Eric Gordon Wins Eighth Pay Less Little 500

Pay Less Little 500 Results

With each passing year Indiana driver Eric Gordon continues to rewrite the record book for the famed Pay Less Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in the world’s richest pavement sprint car race.

It was no different on Saturday when Gordon took control of the 59th running of the Little 500 just before the halfway point and captured his eighth title by more than a lap on second place finisher Aaron Pierce.

With his eighth victory, Gordon locked his position as “Little Mr. 500”. The nearest competitors to him in win totals are Bob Frey with five and Tom Cherry with four.

Where pit strategy cost Gordon a win in 2006, when he failed to take advantage of a late caution to stop. This year there was no miscues.

Following a long green flag run of 123 laps, Gordon and Pierce pitted for the final time. Gordon took two tires while Pierce’s crew decided on only taking fuel.

“Early in the race I wanted to keep pushing the leaders,” Gordon said before taking the traditional drink of milk in victory lane. “I knew if we could stay close and out of trouble, the crew would put me in good position to lead the race.

“Once we put on the new tires, I knew the race was ours,” he said. “The car was perfect. It was our race to win.”

Pierce, who finished second to Gordon in 2004, said it was a mistake not to take tires on the second stop.

“We were close, but not close enough,” he said. “Without the new tires it was tough to pass the lapped cars.”

Brownsburg’s Billy Puterbaugh came home third after starting eighth, and was pleased with the run.

“We were good all night,” he said. “We had some problems during the first stop which cost us a couple of positions. But we started eighth and finished third, the car handled really well.”

Starting sixth Gordon followed Jeff Bloom and Tim Barber to the front of the field at the beginning of the race as the inside line lead by pole sitter Donnie Adams Jr. got off to a slow start.

Bloom led the first 23 laps when Barber, driving like a man possessed grabbed the point on lap 24 and would remain out front for the next 159 circuits.

Gordon, who looked for the right opportunity to take the point, chased Barber. Many times the two ran side by side through lapped traffic, with Gordon showing lots of patience and repeatedly fell behind Barber.

When the leaders pitted for their first stop, rookie driver Dakoda Armstrong took the lead on lap 190. But 13 laps later on Gordon got inside of Armstrong exiting the fourth corner and took control of the event.

One by one the contenders to deny Gordon an eighth victory fell by the wayside.

Defending champion Brian Tyler came home in sixth place, but was never a factor for the win.

Former Little 500 pole sitter Doug Hevron brought out the first of 12 cautions on lap 26 when he made heavy contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn one. Pole sitter Adams tangled with two other cars on lap 137 and came to rest on the outside wall in Turn two.

Barber, who had a mount fast enough to challenge Gordon, made a mental mistake and was penalized a lap for pitting too early. A penalty that he was unable to overcome, finishing fifth several laps down to the winner.

After Barber’s mistake, it was Michigan driver Jason Blonde that mounted a charge. But it ended on lap 241 with an oil leak.

Gordon led 294 of the final 297 laps to claim the victory.

For additional information contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.