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| Jerry Coons, Jr. (#25) battles for position in last year's Jason Leffler Memorial.
(Josh James Photo) |
JASON LEFFLER MEMORIAL RACE PREVIEW
Wayne City, Illinois (October 14, 2019).........Four past winners are in this year's lineup for the sixth running of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Jason Leffler Memorial this Thursday night, October 17, at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Illinois.
Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.) enters as the reigning race winner at 1/8-mile dirt bullring in southern Illinois. He led the final 37 laps of the 40-lap main event to score his first and, still only, career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature win. Thomas earned an non-traditional sweep of sorts last year, winning his heat, his qualifying race and the feature in the same night.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) jumps back into the seat of a second FMR Racing car, which he has done on four occasions thus far this season. Bacon earned FMR's first career USAC win during the 2016 Leffler Memorial at Wayne City, leading the final 33 laps. The two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ also finished 6th in 2015 and won his heat in 2018 where he garnered a 16th place result.
Daryn Pittman (Owasso, Okla.) owns 85 wins on the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Car Circuit in addition to his 2013 series championship. He's been stellar behind the wheel of a midget in a brief number of appearances throughout his career, which includes a win in the 2014 Leffler Memorial. He won his qualifier and finished 4th in 2015.
Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) captured victory in the first Leffler Memorial in 2013. He followed up his winning performance with a 5th in 2014 and a 3rd place result in 2015. He took 23rd in last year's race after being involved in an incident on the 16th lap of the feature.
Chad Boat (Phoenix, Ariz.), a winner in August at Path Valley during Pennsylvania Midget Week, finished in the runner-up spot to T. Thomas a year ago. The nine-time USAC National Midget feature winner was a victor of his qualifier in 2016 and his heat race in 2018 at Wayne City.
Series point leader Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) took 3rd behind T. Thomas and Boat in last season's Leffler Memorial feature. Courtney is fresh off his season-leading 7th victory of the season last month at Eldora. He was 26th in his debut run in the event in 2015 and last year, won both his heat and qualifying race leading into the main.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif) notched a 4th place Leffler Memorial result in 2014 and repeated his 4th place performance again in 2018. This year's Gas City Indiana Midget Week winner captured the semi-feature win in 2018 and finished 13th in the inaugural Leffler Memorial in 2013.
BC39 winner Zeb Wise (Angola, Ind.) made his first start in the Leffler Memorial in 2018, finishing 8th ahead of fellow first-timers, Sutter, California's defending USAC National Midget champ Logan Seavey (9th), Lincoln, California's Tanner Carrick (17th) and St. Peters, Missouri's Sam Johnson (13th). Johnson scored a victory in a USAC Midget Midwest Special Event at Wayne City in August, dominating all 20 laps for his first win aboard a Midget.
April's Kokomo Grand Prix winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) has finished 10th in both of his Leffler Memorial starts in 2015 and 2018. Petry Motorsports teammate and two-time USAC National Midget titlist Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) was 10th in 2016 and 15th in 2018. Jake Neuman (New Berlin, Ill.), a 2nd place finisher in this past June's USAC Midget Midwest Special event at Wayne City, won his heat in both 2015 and 2018, and finished 19th in the 2018 feature event.
Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) led the opening three laps of the 2018 Leffler Memorial. He experienced contact and spun to a stop while battling for 2nd midway through the 40-lapper. Like McDougal, Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) paced the opening laps of the 2016 Leffler Memorial where he led the opening 7 laps, ultimately taking home a 4th place result. Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.) plans to make his fourth Leffler Memorial start this Thursday after leading the opening 4 laps of the 2019 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season down in Ocala, Fla. in February.
Among those primed for their first Leffler Memorial starts include leading series Rookie Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.), Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.), Karsyn Elledge (Mooresville, N.C.), C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.), Holley Hollan (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.).
On Thursday, pits open at 4pm Central, grandstands at 5pm and hot laps at 6:30pm. Adult general admission tickets are $20, age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece. Along with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship are Non-Wing 600 Outlaws, Non-Wing Restrictors & Non-Wing Jr. Sprints.
You can watch LIVE flag-to-flag coverage of the Jason Leffler Memorial on FloRacing. Live audio of the event can be heard on the USAC app. Follow along with live updates on www.facebook.com/usacracing & www.twitter.com/USACNation and live timing and scoring on the Race-Monitor and USAC apps.
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JASON LEFFLER MEMORIAL WINNERS: 2013: Zach Daum (8/28) 2014: Daryn Pittman (8/26) 2015: Bryan Clauson (10/23) 2016: Brady Bacon (10/20) 2018: Tyler Thomas (10/21)
JASON LEFFLER MEMORIAL WINS: 1. (1) Brady Bacon, Bryan Clauson, Zach Daum, Daryn Pittman & Tyler Thomas
PAST JASON LEFFLER MEMORIAL RESULTS:
2013: 1. Zach Daum, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Shane Cockrum, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Chett Gehrke, 7. Dereck King, 8, Andrew Felker, 9. Hud Cone, 10. Daniel Robinson, 11. Bobby East, 12. Parker Price-Miller, 13. Tyler Robbins, 14. Justin Grant, 15. Jake Blackhurst, 16. Austin Brown, 17. Chris Bell, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Tim Siner, 20. Colten Cottle, 21.Tyler Robbins, 22. Seth Motsinger.
2014: 1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Christopher Bell. 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Darren Hagen, 9. Rico Abreu, 10. Tanner Thorson, 11. Chris Windom, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Daniel Robinson, 15. Garrett Aitken, 16. Nick Knepper, 17. Shane Cockrum, 18. Colten Cottle, 19. Chett Gehrke, 20. Austin Brown, 21. Brady Bacon, 22. Parker Price-Miller, 23. Seth Motsinger.
2015: 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Payton Pierce, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Danny Stratton, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. Andrew Felker, 12. Tracy Hines, 13. Kyle Schuett, 14. Anton Hernandez, 15. Ryan Robinson, 16. Tanner Thorson, 17. Isaac Chapple, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Dereck King, 20. Tyler Thomas, 21. Darren Hagen, 22. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 23. Austin Brown, 24. Spencer Bayston, 25. Justin Peck, 26. Tyler Courtney.
2016: 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Andrew Felker, 6. Alex Bright, 7. Chett Gehrke, 8. Spencer Bayston, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Shane Cottle, 12. Justin Peck, 13. Grady Chandler, 14. Jonathan Beason, 15. Chad Boat, 16. Riley Kreisel, 17. Ryan Robinson, 18. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 19. Andy Malpocker, 20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 21. Jake Neuman, 22. Brayton Lynch, 23. Damion Gardner, 24. Colten Cottle, 25. Holly Shelton, 26. Jason McDougal, 27. Rico Abreu, 28. Gage Walker. NT
2018: 1. Tyler Thomas (2), 2. Chad Boat (4), 3. Tyler Courtney (3), 4. Justin Grant (16), 5. Jonathan Beason (18), 6. Christopher Bell (7), 7. Spencer Bayston (8), 8. Zeb Wise (12), 9. Logan Seavey (9), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (17), 11. Ryan Robinson (21), 12. Cole Bodine (11), 13. Sam Johnson (23), 14. Alex Bright (14), 15. Jerry Coons, Jr. (10), 16. Brady Bacon (6), 17. Tanner Carrick (15), 18. Dave Darland (13), 19. Jake Neuman (5), 20. Holly Shelton (20), 21. Tucker Klaasmeyer (22), 22. Jason McDougal (1), 23. Zach Daum (19). |
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| #83 Austin Liggett
(Lance Jennings Photo) |
AUSTIN LIGGETT TOPS PETALUMA'S ADOBE CUP II
By: Lance Jennings
Petaluma, California (October 12, 2019).........Regaining the lead from T.J. Smith on lap 24, Austin Liggett (Tracy, CA) raced to victory at Petaluma Speedway's "Adobe Cup II."
Piloting a brand new family owned #83 Excel Environmental / Liggett Trucking CS9, the 2018 champion earned his fourth USAC West Coast Sprint Car victory of the campaign. Billy Aton, rookie of the year J.J. Ringo, Caden Sarale, and newly crowned champion Tristan Guardino rounded out the top-five drivers.
Koen Shaw earned the night's Saldana Racing Products Hard Charger Award / Best Passing Job honors with a sixth place run from nineteenth. Bradley Terrell scored the Wilwood Disc Brakes "Lucky 13 Award" with a thirteenth place finish.
Making his first start in Jim Richardson's #8 Wiesz Race Engines DRC, Terrell also posted his first career Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Award with a time of 14.728 over the 22-car roster.
The night's ten-lap heat race victories went to Cody Fendley (Extreme Mufflers First Heat), Aton (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat), and Ryan Timmons (Competition Suspension Inc. / Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat).
Starting Wednesday, November 27th, the USAC West Coast and VRA Sprint Cars will clash for two nights at Ventura Raceway's non-point "79th Running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix."
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USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: October 12, 2019 - Petaluma Speedway - Petaluma, California - "Adobe Cup II"
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Bradley Terrell, 8, Richardson-14.728; 2. Billy Aton, 26, Aton-14.783; 3. T.J. Smith, 8M, May-14.811; 4. Tristan Guardino, 15T, Guardino-14.844; 5. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-14.878; 6. J.J. Ringo, 2, Keller-14.892; 7. Cody Fendley, 73C, Russell-14.909; 8. Norm Johns, 32N, Johns-14.957; 9. Ryan Timmons, 29T, Timmons-14.997; 10. Slater Helt, 81M, Watt-15.024; 11. Ricky Brophy, 3, Brophy-15.052; 12. Shawn Arriaga, 56, Arriaga-15.075; 13. Hannah Mayhew, 43, Mayhew-15.108; 14. Ricky Lewis, 81, Watt-15.139; 15. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-15.369; 16. Nate Schank, 1S, Schank-15.391; 17. Austin Ervine, 51, AJ-15.405; 18. Bruno Bianchi, 17, Phillips-15.497; 19. Koen Shaw, 88, Shaw-15.603; 20. Danny Wagner, 32X, Johnson-15.698; 21. Roberto Kirby, 28, Kirby-15.909; 22. Glenn Bryan, 34B, Bryan-17.636.
EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Fendley, 2. Mayhew, 3. Terrell, 4. Guardino, 5. Helt, 6. Schank, 7. Shaw. NT
BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Aton, 2. Lewis, 3. Liggett, 4. Brophy, 5. Ervine, 6. Kirby, 7. Johns. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION INC. / ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Timmons, 2. Ringo, 3. Smith, 4. Sarale, 5. Arriaga, 6. Bianchi, 7. Bryan. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, with starting positions) 1. Austin Liggett (2), 2. Billy Aton (5), 3. J.J. Ringo (1), 4. Caden Sarale (15), 5. Tristan Guardino (3), 6. Koen Shaw (19), 7. Austin Ervine (17), 8. Ricky Brophy (11), 9. Norm Johns (8), 10. Hannah Mayhew (13), 11. Nate Schank (16), 12. Cody Fendley (7), 13. Bradley Terrell (6), 14. Ryan Timmons (9), 15. T.J. Smith (4), 16. Ricky Lewis (14), 17. Bruno Bianchi (18), 18. Shawn Arriaga (12), 19. Roberto Kirby (20), 20. Glenn Bryan (21), 21. Slater Helt (10). NT
**Lewis and Smith flipped on lap 25. FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-22 Liggett, Lap 23 Smith, Laps 24-30 Liggett.
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Koen Shaw (19th to 6th)
WILWOOD DISC BRAKES LUCKY 13 AWARD: Bradley Terrell FINAL USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Guardino-860, 2-Timmons-710, 3-Shaw-622, 4-Smith-550, 6-Mayhew-497, 7-Liggett-468, 8-Ervine-458, 9-Helt-428, 10-Jake Swanson-400. NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENTS: November 27 & 28 - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, California - "79th Running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix" |
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| Creek County winner Craig Carroll.
(Richard Bales) |
CARROLL CORRALS WSO FINALE; WILSON REPEATS AS CHAMP
Sapulpa, Oklahoma (October 12, 2019).........Craig Carroll won the finale while Brett Wilson wrapped up his second consecutive USAC Wingless Sprints Oklahoma driver championship Saturday night at Creek County Speedway.
Carroll (Collinsville, Okla.) drove to the front of the pack at the midway point of the 30-lap feature after Jeffrey Newell (Thunder Bay, Ontario) paced the opening 15 laps. Carroll carried on to his first WSO victory of the season over Wilson (Coweta, Okla.), Newell, Ty Hulsey (Owasso, Okla.) and Danny Smith (Sand Springs, Okla.).
With his 2nd place result, Wilson collected the series title by a 118-point margin over Johnny Kent (Kiefer, Okla.).
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USAC WINGLESS SPRINTS OKLAHOMA RACE RESULTS: October 12, 2019 - Creek County Speedway - Sapulpa, Oklahoma - Fall Fling
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting position in brackets): 1. 7F-Brian McClelland, [1]; 2. 23A-Travis Ashwood, [3]; 3. 53-Brett Wilson, [4]; 4. 3C-Roy Larkin, [2]; 5. 24H-Ty Hulsey, [6]; 6. 77-J.C. Wilson, [7]; 7. 22Z-Zach Campbell, [5]
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting position in brackets): 1. 23X-Ross Moore, [2]; 2. 54-Jeffery Newell, [6]; 3. 5$-Danny Smith, [4]; 4. 24-Ben Frey, [3]; 5. 911-Waylon Weaver, [7]; 6. 25-Kyle Admire, [1]; 7. 13$-Len Larkin, [5]
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting position in brackets): 1. 7D-David Baxter, [1]; 2. 24C-Craig Carroll, [5]; 3. 6-Alison Slaton, [4]; 4. 55-Johnny Kent, [2]; 5. 97-Kevin Cummings, [3]; (DNS) 96-Taylor Peterson,
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in brackets): 1. Craig Carroll, [2]; 2. Brett Wilson, [7]; 3. Jeffery Newell, [1]; 4. Ty Hulsey, [12]; 5. Danny Smith, [8]; 6. Brian McClelland, [4]; 7. Alison Slaton, [9]; 8. Ben Frey, [11]; 9. Johnny Kent, [14]; 10. David Baxter, [5]; 11. Waylon Weaver, [10]; 12. Kevin Cummings, [16]; 13. Kyle Admire, [17]; 14. Len Larkin, [19]; 15. Ross Moore, [3]; 16. Roy Larkin, [13]; 17. J.C. Wilson, [15]; 18. Zach Campbell, [18]; 19. Travis Ashwood, [6]; 20. Taylor Peterson [20]
**Roy Larkin flipped on lap 9 of the feature. Ross Moore flipped on lap 23 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Jeffery Newell, Laps 16-30 Craig Carroll.
FINAL USAC WINGLESS SPRINTS OKLAHOMA POINTS: 1-Brett Wilson-1,623, 2-Johnny Kent-1,505, 3-Cameron Hagin-1,354, 4-Waylon Weaver-1,354, 5-Danny Smith-1,335, 6-Ben Frey-1,302, 7-J.C. Wilson-1,219, 8-David Baxter-818, 9-Ryan Dean-736, 10-Tim Kent-713. |
WABASH CLASH USAC SPRINTS RAINED OUT; SATURDAY'S WOO RACE STILL ON
Terre Haute, Indiana (October 11, 2019).........For the second year in-a-row, Mother Nature has nixed the Friday night portion of the Wabash Clash at the Terre Haute Action Track. USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and the DIRTcar Modifieds were scheduled to be on track. The Saturday portion, featuring the World of Outlaw NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and DIRTcar Modifieds, is still on as scheduled. Rainfall moved into the Terre Haute area during the early morning hours on Friday and is expected to continue into the early evening. Dry and cooler conditions are expected to set in overnight into Saturday. With sunshine and highs expected to be around 60 on Saturday, the World of Outlaw portion of the event is still on as scheduled. On Saturday, the pits will open at 2:00, grandstands at 3:00, hotlaps at 6:30, and racing will take the green at 7:30. Tickets are available online at www.worldofoutlaws.com , by calling 844-DIRT-TIX, or at the gate on raceday. USAC National action continues next week with a pair of USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship events beginning with the Jason Leffler Memorial on Thursday, October 17, at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Ill. and again on Saturday, October 19, with The Harvest Cup at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. Meanwhile, the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship now makes its way out west for the final five events of the year, the Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by All Coast Construction at California's Perris Auto Speedway on Nov. 7-8-9 and the Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway on Nov. 15-16. |
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| #3 Kaleb Montgomery
(Lance Jennings Photo) |
KALEB MONTGOMERY MASTERS SANTA MARIA
Santa Maria, California (October 5, 2019).........Taking the lead on the twelfth lap, Kaleb Montgomery (Templeton, CA) fought off point leader Tristan Guardino, Ryan Timmons, Brody Roa, and T.J. Smith to score his first career victory at Santa Maria Raceway.
Piloting the family owned #3 Mission Country Properties / David Crye Maxim, Montgomery became the 52nd winning driver in USAC West Coast Sprint Car Series history. Smith, J.J. Ringo, Timmons, and Trent Carter followed Kaleb to the checkered flags.
Carter earned the night's Saldana Racing Products Hard Charger Award / Best Passing Job honors with a fifth place run from twelfth. Missouri's Slater Helt claimed the Wilwood Disc Brakes "Lucky 13 Award" with a thirteenth place finish.
Earlier in the program, Guardino posted his fourth career Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Award with a time of 13.894 over the 15-car roster. After mechanical issues resulted in a tenth place finish in the feature, Tristan clinched the series championship.
The night's ten-lap heat race victories went to Timmons (Extreme Mufflers First Heat) and Helt (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat).
By virtue of his third place finish in the main event, Ringo has taken over the rookie point lead from Hannah Mayhew by 20 points.
Next Saturday, October 12th, the USAC West Coast Sprint Cars will travel to Petaluma Speedway for their final point race of the year at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds.
The USAC West Coast Sprint Car Series thanks AMSOIL, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Butlerbuilt Professional Seat Systems, Chris Kearns Presents, Competition Suspension Incorporated, Extreme Mufflers, Five Star Grafix, Hoosier Racing Tire, Loudpedal Productions, Pyrotect Racing Cells, Saldana Racing Products, Sway-A-Way Racing Technology, Ultra Shield Race Products, Wilwood Disc Brakes, and Woodland Auto Display for their support.
