|
 TUCSON,
AZ (November 22) -- A day after signing a multi-year contract with Joe
Gibbs Racing, J.J. Yeley clinched his third USAC championship of the
season finishing third in Saturday's 40-lap USAC National Midget
Series "Old Pueblo Classic." He now is just the second
driver in the history of the series to win all three National titles
in a single season joining Tony Stewart who became the series first Triple Crown winner
in 1995 before going on to win the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship in
2002. Yeley will run an A-B-C schedule next season out of the Gibbs
stable which will include seven or eight ARCA races, 10-12
NASCAR Busch Series races and two to three NASCAR Nextel Cup
Series races. The 27-year old Arizona driver will join Tony Stewart in
the Gibbs camp next season. Ironically, Stewart was instrumental in
Yeley achieving the USAC Triple Crown as owner of his sprint car and
co-owner of his silver crown car.
The race was won by Tracy Hines who had been battling
Yeley for the Midget championship all season. Hines was followed to
the line by Bobby East and champion Yeley. Josh Wise finished fourth
and Aaron Fike in fifth heading into the season finale race at
Irwindale, CA this Thursday. The "Turkey Night
Grand Prix" will bring to a close the 2003 USAC National racing
season. The race will be televised live Thanksgiving Day on Speed
Channel (11 pm ET).
The USAC National Midget Car Series competes
exclusively on Hoosier tires while the USAC National Silver Crown Series and
the USAC National Sprint Car Series compete on Hoosiers
exclusively on pavement only. Yeley also becomes the
first driver in series history to win on both dirt and pavement in all
three series during the season.
Yeley also has 24 wins this season in the three series
eclipsing the previous record of 19 held by three drivers (A.J. Foyt -
1961, Sleepy Tripp - 1988, Jay Drake - 2000).
Yeley will continue to race on Hoosier tires when he
competes in the ARCA Series next season because Hoosier is the
exclusive tire supplier for the series through the 2006 season.
The entire Hoosier Racing Tire organization extends
its sincere congratulations to J.J. Yeley and his three race teams for
their historic accomplishment and wish J.J. well as he moves to his
new challenges in the ARCA, Busch and Cup Series.
|
