USAC

Indianapolis Fairground Results

INDIANAPOLIS (May 22, 1998) - Donnie Beechler of Springfield, Ill., who will start Sunday's Indianapolis 500 from the 31st starting position, captured A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman Hoosier Hundred" at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Friday night, ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

INDIANAPOLIS (May 22, 1998) - Donnie Beechler of Springfield, Ill., who will start Sunday's Indianapolis 500 from the 31st starting position, captured A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman Hoosier Hundred" at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Friday night, round four of the 1998 USAC Silver Crown Championship Series.

Beechler was leading the race when a three-car accident involving Indianapolis 500 starter Jack Hewitt, defending Hulman Hundred race winner Chuck Leary and Billy Puterbaugh brought out the second red flag of the race on lap 40. Ensuing rain forced a premature end to the event, with Beechler proclaimed the race winner.

The victory was Beechler's fifth in Silver Crown competition as he came from fourth starting position in the 32-car field in the Gaerte Engines/Pro Shocks Chevy.

Defending USAC National Midget Champion Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif. finished second after leading 17 laps, while pole starter and fast qualifier Jimmy Sills of Placerville, Calif. took third after leading the first 13 miles around the 1-mile dirt oval.

There were no serious injuries in any of the incidents, although series point leader Brian Tyler escaped two separate flips.

J.J. Yeley, also a "rookie" in this Sunday's Indianapolis 500, finished ninth in Friday night's Silver Crown feature. Todd Kane of Powell, Ohio earned the Turbines, Inc. "Rookie of the Race" for his 10th-place finish.

Results Friday night from the running of A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman Hoosier Hundred" USAC Silver Crown Championship Race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, with starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, laps completed, reason out if any and money won:

1.          (4)          Donnie Beechler, Springfield, Ill., 39, $9,250; 
2.          (8)          Jason Leffler, Long Beach, Calif., 39, $5,100; 
3.          (1)          Jimmy Sills, Placerville, Calif., 39, $3,250; 
4.          (5)          Dave Darland, Walton, Ind., 39, $2,500; 
5.          (7)          Chuck Gurney, Livermore, Calif., 39, $1,800; 
6.          (2)          Ronnie Day, Salinas, Calif., 39, $1,600; 
7.          (18)          Russ Gamester, Peru, Ind., 39, $1,400; 
8.          (30)          Ryan Newman, South Bend, Ind., 39, $1,200; 
9.          (6)          J.J. Yeley, Phoenix, Ariz., 39, #$1,100; 
10.          (19)          Todd Kane, Powell, Ohio, 39, $1,250; 
11.          (21)          George Snider, Bakersfield, Calif., 39, $900; 
12.          (9)          Cary Faas, Yorba Linda, Calif., 39, $800; 
13.          (3)          Wally Pankratz, Orange, Calif., 39, $700; 
14.          (22)          Kevin Thomas, Danville, Ind., 39, $600; 
15.          (24)          Robby Flock, Murrieta, Calif., 39, $500; 
16.          (25)          Tracy Hines, New Castle, Ind., 39, $500;
17.          (20)          Eric Gordon, Indianapolis, Ind., 39, $500;
18.          (26)          Jack Hewitt, Troy, Ohio, 39, Accident, $500;
19.          (23)          Tony Elliott/Kokomo, Ind., 39, $500;
20.          (28)          Travis Rilat, Texas City, Texas, 39, $500;
21.          (27)          Bill Rose, Plainfield, Ind., 39, $400; 
22.          (29)          Lou Cicconi, Jr., Aston, Pa., 39, $400; 
23.          (17)          Chuck Leary, Greenfield, Ind., 37, Accident, $400; 
24.          (16)          Billy Puterbaugh, Jr., Brownsburg, Ind., 36, Accident, $400; 
25.          (12)          John Heydenreich, Bloomsburg, Pa., 34, Overheating, $300; 
26.          (14)          Johnny Parsons, Indianapolis, Ind., 34, Brakes, $300; 
27.          (15)          Greg Stephens, Russiaville, Ind., 34, $300; 
28.          (31)          Jimmy Stinson, Englewood, Ohio, 32, Engine, $300; 
29.          (13)          Gary Hieber, Langhorne, Pa., 20, Ignition, $300; 
30.          (11)          Tim Cox, Park City, Ill., 16, Overheating, $300; 
31.          (35)          Brian Tyler, Parma, Mich., 3, Accident, $300; 
32.          (32)          John Barrick, Lincoln, IL, 1, Brake Line, $300.

Average Speed: None, Red Flag. Time of Race: None, Red Flag. Caution Flags: RED FLAG on lap 4, Tyler flipped in turn 3; Laps 6-11, Stephens spun in turn 3; Laps 21-24, Leary spun in turn 3; Laps 36-38, Heydenreich stalled in turn 2; RED FLAG on lap 40, Hewitt-Leary-Puterbaugh accident in turn 1. Lead Changes: 2 among 3 drivers Lap Leaders: Sills 1-13; Leffler 14-30, Beechler 31-39. Fastest Qualifier: Jimmy Sills, 31.911 seconds, 112.813 mph. Turbines, Inc. "Rookie of the Race": Todd Kane

New Silver Crown Point Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-191; 2-Brian Tyler-159; 3-Ryan Newman-148; 4-Dave Darland-139; 5-Jimmy Sills-136; 6-Russ Gamester-133; 7-J.J. Yeley-129; 8-Tony Stewart-123; 9-Jack Hewitt-122; 10-Chet Fillip-121.

Next Silver Crown Race: June 5-7 - Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Mercedes Gateway Qualifying Story

Next article SBRS: Lime Rock First Qualifier

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

3 min

2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

7 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

12 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 12 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts