Kevin J. O'Donnell

SUN PRAIRIE, WI (September 6, 1998) A late race caution brought out when Dan Boorse nearly spun on the second last lap of the A-feature at Angell Park Speedway, Sunday night, set the stage for one of the most spectacular finishes in Pepsi Nationals History. On the re-start five time Badger Midget Auto Racing Association champion Kevin Olson and current USAC National Midget Series standout Ricky Shelton traded the lead twice, with Olson making an aggressive winning pass on the inside of turn three on the forty-eighth lap of the 50 lap event.

Just before Boorse (Whitefish Bay, WI) nearly spun, Olson (Machesney Park, IL) had built a 7 car length advantage on Shelton (Hunginton Beach, CA) and the rest of the field. The yellow allowed Shelton to close the gap and on the ensuing restart, he moved his Esslinger / Stealth to the outside and around Olson in turns three and four. Maintaining a slight advantage through turns one and two, Shelton was seriously challenged by Olson as the pair raced down the backstretch. Olson dove low going into turn three and hit Shelton broadside as he made the winning pass.

"He (Shelton) got a good run on us there and luckily he got into the corner a little too hard and we were able to get by him," Olson said from victory lane. "It was going to be a heck of a finish because I have to win this one, there's no way around it, I have to win this one."

Shelton didn't necessarily see it the same way. "I got it going pretty good and I got by Olson on that restart, but I screwed up down in one and two and left the door open for him to come around and get the checkered. I think I might have had the line (going into three) … but that's racing."

For 1997 BMARA champ Olson and car owner Denny Lammers, the Pepsi win was their first together in a full year, since claiming the 1997 Pepsi Nationals.

"It would have been disastrous for us not to win it," Olson added. "I'm thrilled to win at Sun Prairie anytime, but I'm really thrilled to win here tonight. Maybe we can come back for another year now."

When Boorse, who was running third at the time, saw Olson and Shelton make contact in turn three he was stunned. "I thought 'Oh my God' … so I bored it into three pretty good thinking that they might slow down quite a bit, but this is the Pepsi Nationals and nobody was giving up easily tonight. I'm excited for Olson, who was my teammate tonight and I'm really happy for Denny Lammers letting us use their equipment. It was just great that I could run my race because the championship was ours three races ago."

Billy Berg (Arlington) won the hard charger award for the event by finishing sixth after gaining the provisional starting spot when Boyd Calvert (Mt. Horeb) was unable to make the call for the feature event.

As the event got under way it was Nick Lundgreen (New Berlin, WI) who paced the first 11 circuits from the pole position. Rick Treadway (Indianapolis, IN) passed Lundgreen on the inside of the fourth turn of the eleventh lap. Treadway lead the field, running in the high groove, ultimately opening a 10 car length lead over Kevin Koch (Monona, WI) by lap 22 when a caution flew for stalled car of Brandon Waelti (Sun Prairie, WI). Treadway resumed the point on the restart which he maintained until lap 31 when Koch moved by him on the inside of turn four. One lap later the red flag was brought out when Chris Maxson flipped his car in turn one. Olson had made his way from his twelfth place starting position into third just two laps before the red flew.

On the restart, Olson quickly made his way by Treadway for second. Ten laps later, Olson stormed by Koch for the lead on backstretch. Olson quickly built a five car length advantage on Koch. Three laps later, just three laps before the final yellow, Koch was passed by Shelton and Boorse.

The top five at the finish of the event were Olson, Shelton, Boorse, Shelton's team-mate Jay Drake, and Koch.