PITTSBURGH'S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

9/19/99

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Information supplied by STARS Race Director Bret Emrick

ANDREWS WINS "PITTSBURGHER 100" BATTLE, MORAN WINS POINTS WAR!!!

IMPERIAL, PA….

Todd Andrews of Eldred,PA captured his largest ever payday and biggest win ever Sunday pocketing $21,000 for his victory in the STARS National DirtCar Racing League sanctioned "11th Annual Pittsburgher 100" at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. Aboard the Hamill Enterprises/Phase II Graphics/TSX/GRT Race Cars/Malcuit Racing engines No. 42 Andrews Auto Salvage Ford Mustang, Andrews grabbed the lead for good from Donnie Moran on lap 19 racing away to a 1.5 second margin of victory for his first STARS triumph of the year and fourth career STARS win. "This is just totally awesome", said the very happy winner. "This is my biggest win ever and everything went well. We really struggled in the dash and knew we had a lot of work to get done before the main. I've got give lot of credit to my crew chief Joel Smith and the crew for getting this GRT dialed in. The car worked great". Moran came home second giving him enough points to sew up his fourth career STARS points championship to go along with his STARS crown's of 1991, 1992 and 1995. Heading into the event, Moran had to finish at least four positions better than Mike Balzano to wrap up the points before the season closer at K-C (OH) Raceway. Balzano struggled all week long getting torn up in his BORLA EXHAUST heat race on Saturday resulting in a DNF and found himself at the back-end of his PRO SHOCKS "B" Main. Balzano then used a provisional start to make the field struggling to a 19th place finish. Chub Frank finished third in the feature event and moved 10 points ahead of Balzano for the points runner-up spot. Davey Johnson rode home fourth after starting 18th with 12th starting Booper Bare fifth followed by Mike Johnson, Steve Shaver, 17th starter Darrell Lanigan, Lou Bradich, and 25th starting Lance Elson. At the drop of the green flag outside pole starter Frank bolted into the lead after one lap with Mark Banal Moran, Andrews and Ben Miley trailing. Moran shot underneath of Banal exiting turn four on lap 2 to grab second only to have Banal return the favor the next lap. Moran again used the same move to take second back on lap 5 and began to close on Frank. Andrews, who had started sixth, shot past Banal for third on lap 8 as Moran worked Frank taking the lead on lap 10 just as the leaders entered lapped traffic. Andrews grabbed second from Frank on lap 14 and went past Moran off of turn two to lead lap 15 only to have Moran regain the lead the next circuit. Andrews stayed glued to Moran's back bumper as they worked through traffic and used the traffic to again take the lead on lap 19. Once in front Andrews began to pull away opening up a three second lead by lap 25 but Moran closed to within two seconds of Andrews by lap 30. The races first caution flew the next lap when Tim Hitt pulled up with a blown engine.  One lap after going back to green Andrews opened up a healthy lead on Moran as Davey Johnson cracked the top five. Andrews felt no pressure from Moran for the next few laps but caution on lap 42 for a Balzano spin in turn three put Moran back on Andrews rear for the restart. Andrews again was able to pull away until the yellow waved again as Bob Salathe slowed with a broken right front suspension. One more lap was completed before the mandatory halfway fuel stop was called with Andrews, Moran, Banal, Frank, and Davey Johnson first through fifth followed by Mike Johnson, Bare, Bradich, Shaver and Lanigan. With race back underway Banal roared past Moran for second on lap 51 and closed slightly on Andrews before the yellow waved on lap 55 when Miley blew an engine. Within five laps after going back to green Andrews had opened up a four second lead but lost that ground when Balzano slowed bringing out the caution on lap 61 and pitted for tires, an infraction according to STARS rules resulting in a one lap penalty. Andrews again showed his dominance on the restart opening up a five second lead on Banal by lap 70 who had started to lose the handle of his car. Moran grabbed the runner-up spot from Banal on lap 74 with Frank taking third one lap later. Banal slid back to the tenth spot by lap 80 and slowed the next lap bringing out the caution and pitted for tires incurring a one lap penalty. Andrews again pulled away on the restart but again his charge was slowed as Doug Dodd suffered a flat tire on lap 87 bringing out the last yellow flag of the race. Andrews and Moran pulled away from the rest of the field over the remaining laps with Andrews in front of Moran by two seconds with five to go. Moran closed slightly over the final five laps but Andrews felt no pressure as he took the checkered flag.  The $72,000 purse drew 80 drivers for the two-day event at the high-banked half mile. Elson set quick time at 19.107 seconds during time trials Saturday with Shaver, Moran, Hitt, Miley, Dan Armbruster and Mike Johnson grabbing BORLA EXHAUST Heat Race wins. PRO SHOCKS "B" Main winners on Sunday were Jim Zarin, Dodd and Bob Close while Moran scored the ISKY RACING CAMS Dash.

