The Race: Heartland Park Topeka is a 2.1-mile road course with 14 turns of various shapes. This is the inagural NASCAR Winston West Series event at the track. Wrapping up Fontana: There have been different winners in the four NASCAR Winston West Series races so far this season. Visiting victory lane were Kevin Harvick, Butch Gilliland, Rich Woodland Jr., and Ken Schrader.
The 26 cars that crossed the finish line at Fontana, Calif., set a record for the number of cars running at the completion of a NWWS race. The previous mark was 23, set earlier this year at Las Vegas, Nev.
At Fontana, many drivers improved their positions in the NWWS championship standings. Among them was Kevin Richards, who moved up three spots from ninth to sixth.
Kevin Harvick, who has a 51-point lead in the championship standings, has an average finish of 4.5 in the four NWWS races this season - the best in the Series.
Harvick is the only driver to lead in all four races. He has also led the most laps overall, keeping the Spears Motorsports Chevrolet out front for 235 of the 550 laps run.
Sean Woodside, who drives the Golden West Motorsports Pontiac owned by Ray Claridge, is the only competitor to complete all of the 550 laps run in the four NWWS races this season.
Woodside is also the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four of the races this season. He has finished in the top five in three of the four.
Tony Toste and Craig Raudman are tied in the standings for the Sears Point Raceway Rookie-of-the-Year Award with 30 points each. Kevin Richards, with 26 points, is third among the 15 drivers in the hunt for the title.
Turning to Topeka: This inaugural visit to Heartland Park Topeka is the fifth of 14 races on the NWWS schedule. It is the first of two road course races in 1998.
This is the first NASCAR Winston West Series race to be held in the state of Kansas. It will be televised on a tape-delay basis on TNN and is scheduled to air on June 6 at 1 p.m. EDT.
This is the second of three races on the NWWS schedule in the month of May. Those three events included a superspeedway race at Fontana, Calif., on May 2; this road race on May 17; and a short track at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., on May 24.
Following this event which marks the conclusion of the first leg of the NWWS season, a combined $50,000 in prize money from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. will be paid out to the top 15 drivers in the championship points standings. The prize money is part of the new $300,000 point fund award from Winston.
NASCAR Winston Cup Series regular Ken Schrader is slated to compete at Heartland Park Topeka in the BMR Motorsports Chevrolet owned by Bill Strausser. It will be the third NWWS race this season for the driver from Fenton, Mo.
Four drivers are scheduled to visit children at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka, Kan., on Friday, May 15. NWWS Champion Butch Gilliland, Scott Gaylord, Bill McAnally, and Kevin Richards will spend part of thier afternoon signing autographs and chatting with youngsters and members of staff at the hospital.
Many NWWS teams are donating autographed memorabilia for a special celebrity auction to benefit the children of the St. Francis Children's Miracle Network. The auction will be held on Sunday May 17, at Heartland Park Topeka, prior to the start of the race.
Two NWWS drivers celebrating their birthdays in mid-May are Bo Lemler, who turns 55 on the 11th, and Eric Norris, who turns 33 on May 20.
Stats of the Week: Road course races are a big part of the history of the NASCAR Winston West Series. The series dates back to the Pacific Coast Late Models, which competed at the Willow Springs Raceway road course in 1955.
Since 1971, the majority of NWWS road courses were at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway of Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma, Calif. Other facilities that hosted road courses in the modern era were at Monterey Calif.; Rosamond, Calif.; Kent, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Castle Rock, Colo.; and Vancouver, British Columbia. Races on street courses were held in Tacoma, Wash., and Spookane, Wash.
This Date in the NASCAR Winston West Series: May 16, 1981 - Jim Insolo beat Hershel McGriff and Dan Reed in a 150-lap event at Stockton Speedway in Stockton, Calif.
May 17, 1958 - Marshall Sargent won a 200-lap race at Belmont Stadium in Belmont, Calif. Eddie Gray finished second, followed by Marvin Porter.
