Top Four 1999 Race Winners to Run In Orlando

Dave Darland, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman and Tracy Hines hope to pick up where they left off in 1999 when the 2000 USAC racing season gets under way this weekend at Walt Disney World Speedway near Orlando, Fla. Darland, Leffler and Newman captured USAC National Championships last year, while Hines finished in the "top-six" in all three series standings. Collectively, they represent the winningest drivers in USAC racing from last year, with 41 total feature victories. They are all entered in this weekend's USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet race at WDWS, held in conjunction with the Indy Racing League's Delphi Indy 200 series opener. Qualifications are slated Friday and Saturday's 50-mile Silver Bullet race will follow by 30 minutes the Delphi Indy 2000 IRL race on the 1-mile paved oval. Darland, the 1997 Silver Bullet Champion, captured last year's Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car title and wound up with more wins than any other USAC driver - 12. He won the "Tony Bettenhausen 100" Silver Bullet race at Springfield, Ill., plus four Sprint and six Midget Car races and one Midget Car special event. He finished fifth in the 1998 WDWS race but ended up 16th last year. Leffler, winner of 11 USAC races in 1999, has finishes of 12th and eighth at WDWS but ran out of fuel while leading the inaugural in 1998 on his way to the Silver Bullet championship! Last year he won the MCI WorldCom National Midget Car title for the third straight year, scoring five National and three Western Midget Car triumphs, one Midget Car special event victory and Silver Bullet wins at Nazareth, Pa. and Irwindale, Calif. Defending Coors Light Silver Bullet Series Champion Newman scored victories at Madison, Ill. and Indianapolis Raceway Park and added seven National Midget Car wins and one in the Sprint Cars. He owns a seventh and a fifth in two WDWS starts. Hines notched eight Sprint Car wins and earned his first Silver Bullet victory at Fountain, Colo. last year. He and Darland were the only two drivers to land "top-10" point rankings in all three National series. Tracy finished seventh in last year's WDWS 50-miler. Coors Light Silver Bullet practice gets under way on Friday, from 9-9:45 am and 11:30 am-12:15 pm. Qualifying is scheduled Friday from 2-3:15 pm, followed by a 15-mile "qualifying race" at 3:30 pm. Saturday's schedule finds the Delphi Indy 200 IRL race starting at noon and the Coors Light Silver Bullet 50-miler getting the green flag at approximately 2:30 pm.

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