could make the
DuQuoin trip, 1992 and 1995 Horn 100 winner Johnny Parsons was slated to be
at Springfield but had a fractured leg as a result of a crash at the
Richmond event.  Should Parsons make the trip, he could become the oldest
race winner in DuQuoin history as Johnny recently celebrated his sixtieth
birthday!

A talented crop of youngsters also don’t the entry list in keeping with USAC
’s standing as the “Starting Line of Champions”.  The Silver Crown division
alone has produced standout drivers such as NASCAR Nextel Cup Champions Jeff
Gordon and Tony Stewart, the latter of that duo also owns an Indy Racing
League title as well.  The division has also produced NASCAR and IRL drivers
such as J.J. Yeley, Davey Hamilton, Mike Bliss, Ryan Newman, Brian Tyler,
Jimmy Kite, Jason Leffler, Kasey Kahne, Ken Schrader and the late Kenny
Irwin.

Heading the brigade of youngsters are two rookies who currently sit in the
top ten in points and a couple of drivers who could very well post their
first mile dirt track win at DuQuoin, plus a second year show who is the
current track record holder.

Indiana's Bobby East, son of car builder Bob East, captured the Richmond
race and sits 7th in the standings.  Fellow rookie Boston Reid, also from
Indiana is 10th but is looking south as he has signed a contract for the
Hendrick Motorsports driver development program along with Saybrook,
Illinois driver Blake Feese.  Hendrick Motorsports is the owner of the
Dupont Chevrolet of NASCAR star Jeff Gordon.

In his second full season in the Silver Crown cars, California's Tyler
Walker has teamed with current NASCAR rookie and 2000 Ted Horn 100 winner
Kasey Kahne to field a team, with Walker capturing the August 29 race at
Nazareth.  Third generation driver Bud Kaeding, also of California gained
his first win last year at Tulsa and sits second in the points behind Dave
Steele.  Donnellsville, Ohio standout Teddy Beach is the current one lap
track record holder at DuQuoin.  Beach has been fast since making the
transition from the smaller midgets to the big dirt cars last season, and
his world record at DuQuoin in the family machine is one that won’t be
forgotten any time soon.  Other drivers hoping a good showing at DuQuoin
will advance their careers include Tony Stewart coached Josh Wise, Indiana's
Shane Hollingsworth and Ron Gregory plus Ohio’s Matt Westfall, the 2002 USAC
Silver Crown Rookie of the Year.

Nine Illinois drivers could be in the field Sunday night, including an Indy
500 veteran, one college freshman looking to pull double duty this weekend,
and another youngster looking for the first DuQuoin "triple" in 33 years.
Two drivers from Southern Illinois are also expected.

Springfield's Donnie Beechler, a veteran of the Indy 500 and the IRL nearly
won last season's event.  However, he had a miserable day at Springfield
finishing last due to mechanical failure.  Another Springfield driver is
Justin Allgaier, a freshman at Lincoln Land Community College.  Allgaier is
a veteran of late model and ARCA stock car competition and missed by one
spot becoming the first driver since Tom Bigelow in 1989 to drive a
championship car and a stock car on the same weekend at Springfield.
Bigelow, in 1989, is also the last driver to accomplish that feat at
DuQuoin.  Allgaier is the youngest driver ever to start the ARCA stock car
race at DuQuoin and is looking for his first Silver Crown start.

Should Allgaier make both the Ted Horn 100 and the Southern Illinois 100,
his record may pale in comparison to that of Galesburg's A.J. Fike.  Fike
ran in the Silver Crown division last year but has moved to the ARCA stock
cars driving for former Silver Crown ace Andy Hillenburg.  A.J. won the pole
and led a portion of the ARCA event at Springfield two weeks ago.  Fike
announced last week that in addition to his entry in the ARCA Southern
Illinois 100, he would enter the Ted Horn 100 and the UMP Modified event as
well!  If Fike can make all three main events, he would become the first man
to run three races in three different cars on Labor Day weekend at DuQuoin
since Danville's Larry "Boom Boom" Cannon turned the "hat trick" in 1971.

Southern Illinois native Randy Bateman of Murphysboro has a car at his
disposal, the same machine that was running in 16th at the end of the
Springfield race two weeks ago.  Unfortunately, Marion's Alex Shanks failed
to make the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield for the Baker team, also out of
Marion.  Other Illinois drivers include Springfield's Jim Moughan, Granite
City's Tad Roach, Galesburg's Aaron Fike (A.J.'s brother) and Saybrook's
Kyle Wissmiller.  One driver from Kentucky is entered, Benton native Hud
Cone.

