30th Anual Snowball Derby: Pete Moore 100 Report and Results
8 December 1997
Pensacola, FL - The 8th Annual Pete Moore 100 took place this afternoon at
Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL. For Tony Walls of Albertville, AL the
race it meant his first win at the Snowball Derby, although not in the big
race. Walls led every lap of the scheduled 108 lap event to take the win
after many years of trying.
"This is great," Walls said later. "As long as we have been trying
to accomplish this, and finally we have a win. Now we want to get the big
one tomorrow."
Walls started from the pole and did not have an easy time of it as
he had to weather assaults from Pensacola, FL driver Donnie Brusso and
Tommy "Texas Tornado" Grimes of San Antonio, TX before taking the checkered
flag. On a track notorious for its ability to eat tires, Walls took
advantage of 8 cautions for 44 laps to run the entire race without a pit
stop in his Chandeleur Homes/Walls Accessories Chevrolet. Second place
finisher Brusso also completed the 113 lap distance without a stop and put
continuous pressure on the front runner. Grimes was able to work his way
from fifth place into second by lap 50, but when Gary Easterling and James
Hollingsworth got together and spun on the front straight on lap 54, Grimes
spun to avoid the melee and restarted in sixth place.
Although Grimes would move up to third by the end of the event, he
was unable to mount a serious challenge to the leaders with the tires
flat-spotted from the spin. Another young Texas driver who made a good
impression was TIDA Rookie of the Year Bubba Naumann who ended the race 4th
place after running in the top five all race long.
Brusso was never out of the top three al race, and spent almost the
entire time camped on Walls' bumper, but could never find a way to make the
pass. Walls would get a big jump on the restarts and then Brusso would reel
him in within a few laps. Brusso tried everything to get by, but could not
find enough room to put his Ford into the lead.
The end of the race was stretched by five laps when the final
caution flew for a spinning Robert Burroughs on lap 105 and the field took
a long time to get aligned for the restart. Burroughs would dash through
the pack to garner a sixth place position with Butch Gaffnea of Birmingham,
AL taking fifth.
Five Flags Speedway - Provisional results for the
30th Annual Snowball Derby,
Pete Moore 100:
Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -----
1 81 Tony Walls Chandeleur Homes/Walls Acc Chev 113
2 22 Donnie Brusso AAACustom Cabnt/Dennis Ard RacingFord 113
3 122 Tommy Grimes Howe Chassis/Lightning Light Chev 113
4 40 Bubba Naumann NECO Trucking Chev 113
5 42 Butch Gafnea AL Amusement Co/Pelham Travel Chev 113
6 53 Robert Burroughs Burroughs Motorsports Chev 113
7 32 C.W. Sullivan Shamrock Motorsports Chev 113
8 78 Brad Webb Shell Chev 113
9 14 Curtis Galbreath Williams Racing Chev 113
10 151 Tommy Hill Rebco Paint Works/Phillips M/S Chev 113
11 51 Chris Whorton Oliver Tire Serv/P'Cola Auto BrkrChev 113
12 98 Gerald Wilkerson Unifirst Uniforms Chev 113
13 88 Tim Ramsey Universal Overspray/S&N Products Chev 112
14 25 Steve McBride Guaranty Pest Control Chev 112
15 82 Chris Johnson Comp-U-Help Chev 110
16 39 Gary Sullivan GLS Ent/S&R Video/JBR Trucking Chev 108
17 21 Len Griffin Griffin Motorsports Chev 91
18 3 Jeff Morgan Nelson Family Racing/Air Flow AwnChev 89
19 1 Eddie Massengill Bailey Slaughterhouse/Forbes Ford 88
20 12 Stephen Mitchell Quality Tool Rep/Mike's Lawn SerChev 88
21 33 Nathan Ingersoll Manley Sod Farm/Mobile Dirt Trk Chev 83
22 157 Tim Skiba Tires 'R' Us Pont 66
23 117 Gary Easterling Phil Dennis heating Pont 52
24 91 Bob Johnson Synergen Racing Oil/Dove Mfg. Ford 52
25 27 James Hollingsworth Hollingsworth Auto Parts Chev 51
26 65 Scott Campbell Fritz Whsl Florist/Mopar Perf Dodg 43
27 10 Bobby Ingersoll Manley Sod Farm Chev 37
28 2 Wesley Stephens C&S Racing/Evans Norris Auto Pont 33
29 11 Steve Rowe Abita Brewery/Friar Motorhomes Chev 22
30 17 Randy Brooks Butler Auto/Pensacola Auto Brkrs Chev 21
31 1Y Keith Cahela Y-Mart/Big Ed's/Boaz Tax Service Chev 9
32 50 Garry Brooks Brakins Western Auto/Clyde Harr Ford 2
33 71 Johnny Brazier Frogg Toggs/Moody Monday's Ford 0
34 75 Billy Mills Sunrise Auto/Cruiser's Paint Chev 0
35 57 Duwayne Middlebrooks Sports Palace/Baker Auto Pont 0
Margin of Victory : 1/2 car length
Lap Leaders : Walls 1-113
Cautions : 8 for 44 laps
Track Length : 0.5000 Miles
John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel