Backstretch Motorsports

The 47th Tony Bettenhausen 100 stands to play a pivotal role in the 2007 K&NEngineering USAC Silver Crown Series championship points battle when theupright championship dirt track machines make their annual trek to theIllinois State Fairgrounds on Saturday August 18. Just 18 points separatethe top six drivers as the Silver Crown machines prepare for battle in theIllinois state capitol, the 9th of 14 scheduled races in 2007 and just thesecond to be contested on the dirt.

Second-generation driver Wayne Reutimann, Jr. of Zephyr Hills, Florida issomething of a surprise leader in the USAC Silver Crown title chase leadingby just 7 points at press time without the benefit of a victory in 2007.Other drivers currently in the top ten expected at the Illinois StateFairgrounds include defending national champion Bud Keating of Campbell,California (2nd ), who led 44 laps of the Bettenhausen 100 in 2000, CameronDodson (3rd) of Greenfield, Indiana who drives for NASCAR star Carl Edwards.Dodson has risen from 8th to the 3rd slot in the last few weeks and looksfor his first one mile dirt track start at Springfield.  Fourth is ChileanPablo Donoso driving for A.J. Foyt but he is not expected to rn the dirttracks, fifth is road racing veteran Tim Barber looking for his first dirttrack start

Sixth is a youngster who could become the first Illinois native since GaryBettenhausen (born Tinley Park, Illinois) in 1983 to capture the USAC SilverCrown Series title. Twenty-six year old A.J. Fike has secured a USACpavement ride with 1996 Indianapolis 500 winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn anda dirt track ride with father Don Fike in pursuit of a championship. WhileFike has never posted a 100-mile dirt track win in USAC competition he hasplenty of experience on the dirt miles having qualified for the pole atSpringfield in an ARCA stock car in 2004. In fact, Fike is looking to pulldouble duty once again in championship dirt cars and stock cars atSpringfield.  Seventh is Darlington winner Aaron Pierce of Indianapolis,with two-time Tony Bettenhausen 100 winner Brian Tyler of Parma, Michigan in8th, 2001 Bettenhausen winner and USAC Silver Crown champ Paul White 9thwhile former Springfield pole sitter Jerry Coons is 10th.

Several youngsters who have become regular competitors in USAC 's top threeopen wheel divisions are also in the hunt for a Bettenhausen 100 trophy aswell. Perhaps the leading candidate among those shoes is second-generationdriver Ricky Stenhouse of West Memphis, Tennessee as one half of thepowerful Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops team. Stenhouse won the season openeron the half-mile at Manzanita Speedway in Arizona driving for the Edwardsoperation but moved to the Stewart team when one of the two USAC SilverCrown rides became available. A rookie in the series comes to Springfieldwith a well funded operation as well as Billy Wease of Noblesville, Indianahas a ride in the Western Speed car, however overseeing that operation andWease's development is none other than Indy 500 winning car owner RogerPenske who has Wease signed to his driver development program.

Unfortunately for Springfield race fans the chance of a repeat victor wentby the wayside in the spring when defending Bettenhausen winner Tracy Hinessuffered multiple fractures in a motorcycle accident. Hines had been part ofthe Tony Stewart operation and his rides went to Ricky Stenhouse when Hineswas injured. While Hines recovers from a number of surgeries needed torepair the damage, a number of experienced drivers will be at the readylooking for a Bettenhausen 100 win. Among them is three-time (1997, 1999 and2003) Bettenhausen 100 winner Dave Darland of Lincoln, Indiana, returningonce again at the wheel of the potent Galen Fox owned machine. Darland couldface a serious threat for a first time win in the form of Shane Cottle ofKokomo, Indiana. Cottle, driving for owner Larry Contos led several laps atDuQuoin in his rookie campaign of 2006 and is a terror in sprint cars on theIndiana short tracks.

While Cottle may be a terror on the Indiana sprint car scene arguable thebest sprint car driver in the country comes to Springfield in search of hisfirst 'big car' victory. Jon Stanbrough of Jamestown, Indiana is rapidlyapproaching the twenty-five victory total in sprint car competition in 2007and shows little signs of slowing down at age 39. Stanbrough has run anumber of times on the dirt miles and has a front row start at Springfieldas a teammate to Dave Darland, however this year he drives for the BaldwinBrothers out of Indianapolis. One other veteran continues to amaze race fansand fellow competitors though he is not yet the oldest driver to make thefield at Springfield. Sixty-two year old Johnny Parsons, a three-time polesitter at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, returns for his 38th year ofrunning dirt track championship machinery as the pilot of a car owned byBenton, Illinois businessman Ricky Nix.

A number of Illinois drivers are expected to come out for the 47thBettenhausen 100 as well in addition to the aforementioned A.J. Fike andRobinson's Mat Neely. One of those drivers is a former basketball star whostands an excellent chance at becoming the first Illinois native since GaryBettenhausen in 1983 to win the Tony Bettenhausen 100, while another is amost popular local shoe who last year became the first Springfield, Illinoisdriver in the 72 year history of national championship racing at theIllinois State Fair to post a major race win on the Springfield Mile.

Levi Jones of Olney, Illinois captured the 2005 USAC National Sprint CarSeries crown and was hired by Tony Stewart as part of the Stewart Racingoperation for 2006. Jones looked ready to post his first major nationalchampionship win when he led 99 laps of the 2006 Hoosier Hundred on theIndiana State Fair mile only to be passed on the last turn of the last lapby teammate and former Springfield track record holder Josh Wise. Jones, aformer star guard for the East Richland High School basketball team, returnsto Springfield with a car that has a connection to the capitol city as theMaxim chassis run by the team is built right in Springfield!

Pages: 1 2