For more information on the series, visit www.usacracing.com and the social media for USAC Racing. You can also find exclusive content on www.westcoastsprintcars.com and the USAC West Coast Sprint Car Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
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USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Santa Maria Raceway - Santa Maria, California
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Tristan Guardino, 15T, Guardino-13.894; 2. J.J. Ringo, 2, Keller-13.923; 3. Kaleb Montgomery, 3, Montgomery-13.941; 4. Hannah Mayhew, 43, Mayhew-14.022; 5. Brody Roa, 8, Richardson-14.080; 6. T.J. Smith, 8M, May-14.128; 7. Brent Owens, 71, Martin-14.246; 8. Brandon Wiley, Team 33-14.254; 9. Ryan Timmons, 29T, Timmons-14.353; 10. Slater Helt, 81M, Watt-14.371; 11. Koen Shaw, 88, Shaw-14.472; 12, Trent Carter, 13, Carter-14.636; 13. Nick Diani, 17S, Diani-15.004; 14. James Herrera, 5J, Herrera-15.166; 15, Austin Ervine, 51, AJ-NT.
EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Timmons, 2. Roa, 3. Guardino, 4. Montgomery, 5. Shaw, 6. Owens, 7. Diani. NT
BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Helt, 2. Carter, 3. Wiley, 4. Ringo, 5. Smith, 6. Mayhew, 7. Herrera. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, with starting positions) 1. Kaleb Montgomery (4), 2. T.J. Smith (8), 3. J.J. Ringo (5), 4. Ryan Timmons (1), 5. Trent Carter (12), 6. Brent Owens (9), 7. Koen Shaw (11), 8. James Herrera (14), 9. Brody Roa (3), 10. Tristan Guardino (6), 11. Austin Ervine (15), 12. Nick Diani (13), 13. Slater Helt (10), 14. Brandon Wiley (2), 15. Hannah Mayhew (7). NT ---------------------------- FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Timmons, Laps 12-30 Montgomery.
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Trent Carter (12th to 5th)
WILWOOD DISC BRAKES LUCKY 13 AWARD: Slater Helt
NEW USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Guardino-794, 2-Timmons-667, 3-Shaw-565, 4-Smith-507, 5-Ringo-467, 6-Mayhew-447, 7-Ervine-402, 8-Helt-401, 9-Jake Swanson-400, 10-Austin Liggett-390.
NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: October 12 - Petaluma Speedway - Petaluma, California - "Adobe Cup II" |
| Winner Russ Gamester
(Bill Miller Photo) |
GAMESTER GETS IT DONE AT GAS CITY
Gas City, Indiana (October 5, 2019).........Russ Gamester controlled Saturday night's Fall Festival of Speed from start to finish, leading all 25 laps to win the final USAC Midget Midwest Special Event of the season at Indiana's Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Gamester, the 1989 USAC National Midget champion from Peru, Ind., started from the pole position and ran away to a full-straightaway lead at the checkered over Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Kendall Ruble (Vincennes, Ind.), Alex Watson (Columbus, Ohio) and Cody Beard (Huntingburg, Ind.).
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USAC MIDGET MIDWEST SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - Fall Festival of Speed
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chett Gehrke (#10 Moore), 2. Cole Ketcham (#3E Martini/Ketcham), 3. Cody Beard (#7B Beard), 4. Jeff Beasley (#83B Beasley), 5. Zane Briggs (#10B Briggs), 6. Mark Nieft, Jr. (#20N Nieft), 7. Tommy Bigelow (#2B Bigelow), 8. Don Bigelow (#4B Bigelow), 9. Jon Steed (#7 Steed). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Alex Watson (#3 Watson), 2. Kendall Ruble (#11m Martin), 3. Kyle Dager (#2 Briggs), 4. Jon Watson (#25 Watson), 5. Chris Bounds (#65 Bounds), 6. Brent Watson (#17K Watson), 7. Nate Foster (#57F Foster), 8. Kevin Blue (#5T Blue), 9. Kyle Kriegbaum (#12 Kriegbaum), 10. Tim Key (#6 Key). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Russ Gamester (#46 Gamester), 2. Justin Dickerson (#21D Dickerson), 3. Cory Guingrich (#42 Guingrich), 4. Stratton Briggs (#71 Briggs), 5. Chris Baue (#9 Baue), 6. Jeff Wimmenauer (#15J Wimmenauer), 7. Jacob Denney (#11T Taylor), 8. Ryan Thomas (#17 Thomas), 9. Oliver Akard (#41 Akard), 10. Ian Creager (#36 Creager). NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 2. Tyler Nelson (#88 Nelson), 3. Aaron Leffel (#11L Taylor), 4. Drew Rader (#74 Rader), 5. Gunnar Lucius (#22 Lucius), 6. Ryan Irwin (#38 Irwin), 7. Bryce Dues (#23D Dues), 8. Zach Guingrich (#62 Guingrich), 9. Denny Smith (#66 Smith). NT
FIRST SEMI: (10 laps, top-2 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Baue, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Zane Briggs, 4. Jeff Wimmenauer, 5. Oliver Akard, 6. Mark Nieft, Jr., 7. Ryan Thomas, 8. Tommy Bigelow, 9. Don Bigelow, 10. Ian Creager. NT
SECOND SEMI: (10 laps, top-2 transfer to the feature) 1. Nate Foster, 2. Gunnar Lucius, 3. Kevin Blue, 4. Brent Watson, 5. Chris Bounds, 6. Kyle Kriegbaum, 7. Zach Guingrich, 8. Bryce Dues, 9. Ryan Irwin, 10. Denny Smith, 11. Tim Key. NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Nick Spiedel (#21 Spiedel)
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Russ Gamester, 2. Chett Gehrke, 3. Kendall Ruble, 4. Alex Watson, 5. Cody Beard, 6. Aaron Leffel, 7. Tyler Nelson, 8. Chis Baue, 9. Drew Rader, 10. Cole Ketcham, 11. Justin Dickerson, 12. Stratton Briggs, 13. Nate Foster, 14. Cory Guingrich, 15. Jon Watson, 16. Gunner Lucius, 17. Jacob Denney, 18. Jeff Beasley, 19. Emerson Axsom, 20. Kyle Dager.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Russ Gamester. |
| Winner Brett Wilson
(Jeff Taylor Photo) |
WILSON JETS TO RED DIRT VICTORY
Meeker, Oklahoma (October 5, 2019).........Brett Wilson became the first driver to reach three victories on the 2019 USAC Wingless Sprints Oklahoma season after capturing the victory in Saturday night's 50-lap feature event at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Okla.