STARS National DirtCar Racing League Race Report (for 9/18-9/19/99)

Race No. 30-1999 Race Season-"11th Annual Pittsburgher 100"

Pitts. PA. Motor Speedway-Pittsburgh,PA-1/2 Mile Oval

$72,000 Purse-$21,000 To Win-100 Lap Feature

(Showing Finish Position., Start Position., Car#, Driver, Laps, Purse, Reason Out)

1. (6) #42 Todd Andrews 100 $21,035 Running

2. (1) #99 Donnie Moran 100 $7,100 Running

3. (2) #1* Chub Frank 100 $5,080 Running

4. (18) #79J Davey Johnson 100 $3,500 Running

5. (12) #00 Booper Bare 100 $3,000 Running

6. (10) #2J Mike Johnson 100 $2,500 Running

7. (7) #30 Steve Shaver 100 $2,000 Running

8. (17) #29 Darrell Lanigan 100 $1,500 Running

9. (13) #5 Lou Bradich 100 $1,300 Running

10. (25) #17 Lance Elson 100 $1,200 Running

11. (23) #4 Ed Ferree 100 $1,230 Running

12. (27) #84B Steve Baker 100 $1,220 Running

13. (11) #14 Jack Pencil 100 $1,170 Running

14. (5) #1C Lynn Geisler 99 $1,200 Running

15. (16) #1K Jim Kutas 99 $1,150 Running

16. (15) #71C R.J. Conley 99 $1,140 Running

17. (20) #72 John Mason 99 $1,170 Running

18. (4) #T8 Mark Banal 99 $1,170 Running

19. (26) #E1 Mike Balzano 97 $1,140 Running

20. (19) #1Z Jim Zarin 96 $1,040 Running

21. (20) #04D Doug Dodd 86 $1,040 Tire

22. (21) #04 Bob Close 61 $1,040 Handling

23. (8) #99M Ben Miley 55 $1,000 Engine

24. (14) #RG3 Bob Salathe 49 $1,000 Suspension

25. (24) #75 Bart Hartman 41 $1,040 Handling

26. (28) #9C Doug Crawford 40 $1,040 Handling

27. (9) #61 Dan Armbruster 31 $1,000 Cooling

28. (3) #68 Tim Hitt 31 $1,060 Engine

MAT LUX "PURE STOCK 30" WINNER ON 9/17 !!

WAYNE TESSEAN WINS "MYRGO ALL STAR 50" FOR E-MODS ON 9/18 !!

IMPERIAL, PA….Along with the busy weekend for the STARS Late Models, the M. Stahl Modifieds and Schneider Truck Spectator Stocks were also part of the Pittsburgher weekend at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

Matt Lux of Franklin bested a 41 car field to win the first Schneider Truck, Isiminger Pennzoil, Hover Racing Pure Stock Invitational Friday night.

