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USAC: Coors Light Silver Bullet Qualifying from Pikes Peak

27 June 1999

FOUNTAIN, COLO - Results Saturday afternoon (June 26) from qualifications for Sunday's running of the "Rocky Mountain Classic", USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, hometown and speed.

Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla. captured the pole starting position for Sunday's "Rocky Mountain Classic" at Pikes Peak International Raceway with a speed of 140.718 mph. during Saturday's qualifying at the 1-mile paved oval. He barely nosed out Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind., who posted a speed of 140.455 mph to earn a front row starting berth alongside Steele. The pole was the fifth of Steele's Silver Bullet career.

Steele admitted that the altitude hindered his assault on the ultimate Coors Light Silver Bullet speed record of 141.750 mph, set in 1997 at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. "The cars are so down on horsepower here that they feel like real dogs. One thing that helped us is that the tires changed stagger from the first to the second lap. But now we have to make some decisions for the race. There's a big difference between two and 100 laps."

Sunday's 100-mile race, held in conjunction with the Radisson 200 Indy Racing League event and scheduled for television coverage by ESPN2 on a delayed basis (July 7 at 9 pm ET), is the fifth in the 1999 Coors Light Silver Bullet Series. No driver has won twice this year and Steele is looking for his first 1999 triumph. Sunday's race starts at 2:45 pm after a 15-mile "qualifying race" at 10:15.

Coors Light Silver Bullet Series Qualifying:

1 (111) Dave Steele, Tampa, Fla., 140.718 mph.
2 (37) Tracy Hines, New Castle, Ind., 140.455.
3 (14) Ryan Newman, South Bend, Ind., 140.247.
4 (9) Jason Leffler, Long Beach, Calif., 139.822.
5 (69) Brian Tyler, Parma, Mich., 139.708.
6 (51) Russ Gamester, Peru, Ind., 139.416.
7 (61) Robby Flock, Murietta, Calif., 139.399.
8 (11) Jimmy Sills, Placerville, Calif., 139.335.
9 (23) Jack Hewitt, Troy, Ohio, 139.178.
10 (777) Chet Fillip, Speedway, Ind., 138.905.
11 (40) Brad Noffinger, Concord, N.C., 138.594.
12 (4) Jason McCord, Anderson, Ind., 138.509.
13 (36) Jimmy McCune, Toledo, Ohio, 138.259.
14 (117) Dan Drinan, Indianapolis, Ind., 138.217.
15 (56) Dave Darland, Kokomo, Ind., 138.111
16 (66) Gary Hieber, Langhorne, Pa., 138.021.
17 (100) Paul White, Temple, Texas, 137.973.
18 (6) Jay Drake, Val Verde, Calif., 137.946.
19 (80) Billy Puterbaugh, Jr., Brownsburg, Ind., 137.399.
20 (2) Pat Abold, Pennellville, N.Y., 137.362.
21 (773) Rick Brown, Springfield, Ore., 137.352.
22 (18) Doug Didero, Mooresville, N.C., 137.221.
23 (82) Rick Treadway, Indianapolis, Ind., 136.944.
24 (67) J.J. Yeley, Phoenix, Ariz., 136.627.
25 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.
26 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.
27 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.
28 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.
29 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.
30 To be determined in Sunday's qualifying race.

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