Series point leader and defending champ Wilson (Coweta, Okla.) started from the outside of the front row and followed early leader and pole sitter Jeffrey Newell for the first two circuits. Wilson went to the point on the third lap and held control for the remaining 48 laps to take the win over Danny Smith (Sand Springs, Okla.), Tanner Conn (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Waylon Weaver (Claremore, Okla.) and Alison Slaton (Edmond, Okla.).
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USAC WINGLESS SPRINTS OKLAHOMA RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps , starting position in brackets ) 1. 5$-Danny Smith, [2]; 2. 24X-T.J. Herrell, [4]; 3. 78-Tanner Conn, [7]; 4. 77-J.C. Wilson, [3]; 5. 13$-Len Larkin, [8]; 6. 62-James Shoun, [6]; 7. 7D-David Baxter, [1]; 8. 25-Kyle Admire, [5]
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps , starting position in brackets ) 1. 55-Johnny Kent, [4]; 2. 54-Jeffrey Newell, [5]; 3. 24-Ben Frey, [7]; 4. 1-Warren Fields, [6]; 5. P78-Perry Pickard, [1]; 6. 98-Dane Fields, [2]; 7. 5-Cameron Hagin, [3]
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps , starting position in brackets ) 1. 16S-Steven Shebester, [4]; 2. 53-Brett Wilson, [6]; 3. 6-Alison Slaton, [1]; 4. 51-Ryan Dean, [2]; 5. 911-Waylon Weaver, [3]; 6. 5J-Jeremy Jonas, [7]; 7. 97-Kevin Cummings, [5]
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting position in brackets) 1. Brett Wilson, [2]; 2. Danny Smith, [7]; 3. Tanner Conn, [5]; 4. Waylon Weaver, [14]; 5. Alison Slaton, [10]; 6. Dane Fields, [18]; 7. T.J. Herrell, [8]; 8. Warren Fields, [9]; 9. David Baxter, [21]; 10. Kyle Admire, [22]; 11. Len Larkin, [13]; 12. Steven Shebester, [4]; 13. Jeremy Jonas, [17]; 14. Johnny Kent, [3]; 15. Cameron Hagin, [20]; 16. Perry Pickard, [15]; 17. James Shoun, [16]; 18. Jeffrey Newell, [1]; 19. Ben Frey, [6]; 20. Ryan Dean, [12]; 21. J.C. Wilson, [11]; 22. Kevin Cummings, [19]
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Jeffrey Newell, Laps 3-50 Brett Wilson.
NEW USAC WINGLESS SPRINTS OKLAHOMA POINTS: 1-Brett Wilson-1,481, 2-Johnny Kent-1,392, 3-Cameron Hagin-1,354, 4-Waylon Weaver-1,246, 5-Danny Smith-1,210, 6-Ben Frey-1,186, 7-J.C. Wilson-1,123, 8-Ryan Dean-736, 9-Tim Kent-713, 10-Noah Harris-713.
NEXT USAC WINGLESS SPRINTS OKLAHOMA RACES: October 11-12, 2019 - Creek County Speedway - Sapulpa, Oklahoma |
| Winner Alex Watson
(Bill Miller Photo) |
WATSON WINS GAS CITY FINALE; LEFFEL LOCKS UP 3RD MTM TITLE
Gas City, Indiana (October 5, 2019).........Alex Watson wired all 25 laps to snag Saturday's USAC Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget season finale at Indiana's Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Watson (Columbus, Ohio) was dominant from start-to-finish in earning his second series victory of the year ahead of second-place finisher Cody Beard (Huntingburg, Ind.).
Meanwhile, by virtue of a 3rd place finish, Aaron Leffel (Springfield, Ohio) locked up his third consecutive series championship by 22 points over fourth-place finisher Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio) while Nate Foster (Greenwood, Ind.) rounded out the top-five.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Alex Watson (#3 Watson), 2. Cody Beard (#7B Beard), 3. Aaron Leffel (#11L Taylor), 4. Stratton Briggs (#71 Briggs), 5. Nate Foster (#57F Foster), 6. Cory Guingrich (#42 Guingrich), 7. Jon Watson (#25 Watson), 8. Gunnar Lucius (#22 Lucius), 9. Jacob Denney (#11T Taylor), 10. Kyle Dager (#2 Briggs), 11. Chris Bounds (#65 Bounds), 12. Zane Briggs (#10 Briggs), 13. Kyle Kriegbaum (#12 Kriegbaum), 14. Mark Nieft, Jr. (#20N Nieft), 15. Zach Guingrich (#62 Guingrich), 16. Ryan Thomas (#17 Thomas), 17. Bryce Dues (#23D Dues), 18. Tommy Bigelow (#2B Bigelow), 19. Denny Smith (#66 Smith), 20. Don Bigelow (#4B Bigelow), 21. Tim Key (#6 Key), 22. Ian Creager (#36 Creager), 23. Jon Steed (#7 Steed). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Alex Watson.
FINAL USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Aaron Leffel-777, 2-Stratton Briggs-755, 3-Cory Guingrich-618, 4-Alex Watson-564, 5-Zane Briggs-528, 6-Gunnar Lucius-508, 7-Kyle Kriegbaum-477, 8-Ian Creager-460, 9-Tommy Bigelow-351, 10-Nate Foster-343. |
| | Carteret County Winner Nolan Allison |
NOLAN ALLISON ROLLS AT CARTERET COUNTY
Swansboro, North Carolina (October 5, 2019).........Nolan Allison (Greensboro, N.C.) raced to his third USAC Eastern Speed2 Midget feature victory of the year Saturday night at Carteret County Speedway in Swansboro, N.C.
Allison tracked down the series' all-time winningest driver Chris Lamb (Colfax, N.C.) on the 7th lap before bolting away to lead the final 29 laps en route to a half-second victory over Lamb, Neal Allison (Greensboro, N.C.), Levi Riffle (Winston Salem, N.C.) and Sam Mazzo (Burns, Tenn.).
