By Jay Hardin
Sixteen years ago on the morning of the Ted Horn 100 at DuQuoin, Gary
Bettenhausen told Billy Vukovich the 3rd that by running a dirt car on one
of the miles, he was about to become a man. Sunday night Tyler Walker
passed the manly test with flying colors when he shaved .8 off the track
record, lowering the standard to a world record 29.138, or 123.550 miles an
hour! Walker then did an incredible A.J. Foyt impersonation, backing the
car in and riding the cushion to lead all 100-miles of the 54th Ted Horn 100
and take his first mile dirt track win. Of course, Tyler ran on the dirt
miles before 2004, but when the historians open up the championship racing
records books 100 years from now, proudly displayed with DuQuoin winners
such as Jimmy Bryan, Rodger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Al Unser
will be the name Tyler Walker. No matter what happens the rest of Tyler
Walker's career, he will always have a victory on one of the historic
fairground dirt tracks.
Bob Sargent, DuQuoin State Fair manager John Rednour, assistant manager Norm
Hill and even Illinois Governor Rod Blagoevich get a lot of credit for the
success of Sunday's exciting event and large crowd. Rednour, Hill and
Blagoevich have been responsible for continuing the infrastructure
improvements to the 58 year old facility to the point it is as state of the
art as any dirt track and many paved venues in the country. This year a new
paved pit lane was added, and the teams asked to remove the large haulers
from the infield. The latter met with significant approval from the crowd,
as many commented during and after the race they could actually see turns
three and four for the first time in several years.
Sargent, moving the race to Sunday night with cooperation from the fair, got
one of the largest crowds in recent memory for the Ted Horn 100.
Conservative estimates placed the crowd at anywhere between 8 and 10
thousand. In fact, for the first time in a long time, the Silver Crown
crowd was pretty close to, if not bigger than Monday's ARCA crowd which was
large in it's own right.
Placing the race on Sunday night led to the track and world one lap record
for the USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown dirt cars being broken three times.
Tracy Hines became just the third man in over 80 years of championship dirt
track racing history to run over 120 miles an hour in a championship machine
on one of the mile dirt tracks, posting a 29.952 as the second qualifier,
just .005 off Teddy Beach's 2003 record circuit. Jerry Coons, going out
19th for Roger Johnson, posted a 29.655 on his second lap and that seemed
secure until Walker, out 28th ripped off a 1st lap of 29.448, then posted
his record on the second circuit. Records fell on the "Magic Mile" all
week, with the horses posting several track and world records themselves.
The cool of the night, the humid air and the moisture from the nearby
infield lake made for one of the best DuQuoin tracks ever. Drivers enjoyed
a nice cushion, that by the end of the night was less than 6 inches off the
wall in many places, and at the wall in others. Speed was the feature of
the night, Dave Steele was clicking off 116 mile an hour laps in the last
chance race, while with a full load of fuel, Walker was running over 113
miles an hour in the first few laps of the Ted Horn 100. In fact, Sunday
was the fastest top twenty in DuQuoin history, as it took a 30.920 just to
avoid the "hooligan".
Statistically speaking, Tyler Walker became the 33rd different winner of the
Ted Horn 100, and the 36th different winner of the 59 championship dirt
races held at DuQuoin. He is the 13th driver to win from the pole position,
and the eighth to lead all 100 laps of a dirt track championship event at
the "Magic Mile" Ironically, the last driver to start from the pole and
lead all 100 circuits was Walker's car owner, current NASCAR rookie Kasey
Kahne!.
Sixty year old Johnny Parsons, the 1992 and 1995 winner was back in the seat
of the Ricky Nix Beast Sunday night. When "JP" made the show, it marked his
23rd dirt car start on the "Magic Mile" dating back to 1970. That ties him
with Tom Bigelow for second behind George Snider's record 27 starts at
DuQuoin. Parsons night ended quickly, the engine blew on the opening lap,
ending his night. Bigelow, a three-time DuQuoin winner, was in attendance
helping young Aaron Pierce.
