DIRT TRACK
AMA DIRT TRACK GRAND
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Indiana State Fairgrounds
•
By Scott Rousseau
Photos by Aat Trak Photos
and Dan Mahony
30
INDlANAPOUS,IN,)ULY7-11
t some point, every young dirttrack racer dreams of be ing a n
_ _ AMA Grand National Champion
like Scott Park er or Jay Springsteen, or
maybe Chris Carr, but hundreds of laps
around the local short track, IT course
or - s ho uld th ey be lu ck y en oug h to
have one nearb y - hall mile or mile oval
may not do mu ch to help them realize
that drea m. You can race the same pe0ple over and over, and bea t the sam e
people over and over, but does that necessarily mean th at you've got wha t it
takes to make it someday?
In 1998, th e Ind ia'n a State Fairgrou nds in Ind ianapolis was the place to
find out.
It's not like Ind y doesn ' t offer u p to
race fans enoug h rom ance alread y, The
. legend of "The Brickyard", is alluring to
a ll the a rea's open-wheeler ca r racers
who cha llenge each other on a wee kly
basis, hoping to become the best of the
best a nd to on e -da y ge t th eir s ho t a t
Indi anapolis 500 glory. For the ama teur
dirt-track set, Indy is also becoming the
big Olle, a place wh ere the best up- and com ing steel-shoe-wearing motorcycle
slide rs in the country meet and battle on
th e half mil e, IT, short tra ck, and the
fabled Ind y Mile to find out whether or
not th e y've got w hai it takes as a
pr osp ect for the fut ure. It' s ca lled th e
AMA Dirt Track Grand Championships,
a nd - cancella tio n of th e s hort track
aside (see "Briefly") - if the 1998 edition
of th e AMA /Fast Track Promotionshosted event is any indication, dirt-track
racing has a bright future indeed.
HALF MILE
The p ea- gra vel half mil e o n th e
infield of the Indy Mile provided the site
for th e first d ay of racing, with more
than 200 entries from all comers of the
United Sta tes coming toge th er to kick
the week off by participating in one and often several - of the event' s 20
classes.
Unfortunately , the p rogram wa s
delayed due to rain , which began falling
after all of practice and the fITSt few heat
(Above) Not quite ready lor prime time:
Michael Forro (53J) leads Joe Eades
(66s) and eventual winner Brian Shirley
(32P) In the 600cc Pro Sport han mile
f inal. Shirley went on to claim the Grand
Championship in the class as well .
(Below) Jesse Janisch (32) won two of
the week 's three 65cc Mod (7-11) main
events, topping the half mile and TT
events. Justin Hittle (8) beat Janisch on
the mile .
