The 54th Coors Light “Hoosier Hundred” at the Indiana State Fairgrounds was dominated Friday by two drivers – winner Teddy Beach and runner-up Josh Wise – who two years ago couldn’t legally use the race sponsor's product. Beach – who suffered a broken torque tube prior to the start of the 100-miler – charged from 10th to fourth in the first half of the race, then whipped past Wise on Lap 86 to lead the final 15 circuits for his first Weld Racing Silver Crown Series victory. “Words can’t describe how good I feel right now,” said Beach of Donnelsville, Ohio, who drove the No. 15 Beach Manufacturing/Fram Beast/Pink Chevy. “I just joined a list of great drivers who won this race.”  That list includes the names of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Jimmy Bryan and Mario Andretti.

The evening had belonged to Wise of Riverside, Calif., who was making only his third series start. A red flag on Lap 3 halted the field, and early leader and polesitter Paul White was sent to the tail of the field after having been push started.  Wise had the track figured out almost immediately. Leading his first career laps in the series, Wise inched away from the rest of the field and was not seriously challenged by second-place running Tom Capie.   Capie pushed Wise to his limits on several ensuing caution flags, and at one time made contact with the rear of Wise’s car on a restart. Neither driver suffered severe damage to their machines.  Capie continued his hounding of Wise despite the Californian’s lead increase, but by Lap 40, appeared to be off the pace. Beach, who had passed defending series winner Dave Darland just a handful of laps earlier, zipped by Capie on Lap 40 for second.  Wise kept Beach in check for the next 30 laps before the Buckeye driver began reeling him in. The advantage closed even further on Lap 80, when Darland, running third, stopped on the front stretch.

The restart set up a dash between the 20-something drivers, and Beach took full advantage of it. He drove inside of Wise on Lap 86, and quickly attained a six-car length lead.  Wise wasn’t done yet though. The last 10 laps were flaked with two caution periods, and Wise kept close on both restarts. He stayed within two car lengths, but couldn’t jump past Beach, who beat Wise by .266 seconds.  Russ Gamester had his best series finish in nearly three years, while Jay Drake and Tracy Hines finished fourth and fifth. Drake finished third earlier in the day in the Menards Infiniti Pro Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while Hines – who set quick time at 31.532 seconds and took over the points lead – ventured to the back of the field in search of a $50,000 bonus. Hines’ take of the $58,700 purse was $5,800, second to Beach’s $15,200.

Beach had to hustle all evening. He set the event’s sixth-fastest time, but qualifications stipends forced the Top 10 fastest drivers to compete in another session, where he was the 10th quickest.  Even after that, he had to fix the broken torque tube, and push the car out on the grid in time not to be penalized.  “This feels really good,” Beach said. “I’m in awe right now.  ”Wise had mixed emotions on finishing second.  “I feel almost greedy being disappointed running second,” Wise said. “It’s just when you run that strong…and started losing that advantage, it’s a bummer. But I’m really happy and it’s a good deal for us.”   Beach’s performance and car resembled that of another famous Indianapolis race: Rick Mears’ 1991 Indianapolis 500 victory. He drove a pink and white painted car, stayed in position to win all evening, and led going away after battling the dominant figure of the race.

Beach also won Thursday’s “Vogler Classic” USAC National Midget Car Series at the Blossom Chevrolet Indianapolis Speedrome, and he’ll look for three straight nights with a victory Saturday in the 60th Coca-Cola “Night Before The 500” at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

USAC WELD RACING SILVER CROWN SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 27, 2005 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Indiana State Fairgrounds – 54^th Coors Light “Hoosier Hundred” – Presented by The Indiana National Guard

      QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tracy Hines, 37, Indiana Underground-31.532; 2. Tom Capie, 153, Capie-31.651; 3. Dave Darland, 56, Foxco-31.928; 4. Shane Hollingsworth, 85, Baldwin-32.032; 5. Josh Wise, 10, Stewart-32.101; 6. Teddy Beach, 15, Beach-32.123; 7. Jason McCord, 4, Contos-32.159; 8. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-32.177; 9. Paul White, 99, Mucci/Matczak-32.193; 10. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-32.237; 11. Dave Steele, 9, East/Stewart-32.260; 12. Ron Gregory, 20, Irvin/Nolen-32.270; 13. Brian Tyler, 21, Team Six-R-32.327; 14. A.J. Fike, 32, RFMS-32.357; 15. Bud Kaeding, 67, BK/Leffler-32.415; 16. Tom Hessert III, 52, BWB-32.456; 17. Matt Westfall, 14, Daugherty-32.460; 18. Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 00, Reutimann-32.512; 19. Aaron Pierce, 05, Hanks-32.513; 20. Johnny Parsons, 43, Nix-32.522; 21. Jerry Coons, Jr., 35, RE-32.525; 22. Jay Drake, 22, Stewart-32.595; 23. Rich Tobias, Jr., 17, RW-32.633; 24. Kevin Huntley, 97, SC-32.659; 25. Randy Bateman, 55, Bateman-32.691; 26. Levi Jones, 2, Vance-32.709; 27. Jesse Hockett, 19, Kahne-32.795; 28. Nick Lundgreen, 0, Lundgreen-32.897; 29. Tony Elliott, 03, TNT-33.046; 30. David Gough, 82, Gough-33.082; 31. Ryan Durst, 59, S & R-33.311; 32. Mat Neely, 69, Dynamics-33.394; 33. Gary Irvin, 48, Irvin/Nolen-33.546; 34. Sport Allen, 89, Moore-33.999; 35. Alex Shanks, 155, Baker-34.153; 36. Jimmy Stinson, 184, Westfall-35.207; 37. Tad Roach, 84, Spivey-35.950; 38. Nelson Stewart, 115, Lawson-NT; 39. Billy Puterbaugh, 23, Team Six-R-NT; 40. Dickie Gaines, 24, Parker-NT; 41. Danny Long, 68, Long-NT; 42. John Heydenreich, 90, Bank-NT; 43. Hud Cone, 91, Harris-NT; 44. Danny Ebberts, 144, Schlacter/Ebberts-NT; 45. #135, RE-NT.

      QUALIFYING RACE: (14 laps) 1. A.J. Fike, 2. Levi Jones, 3. Jesse Hockett, 4. Nick Lundgreen, 5. Mat Neely, 6. David Gough, 7. John Heydenreich, 8. Alex Shanks, 9. Ryan Durst, 10. Gary Irvin, 11. Dickie Gaines, 12. Randy Bateman, 13. Tad Roach, 14. Jimmy Stinson, 15. Sport Allen, 16. Tony Elliott. NT

      FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Teddy Beach, 2. Josh Wise, 3. Russ Gamester, 4. Jay Drake, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Bud Kaeding, 7. Dave Steele, 8. A.J. Fike, 9. Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 10. Paul White, 11. John Heydenreich, 12. Nick Lundgreen, 13. Shane Hollingsworth, 14. Jon Stanbrough, 15. Ron Gregory, 16. Rich Tobias, Jr., 17. Aaron Pierce, 18. Dave Darland, 19. Jason McCord, 20. Dickie Gaines, 21. Tom Capie, 22. Ryan Durst, 23. Jesse Hockett, 24. Levi Jones, 25. Matt Westfall, 26. Alex Shanks, 27. Brian Tyler (#48), 28. Mat Neely, 29. Jerry Coons, Jr., 30. Tom Hessert III, 31. Johnny Parsons, 32. Kevin Huntley, 33. David Gough. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 White, Laps 3-85 Wise, Laps 86-100 Beach.