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Second-generation driver Wayne Reutimann Jr. of Zephyr Hills, Fla.,
is something of a surprise leader in the USAC Silver Crown title
chase, leading by just seven points at this writing, without the
benefit of a victory in 2007. Other drivers currently in the top 10
expected at the Illinois State Fairgrounds include defending
national champion Bud Keating of Campbell, Calif. (second), who led
44 laps of the Bettenhausen 100 in 2000, and Cameron Dodson (third)
of Greenfield, Ind., who drives for NASCAR star Carl Edwards. Dodson
has risen from eighth to the third slot in the last few weeks and
looks for his first one-mile dirt track start at Springfield. Fourth
is Chilean Pablo Donoso, driving for A.J. Foyt, but he is not
expected to run the dirt tracks. Fifth is road racing veteran Tim
Barber looking for his first dirt track start. Sixth is a
youngster who could become the first Illinois native since Gary
Bettenhausen (born in Tinley Park) in 1983 to capture the USAC
Silver Crown Series title. Twenty-six-year-old A.J. Fike has secured
a USAC pavement ride with 1996 Indianapolis 500 winning car owner
Ron Hemelgarn and a dirt track ride with father Don Fike in pursuit
of a championship. While Fike has never posted a 100-mile dirt track
win in USAC competition, he has plenty of experience on the dirt
miles, having qualified for the pole at Springfield in an ARCA stock
car in 2004. In fact, Fike is looking to pull double duty once
again, in championship dirt cars and stock cars, at Springfield.
Seventh is Darlington winner Aaron Pierce of Indianapolis, with
two-time Tony Bettenhausen 100 winner Brian Tyler of Parma, Mich.,
in eighth, 2001 Bettenhausen winner and USAC Silver Crown champ Paul
White ninth, and former Springfield pole-sitter Jerry Coons 10th.
Several youngsters who have become regular competitors in USAC 's
top three open-wheel divisions are also in the hunt for a
Bettenhausen 100 trophy. Perhaps the leading candidate among those
shoes is second-generation driver Ricky Stenhouse of West Memphis,
Tenn., as half of the powerful Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops team.
Stenhouse won the season-opener on the half-mile at Manzanita
Speedway in Arizona while driving for the Edwards operation but
moved to the Stewart team when one of the two USAC Silver Crown
rides became available. A rookie in the series comes to Springfield
with a well-funded operation as well, as Billy Wease of Noblesville,
Ind., has a ride in the Western Speed car; however, overseeing that
operation and Wease's development is none other than Indy 500
winning car owner Roger Penske, who has Wease signed to his driver
development program.
Unfortunately for Springfield race fans, the chance of a repeat
victor went by the wayside in the spring when defending Bettenhausen
winner Tracy Hines suffered multiple fractures in a motorcycle
accident. Hines had been part of the Tony Stewart operation, and his
rides went to Ricky Stenhouse when Hines was injured. While Hines
recovers from a number of surgeries needed to repair the damage, a
number of experienced drivers will be at the ready looking for a
Bettenhausen 100 win. Among them is three-time (1997, 1999 and 2003)
Bettenhausen 100 winner Dave Darland of Lincoln, Ind., returning
once again at the wheel of the potent Galen Fox-owned machine.
Darland could face a serious threat for a first time win in the form
of Shane Cottle of Kokomo, Ind. Cottle, driving for owner Larry
Contos, led several laps at DuQuoin in his rookie campaign of 2006
and is a terror in sprint cars on the Indiana short tracks.
While Cottle may be a terror on the Indiana sprint car scene,
arguably the best sprint car driver in the country comes to
Springfield in search of his first "big car" victory. Jon Stanbrough
of Jamestown, Ind., is rapidly approaching the 25-victory total in
sprint car competition in 2007 and shows little signs of slowing
down at age 39. Stanbrough has run a number of times on the dirt
miles and has a front-row start at Springfield as a teammate to Dave
Darland; however, this year he drives for the Baldwin Brothers out
of Indianapolis. One other veteran continues to amaze race fans and
fellow competitors, though he is not yet the oldest driver to make
the field at Springfield. Sixty-two-year-old Johnny Parsons, a
three-time pole-sitter at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, returns
for his 38th year of running dirt track championship machinery as
the pilot of a car owned by Benton businessman Ricky Nix.
A number of Illinois drivers are expected to come out for the
47th Bettenhausen 100 as well, in addition to the aforementioned A.J.
Fike and Robinson's Mat Neely. One of those drivers is a former
basketball star who stands an excellent chance at becoming the first
Illinois native since Gary Bettenhausen in 1983 to win the Tony
Bettenhausen 100, while another is a most popular local shoe who
last year became the first Springfield driver in the 72-year history
of national championship racing at the Illinois State Fair to post a
major race win on the Springfield Mile.
Levi Jones of Olney captured the 2005 USAC National Sprint Car
Series crown and was hired by Tony Stewart as part of the Stewart
Racing operation for 2006. Jones looked ready to post his first
major national championship win when he led 99 laps of the 2006
Hoosier Hundred on the Indiana State Fair mile, only to be passed on
the last turn of the last lap by teammate and former Springfield
track record holder Josh Wise. Jones, a former star guard for the
East Richland High School basketball team, returns to Springfield
with a car that has a connection to the capital city, as the Maxim
chassis run by the team is built right in Springfield.
