SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (Oct. 6, 1997) -- Butch Gilliland is known for his road racing talents. The NASCAR Winston West Series veteran driver from Anaheim, Calif., demonstrated on Oct. 5 why he has that reputation, winning the Fry's Electronic/Iomega Zip 100 at Sears Point Raceway for the second consecutive year.
The victory came in the same Ford Thunderbird that was built in the Stroppe Motorsports shop and made its debut a year ago at Sears Point.
"This is the same car and we prepared equally as hard," Gilliland said of the two victories on the 12-turn Northern California road course. "We made some refinements to the car that could have been a little better when we came here last time. One of them was the brakes."
Gilliland also credited a cohesiveness among his team. "We have all the same team members," he said. "Nobody has changed. I think that means a lot. You keep all those same people that are working together. It's just a team effort."
The team has also been able to remain focused on their work, Gilliland pointed out. "We've got a lot of positive things happening," he said. "I think some teams, if they don't have the positive things happening, they start to lose their focus. Then things go down. But our team just gets more pumped up every race."
Gilliland started from the pole position for the 40-lap event, which was televised live on ESPN2. He toured the twisting track in his Stroppe Motorsports/Pro Insulation Ford Thunderbird at a speed of 90.194 mph in qualifying for his third Busch Pole Award of the season.
He led the race three times, taking the top spot for good on the 35th lap. His victory margin was 1.291 seconds, at an average speed of 64.34 mph. Gilliland won $15,700, including purse money and posted awards.
Finishing second was Sean Woodside of Saugus, Calif., in the 1-800-CLEANUP/76 Lubricants Pontiac. Jay Sauter of West Salem, Wisc., was third in the Golden Gate Racing Team Pontiac, followed by Craig Raudman of Redding, Calif., in the Advantage Memory/GMR/AMPRO Chevrolet and John Kinder of Santa Ana, Calif., in the PowerBase Motorsports Pontiac. Rounding out the top 10 were Bill McAnally of Elverta, Calif.; Rich DeLong of North Hills, Calif.; Kenny Smith of El Monte, Calif.; Pappy Pryor of Priest Lake, Idaho; and Gary Smith of Malahat, British Columbia. Overall, the race featured eight lead changes among five drivers -- Gilliland, Raudman, Woodside, Sauter and Kenny Smith.
Gilliland, with 1,925 points, leads the NASCAR Winston West Series championship standings over Woodside with 1,851. Gary Smith is third with 1,801, followed by Larry Gunselman with 1,562 and Scott Gaylord with 1,530. Completing the top 10 are Kevin Culver 1,526, McAnally 1,504, Kinder 1,334, St James Davis 1,226, and Dan Obrist 1,115.
Gary Smith, with 101 points, leads the chase for the Sears Point Raceway Rookie-of-the-Year Award. Woodside is second with 99, followed by Culver with 88, Kenny Smith with 42, Billy Kann with 31 and Chuck Pruett with 27.
The competition for the Manufacturers' Championship remains close, with Ford out front with 77 points and five wins. Chevrolet has 70 points and four wins, while Pontiac has 62 points and two wins.
The next race on the NASCAR Winston West Series schedule is the Spears Manufacturing 250 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., on Oct. 11.
