THE VALLEY NEWS
Thursday, September 10,1998

Veteran Warren wins hearts as well as Classic

Oswego, NY - Oswego supermodified driver Jeff West was a three-year-old toddler when New England racing star Bentley Warren won his first Oswego Speedway International Classic race in 1969. By the time West had become a five-year veteran at Oswego in 1992, he named Bentley Warren along with Dale Earnhardt as his heros for the track's annual Classic Yearbook.

Late Sunday afternoon, with his own car sidelined after 129 laps, West watched his hero drive his backup car to a record- tying sixth Classic 200 victory, holding off 1997 winner Davey Hamilton and two others in a furious finish. Warren, also a seven-time Oswego track champion, competed regularly at the speedway until 1994 when a controversy between his New England car owner and speedway officials brought his weekly appearances to an abrupt halt. Absence from regular competition over the past four seasons may have made the hearts of the fans grow fonder, however, as he was greeted in victory lane Sunday with the loudest cheers he ever received from an Oswego crowd.

Warren's victory put him into a tie on the all-time Classic win list with Syracuse veteran Nolan Swift, who was on hand to congratulate the new six-time winner. Warren's previous wins were in 1969, '84, '86, '89, and'90.

With 24 starters determined by time trials and 11 more taken from qualifying races, the 200-Iap Classic got off to a slow start when Bobby Smith spun in the front stretch bringing out the yellow flag on lap 1. Outside front-row starter Pat Abold, driving the Clyde Booth car 6, had grabbed the lead over fast qualifier Mike Ordway, who had earned the pole position with a lap of 16.981 earlier in the day. After the first three laps were run single-file under yellow-flag conditions, Ordway took the lead on lap 4 when the green flew again. One lap later, 1998 track champion Mike Muldoon drove his 50 into the lead and began to distance himself from the rest of the pack.

Fulton driver Tim Gareau made the most progress among the front runners early, moving from his 12th starting spot up to sixth by lap 10 and third by lap 16. Jeff West had put his car into second position by lap 10, but Gareau took that position away on lap 17. IRL driver Davey Hamilton, driving Muldoon's team car 35 again this year, followed into third a lap later. Between laps 41 and 97, there were only 16 laps of green-flag racing as a series spins and minor incidents repeatedly slowed the action. Four of those laps were eventful for Gareau, however, as he ducked under Muldoon with the help of lapped traffic on lap 70 to grab the lead. On a restart at lap 97, however, Gareau's car encountered a mechanical problem and his competition sped past him as he slowed to the inside of the track and soon to the pits for attention.

With the race half over, Muldoon maintained the lead over Randy Ritskes, who had moved up in the Shea #37, West, Abold, Hamilton, and Warren. On lap 121, seventh place Jamie Letcher lost a water hose and spun in the 3rd turn, collecting the cars of Joe Gosek, Greg Furlong, Bob Goutermout, and Ordway. Dave Shullick's 38 was also involved but kept running, emerging with a cocked rear wing that may have actually improved the car's aerodynamics, as the Ohio veteran was able to run stronger following the incident.

When the race restarted on lap 129, Ritskes challenged Muldoon for the lead, but the yellow flag quickly flew, again as. West's car 01 slowed with an apparent broken rear axel. Having worked his way back to 7th place after pitting early with a shredded front tire, 1996 Classic winner Doug Didero was penalized and sent to the rear for passing a lapped car too soon on a restart at lap 134. Didero was driving the former Skip Matczak car 4 that he drove previously, although the car is now owned by Bill Kovac.

With the race three-quarters complete, Muldoon continued to lead comfortably, followed by Ritskes, Abold, Warren, and Shullick. Hamilton, who had made a pit stop for a new tire during a lap-121 caution, had worked his way back to seventh just behind Clay's Danny Soule. Hamilton passed Soule on lap 162 and was waging a torrid duel with Shullick when Muldoon's car 50 suddenly slowed with a rear-end gear or drive-shaft problem on lap 175. This left Ritskes leading Warren and Shullick as the race entered its final stage.

On a restart at lap 183, Warren put the West car 1 under Ritskes and made the inside pass for the lead. At the same time, Didero ducked under Abold and sped up to challenge Hamilton for fourth. As Ritskes began to run low on fuel, Shullick moved past him for second spot on lap 189 and Hamilton and Didero followed. Hamilton finally got past Shullick on lap 194 when the latter got out of shape momentarily in the fourth turn, but over the final six laps the savvy IRL driver could not find a way past the savvy super- modified veteran, and Warren drove under the checkered flag with his sixth Classic win. Hamilton held on to second place, while Didero outsped Shullick on the final lap to take third.

The victory earned Warren and West a payoff of over $32,000. Ironically, the winning car ran out of fuel at the finish.