Meanwhile, two-time series champ Jessica Bean (Farmland, Ind.) extended her lead in the standings to 89 points with just three races remaining.
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USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Carteret County Speedway - Swansboro, North Carolina
QUALIFYING: 1. Neal Allison, 15, Allison-16.361; 2. Nolan Allison, 16, Allison-16.481; 3. Sam Mazzo, 31, Mazzo-16.723; 4. Levi Riffle, 75, Riffle-16.727; 5. Chris Lamb, 9, Lamb-16.744; 6. Jessica Bean, 5, Radical-16.843; 7. Eric Lewis, 4, Radical-17.004; 8. Brady Allum, 87, Allum-17.210, 9. Mason Hoskins, 12, Hoskins-17.634.
FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Nolan Allison, 2. Chris Lamb, 3. Neal Allison, 4. Levi Riffle, 5. Sam Mazzo, 6. Brady Allum. 7. Mason Hoskins, 8. Jessica Bean, 9. Eric Lewis, NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Chris Lamb, Laps 7-35 Nolan Allison.
NEW USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Jessica Bean-788, 2-Connor Gross-699, 3-Nolan Allison-665, 4-Neal Allison-622, 5-Alex Murray-503, 6-Preston Lattomus-406, 7-Levi Riffle-398, 8-Sam Hatfield-389, 9-Eric Lewis-323, 10-Daytona Spicola-312.
NEXT USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET RACES: October 18-19, 2019 - Ace Speedway - Altamahaw, North Carolina |
|
| | Saturday's Gas City Winner Ryan Moran |
TRAMMELL AND MORAN CLEAN UP OVER MMSA WEEKEND
Speedway, Indiana (October 5, 2019).........Saturday night's round at Indiana's Gas City I-69 Speedway brought forth 26 MMSA/AMSA Lightning Sprint cars with yet another first time Midwest Mini Sprint Association (MMSA) winner emerging in 2019. This time, it was Ottawa Ohio's young gun, Ryan Moran to join the list of feature winners.
Moran rolled off 5th in his heat and raced his way to a 2nd place result. His 2nd place finish earned him a 3rd place starting position in the main event. Max Brannam and Brandon Deputy led the full field of cars to the green. Brannam got the jump and led the first few laps before the red flag flew for the rollover of Max Cogley. He refired and came back with a 13th place finish.
The race restarted with Brannam out in front with Jac Nickels ready to pounce. When the opportunity came, Jac went to the point. As luck would have it, Nickels had to retire his entry with steering mechanical issues while leading the main event.
With Nickels out of the event, this opened up the gates for Ryan Moran and Cody Trammell to settle the main event between themselves. Moran set the pace, but Trammell did not let him out of his sights. Lap after lap, Trammell hounded Moran, but Moran consistently ran perfect laps en route to his first MMSA victory ahead of Trammell, AMSA regular Chris Miller, Anthony Haas, Keith Langley, Chris Bounds, Brandon Deputy, Howard McCormick and Brandon Coffey with Adam Schmenck rounding out the top-10.
Prelims were won by Brandon Deputy, Austin Powell and Jac Nickels.
The next and final MMSA event of 2019 will take place on Saturday, October 19 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.
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MIDWEST MINI SPRINT ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: October 4, 2019 - Thunder Valley Raceway - Salem, Indiana
HEAT RACE WINNERS: Jac Nickles & Colin Miller
FEATURE: 1. Cody Trammell, 2. Jac Nickles, 3. Alex Cogley, 4. Ethan Rutherford, 5. Anthony Haas, 6. Austin Powell, 7. Brandon Deputy, 8. Keith Langley, 9. Colin Miller, 10. Brandon Coffey, 11. Cindy Chambers, 12. Matt Cogley, 13. Travis Stickels, 14. Cody Beard, 15. Mike Farr, (DNS) Justin Davis. |
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| Eventual winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#19) battles with Justin Grant for the lead during Saturday night's Fall Nationals at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo) |
KTJ'S LOVIN' IT IN 2ND FALL NATIONALS WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 5, 2019).........Kevin Thomas, Jr. was bound and determined not to make any mistakes entering Saturday's Fall Nationals at Indiana's Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Exactly one week earlier at Eldora Speedway, the Cullman, Ala. native had a pair of chances, first in the sprint car feature where he led the first 18 laps of the 30-lap race before slapping the turn four wall and losing the lead. Later that same night, he was a dominant figure in the Silver Crown main, leading the first 40 circuits of the 50-lapper before wall contact again knocked him out of the lead.
Saturday at Lawrenceburg, flawless was the word that comes to mind in describing Thomas' run down the stretch to win his second Fall Nationals in the last three years, a $10,000 grand prize and his 27th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature, moving him past Tony Elliott and Dave Steele and into a tie for 16th on the all-time list alongside Brady Bacon.
"I know our stuff's running really well and I like Lawrenceburg already," Thomas said. "For us to come down here and have speed right off the bat, it's just something we've been really working hard for this whole year. We've had our ups and downs, got a win and struggled a little bit. We've had pretty much every variation of luck and runs and what not. It's just nice for the hard work these guys have put in at the shop to show on the track."
Thomas began the race from the 5th position in his Hayward Thomas Motorsports/McDonald's - Dr. Pepper/DRC/Speedway Chevy while, up front, the two front row combatants - Justin Grant and Brady Bacon nearly met calamity as they took the green flag. Grant got sideways at the start/finish line, dropping back to 4th before working his way back to 3rd by the end of the initial lap while point leader C.J. Leary raced around the outside of Bacon to lead the opening two laps.
Bacon returned with authority on the third lap, driving back by Leary to retake the lead as Grant regathered himself to challenge Leary for the runner-up spot with Thomas in fourth just behind. Grant nabbed the second position with a turn one slider past Leary on the eighth lap, while Thomas followed suit with a similar move in the same spot for third past Leary on lap nine.
Meanwhile, Bacon set a blistering pace up front, turning the fastest lap of the race just moments prior on lap six and jetted into traffic with a 2.791 second lead by lap 12 when Aric Gentry slowed to bring out the first caution. That moved the front runners out of traffic and into clean air.
