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April 10, 1999
Wayne Anderson Scores Slim Jim Victory Lakeland, Fl. - In front of packed grandstands and a happy crowd, Wayne Anderson pulled into Victory Lane after fighting long and hard with Eddie Mercer
from Pensacola for the win of the first NASCAR Slim-Jim All Pro race
of the year and the first race held at USA International.
It was obvious to all that this was a very emotional win for Anderson
since this last year has been rocky for him. He thanked his sponsor
and his wife for believing in him when others did not after losing his
Craftsman Truck ride last year in the #84 Porter Cable truck. What
Wayne forgot was his fans that have always been there and have
always believed in him.
Forty three cars came out to try and qualify for 35 slots in the race.
But no one could touch Mike Cope's time of 21.305. Sean Studer
got the outside pole with 21.337. The second row was Eddie Mercer
with a 21.339 and Billy Bigley, Jr. with a 21.383.
Mike Cope's young son threw the green flag and we were off to racing.
In Lap 11, Eddie Mercer was turned around by the 98 of Sean Studer and
Eddie had to go to the rear of the pack. After a few caution laps, on lap
15 the race was once again restarted.
Lap 45 saw Derrick Kelly brush the wall and the second caution of the night
was thrown. Derrick brought the car into the pits, the crew went to work and
took off sheet metal, and once again sent Derrick back into battle.
Lap 49 the race was restarted with Mike Cope still in the lead. But Billy
Bigley suddenly took over the lead and on lap 51 the caution came out once
again for an accident in turn 3 that saw two cars in the wall and a popular
Mike Cope with a broken axle. While the safety trucks were out cleaning
the track, Mike Cope brought his number 25 back down pit road and behind
the wall for the night.
Lap 55 the race was restarted with Billy Bigley, Jr. leading the pack, Sean
Studer in second and Wayne Anderson taking over third. Then on lap 68,
the number 48 of David Probst went into the turn l wall. After a lengthy
clean-up, the race was restarted on lap 76 with Bigley and Anderson running
in first and second spots.
Then on lap 79 between turns 3 and 4, three cars turn around and another
yellow is thrown. During this yellow, Anderson decided to leave the lead
cars and pit. Taking over second now is the #19 car of Steven Howard.
The race is restarted on lap 85 with Billy Bigley, Jr. leading, Steven Howard,
Sean Studer, Bryant Smith and Jeff Fultz as the top five.
Lap 92, in turn l, three cars pile up - the #37 of Larry Raines, the #87 of
Kevin Britts and the #33 of Conrad Burr. The red comes out and the track
is at a standstill. The drivers were shaken but not hurt badly but the
wreckers and clean-up crew had their hands full for quite a while. After what seemed 15 minutes or so, the yellow came back out and the cars moved slowly around the track. During this yellow flag, most of the leaders decided to pit which left the #l car of Eddie Mercer, the first yellow flag of the night, with the lead on lap 102.
No sooner had the green been thrown on lap 102 that the yellow came right
back out on lap 103 for Rick Lormer who crashed between turns 3 and 4.
On this yellow, Ronnie Burkett and Derrick Kelly were both able to get back
their lap and were now on the tail end of the lead cars.
The race was started again on lap 109 with Eddie Mercer in the lead. On
lap 112, Ron Young in 4 hit the wall hard in turn 4. The yellow once again
flew and on lap 117 the race was restarted with Eddie Mercer leading,
Coy Gibbs (son of Joe Gibbs) second, Lance Goodson, Hal Goodson,
and Wayne Anderson.
On lap 156, Eddie Mercer is still leading the race with a very hot Wayne
Anderson right behind him. Then fighting traffic of lap cars, Eddie is cut
off long enough for Wayne Anderson to go around both Eddie and the lap
car and take the lead. On lap l86 a car turned around on the backstretch
which caused a yellow to come out. The car was able to continue and the
race was restarted single pile on lap l90 with Anderson in the lead.
The worse moment of the race was coming for the #44 of Coy Gibbs, son
of Joe Gibbs. Coy not only had to start the race in his back-up car with the
engine from his other car, but was never able to take the car out for one lap
before the race began. Four laps from the end of the race, Coy Gibbs ran
out of gas. The race was running caution laps due to a car turning around and
the wrecker pushed Coy onto pit road for just a splash of gas from his crew,
but Coy lost the third place he had run so well. The crowd gave him a well
deserved acknowledgement for his gallant efforts and Coy went back to finish
the race.
Wayne Anderson was able to keep his lead and win the race with Eddie Mercer, David Ruittiman, Billy Bigley, Jr., Sean Studer, Ronnie Burkett, Hal Goodson and Jeff Fult behind him.
Next week the second and last Slim-Jim All Pro race to be held in Florida
for the year l999 will be at St. Augustine Speedway. -Jane Smith |
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