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GORDON WINS 4TH "LITTLE 500" AT ANDERSON Eric Gordon of Indianapolis, Ind. scored his fourth victory in the PayLess/Delco Remy "Little 500" Sprint Car race Saturday night with a dominating performance in the 54th running of one of America's greatest short-track races at the Anderson (Ind.) Speedway. Gordon previously won the race in 1993, 1998 and 2001. He led 335 of the 500 laps around the 1/4-mile paved oval in his PayLess Supermarkets/Bowen Oldsmobile/Print Express Gaerte/Beast and finished three laps ahead of runner-up Jonathan Vennard and 11 laps in front of third-place Chet Fillip!
"I can't believe it," exclaimed the 34-year-old Gordon in victory lane. "Four times! The milk never tasted so good. It's special because I may not have many of these left! Gordon started seventh in the 33-car field but worked his way into contention early. Pole starter Dave Steele led the first 133 laps but faded to 15th at the finish, while Vennard led 32 laps and remained Gordon's closest pursuer until the late stages of the classic.
USAC Western Sprint Car Champion Tony Hunt finished fourth in his initial "Little 500" appearance and Tony Elliott rounded lout the "top-five" at the checkered flag. The remainder of the "top-10" at the finish were Mike Ling, Bentley Warren, Chris Hayes, Ryan Katz and Kevin Feeney. A multi-car accident on lap two brought out the race's only red flag but there were no injuries. Gordon lapped Vennard for the first time on lap 402, then did it again on lap 446 and added another in the closing laps. Eleven of the starters were still running at the finish. Gordon joins Bob Frey and Tom Cherry as drivers to win at least four "Little 500s" during a career. Frey won five times, including four-in-a-row from 1987-1990.
USAC SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: May 23-25, 2002 - Anderson, Indiana - Anderson Speedway - 54th PayLess/Delco Remy "Little 500"
QUALIFICATIONS: (Held May 23-24 - 4-Lap Times) 1. Dave Steele, 14, Gratton-45.526; 2. Jay Drake, 16, BWB-46.029; 3. Jeff Bloom, 26, Bloom-46.054; 4. Jason McCord, 4, Conros-46.115; 5. Jonathan Vennard, 54, VRT-46.231; 6. Bentley Warren, 5G, Goacher-46.319; 7. Eric Gordon, 2, Gor-Fre-46.322; 8. Tommy Fedewa, 20, Katz-46.476; 9. Tony Hunt, 1, Pierson-46.507; 10. Derek Davidson, 6, BWB-46.612; 11. Gary Fedewa, 42, T & T-46.701; 12. Jimmy McCune, 14x, Rapp-46.704; 13. Tony Elliott, 66, Nowling-46.821; 14. Eric Butze, 09, Butze-46.870; 15. Chet Fillip, 5, Nolen-46.888; (TOP 15 LOCKED IN), 16. Gene Lee Gibson, 0, Gibson-46.522; 17. David Harrison, 60, Bechstein-46.783; 18. Brandon Petty, 9R, Roudebush/Petty-46.798; 19. Denny England, 84, England-46.908; 20. Stan Butler, 18, Butler-46.952; 21. Rick Baker, 4B, Julian-46.958; 22. Pat Stewart, 90, Stewart-47.016; 23. Brian Tyler, 61x, Carman-47.051; 24. Ryan Katz, 35, Katz-47.086; 25. Chris Hayes, 99, Stickney-47.096; 26. Bobby Smith, 8, Epperson-47.115; 27. Dorman Snyder, 72, Bellairs-47.138; 28. Mike Ling, 61, Carman-47.184; 29. Chris Jagger, 27, Jagger-47.385; 30. Dave Durnwald, 19, Durnwald-47.413; 31. Tim Cox, 98c, B & D-47.475; 32. Kevin Feeney, 98, Hanks-47.491; 33. Mike Blake, 81, Blake-47.550; 34. Ron Koehler, 10, Koehler-47.568; 35. Troy Lowery, 40, Stapp-47.672; 36. Don Townsend, 77, Rebman-47.735; 37. Jimmy White, 92, Durnwald-47.860; 38. Rick Pardee, 1x, Pardee-48.166; 39. Joe Melnick, 0x, Steele-48.255; 40. Wendy Mathis, 6F, Faulconer-48.401; 41. Bill Allen, 9, McGee-48.452; 42. Jimmy Taylor, 7R, Rebman-48.561; 43. Doug Fitzwater, 14F, Fitzwater-48.673; 44. John Batts, 6x, Isenhower-48.847; 45. Dave Osborn, 3G, Gibson-50.175; 46. Kenny Hart, 4H, Hart-51.712; 47. Dickie Gaines, 2x, Reid-NT; 48. Bo Hartley, 3x, Hartley-NT; 49. Rocky Fisher, 5x, Nawrock-NT; 50. Scott Hull, 48, Hull-NT; 51. Bobby Rose, 56, Rose-NT; 52. Brad Armstrong, 63, Stapp-NT; 53. Jim Mills, 70, Mills-NT. (Fastest single lap: 11.253 - Dave Steele).
NON-QUALIFIERS RACE: (25 laps - Held May 24) 1. Pardee, 2. Townsend, 3. Osborn, 4. Lowery, 5. White, 6. Taylor, 7. Fitzwater, 8. Hart, 9. Batts. NT
FEATURE: (500 laps - Held May 25) 1. Eric Gordon, 2. Jonathan Vennard, 3. Chet Fillip, 4. Tony Hunt, 5. Tony Elliott, 6. Mike Ling, 7. Bentley Warren, 8. Chris Hayes, 9. Ryan Katz, 10. Kevin Feeney, 11. Stan Butler, 12. Jay Drake, 13. Tim Cox, 14. Jimmy McCune, 15. Dave Steele,16. Jason McCord, 17. Mike Blake, 18. Brian Tyler, 19. Gene Lee Gibson, 20. Tommy Fedewa, 21. Eric Butze, 22. Dave Durnwald, 23. Chris Jagger, 24. David Harrison, 25. Jeff Bloom, 26. Bobby Smith, 27. Dorman Snyder, 28. Derek Davidson, 29. Gary Fedewa, 30. Brandon Petty, 31. Rick Baker, 32. Denny England, 33. Pat Stewart. 2:50:42.00 -----------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-133 Steele, Laps 134-165 Vennard, Laps 166-500 Gordon.