1998 USAC FLASHBACK: MAYHEM ENSUES AT RED HILL, DAVIDSON WINS

This weekend’s upcoming USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at Red Hill Raceway on Saturday night, April 6, marks the return of the series to the Sumner, Illinois venue for the first time since 1998.  We’ve dug into the archives to share the recap of what was a wild night in the series’ debut at the 1/3-mile dirt oval 26 years ago.

Sumner, Illinois (October 3, 1998)………Derek Davidson of Lafayette, Ind. scored a sensational victory in the 30-lap race at Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Illinois, leading the final 10 laps in his BWB Racing/Hannig Construction/Bailey's One Stop Special after a daring pass of Dave Darland.

The win was the second of Davidson's USAC Sprint Car career, having scored his first at Paragon, Ind. during the Indiana Sprint Week round at Paragon Speedway in July of 1998.  In the years to come, Davidson went behind the wall with the IndyCar series, serving as the Crew Chief and Race Strategist for Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing and Takuma Sato’s victory at the 2020 Indianapolis 500.

Darland ended up second on the 1/3-mile dirt oval that night, followed by Brian Tyler and Brian Hayden with Turbines, Inc. fast qualifier Tony Elliott rounding out the top-five.  But that’s only the beginning of the story.

On what would seem to be a completely unrelated note at first glance, a show car for driver Jonathan Vennard was on display behind the main grandstand.  Vennard, then 15 years old, was too young to compete with USAC, so the car sat idle with the seat being occupied mainly by the children of race fans for the night.

Kevin Thomas, originally entered in Dick Newkirk’s No. 17, encountered engine problems during practice, causing the team to scratch for the night.  When all hope seemed lost, just before qualifying, the Vennard #56T was wheeled out for Thomas to drive that night.  He qualified 25th out of 37 entries, won his heat, then started 20th in the 22-car feature field.

With Red Hill serving as the penultimate race of the 1998 USAC National Sprint Car season, every point and every position was critical.  In fact, Tony Elliott led Thomas by a mere 20 points in the standings.

Nearing the race’s end, Thomas had charged up through the field, driving past Elliott and into the fifth position.  Recalling an incident between Elliott and Thomas had earlier that season at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park, contact between the two sent Elliott spinning while Thomas went on to the win.

This particular meeting at Red Hill set off a wild chain of events that resulted in major repercussions for the USAC title race.  After exchanging sliders for multiple laps, Thomas drifted past Elliott in turn two.  Unlike a half lap earlier in turns three and four, Elliott did not turn down under Thomas at the exit of turn two.  Instead, Elliott’s front bumper met Thomas’ rear bumper, sending Thomas into a 360 spin.  Thomas kept it rolling but lost two spots.  Ultimately, Thomas was able to grab one position back to take sixth at the finish line – one spot behind Elliott.

Elliott emerged from the USAC Stoops Freightliner National Sprint Car points race with a 28-point lead over Thomas with one race remaining on the 1998 calendar – the 25th running of the Sammy Sessions Memorial at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway October 25.

However, the exciting conclusion to the season suddenly took another turn in the aftermath of the Red Hill incident, with an October 24 official USAC press release stating the following:

Kevin Thomas of Danville, Ind. has been suspended from competition by the United States Auto Club for violation of USAC competition rule 10.32 (conduct detrimental to racing). The suspension is effective immediately and will preclude his participation in Sunday's 25th Sammy Sessions Memorial racing program at the Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.

Recent statements made by Mr. Thomas regarding his participation in Sunday's events led to the decision by USAC Competition Director Mike Devin to pronounce the suspension.

"We have a commitment to our participants to provide a safe, fair playing field offering an atmosphere of competitive equality," said Devin. "We regret the circumstances which led to this suspension but will, at no cost, permit any actions which jeopardize our stated goal. The safety of all persons involved in our events is of our utmost concern."

With Thomas out of action for the Winchester finale, Elliott finished off his first USAC National Sprint Car title by a 62-point margin, concluding one of the more dramatic and controversial chapters in series history among two all-time greats.

