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USAR: 'Four Champions' Charlie Campbell Memorial win puts driver in select company

13 July 1999

HICKORY, NC USAR Hooters ProCup Series driver Derrick Kelley made his mark at, "The Track Where Champions Are Born," Hickory Motor Speedway, when he drove his Discount Auto Parts Chevrolet to the hallowed grounds of victory lane for his first ever ProCup victory.

Coming from the 14th starting grid, Kelley, a native of Auburndale, FL, took the lead on lap 196 after a three-lap side-by-side battle with Jay Fogleman. He retained the lead for the final 59 circuits of the Hooters 250/Charlie Campbell Memorial Race.

"The Discount Auto Parts team really deserved to win this race," said Kelley. "Weve been really close at the end and weve had more than our share of bad luck this season. Im really glad to see all of our efforts pay off.

"I want to dedicate this win to Gary," continued Kelley. "Were going to miss him a lot, but I know hes watching over us from above in the best seat in the house."

Kelley was referring to Gary Cornwell, Media Relations Director for the USAR Hooters ProCup Series, who passed away on June 28.

Kelleys win in the second leg of the "Four Champions Challenge" spoils the opportunity for "Super" Mario Gosselin to collect a total of more than $500,000 if he had been able to win all four of the Challenge races and the ProCup Championship.

Gosselin put forth a valiant effort by capturing the Discount Auto Parts Pole Award and leading the way around Hickorys legendary facility for the first 116 laps in his W.J.Plemons Risk Management Chevrolet but fell short with a fourth-place finish.

"We just couldnt get the handling down after our pit stop," said Gosselin. "We got caught up behind some lapped traffic and that put us further behind. We would liked to have won this one for Gary and gain some of our points back from Bobby. I guess well have to settle for a top-five."

Kelley and Gosselin will duel it out in the remaining two "Challenge" events to see if either driver can win three of the four races and earn themselves a $50,000 bonus.

Gosselin was not able to gain ground on points leader Bobby Gill.

Instead, Gill pulled further ahead with his second-place finish and was able to get his Ford Taurus, from its 11th-place start, to the front to capture the lead from Gosselin and take home the Lucas Oil Products Halfway Leader bonus of $1,000. Gill left Hickory Motor Speedway still the points leader by just 60 points over Jay Fogleman after 10 events in the 20-race schedule.

Karen Schulz posted her best finish in her ProCup career with an eighth-place effort that earned her the W.J. Plemons Hard Charger Award while battling with a bout of the flu and a possible broken toe.

Sixth-place finisher Steve Christian was the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race, putting him only 72 points behind Rookie of the Year point leader Mardy Lindley.

An action packed Hooters 250/Charlie Campbell Memorial provided only five lead changes among five different drivers and yielded to 12 cautions for 66 laps. The caution brought out on lap 155 was the result of a seven car melee involving four of the top-10 running cars and was red flagged for 22 minutes to clean up debris and dry fluids on the track.

A second red flag was brought out during the same caution period when Mike Laughlins Ford Taurus came off the jack and injured one of his crew members. Ronnie Griffin was later treated and released from Catawba Memorial Hospital.

On lap 248 Toby Porter, who was making a dash back to the top-10 as a result from an earlier flat tire, spun down the front-stretch and brought the field under caution just before the conclusion of the race, placing the field in a green, white, checker shoot-out to the finish in which Kelley outpaced Gill to take the win.

Tune in to the Speedvision Network on Friday July 16 at 9 p.m. to catch all the exciting action of the Hooters 250/Charlie Campbell Memorial from Hickory Motor Speedway.

