NASCAR Goody's Dash Series Report and Results from Lakeland
27 October 1998
USA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Veteran Mickey York Wins Discount Auto Parts/Pennzoil 150
Lakeland, FL -- Mickey York; the 51 year old veteran from Asheboro, NC;
ended a four year drought by driving his Pontiac to victory circle in
the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series Discount Auto Parts/Pennzoil 150 Saturday
night at USA International Speedway. The 1992 series champion struggled
through adversity during the day in preparing for the 150 lap grind
around the high-banked 3/4 mile speedway when his primary engine broke a
timing belt forcing York and his crew to install a backup powerplant.
23 year old Jake Hobgood, who earlier in the day was disappointed with
his qualifying run, slipped by the 2-car last lap battle for second
between Ricky Bryant and Danny Bagwell to claim the second place
honors. Bagwell fought hard to recover from the final lap slugfest in
turn two with Bryant and posted his Ford in the third spot.
The race began with outside front row starter Robert Huffman getting the
jump on the field and taking the lead in turn one. Pole sitter George
Crenshaw, who missed the track record by only .001 of a second, settled
in to second before the rear-end beneath his Bad Frog Beer Pontiac began
to falter. York, who started mid-field, struggled during long green
flag runs and nearly went a lap down just past the halfway mark in the
event.
Robert Huffman, who had already clinched the 1998 series championship
prior to arriving for the race, was ready to race for another win which
would raise his total to 9 checkered flags for the season. Huffman
proved dominate all evening long and was only challenged by his
season-long rival David Hutto who came into contention just prior to
halfway. Both Huffman and Hutto battled for the top spot unaware that
NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro competitor Jimmy Britts from Orange Park,
Florida was charging through the field. Britts having climbed to third
looked to have a car to contend with until the top three met their
demise exiting turn two while working lap 93. Keith Wilson spun his
Pontiac in turn two in front of the leaders and slid backwards up the
banking into the path of then leader Hutto. Hutto's car slammed into
the side of Wilson and the two slid into the path of Huffman. Britts,
who trailed by about 10 car lengths to the leaders, was left with a
narrow path to the outside of the crash and unsuccessfully tried to
squeeze through. The race was brought to a red flag while safety crews
cleaned up the accident scene. When the red was lifted most of the
field headed to pit road and York, who was within 25 car lengths of
going one lap down, emerged as the leader.
York would never relinquish the lead in spite of several attempts from
Bagwell to slip by. Following the race, York exclaimed that "Doc" Tom
Brewer was his "best friend" during the course of the event. Brewer
fought to get a lap back from the leader creating a buffer between York
and Bagwell. Over the final 10 laps Bagwell would become distracted in
the battle for second with Ricky Bryant and when the two collided on the
final lap they allowed fourth place Hobgood to get by and snatch second
from them. York was able to cruise back to start-finish and his 28th
career win powered by an engine built from salvaged parts of former
Busch Grand National V6 engines used by Dale Earnhardt. Hobgood's
second place run was marred by a skip in the engine and a failing power
steering unit.
The NASCAR Goody's Dash series moves next to the Homestead Motorsports
Complex for their final event for 1998.
The 1998 racing schedule at USA International Speedway will be complete
with the running of the Discount Auto Parts/ Alan Kulwicki Memorial 300
on November 28th for the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series. The battle for
the championship appears to be headed to the final event at USA as
rookie Jeff Agnew leads defending champion Mario Gosselin by 110 points
with 3 races remaining. The Alan Kulwicki Memorial is the fourth and
final race in the four champion series for 1998 which offers big bonuses
to driver who can post repeat victories in the selected events. Michael
Ritch, seven time winner so far during the 1998 season has already won
two of the four designated races and earned a $25,000 year end bonus.
Ritch has the chance to turn it into $100,000 by winning the final event
of the season. Jay Folgeman, currently fifth in the points race is the
other winner of a Four Champions series race and could spoil Ritch's
opportunity while gaining a $25,000 for his own Durham, NC team. For
more information about upcoming racing at USA International Speedway
contact the speedway office.
Discount Auto Parts/Pennzoil "150"
USA International Speedway Lakeland, FL - 3/4 Mile Paved Oval
October 24, 1998 - 150 Laps / 112.5 Miles - Purse $47,150
Fin Str Reason
Pos Pos Car Driver Laps Out
------------------------------------------
1 20 24 Mickey York 150 Running
2 16 64 Jake Hobgood 150 Running
3 7 10 Danny Bagwell 150 Running
4 11 93 Randy Humphrey 150 Running
5 4 71 B.J. Mackey 150 Running
6 5 5 Ricky Bryant 150 Running
7 23 2 Scott Weaver 149 Running
8 9 9 Ned Combs 149 Running
9 32 14 Donnie Neuenberger 148 Running
10 24 94 Keith Roggen 148 Running
11 18 44 "Doc" Tom Brewer 147 Running
12 17 97 David Browning 146 Running
13 1 07 George Crenshaw 146 Running
14 33 7 Gary Moore 144 Running
15 26 45 Jon Redman 142 Engine
16 36 25 Danny Snell 142 Running
17 28 89 Chris Lawrence 136 Running
18 31 95* Greg Goodell 133 Pump
19 29 06 Derrick Kelley 133 Running
20 13 65 Will Hobgood 123 Running
21 6 80* Eddie Kelley 120 Accident
22 10 51* Donnie Apple 114 Accident
23 21 33* Chris Hall 101 Accident
24 8 16 David Hutto 92 Accident
25 2 37 Robert Huffman 92 Accident
26 12 88 James Britts 92 Accident
27 14 47* Keith Wilson 81 Accident
28 19 84 Brandon Head 68 Rear End
29 3 11 Tim Nichols 66 Accident
30 15 0 Edward Howell 54 Rear End
31 25 48 A. J. Frank 49 Engine
32 22 6* Eric Rogers 47 Engine
33 35 55 Steve Barnes 33 Transmission
34 30 00 Chris Vanadore 27 Overheating
35 27 26 Jimmy Gross 15 Engine
36 34 50 Chad Branham 0 Valve
* Indicates Rookie of the Year Candidate
Time of Race: 5475/1:31:25
Average Speed: 73.973 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2 Secs.
Bud Pole Award: George Crenshaw 22.440 / 120.3208 MPH
Gatorade Front Runner Award: David Hutto
Cautions: 8 Cautions for 45 Laps.
3-5, 21-23, 67-75, 93-101, 103-109,
115-118, 122-127, 136-139.
Lap Leaders:
George Crenshaw from the grid, Robert Huffman1-69, David Hutto
70-81, Robert Huffman 82, David Hutto 83, Robert Huffman 84,
David Hutto 85-92, Mickey York 93-150
Rookie of the Race: Greg Goodell