Bacon resumed his prowess at the front through the middle stages of the 30-lapper on this night which honored the memory of longtime car owner Richard Hoffman with whom Bacon drove for in his two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car championship seasons in 2014 and 2016.
On the 18th lap, a flat right rear on the car of three-time 2019 series winner Kyle Cummins necessitated another yellow flag as he stopped on the high side at the entrance of turn one. Moments later, under caution, the air from leader Bacon's tire, and his night, had deflated, handing over the lead to Grant as a result. Bacon drove to the work area for fresh rubber after leading a race-high 17 laps, then restarted from the tail and made a valiant effort to race back to a 7th place finish at the checkered.
The race was now in Grant's hands with 12 laps remaining as he sought to become the first driver ever to win three consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car features at Lawrenceburg. With that said, restarting from the lead at this joint can be a precarious position to reside in, and second-running Thomas felt he was in the prime spot.
Grant slid himself into turn one on the lap 19 restart and drifted to the top of turn two while Thomas rode the lip, building his momentum as he came off the turn two banking and made his bid for the lead with a turn three slider past Grant. Grant countered Thomas off four and the pair raced side-by-side into down the front straight until Thomas slammed the door on Grant on the bottom of one. Both drifted wheel-to-wheel up to the top of the second turn when Thomas propelled off the lip and shot away to secure the point.
"Whenever you're at these places and you restart around the top, it opens up a lane for somebody to slide you," Thomas explained. "I got the luxury of being in second to witness that and seeing the run that you could get. I just never wanted to go back to a restart because I know he's going to throw it if he got the chance. I just didn't want to give him that chance."
That chance came just a lap later after Max Adams stopped on the low side of turns one and two, forcing a restart with just 10 laps remaining where Grant took his shot but came up snake eyes as he tried to slide by Thomas in turn one.
"Our car was really good, but if you get to racing, it doesn't really matter how good your car is, you might get shuffled back a few positions," Thomas noted. "I just wanted to make sure I got that jump getting into one, and our car was perfect. I could lean up right there against the cushion, put the pedal to the floor and just go. It was relatively simple to drive, and that says a lot for this place because it can be pretty taxing on you and the racecar and everything else."
Thomas' idea of an ideal track surface is slick to a cushion, and that's exactly what he got on this night which suited himself and his car nicely as he built up a three second lead while Grant and Leary traded slide jobs for four-straight trips around the 3/8-mile dirt oval between laps 21-24. Leary made one final attempt on Grant in three on lap 24, just narrowly missing as Grant drove around the outside to reemerge with the spot. Leary, meanwhile, left the door open for Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Tyler Courtney to capitalize and slide past in turn one for 3rd on lap 25.
| Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s win Saturday night at Lawrenceburg was his 27th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory, moving him past Tony Elliott and Dave Steele and into a tie for 16th on the all-time list alongside Brady Bacon.
(Dallas Breeze Photo) |
One lap later, the most serious accident of the night occurred when first-time USAC Sprint Car feature starter Justin Owen jumped the cushion in turn four, slid down the track and collected the oncoming car of 2018 Lawrenceburg track champion Garrett Abrams who ramped over and flipped wildly as a result. Abrams walked away uninjured.
Under red and with four laps remaining, Thomas had time to think and ponder his next move and Grant's possible motives on the ensuing restart. It's a mental game of sorts to not let overthinking the situation come into play.
"Your mental state whenever you get four laps to go is to not make a mistake," Thomas said. "But if you think about it too long, you'll make a mistake. You just got to get going there, get through the first corner and then you get back in your rhythm. That first corner can be hell. If you make a wrong move or slip your tires on the restart, they're going to be there to pounce."
However, Thomas nailed it precisely, withstanding Grant's challenge and him in the distance to battle it out for second with Courtney who pounced for the runner-up position with three laps remaining then held off Grant's charge to retake 2nd a half-lap later in turn three.
Up front, Thomas had a comfy cushion over Courtney and a front row seat for the checkered flag where he became one of just five drivers to win at least four career USAC Sprint feature at Lawrenceburg, joining Dave Darland (7), Jon Stanbrough (5), Grant (4) and Jack Hewitt (4). Second went to Courtney 1.26 seconds back while Grant, Leary and Chris Windom rounded out the top-five.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Kyle Cummins (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dustin Clark (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Mario Clouser (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Jarett Andretti (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Steve Thomas (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 5, 2019 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Fall Nationals - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.831; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-14.188; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.195; 4. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.238; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.261; 6. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-14.270; 7. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt/Wright-14.385; 8. Chris Windom, 5G, Parallax/Goacher-14.403; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.408; 10. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-14.431; 11. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-14.475; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-14.484; 13. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-14.527; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.527; 15. Scotty Weir, 39, Goodnight-14.529; 16. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-14.560; 17. Dave Darland, 43m, Tibbits-14.692; 18. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.764; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.773; 20. Justin Owen, 4J, Owen-14.845; 21. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-14.897; 22. Garrett Abrams, 32A, Abrams-15.089; 23. Tyler Kendall, 20K, Kendall-15.200; 24. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-15.246; 25. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-15.488; 26. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-16.494.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Max Adams, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Garrett Abrams, 8. Steve Thomas, 9. Joss Moffatt. 1:55.43
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Jarett Andretti, 3. Nick Bilbee, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Justin Owen, 6. Tyler Kendall, 7. Eric Perrott, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Dave Darland. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Dustin Clark, 2. Scotty Weir, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. J.J. Hughes, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Aric Gentry, 8. Dustin Smith. NT
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Josh Hodges, 3. Garrett Abrams, 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Tyler Kendall, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Aric Gentry, 8. Steve Thomas, 9. Eric Perrott. 3:08.89
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. C.J. Leary (3), 5. Chris Windom (8), 6. Nick Bilbee (10), 7. Brady Bacon (2), 8. Jarett Andretti (13), 9. Scotty Weir (14), 10. Chase Stockon (4), 11. Josh Hodges (7), 12. Dustin Clark (16), 13. Mario Clouser (15), 14. Isaac Chapple (17), 15. Max Adams (9), 16. Dustin Smith (11), 17. J.J. Hughes (19), 18. Tyler Kendall (21), 19. Justin Owen (18), 20. Garrett Abrams (20), 21. Kyle Cummins (12), 22. Aric Gentry (22). NT
**Garrett Abrams flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 C.J. Leary, Laps 3-18 Brady Bacon, Laps 19-30 Kevin Thomas, Jr.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jarett Andretti (13th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Mario Clouser
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Steve Thomas
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kyle Cummins
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-2,003, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,956, 3-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,861, 4-Justin Grant-1,850, 5-Chris Windom-1,843, 6-Brady Bacon-1,837, 7-Chase Stockon-1,757, 8-Jason McDougal-1,483, 9-Carson Short-1,361, 10-Isaac Chapple-1,193.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 11, 2019 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - Wabash Clash - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval |
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| Eventual winner Brady Bacon (#6) and Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#9) battle for the lead during Saturday's USAC Silver Crown season finale at Eldora Speedway's 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv.