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USAC STOOPS FREIGHTLINER NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 3, 1998 – Red Hill Raceway - Sumner, Illinois

QUALIFYING: 1. Tony Elliott, 2, Vance/Walker-15.498; 2. Tracy Hines, 51, Holt-15.634; 3. Dave Darland, 69, Dynamics-15.759; 4. Brian Hayden, 26, BWB-15.786; 5. Matt Jewell, 18, Jewell-16.054; 6. Brian Tyler, 21, Booe-16.190; 7. Rusty McClure, 77x, Law-16.224; 8. Derek Davidson, 62, BWB-16.247; 9. Hud Cone, 14, Cone-16.289; 10. Robbie Rice, 22R, Whiteside-16.324; 11. Jason McCord, 4c, Contos-16.386; 12. Kent Christian, 9R, Roudebush-16.392; 13. Tim Cox, 40, Cox/Forman-16.397; 14. Terry Pletch, 29p, Pletch-16.421; 15. Justin Marvel, 47, Mills-16.431; 16. Levi Jones, 2L, Jones-16.444; 17. Troy Link, 49, Link-16.452; 18. Alex Shanks, 1x, Cravens-16.469; 19. Jack Hewitt, 16, BWB-16.486; 20. Brandon Petty, 30p, Petty-16.487; 21. Gary Hayhurst Jr., 20, Dougherty-16.522; 22. Wayne Newlin, 70, New Spirit-16.578; 23. Rick Hayden, 5H, Hayden-16.605; 24. Mark Cummins, 56x, Vennard-16.641; 25. Kevin Thomas, 56T, Vennard-16.669; 26. Kevin Miller, 21m, Miller-16.706; 27. Roger Chaudion, 2x, Vance/Walker-16.772; 28. Kenny Carmichael, 9D, C & W-16.780; 29. Tim Clark, 26x, BWB-16.808; 30. Matt Booe, 73, Booe-16.821; 31. Wil Newlin, 71, New Spirit-16.882; 32. Cale Medler, 56, Medler-16.918; 33. Andy Hurtubise, 24, Britt-17.010; 34. Rodney Fish, 18x, Fish-17.020; 35. Jim Mills, 45, Mills-17.033; 36. Lennie Waltz, 22, Waltz-17.531; 37. Kevin Thomas, 17, Newkirk-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kevin Miller, 2. Tony Elliott, 3. Hud Cone, 4. Matt Jewell, 5. Troy Link, 6. Gary Hayhurst Jr., 7. Tim Cox, 8. Matt Booe, 9. Rodney Fish. 2:16.58

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Roger Chaudion, 3. Brian Tyler, 4. Alex Shanks, 5. Terry Pletch, 6. Wil Newlin, 7. Robbie Rice, 8. Jim Mills, 9. Rick Hayden. 2:18.84

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Jack Hewitt, 3. Rusty McClure, 4. Mark Cummins, 5. Cale Medler, 6. Justin Marvel, 7. Jason McCord, 8. Kenny Carmichael, 9. Lennie Waltz. 2:17.67

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas, 2. Brian Hayden, 3. Derek Davidson, 4. Brandon Petty, 5. Kent Christian, 6. Tim Clark, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Andy Hurtubise. 2:18.23

TRUE VALUE SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Terry Pletch, 2. Robbie Rice, 3. Kent Christian, 4. Tim Cox, 5. Levi Jones, 6. Gary Hayhurst Jr., 7. Kenny Carmichael, 8. Wil Newlin, 9. Tim Clark, 10. Rick Hayden, 11. Lennie Waltz, 12. Justin Marvel, 13. Matt Booe, 14. Troy Link, 15. Rodney Fish, 16. Jim Mills, 17. Andy Hurtubise, 18. Cale Medler, 19. Jason McCord. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Derek Davidson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Brian Tyler, 4. Brian Hayden, 5. Tony Elliott, 6. Kevin Thomas, 7. Tracy Hines, 8. Terry Pletch, 9. Jack Hewitt, 10. Alex Shanks, 11. Robbie Rice, 12. Kevin Miller, 13. Tim Cox, 14. Kent Christian, 15. Gary Hayhurst Jr., 16. Levi Jones, 17. Roger Chaudion, 18. Mark Cummins, 19. Rusty McClure, 20. Brandon Petty, 21. Hud Cone, 22. Matt Jewell. NT

**Tim Cox flipped during qualifying.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Brian Tyler, Laps 4-20 Dave Darland, Laps 21-30 Derek Davidson.

USAC STOOPS FREIGHTLINER NATIONAL SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Tony Elliott-1861, 2-Kevin Thomas-1833, 3-Derek Davidson-1584, 4-Dave Darland-1389, 5-Tim Cox-1340, 6-J.J. Yeley-1259, 7-Jason McCord-1222, 8-Brian Hayden-1180, 9-Brian Tyler-1165, 10-Kevin Doty-1084.

NEXT USAC STOOPS FREIGHTLINER NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: October 25, 1998 – Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Indiana – 25th Sammy Sessions Memorial