Speaking of Pierce, he wowed the crowd and chief announcer Jim Childers when
he "FLAT FOOTED" the Sam Pierce 26 into turn one on his first qualifying
lap, and did the same over in turn three. Many people thought the throttle
had stuck open and it was an incredible display of bravery and car control.
Jerry Coons, Jr. may soon become "Front Row Jerry" at the two Illinois dirt
miles. He made arrangements with Roger Johnson and Ron Hemelgarn to run as
a teammate to Boston Reid, put a car back together he had driven before, and
sat it on the pole at Springfield, and the outside front row at DuQuoin. He
pressured Walker for a good portion of the race then ran out of fuel around
lap 90. In fact, it appeared that several of the cars might have been light
on fuel at the end.
Brian Tyler put on another one of his patented charges for second, and was
gaining on the leader at the end. Tyler, who says he doesn't qualify well,
started 10th and moved up methodically to the second slot toward the end.
He stated after the event that his car was light on fuel and sputtering the
last four laps.
Hines started third and ended the night there, while the "Pup" Kevin Huntley
started 6th and finished fourth after a spirited duel with Dave Darland, who
finished sixth and may himself been out of fuel at the end. Former Horn 100
winner Paul White was fifth, the last car on the lead lap, while former
winner Russ Gamester finished 12th and former winner Tony Elliot ended the
night in 9th.
Bud Kaeding gained twenty points on Dave Steele with a solid 8th (from
18th). Steele, who won the consi, moved up from 21st but ended the night in
17th, a lap down. Tyler also moved to less than 100 points back of the
leader, just 93 behind Dave Steele with Tulsa and Eldora remaining on the
schedule.
Several Illinois drivers made up the healthy 41 car entry list Sunday night,
with three from Springfield alone. Springfield's Donnie Beechler had
problems once again, transferring through the last chance race and having a
magneto go bad on lap 28. Jim Moughan started 28th and had the engine let
go on lap 67, while eighteen year old Justin Allgaier missed his quest to
become the first driver to run a champ dirt car and stock car on the same
weekend at DuQuoin since Bigelow in 1989. Allgaier's J&J chassis was
running in the 4th slot in the last chance race and gaining on the third
place machine when it appeared the engine let go. Justin had finished
second at the Toledo ARCA race Friday, then placed 4h in the Monday ARCA
race at DuQuoin.
Murphysboro veteran Randy Bateman, coming off a promising 16th at
Springfield installed a new Mark Cummins powerplant for Sunday night and was
running well in a transfer slot in the semi when the car quit, ending his
night. Marion's Alex Shanks, who had his car on display on the main route
in his hometown on Friday, made his first 100-miler and started 29th,
completing 28 laps before the engine quit. Chris Urish, from Elkhart,
Illinois is a sprint car regular at the Jacksonville Speedway. He had a
Galas chassis entered, finished the semi in 7th and ran until lap 74 when
the throttle broke.
One Illinois driver not only became the first driver since Bigelow to run
the dirt car and stock car race, he became the first since Larry "Boom Boom"
Cannon in 1971 to run three different cars in three different events on the
Labor Day weekend at DuQuoin. Galesburg's A.J. Fike took over the family
Beast from brother Aaron for the weekend. He was very fast in USAC
practice, qualified the car in 16th and finished 11th, a lap down. He also
finished fifth in his modified heat race to qualify for the Oldani Memorial
the next day. Monday, he qualified Andy Hillenburg's ARCA car on the front
row but got caught up in a spin, damage put him a lap down in 17th. He ran
the 20 mile UMP Modified race and finished 9th. His versatility did not go
unnoticed by the fans, nor by many members of the media.
