Summer Non-Winged Sprint Car poll update 2002-07-18

Yeley takes #1 ranking as poll positions shuffle prior to Indiana Sprint Week & Non-Winged World Championship.

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (JULY 18, 2002) - J.J. Yeley of Phoenix, Arizona, has become the top-ranked driver in the country according to the National Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll voting panel of manufacturers, media members, promoters and sanctioning officials. Yeley, the 1994 National Sprint Car Poll "Rookie of the Year", earned thirteen of the seventeen first-place ballots cast in the Summer 2002 edition of the poll. Most drivers, including Yeley, are gearing up for the July 19-28 United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana Sprint Week and the August 6-17 Non-Winged World Championship tour sanctioned by the Arizona/California-based Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA).

Ranked second in the non-winged poll is USAC point leader Tracy Hines of Indianapolis, Indiana. Defending "Driver of the Year" Cory Kruseman of Ventura, Calif., is ranked third. Current SCRA point leader Richard Griffin of Silver City, New Mexico, is in third spot in the seasonal rankings. Hines, Kruseman and Griffin each earned one first place vote, as did 14th-ranked USAC Western States racer Tony Hunt of Rancho Cordova, Calif.

Rounding out the top ten non-winged sprint car drivers in the country are Tony Elliott, David Steele, Steve Ostling, Tony Jones, 2000 "Driver of the Year" Jay Drake, and Mike Kirby, respectively. Ostling advanced nine positions since the spring poll, the same number as 11th-rated Rip Williams. New-comers to the survey are Damion Gardner in 17th, Jon Stanbrough in 21st, and Tim Barber in 25th.

Most drivers in the 'top 25' will participate in the Tuesday, August 6, $30,000-to-win Ultimate Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The premier dirt track event will pit the best USAC, SCRA, and open-competition drivers in the open- ing round of the 2002 Non-Winged World Championship tour. It will also award points toward the "Mr. Sprint Car" Southern Iowa SprintWeek championship title, which features eight consecutive nights of sprint car racing between Knoxville and Oskaloosa from August 3-10.

The National Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll is an official awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc., as are the National 360 Sprint Car Poll, National 410 Sprint Car Poll, and Australian National Sprintcar Poll.

<pre> Summer 2002 National Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll: "Salute to Indiana Sprint Week & Non-Winged World Championship"

     Prev
Rank Rank Driver (First Place Votes)  Hometown/State      Points

  1.   4.  J.J. Yeley          (13)    Phoenix, AZ        1,380
  2.   2.  Tracy Hines         ( 1)    Indianapolis, IN     559
  3.   1.  Cory Kruseman       ( 1)    Ventura, CA          539
  4.   5.  Richard Griffin     ( 1)    Silver City, NM      495
  5.   9.  Tony Elliott                Kokomo, IN           291

  6.   6.  David Steele                Tampa, FL            200
  7.  16.  Steve Ostling               Corona, CA           191
  8.   3.  Tony Jones                  Corona, CA           190
  9.  10.  Jay Drake                   Val Verde, CA        109
 10.  15.  Mike Kirby                  Lomita, CA           106

 11.   7.  Derek Davidson              Indianapolis, IN      88
 12.  12.  Dave Darland                Walton, IN            83
 13.  20.  Rip Williams                Yorba Linda, CA       82
 14.  19.  Tony Hunt           ( 1)    Rancho Cordova, CA    74
 15.  16.  Kevin Briscoe               Mitchell, IN          72

 16.  18.  Rickie Gaunt                Torrance, CA          64
 17.   -   Damion Gardner              Concord, CA           51
 18.  25.  Jason McCord                Anderson, IN          35
 19.  13.  Brandon "Bud" Kaeding       Campbell, CA          33
 20.  22.  Rick Hendrix                Canoga Park, CA       25
 tie  22.  John Scott                  Hesperia, CA          25

 22.   8.  Jeremy Sherman              Phoenix, AZ           22
 tie   -   Jon Stanbrough              Jamestown, IN         22
 24.  24.  Greg Taylor                 Ojai, CA              19
 25.   -   Tim Barber                  San Francisco, CA     15

Also receiving multiple votes: A.J. Anderson, Mike Boat, Michael Burthay, Jeff Gardner, Kenny Hamilton, Shauna Hogg, Levi Jones, Brandon Petty, Bob Ream, Jr., Bill Rose, Troy Rutherford, Brian Tyler, Eric Wilkins, John Wolfe.

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