Austintown, OH's Wayne Tessean earned his second career victory in the York Triathlon series, by leading all fifty laps of the "2nd Annual Myrgo All-Star 50" for the M. Stahl E-Modifieds on Saturday. Tessean also won his Crone heat race and the Coy Brothers Dash to earn the pole position for the Myrgo Enterprises sponsored feature.

Lux also led wire to wire for the pure stock win on his first visit to Dirt's Monster Half Mile. Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Senior Series competitor Don Gamble finished second. Danny "The Danimal" Rich, who got married at the track before the races Friday, was third, Neal Isiminger fourth and Dave Ferringer fifth. Completing the top ten were: Lonnie Hoffman, Al Atallah, Pat Weldon, Jessie Sterbutzel and Frankie Schneider.

Gamble, Bobby Whitling, Jeff Walters and Ferringer won the heats. Lux won the G&L Racing Supply Dash, and Bob Lipinski won the B-Main. The Hard Luck Award given by LJ's Video and RPM Racing News went to Charlie DiLoreto.

In the E-modified event, Tessean was followed to the finish by Bob McCann, Larry Kugel, D.J Miller and Kurt Halbedl. Six through ten were: Joe Hopkinson, Ralph Hysong Jr., Scott Stiffler, Jeff Haefke, and Russ Matejka. Alan Dellinger, Rich Stiffler, Tessean, Scott Stiffler, Jeff Broniszewski and Scott Gunn won the Crone preliminaries for the 57 cars. B-Main wins went to Jim Petrelle, Matejka and Chuck Kennedy. The Sterling Dash went to Tessean. Special contingency awards were presented by Bill Kell, of Kell Racing Engines, and G&L Racing Supply.

The Pittsburgher weekend brings a close to the 1999 season at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. Plans are underway for the annual awards banquet Saturday, January 15th at the Bradley House in Pittsburgh. The 2000 season will open in April. For more information, call (724) 853-RACE.

PITTSBURGH'S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY

Schneider Truck, Hover Racing, Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stock Invitational 9-17-99

Heat Winners: Don Gamble, Bobby Whitling, Jeff Walters, Dave Ferringer

G&L Dash: Matt Lux

B-Main: Bob Lipinski

Feature (30 Laps): Matt Lux, Don Gamble, Danny Rich, Neal Isiminger, Dave Ferringer, Lonnie Hoffman, Al Atallah, Pat Weldon, Jesse Sturbutzel, Frankie Schneider, Gary Smith, Bob Heim, Darryl Robison, Bobby Whitling, Fred Schneider, Rich Apolito, Dave Wade, George Nicola, John Hobbs, Tom Knight Jr., Dave Greenawald, Lou Lamonde, Willie White, Steve Sickles, Tony Sinicrope, Lou Bojarski, Bill Funk, Smokey Pharo, Butch Lambert, Willy Briggs, Greg Hauger, Chris Langham, Jeff Walters, Bob Lipinski

Myrgo All-Star 50 E-Mod Invitational 9-18-99

Crone Heat Race Winners: Alan Dellinger, Rich Stiffler, Wayne Tessean, Scott Stiffler, Jeff Broniszewski, Scott Gunn

Coy Brothers Dash: Wayne Tessean

B-Main Winners: Jim Petrelle, Russ Matejka, Chuck Kennedy

Myrgo "All-Star 50" Feature (50 laps): Wayne Tessean, Bob McCann, Larry Kugel, D.J. Miller, Kurt Halbedl, Joe Hopkinson, Ralph Hysong, Scott Stiffler, Jeff Haefke, Russ Matejka, Scott Gunn, Logan Dernoshek, Rich Stiffler, Jim Petrelle, Chuck Kennedy, Jeff Johnson, Mike Hess, Jim Myers, Bruce Taylor, Carl McKinney, Ron Roncaglione, Russ Dunn, Bobby Powell, Mike Ross, Todd Roncaglione, Bruce Dreistadt, Jeff Broniszewski, Steve Haefke, Jr. Green, Chad McClellan, Alan Dellinger

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