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World of Outlaws at Eldora Speedway

Shaffer Narrowly Defeats 'Wild Child' at Eldora By Richard Day ROSSBURG, OH (August 4) -- Tim Shaffer won the first "A" Feature of his Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series career at Eldora Speedway June 5, ...

Shaffer Narrowly Defeats 'Wild Child' at Eldora By Richard Day ROSSBURG, OH (August 4) -- Tim Shaffer won the first "A" Feature of his Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series career at Eldora Speedway June 5, 1999. History repeated itself Friday in the "Night Before The Big One" race -- almost 14 months to the day later -- when Shaffer recorded his second victory at the "The World's Fastest Half-Mile." "We've struggled since day one this year," the series' 1999 Rookie of the Year said. "We junked a car on the first night out and haven't been able to get the gremlins out since then. This Vivarin crew (Sonny Kratzer, Sean Young and Steve Swenson) kept working and kept their heads up. Vivarin's been great to us. Bob Williams (of All-Pro Heads) helped us out a bunch tonight and this Garrett motor runs great." Shaffer, the seventh-fastest qualifier in the 35-car field, won the First NAPA AUTO PARTS Heat Race, then earned the privilege of starting the "A" Feature on the pole by winning the CHANNELLOCK Dash. He passed outside pole-sitter Daryn Pittman early in the 16th lap, and held off Ohioan Jac Haudenschild for the final 15 3/4 to claim the $10,000 first prize. Shaffer is the 11th driver to win a Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series "A" Feature this season. "This is a good time of year to get running," Tim said. "There are lots of big money races coming up, and maybe we can get one of them." The biggest sprint car event of the year -- the Amoco Knoxville Nationals -- opens Wednesday at Knoxville Raceway and runs through Saturday, August 12th. TNN Sports will televise the championship racing program live, beginning at 10 p.m. EDT. Shaffer and Pittman raced side-by-side down the front straightaway and through turns one and two as the green flag fell in the 30-lap main event. Pittman steered his #3 J&J into the low groove and won a back-stretch drag race to take the lead. Haudenschild and defending "Night Before The Big One" winner Stevie Smith exchanged third place during the second and third laps. Pittman was eight car-lengths ahead of Shaffer when he entered lapped traffic six laps into the series' 42nd main event of the year. Shaffer narrowed the gap to two car-lengths in dense traffic two laps later. Randy Hannagan, racing with the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series for the first time since the Winged Thunder event at the Terre Haute Action Track on May 13th, took the leaders out of lapped traffic with a fourth-corner spin early in lap nine. Pittman raced away from the field as the green flag replaced the yellow and opened a six-car-length advantage within four laps. Shaffer caught Daryn early in the 16th lap and steered the #11H Vivarin Eagle to the lowest point in turn one to pass him for the lead. Sammy Swindell, the 1999 Kings Royal champion, passed Smith and Pittman to move into third place during the next two laps. Haudenschild bumped Shaffer with the #22 fetchOmatic.com Maxim and passed him in turn two early in the 20th lap. Greg Hodnett flipped in the fourth corner several seconds later, however, nullifying the move. The flipping #V12 Wirtgen Maxim collected Pittman and defending series champion Mark Kinser, but both restarted at the back of the pack. "That (racing with Haudenschild) was fun," Shaffer said. "Jac bumped me a little, but I'd have done the same thing to him. We actually got really lucky with that red -- we'd lost the brakes. We were able to get them back on the car during that red, and we just held on from there." Shaffer retained first place and quickly opened a comfortable advantage when the race resumed. Steve Kinser and Swindell, who have 36 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series victories at Eldora between them, exchanged third place during laps 21 and 22. Sammy lost the position late in the 26th lap when he stopped his #1 CHANNELLOCK Stealth in turn four with his right rear wheel packed with mud. Haudenschild was unable to keep pace with Shaffer when the race resumed, and was 12 car-lengths behind at the checkered flag. Fourteenth-starting Steve Kinser finished in third place, ahead of Smith, Donny Schatz, Dale Blaney, Johnny Herrera, Jeff Shepard, Danny Lasoski and Kevin Huntley. Kenny Jacobs received his first Vivarin Fast-Time Award of the year for pacing the qualifying session with a 138.654-m.p.h. lap around the high-banked, 1/2-mile oval. Joey Saldana's crew changed the engine in his #17 HEM Saw Eagle following the Vivarin qualifying session. After flipping in the Second NAPA AUTO PARTS Heat Race, Saldana brought out a backup car and took a provisional to start the main event. The 1996 Rookie of the Year passed 13 cars to finish in 12th place. WoO

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