By Dick Jordan
Brian Tyler of Mount Pleasant, N.C. and Russ Gamester of Peru, Ind. enter Saturday’s “Rollie Beale 150” at the Toledo (Ohio) Speedway as the all-time leaders in terms of USAC Silver Crown Championship race starts. They have surpassed long-time leader Jack Hewitt’s total of 162 and will seek their 165th start at Toledo.
Tyler and Gamester have yet to win this year but are among favorites at Toledo, as is Dave Darland, who will tie Hewitt with a 162nd career start at Toledo.
Saturday’s race, the first for Silver Crown cars on pavement in the Buckeye state, is 150 laps and honors the 1973 USAC National Sprint Car Champion and former USAC Chief Steward, Rollie Beale, who calls Toledo home.
Seven different drivers have won races so far in 2010 with the season concluding at Toledo.
Two major championships will be impacted by Saturday’s race. Bud Kaeding, seeking a record fourth Silver Crown title, leads runner-up Levi Jones by one point entering Saturday’s race, while Bryan Clauson holds a 22-point margin over Jones in the 2010 USAC National Drivers Championship.
Saturday’s events, which begin with practice at 12:30 pm, also include a USAC Regional/WOMS Midget “special event” on the track’s half-mile oval.
Tyler, who has already posted Silver Crown victories in 10 different seasons, hopes to add an 11th Saturday with what would be his 17th series feature win. So far this year he has a half-dozen “top-10” finishes in eight starts on his way to eighth in the latest point standings.
Gamester, who has six career Silver Crown wins but none since 2001, finished 10th in the series opener at Tucson and ranks 20th in the series standings.