AMAIProgressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships
Round 1 B: Illinois State IFEilrgrounds
day started. "That would be pretty
cool. Besides, I want to make a living,
so I've got to win some races. And
there's no better place to win than
here."
Of course, when the day was
over, nobody else but Carr could say
what it was like to win a Springfield
Mile in 2001. For the second day in
a row, Carr crossed "the stripe first
aboard the same Kenny Tolberttuned Harley-Davidson XR750, earning his 53rd career AMA Grand
National win, his eighth of the season, and becoming the first man to
win three Springfield Mile races in the
same year.
STORY BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
PHOTOS BY DAVE HOENIG/
FLAT TRAK FOTOS
SPRINGIFIELD, Il, SEPT. 2
arley-Davidson of Sacramento's
Chris Carr really didn't have anything left to prove as day three of the
Springfield tripleheader - the running of
the Fed Ex Springfield Mile - dawned.
He had become the first two-time winner of the Dirt Track Hall of Fame
Grand National the day before, and he
had clinched the championship. What
more could one guy want?
"A double today means a triple for
the year here," Carr said before the
H
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SEPTEMBER 12, 2001
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"I was content to just win one a
year," Carr said. "This is a testament
to my team. Kenny Tolbert and
Travis Smith work tirelessly on these
motorcycles. They built me a really
good bike. This is the same one we
used to win yesterday. We made
absolutely zero chassis adjustments
on it all weekend. I'm just tickled to
be able to give [team owner] Mike
Shattuck a weekend like this and a
year like this in his last season. It's
special for him, and I'm glad to be
able to send him into retirement
chugging on an MGD."
After setting the fastest time in his
1O-Iap heat race for the second day
in row, Carr once again got a decent
start from his perch off the outside of
the front row, running fifth on the
opening lap and never far out of the
lead while Saddlemen Racing/Dodge
Brothers' Kevin Atherton led the 18rider draft across the stripe for the
first five laps. Atherton was followed
closely by Gardner Racing/Walters
Brothers' Steve Beattie, Bartels'
Harley-Davidson/Corbin Racing's Jay
Springsteen and Saddlemen Racing/
Lancaster Harley-Davidson's Mike
Hacker. Carr finally did surface at the
front on lap six, and he was never
worse than third for the rest of the
distance to the checkered flag. Com-
