Greenville Mississippi – Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas won the O’Reilly Auto Parts United Sprint Car Series Gumbo Nationals 2008 www.uscsracing.com presented by Lucas Oil at Greenville Speedway on Saturday night. Crawley collected a $4400 paycheck for his efforts while besting a talented field that included drivers from eight states. Crawley completed a clean sweep of the weekend’s events by winning the six-car, six laps Lucas Oil Power Dash to place himself on the K&N Filters Pole for the 40-lap Gumbo Nationals finale. He then took full advantage of his starting position to dominate the race in the Ward Racing Boatersports sponsored #88 by leading every lap of the sprint car finale around the shiny black ¼ mile Gumbo clay oval. On Friday evening, Crawley set fast time and won the 12-lap Engler Machine and Tool First Qualifying race. Crawley was the inaugural Gumbo Nationals Champion winning last year’s title as well.
Danny Wood from Norman, Oklahoma started next to Crawley in the front row of the A-Main driving the H&H Motorsports #94 that won the 2008 Knoxville 360 Nationals Championship race with Wayne Johnson behind the wheel. Wood seriously challenged the 2002 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Driver of the Year, Crawley, for the first four or five laps. On lap six 2006 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas raced past Wood into the runner-up spot in his Conrad Sand and Gravel #9Jr. and started to reel Crawley in using the low line around the oval in the moisture behind Crawley.
On lap ten the veteran Wood charged back past the talented teenager into the runner-up spot again. On lap fourteen 1999 USCS Champion, Marshall Skinner, who started thirteenth after winning the B-Main got past Hagar for the third position. Hagar broke on lap fifteen and never returned to the track. Skinner challenged Wood for the runner-up spot for the balance of the laps before settling for third place. Defending and six-time O’Reilly United Sprint Car Series Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee driving his familiar black #10 Rislone Engine treatment sponsored Wesmar Powered J&J Auto Racing car, followed Skinner in fourth place at the finish. Hard charging Sprint Car Hall of Famer, Ricky Hood from Phoenix, Arizona raced from a fourteenth place starting position to round out the top five finishers. Hood made several spectacular moves while rim-riding his way to the front on the treacherous top side of the track.
Ronnie Blair from Dayton, Ohio advanced five positions to head the next group of finishers in sixth. Veteran Kenny Coke from Olive Branch, Mississippi finished seventh followed by talented 18 year-old rookie Mark Shirshekan from Farmington, Missouri in eighth position. 2008 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, Anthony Nicholson finished in ninth place. Another rookie driver, Jon Stinson from Memphis, Tennessee rounded out the top ten. Stinson performed double duty by racing in the Rislone USCS Modified Gumbo Nationals event.
The win was Crawley’s fourth over two seasons at the speedway. It was also Crawley’s eleventh O’Reilly USCS feature win of the season and his fifth win in a row in O’Reilly USCS Mid South Thunder competition.
Crawley won the important six-cars, six-laps Lucas Oil Power Dash that aligned the starting positions for the front three rows in the A-Main. Marshall Skinner form West Memphis, Arkansas won the 12-lap Gumbo Nationals B-Main. Skinner also garnered the Huggins Cams Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars in the A-Main (10). Mark Shirshekan was the Hoosier Tire Young Gun (drivers under 25 ears) of the race. Shirshekan also was the Rookie of the Race as well