This should be the first time since 1983 that an Illinois driver has won. 29 years is a long time.

FIKE 1ST ILLINOIS “TONY BETTENHAUSEN” WINNER IN 29 YEARS!

Springfield, IL……..A.J. Fike of Galesburg, Ill. became the first Illinois driver in 29 years to capture the “Tony Bettenhausen 100” USAC Traxxas Silver Crown race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, leading the final 65 laps of the 100-mile race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in his Liberty Village/McGladrey & Pullen Beast/Foxco. Gary Bettenhausen was the last Illinois driver to win the race, in 1983. Defending race winner Brian Tyler finished second in Saturday’s race, ahead of Tanner Swanson, Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson. Kody Swanson led the first 19 laps but encountered mechanical problems and failed to finish. Jones then led 16 laps before Fike went to the front on a restart.

TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN RACE RESULTS: August 18, 2012 – Springfield, Illinois – Illinois State Fairgrounds – “Tony Bettenhausen 100”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brian Tyler, 21, Six-R Racing-30.948; 2. Rich Tobias Jr., 39, Aquilini-31.204; 3. A.J. Fike, 3 RFMS-31.213; 4. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart/Cub-Agajanian-31.215; 5. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-31.372; 6. Kody Swanson, 19, Six R Racing-31.587; 7. Bobby East, 22, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-31.661; 8. Shane Hollingsworth, 20, Nolen-31.667; 9. Bryan Clauson, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-31.783; 10. Chris Urish, 77, Urish-31.817; 11. Jerry Coons Jr, 27, RW-31.896; 12. Shane Cottle, 14, McQuinn-31.953; 13. Randy Bateman, 55, Bateman-32.190; 14. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-32.269; 15. Shane Cockrum, 114, Hardy-32.567; 16. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-32.759; 17. Tanner Swanson, 23, Six-R Racing-32.978; 18. Steve Adams, 500, Adams-33.224; 19. Joey Moughan, 141, McQuinn-33.756; 20. Bobby Santos, 7, RW-33.875; 21. Justin Grant, 63, DePalma-NT.

FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. A.J. Fike, 2. Brian Tyler, 3. Tanner Swanson, 4. Levi Jones, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Jerry Coons Jr, 7. Bud Kaeding, 8. Bobby East, 9. Rich Tobias Jr., 10. Chris Urish, 11. Bobby Santos, 12. Steve Adams, 13. Tracy Hines, 14. Russ Gamester, 15. Kody Swanson, 16. Randy Bateman, 17. Shane Hollingsworth, 18. Shane Cottle, 19. Shane Cockrum, 20. Joey Moughan. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 K.Swanson, Laps 20-35 Jones, Laps 36-100 Fike.

NEW TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-K.swanson-302; 2-East-298; 3-Coons-289; 4-Jones-270; 5-T.Swanson-259; 6-Kaedin g-259; 7-Santos-253; 8-Fike-221; 9-Hines-217; 10-Tyler-192.

NEXT TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN RACES: September 2 – DuQuoin (IL) State Fairgrounds – “Ted Horn 100

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy

Congratulations to AJ Fike for his win at Springfield!

I am sorry we weren't able to attend. Now I'm wondering how many cars finished the race? From the press release, it looks like maybe only 14 cars finished. Or was it less? The press release states that Kody Swanson encountered mechanical problems and failed to finish, but yet he finished 15th. If anyone has this information, please pass it along.

It doesn't take away from AJ's win! I am sure he was feeling the pressure from Brian Tyler breathing down his neck.

Sharon
Silver Crown #90

Great job A.J.!!!!

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Hines and Gamester also dropped out. 12 cars finished the race. Swanson's motor blew up (per 6R crew member's response when asked by). Over all a great race in that Fike won, but this series needs massive help. Cottle's car overheated and I believe I heard the same for Hines and Moughan.

We did eventually retire from the race due to motor issues- but it was only because we had an issue getting it to stay in gear. I believe that we probably hurt it when it came out of gear while we were leading on lap 19, and when it finally started to get worse near halfway, we were done.

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The announcer said it was his first, but this was the same announcer who said that the last time an Illinois driver won this race was Don Branson in (don't remember whether he said 63 or 64).

I was there in 1983 when Gary Bettenhausen, an Illinois native, won.

His exact wording was that A.J. Fike was the first winner from Central Illinois to win the Tony Bettenhausen 100 since Don Branson in 1966, but I don't think Galesburg is all that central.

Depends on how you split the state really. If you split the state from west to east then yes it's central. If you split the state north to south then no its not. Galesburg is widely accepted as being in Central IL by those of us who live here. Ofcourse, anything outside of Chicago is also viewed as down state.