The next USAR Hooters ProCup Series event will be at the New River Valley Speedway in Radford, VA, on July 24 at 7 p.m. Hooters 250 Charlie Campbell Memorial Hickory Motor Speedway-July 10, 1999

Fin Start Car Driver Hometown Sponsor Car Run Led 
1 14 21 Derrick Kelley Auburndale, FL Discount Auto Parts  Chevrolet 254 59 
2 11 5 Bobby Gill Dalton, GA Naturally Fresh Salad Dressings Ford 254 10 
3 5 4 Jay Fogleman Durham, NC JFCO Motorsports Ford 254 58 
4 1 10 Mario Gosselin Lake Wales, FL W.J. Plemons Investments Chevrolet 254 116 
5 18 73 Jeff Agnew  Floyd, VA Team 7 Motorsports   Chevrolet 254 0 
6 3 0 Steve Christian Sugar Hill, GA Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet 254 0 
7 15 47 Andy Thurman Concord, NC Naturally Fresh Mountain Spring Water Ford 254 0 
8 28 89 Karen Schulz Statesville, NC Pro Image Pontiac 254 0 
9 16 05  Mardy Lindley Taylors, SC Aloe Lu-Ya Pontiac 254 0 
10 21 80 Toby Porter Greenville, SC Pepsi Chevrolet 254 0 
11 4 32 Randy Porter Easley, SC Porter Motorsports Ford 253 11 
12 29 7 Mike Laughlin Jr. Simpsonville, SC Valenite Tool/Muzzy Broadhead Ford 253 0 
13 27 07 Tim Clayton Inman, SC Budweiser Chevrolet 253 0 
14 20 52 Jason Bowser Clearwater, FL Eagles Nest Racing Chevrolet 253 0 
15 32 15 Bill Plemons Jr. Locust Grove,GA Hooters Restaurants Chevrolet 253 0 
16 12 12 Tim Edwards Arden, NC Edwards Racing Chevrolet 253 0 
17 26 09 Jabe Jones Martin, GA Coors Light Chevrolet 253 0 
18 7  58 Jeremy Bowser Clearwater, FL Merrick Bank Ford 252 0 
19 31 1 Don Satterfield Spartanburg,SC Hawk Saw Blades Chevrolet 252 0 
20 30 36 Trent Owens Harrisburg, NC 1-800-BE-PETTY Pontiac 250 0 
21 6 27 Johnny Rumley Winston Salem,NC Pets Place Chevrolet 244 0 
22 8 23 Michael Ritch High Point, NC Jackaroo Sauces Chevrolet 238 0 
23 9 30 Mart Nesbitt Asheville, NC State Fair Brand Corn Dogs  Chevrolet 182 0 
24 23 25 Scott Wimmer Wausau, WI Jackaroo Gold Sauces Chevrolet 172 0 
25 25 3 Jimmy McClain Iron Station, NC J&J Motor Ventures Chevrolet 168 0 
26 10 16 Brian Sockwell Brown Summit, NC Yucca Derm/IRMO Grading Chevrolet 155 0 
27 22 14 Charlie Ford Charles City, VA Sun Graphics Chevrolet 155 0 
28 19 151 Clayton Rogers Mooresville, NC Fire Protection Services Co., Inc. Ford 154 0 
29 24 95 Stacy Vicars St. Paul, VA Lowes Foods Chevrolet 139 0 
30 13 22 Wesley Huffman Columbia, SC Hooters/Galaxy Foods Chevrolet 132 0 
31 17 08 Ronnie Davidson Inman, SC C&T Classics Chevrolet 130 0 
32 2 55 Shane Huffman Claremont, NC Galaxy Foods Chevrolet 32 0 

# of cautions - 12 total, Laps under caution - 66, Total time of race - 2:37:26,

Margin of victory - 1.963 seconds

Lap Leaders - 1-116 Mario Gosselin, 117-126 Bobby Gill, 127-137 Randy Porter, 138-195 Jay Fogleman, 196-254 Derrick Kelley

Discount Auto Parts Pole $1,000 Mario Gosselin
Lucas Oil Products Halfway Leader $1,000 Bobby Gill
W.J. Plemons Hard Charger $500 Karen Schulz
Miller Lite Rookie of the Race $1,000 Steven Christian

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