Whatever defending Horn 100 winner Rich Tobias, Jr. did to his creation
Sunday, it did not like the set up. The car never hooked up, relegating him
to the last chance race and while he finished 16th, he was never in
contention . John "Hot Rod" Heydenreich, a top five at Springfield two
weeks earlier could manage no better than 15th. Matt Westfall, also a top
five at Springfield qualified fourth in the beautiful Daugherty 14, but the
car quit on the second lap and he was a scratch for the night. One of the
early favorites, Jay Drake, had the Snider-Stewart Mopar Eagle go out from
under him during practice and the team left early. Also leaving early was
Gene Nolen, with new shoe Levi Jones and still trying to work out their new
Twister chassis. The car apparently lurched an engine in hot laps.
One driver who may have been all smiles was sixty something Nelson Stewart.
Nelson made his first dirt mile start Sunday night in John Lawson's machine,
a car that certainly is pleasing to the eye for it's old style lines.
Nelson has a famous racing son, Tony is a former NASCAR champ who just
happens to be the 2003 winner of the ARCA stock car race at DuQuoin.
Tom Capie looked like the Tom Capie of old Sunday night, putting his white
and red flamed Beast in 5th during qualifying and running in the top ten
before sliding to 13th.
O'Fallon's Bob Galas brought out his familiar orange and white number 12
Magnum for MARA Midget driver Tim Siner, who looked pretty comfortable at
times in the car but spun three times in turn three, the last time during
the semi and damaging the front end. Galas has a number of DuQuoin wins as
a chief wrench, five with Gary B. and one with Jeff Swindell.
No shows at the "Magic Mile" included Granite City's Tad Roach, the Gambler
of Ralph DePalma and driver Mike Brecht, Kyle Wissmiller in Red Petersen's
54, the Mataka 3n1, the Galas chassis of Danny Long and veteran Jerry Nemire
and his familiar 76. Another no show on the dirt continues to be a mystery.
Bobby East, in the top 10 in the Weld Silver Crown title chase, entered the
Hoosier 100 but failed to enter the Springfield or DuQuoin events.
Next up for the series is the Tulsa 100 at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, Saturday
night September 18. A USAC Sprint show is slated for Tulsa on the 17th.
Sixteen years ago on the morning of the Ted Horn 100 at DuQuoin, Gary
Bettenhausen told Billy Vukovich the 3rd that by running a dirt car on one
of the miles, he was about to become a man. Sunday night Tyler Walker
passed the manly test with flying colors when he shaved .8 off the track
record, lowering the standard to a world record 29.138, or 123.550 miles an
hour! Walker then did an incredible A.J. Foyt impersonation, backing the
car in and riding the cushion to lead all 100-miles of the 54th Ted Horn 100
and take his first mile dirt track win. Of course, Tyler ran on the dirt
miles before 2004, but when the historians open up the championship racing
records books 100 years from now, proudly displayed with DuQuoin winners
such as Jimmy Bryan, Rodger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Al Unser
will be the name Tyler Walker. No matter what happens the rest of Tyler
Walker's career, he will always have a victory on one of the historic
fairground dirt tracks.
Bob Sargent, DuQuoin State Fair manager John Rednour, assistant manager Norm
Hill and even Illinois Governor Rod Blagoevich get a lot of credit for the
success of Sunday's exciting event and large crowd. Rednour, Hill and
Blagoevich have been responsible for continuing the infrastructure
improvements to the 58 year old facility to the point it is as state of the
art as any dirt track and many paved venues in the country. This year a new
paved pit lane was added, and the teams asked to remove the large haulers
from the infield. The latter met with significant approval from the crowd,
as many commented during and after the race they could actually see turns
three and four for the first time in several years.
Sargent, moving the race to Sunday night with cooperation from the fair, got
one of the largest crowds in recent memory for the Ted Horn 100.
Conservative estimates placed the crowd at anywhere between 8 and 10
thousand. In fact, for the first time in a long time, the Silver Crown
crowd was pretty close to, if not bigger than Monday's ARCA crowd which was
large in it's own right.
Placing the race on Sunday night led to the track and world one lap record
for the USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown dirt cars being broken three times.