Springfield has an even stronger connection to the Tony
Bettenhausen 100 in the form of hometown driver Justin Allgaier. A
veteran of dirt late-model, midget and ARCA competition, last year
the 21-year-old became the first central Illinois winner of the ARCA
Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and the first
Springfield driver since 1934 to post a major national championship
win on the Illinois State Fair mile. Allgaier should return pulling
double duty, running the Bettenhausen 100 in Ebby Bergfeld's car
while defending his Crowe 100 title the next day in the family-owned
stock car. Two other Illinois drivers are familiar names across the
state: Murphysboro's Randy Bateman is a veteran of sprint car and
Silver Crown racing, while Dupo's Tim Siner is one of the stars of
the Belleville-based Powri Midget Car Series.
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Word came from the USAC office this week that an entry of
hometown driver Donnie Beechler was also expected to arrive before
Saturday's Bettenhausen 100. Beechler has several starts in USAC
competition on the Springfield Mile, with his best finish before the
home folks coming in 1997, when he ended the day third. The
46-year-old Beechler has four Indianapolis 500 starts and finished
third twice in his 36 Indy Racing League starts. Beechler has five
career Silver Crown wins, including the Golden State 100 at
Sacramento and the prestigious Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State
Fairgrounds.
Promoter Bob Sargent of Track Enterprises expects a very strong
field of cars and drivers for the 73rd national championship
100-mile dirt track race on the Illinois State Fairgrounds dirt
track and the 38th race presented under the USAC Silver Crown Series
banner.
The 2007 running of the Tony Bettenhausen 100 marks the 47th
annual tribute to one of the greatest racing drivers and biggest
stars that American auto racing ever produced and perhaps one of the
most famous athletes ever to come from the state of Illinois.
The late Melvin Eugene "Tony" Bettenhausen was born Sept. 12,
1916, in Tinley Park, the son of a farmer, and a young man who often
settled disputes with his fists, earning the nickname "Tony" after
heavyweight boxing champ Gene Tunney. Bettenhausen began racing
midget cars in the late 1930s and continued that portion of his
career after the end of World War II. He entered Indianapolis for
the first time after the war and in 1947 won twice on championship
circuit, including a September event at Springfield.
Dubbed "Der Panzer" because of his German ancestry and
hard-charging, tough style Bettenhausen picked up a top ride when he
landed the seat in Merle Belanger's famous "Little Blue Jewel" and
proceeded to dominate the national championship trail, winning again
at Springfield in 1950. Because of a commitment to Lou Moore, the
owner of Indy 500 winning cars in 1947, 1948 and 1949, Bettenhausen
had to vacate the seat of Belanger's 99 for the 1951 "500." Lee
Wallard drove the car to victory at Indianapolis, and when
Bettenhausen returned to the seat he took out his frustrations on
the rest of the competitors, winning half of the 16 races on the
1951 championship trail, including becoming Springfield's first
three-time winner and the 1951 national champion. It's doubtful
there was a more popular champion in Springfield's long history.
Bettenhausen scaled back his racing activities over the next few
seasons to devote time to his family and his farm in Tinley Park but
never lost the dream of winning his beloved Indianapolis 500. He
returned full time to championship racing in 1958 and became the
first man to win a national championship without the aid of a
victory. By 1961 he was one of the real veterans in championship
racing, but even at age 44 was considered a favorite to win any
event. Driving for Lindsey Hopkins at Indianapolis he flirted with
the magical 150 mph lap; however, unable to say no to a friend, he
agreed to test drive Chicagoan Paul Russo's roadster, as its
handling problems had become a mystery to Russo and his crew. The
decision proved tragic, as a steering bolt broke at speed, sending
the car into a series of flips along Indy's main chute and killing
the popular champion.
Acting quickly, the Illinois State Fair board and promoter Jim
Kidd put a name to Springfield's 100-mile national championship
event and on Aug. 17, 1961, the program bore the solemn black words
"Tony Bettenhausen Memorial." The legacy of Tony Bettenhausen's life
and racing career became part of the (now) 97-year history of auto
racing at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
While drivers such as Wilbur Shaw, Ted Horn, Jimmy Bryan and
Johnny Thomson all won 100-mile championship races at Springfield
prior to 1961, names like Hurtubise, Ward, Foyt, Andretti and Unser
won Tony Bettenhausen 100 national championship dirt track events.
When the USAC Silver Crown series was formed in 1971, names like
George Snider, Pancho Carter, Jack Hewitt and seven-time winner
Chuck Gurney became part of Bettenhausen lore.
The Bettenhausen family continued in motor sports as well, with
son's Merle and Tony Jr. competing in various forms of USAC
competition, while eldest son Gary scored four USAC titles and
emotional victories at Springfield in 1978 and 1983 in his father's
memorial event.
It is a 73-year tradition and history of upright, open-cockpit
dirt track racing that returns to Springfield on Saturday to carry
on the memory of the late Tony Bettenhausen in the 47th installment
of his memorial event. Practice for the USAC Silver Crown contingent
is slated for 9 a.m., with qualifications at 10:25 and a last-chance
event scheduled for around noon. The 47th Tony Bettenhausen 100 is
scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. The ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck
Series returns in 2007 to share the last Saturday of the Illinois
State Fair with the Silver Crown cars.
Tickets can be obtained by calling Track Enterprises at
217-764-3200, the Illinois State Fair Box Office at 217-782-1979 or
at any Ticketmaster outlet. Additional information can be found at
www.trackenterprises.com,
www.usacracing.com and
www.agr.state.il.us/isf.
[Text from file received from Jay
Hardin, Track Enterprises] |
