USAC: Elliott wins Foyt's 'Hulman Hoosier Hundred'
26 September 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Tony Elliott of Kokomo, Ind. won A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman/Hoosier Hundred" Friday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, leading the final 20 laps after Ed Carpenter had a left rear tire deflate and spun entering turn three. Carpenter had led the first 80 laps after winning the pole position, his first in the Coors Light Silver Bullet Series.
Elliott will try to back up his victory with another in this weekend's 20th Annual "4-Crown Nationals" at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Preliminaries are set at the 1/2-mile dirt oval on Friday night, with semis and feature events slated for Saturday night. A 50-lap Silver Bullet feature Saturday serves as round 11 of the 14-round 2000 series.
The Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Series, MCI WorldCom National Midget Car Series and UMP Modifieds share the "4-Crown" spotlight with the Silver Bullet Cars. Saturday night's events conclude with a 25-lap Midget Car, 30-lap Sprint Car, 50-lap Silver Bullet and 40-lap Modified feature event. Friday's prelims begin with practice at 4:30 pm, while Saturday night's first racing event is slated for 7:30.
Jimmy Sills of Placerville, Calif. is the defending champion of the "4-Crown," but faces the challenge of Coors Light Silver Bullet point leaders Tracy Hines, Dave Darland and Brian Tyler plus three-time "4-Crown" Silver Bullet winner Jack Hewitt.
"We kept getting faster as the race wore on," said Elliott after Saturday night's Indiana State Fairgrounds race, "but Ed had a strong car and I'm not sure we could have caught him. I think he just went into the turn too hard and caught the inside guardrail with his left front tire."
Elliott started third in his WorldBestBuy.com/Irvin's Interstate Brick & Block Special and passed Tracy Hines for second on the 46th lap. He remained there until Carpenter's misfortune.
The race was red-flagged on lap eight when Tom Capie of Trevose, Pa. hit the outside wall and flipped end-over-end while running second. He was uninjured. "We didn't make any changes on the red," said Elliott. "We just switched from four-wheel to three-wheel brakes and that helped."
Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio finished second in his bid to score a career record 24th victory. "I knew if I stayed in the groove at the end Jack couldn't get me," added Elliott.
Hines finished third and emerged with the series point lead over Dave Darland by one point. Darland finished ninth. John Heydenreich and Brad Noffsinger rounded out the "top-five" at the checkered flag.
Brian Tyler, who led the standings before the race, won the "qualifying race" but hit the wall coming out of turn four on the 15th lap and slipped to third in the new standings as a result.
Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw, Wash. earned the Oliver Trucking "Rookie of the Race" Award for his 10th-place finish.
Indy Racing League veterans Donnie Beechler and J.J. Yeley brought out two of the four yellow flags when their cars stalled on laps 16 and 93 respectively.
USAC COORS LIGHT SILVER BULLET SERIES STANDINGS
1. Tracy Hines 396
2. Dave Darland 395
3. Brian Tyler 389
4. Brad Noffsinger 347
5. John Heydenreich 324
6. J.J. Yeley 322
7. Jack Hewitt 319
8. Tony Elliott 297
9. Kasey Kahne 285
10. Russ Gamester 283
Text provided by Dick Jordan
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