Tracy Hines became just the third man in over 80 years of championship dirt
track racing history to run over 120 miles an hour in a championship machine
on one of the mile dirt tracks, posting a 29.952 as the second qualifier,
just .005 off Teddy Beach's 2003 record circuit. Jerry Coons, going out
19th for Roger Johnson, posted a 29.655 on his second lap and that seemed
secure until Walker, out 28th ripped off a 1st lap of 29.448, then posted
his record on the second circuit. Records fell on the "Magic Mile" all
week, with the horses posting several track and world records themselves.
The cool of the night, the humid air and the moisture from the nearby
infield lake made for one of the best DuQuoin tracks ever. Drivers enjoyed
a nice cushion, that by the end of the night was less than 6 inches off the
wall in many places, and at the wall in others. Speed was the feature of
the night, Dave Steele was clicking off 116 mile an hour laps in the last
chance race, while with a full load of fuel, Walker was running over 113
miles an hour in the first few laps of the Ted Horn 100. In fact, Sunday
was the fastest top twenty in DuQuoin history, as it took a 30.920 just to
avoid the "hooligan".
Statistically speaking, Tyler Walker became the 33rd different winner of the
Ted Horn 100, and the 36th different winner of the 59 championship dirt
races held at DuQuoin. He is the 13th driver to win from the pole position,
and the eighth to lead all 100 laps of a dirt track championship event at
the "Magic Mile" Ironically, the last driver to start from the pole and
lead all 100 circuits was Walker's car owner, current NASCAR rookie Kasey
Kahne!.
Sixty year old Johnny Parsons, the 1992 and 1995 winner was back in the seat
of the Ricky Nix Beast Sunday night. When "JP" made the show, it marked his
23rd dirt car start on the "Magic Mile" dating back to 1970. That ties him
with Tom Bigelow for second behind George Snider's record 27 starts at
DuQuoin. Parsons night ended quickly, the engine blew on the opening lap,
ending his night. Bigelow, a three-time DuQuoin winner, was in attendance
helping young Aaron Pierce.
Speaking of Pierce, he wowed the crowd and chief announcer Jim Childers when
he "FLAT FOOTED" the Sam Pierce 26 into turn one on his first qualifying
lap, and did the same over in turn three. Many people thought the throttle
had stuck open and it was an incredible display of bravery and car control.
Jerry Coons, Jr. may soon become "Front Row Jerry" at the two Illinois dirt
miles. He made arrangements with Roger Johnson and Ron Hemelgarn to run as
a teammate to Boston Reid, put a car back together he had driven before, and
sat it on the pole at Springfield, and the outside front row at DuQuoin. He
pressured Walker for a good portion of the race then ran out of fuel around
lap 90. In fact, it appeared that several of the cars might have been light
on fuel at the end.
Brian Tyler put on another one of his patented charges for second, and was
gaining on the leader at the end. Tyler, who says he doesn't qualify well,
started 10th and moved up methodically to the second slot toward the end.
He stated after the event that his car was light on fuel and sputtering the
last four laps.
Hines started third and ended the night there, while the "Pup" Kevin Huntley
started 6th and finished fourth after a spirited duel with Dave Darland, who
finished sixth and may himself been out of fuel at the end. Former Horn 100
winner Paul White was fifth, the last car on the lead lap, while former
winner Russ Gamester finished 12th and former winner Tony Elliot ended the
night in 9th.
Bud Kaeding gained twenty points on Dave Steele with a solid 8th (from
18th). Steele, who won the consi, moved up from 21st but ended the night in
17th, a lap down. Tyler also moved to less than 100 points back of the
leader, just 93 behind Dave Steele with Tulsa and Eldora remaining on the
schedule.
