Indianapolis Race Report

Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla. captured Wednesday night's "DuPont 100" at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the opening event of IRP's Kroger Speedfest. He led the final 42 laps of the USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet race in his Hoerner Chevy to beat Kenny Irwin and pole starter Chuck Leary to the checkered flag. The win was Steele's first in the 1999 series and Irwin's second-place finish was his second in five days, having also finished second to Ryan Newman July 30 at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. Newman, the series point leader, finished fourth, followed by points runner-up Russ Gamester. The race was delayed nearly three hours by rain after Leary had established a new 1-lap qualifying record of 119.442 mph during qualifying. Steele's paycheck amounted to $9,700 out of a total purse of $58,629. Brian Paulus, who finished 14th, earned the Turbines, Inc. "Rookie of the Race" Award. The series now gears up for the annual "Tony Bettenhausen 100" at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Saturday, August 21.

1999 USAC COORS LIGHT SILVER BULLET SERIES STANDINGS

1.      Ryan Newman     404             6.      Gary Hieber     248
2.      Russ Gamester   372             7.      J.J. Yeley      228
3.      Brian Tyler     290             8.      Jason Leffler   220
4.      Tracy Hines     270             9.      Bentley Warren  209
5.      Jack Hewitt     260             10.     Robby Flock     199