The veterans and rookies alike will be keeping alive a DuQuoin tradition of
championship racing that dates back fifty-six years, and honoring for the
54th time a man who’s exploits in auto racing may be unequaled.

Now in it’s eighty-second year, the second of Illinois two state fairs was
the creation of William Hayes, the Coca Cola magnate in the city of DuQuoin.
Hayes felt that the distance to Springfield for many residents of Southern
Illinois was too great, so after purchasing many acres of an abandoned strip
mine next to the bottling plant, the first DuQuoin State Fair was held in
1923.  Auto racing was a part of the early fairs, held on the half mile race
track with an adjacent small wooden grandstand.  Many famous sprint car
drivers of the day visited DuQuoin, including legends such as Gus Schrader
and the great Jimmy Wilburn.  However, Hayes knew the crowd drawing
potential of auto races, and had a grand plan for the sport at his beloved
fairgrounds.

Construction began on a dual purpose one mile dirt track east of the half
mile facility at the end of World War II.  Due to delays, the dirt track and
the new grandstand were not quite complete when the first race was held in
1946, a brief affair won by Hal Cole.  Jimmy Wilburn’s Riverside Tire sprint
car gave the “Magic Mile” fans a thrilling race in 1947, taking a 25 mile
trip before a packed house.  By this time, Hayes beautiful facility had
drawn the attention of the American Automobile Association, the sanctioning
body for championship racing and the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  DuQuoin
was awarded the unheard of schedule of two national championship races for
1948, future “500” winner Lee Wallard took the fair event, while future
 “500” winner Johnnie Parsons won the second, an October race that sent
shock waves through the world of auto racing.

Ted Horn entered the second DuQuoin event having already clinched a record
third consecutive AAA National Driving title.  Horn was one of the best and
most popular drivers in the country, and his finishing record at
Indianapolis was astounding.  Between 1936 and 1948, Horn never finished out
of the top five in the 500-mile race, finishing second once, third on four
occasions and taking the pole in 1948.  The only Indianapolis 500 he did not
finish was his rookie year of 1935, when he drove the ill-fated Miller-Ford
of Henry Ford and Preston Tucker.  In fact, of the forty national
championship races Ted Horn qualified for in his career, he finished in the
top ten thirty-four times!

By the time Horn arrived at DuQuoin, he was a newlywed and his wife was in
attendance.  He had won 23 of the 24 sprint car races he had entered that
year in his famous “Baby” sprint car, and the championship car he had,
“Beauty” was a larger version of his own design and construction.  Ted was a
superstitious man, and went against many of his own routines that fateful
October DuQuoin day.  He failed to shave race morning, as he normally did,
and his wife went against the conventional thinking of the day by wearing a
green dress to the track.

“Beauty” had a front spindle break entering turn three shortly after the
green flag fell on the October event, causing Horn’s car to flip violently
and collecting Johnny Mantz in the process.  Ted was removed quickly to
Marshall Browning Hospital in DuQuoin, but the great champion’s life was
over.  When his boots were removed at the hospital, only a solitary dime
could be found on the man who normally carried a dime and two pennies in his
boots on race day.  Legend has it that Lee Wallard recovered the dime, and
carried it to victory at Indy in 1951.

Horn’s tragedy rocked the racing world.  It did not take Hayes and the fair
long to immortalize the racing great, soon the championship race was named
in his honor, a fitting tribute to a racer, champion, car builder and
designer whose feats may never be matched.

Sunday night September 5 marks the 54th running of Ted Horn’s memorial
event, fifty six races have been scheduled, with two lost to rain.  Over
forty brave souls will strap into the cockpits of 1500 pound, fire breathing
championship machines when the track opens for practice at 5:00 p.m., and
then attempt to better Ted Beach’s world record lap of 29.947 in
qualifications at 6:30.  A last chance event to fill the thirty car field is
set for 7:30, with the 54th Horn Memorial to be pushed off at 8:30 p.m.  A
total purse of over $40,000 is on the line, and the 100-mile track record of
Johnny Parsons of 56:03 set in 1992 in jeopardy.

Tickets can be obtained at the DuQuoin State Fair Box Office, Ticketmaster
or by calling 217-764-3200.  Fans can save $5 by purchasing tickets in
advance.  More information can be found at www.trackenterprises.com, or at
www.usacracing.com.