Several Illinois drivers made up the healthy 41 car entry list Sunday night,
with three from Springfield alone. Springfield's Donnie Beechler had
problems once again, transferring through the last chance race and having a
magneto go bad on lap 28. Jim Moughan started 28th and had the engine let
go on lap 67, while eighteen year old Justin Allgaier missed his quest to
become the first driver to run a champ dirt car and stock car on the same
weekend at DuQuoin since Bigelow in 1989. Allgaier's J&J chassis was
running in the 4th slot in the last chance race and gaining on the third
place machine when it appeared the engine let go. Justin had finished
second at the Toledo ARCA race Friday, then placed 4h in the Monday ARCA
race at DuQuoin.
Murphysboro veteran Randy Bateman, coming off a promising 16th at
Springfield installed a new Mark Cummins powerplant for Sunday night and was
running well in a transfer slot in the semi when the car quit, ending his
night. Marion's Alex Shanks, who had his car on display on the main route
in his hometown on Friday, made his first 100-miler and started 29th,
completing 28 laps before the engine quit. Chris Urish, from Elkhart,
Illinois is a sprint car regular at the Jacksonville Speedway. He had a
Galas chassis entered, finished the semi in 7th and ran until lap 74 when
the throttle broke.
One Illinois driver not only became the first driver since Bigelow to run
the dirt car and stock car race, he became the first since Larry "Boom Boom"
Cannon in 1971 to run three different cars in three different events on the
Labor Day weekend at DuQuoin. Galesburg's A.J. Fike took over the family
Beast from brother Aaron for the weekend. He was very fast in USAC
practice, qualified the car in 16th and finished 11th, a lap down. He also
finished fifth in his modified heat race to qualify for the Oldani Memorial
the next day. Monday, he qualified Andy Hillenburg's ARCA car on the front
row but got caught up in a spin, damage put him a lap down in 17th. He ran
the 20 mile UMP Modified race and finished 9th. His versatility did not go
unnoticed by the fans, nor by many members of the media.
Whatever defending Horn 100 winner Rich Tobias, Jr. did to his creation
Sunday, it did not like the set up. The car never hooked up, relegating him
to the last chance race and while he finished 16th, he was never in
contention . John "Hot Rod" Heydenreich, a top five at Springfield two
weeks earlier could manage no better than 15th. Matt Westfall, also a top
five at Springfield qualified fourth in the beautiful Daugherty 14, but the
car quit on the second lap and he was a scratch for the night. One of the
early favorites, Jay Drake, had the Snider-Stewart Mopar Eagle go out from
under him during practice and the team left early. Also leaving early was
Gene Nolen, with new shoe Levi Jones and still trying to work out their new
Twister chassis. The car apparently lurched an engine in hot laps.
One driver who may have been all smiles was sixty something Nelson Stewart.
Nelson made his first dirt mile start Sunday night in John Lawson's machine,
a car that certainly is pleasing to the eye for it's old style lines.
Nelson has a famous racing son, Tony is a former NASCAR champ who just
happens to be the 2003 winner of the ARCA stock car race at DuQuoin.
Tom Capie looked like the Tom Capie of old Sunday night, putting his white
and red flamed Beast in 5th during qualifying and running in the top ten
before sliding to 13th.
O'Fallon's Bob Galas brought out his familiar orange and white number 12
Magnum for MARA Midget driver Tim Siner, who looked pretty comfortable at
times in the car but spun three times in turn three, the last time during
the semi and damaging the front end. Galas has a number of DuQuoin wins as
a chief wrench, five with Gary B. and one with Jeff Swindell.
No shows at the "Magic Mile" included Granite City's Tad Roach, the Gambler
of Ralph DePalma and driver Mike Brecht, Kyle Wissmiller in Red Petersen's
54, the Mataka 3n1, the Galas chassis of Danny Long and veteran Jerry Nemire
and his familiar 76. Another no show on the dirt continues to be a mystery.
Bobby East, in the top 10 in the Weld Silver Crown title chase, entered the
Hoosier 100 but failed to enter the Springfield or DuQuoin events.
Next up for the series is the Tulsa 100 at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, Saturday
night September 18. A USAC Sprint show is slated for Tulsa on the 17th.