(Dallas Breeze Photo) |
BACON BOLTS TO ELDORA SILVER CROWN TRIUMPH
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio (September 28, 2019).........Entering Saturday's USAC Silver Crown season finale at Eldora Speedway, the formula was simple. A 4th place finish or better by Brady Bacon was what he needed to secure Klatt Enterprises' first series owner title.
Bacon defied all notions of running "just good enough." His intentions were fully set on winning and closing the curtain on a banner year for himself and the Klatt team by capturing his second series victory of the season, and his career, leading the final 10 laps to sweep both victories on half-mile dirt tracks (Eldora and Williams Grove) on the Silver Crown schedule in 2019.
"We kind of struggled and everything else, so it was good to get a win here and get an owner's championship for these guys," Bacon said. "They worked hard to make huge improvements over the last year and we won two races this year. We were in the hunt every time. I'm really happy for them, and hopefully, we can keep winning these races the next few years."
The Broken Arrow, Okla. native started 4th in the 27-car field, the largest car count for a Silver Crown race at Eldora since 2008. However, pole winner Kevin Thomas, Jr., making his debut run in Chris Dyson Racing's mount, emerged with the lead on a first lap that saw the top-three of Thomas, Kody Swanson and Bacon battle three-wide off turn four.
Thomas, a 2nd place finisher in the previous year's 4-Crown Silver Crown feature, checked out in the early stages, building up a two second lead over Bacon and Swanson, who locked up an unprecedented fifth series driving title by starting the night's main event.
The first incident of the night occurred in turn one the ninth lap when Steve Buckwalter climbed the outside wall, creating heavy damage to the right front. The trailing John Heydenreich had nowhere to roam and slid sideways into Buckwalter who was at rest up against the outside wall. Both drivers were okay, but their cars were finished for the remainder of the evening.
On the ensuing restart, the game changed as Bacon began working the middle and was able to remain within arm's reach of Thomas. Just moments later, though, on lap 12, 6th running Jason McDougal looped his ride at the entrance of turn one. As McDougal sat helplessly in the middle of the racing surface, Midget and Sprint feature winner Tyler Courtney clobbered McDougal with his right rear wheel, seriously damaging both machines and ending both driver's nights and Courtney's bid for a USAC sweep at the 4-Crown.
With 13 laps remaining, Bacon tested the waters and slid through the middle to show a nose to the high-riding Thomas in turn one and then turn three as well. Bacon tried again two laps later in turn one, making up a bit of ground, but there wasn't enough zip to make the slide stick.
Entering the final 10 laps, Thomas clung to a three-car length lead over Bacon, until scraping his right-side wheels off the outside wall between turns three and four. As Thomas fought to break free from the wall's grasp, Bacon shot under and raced away scot-free with the lead and an eventual 1.931 second triumph over Thomas, Justin Grant, Swanson and Shane Cottle, who started all the way back in 24th.
For Thomas, it was another heartbreak for a driver who's been on the cusp of a first USAC Silver Crown victory for two consecutive seasons now. In fact, his result on Saturday was the fifth 2nd place finish of his Silver Crown career, moving him into the distinction as the driver with the most runner-up finishes without a series win, passing Dave Blaney, Pablo Donoso and Arnie Knepper on the list.
"We had a good chance of winning the sprint car race too, plugged it in the fence and broke a front end," Thomas recalled. "Luckily, we finished 4th there. And then we did it again. I don't ever run the fence, so I'm actually glad that I was at least up there to plug it in the fence. It was a long day, but it was a fun day. I think we got a 5th, a 4th and a 2nd. For somebody who's not very good here, I'll take it."
Contingency award winners Friday and Saturday night at Eldora Speedway were Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Fatheadz Eyewear/ProSource Fast Qualifier), Matt Westfall (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger/Larry Rice High Performance Award & Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race) and Ronnie Wuerdeman (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 28, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: (Completed on September 27) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9, Dyson-16.054; 2. Jason McDougal, 56, Foxco-16.070; 3. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.176; 4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.250; 5. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.321; 6. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-16.366; 7. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-16.445; 8. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-16.483; 9. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-16.523; 10. C.J. Leary, 10, DMW-16.548; 11. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.562; 12. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-16.992; 13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.048; 14. Jimmy Light, 123, Two-Three-17.074; 15. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-17.078; 16. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-17.094; 17. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-17.138; 18. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-17.143; 19. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-17.192; 20. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.272; 21 Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-17.279; 22. Terry Babb, 34, Morford-17.378; 23. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker-17.448; 24. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-17.456; 25. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.569; 26. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-18.941; 27. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall/Marshall-NT.
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (4), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (1), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Kody Swanson (3), 5. Shane Cottle (24), 6. Chris Windom (6), 7. Matt Westfall (27), 8. C.J. Leary (10), 9. Matt Goodnight (25), 10. Eric Gordon (19), 11. Chad Kemenah (7), 12. Jimmy Light (14), 13. Ronnie Wuerdeman (9), 14. Kyle Robbins (8), 15. David Byrne (13), 16. Bill Rose (16), 17. Mike Haggenbottom (21), 18. Travis Welpott (12), 19. Austin Mundie (18), 20. Terry Babb (22), 21. Austin Nemire (20), 22. Dave Berkheimer (26), 23. Jason McDougal (2), 24. Tyler Courtney (11), 25. Dallas Hewitt (17), 26. Steve Buckwalter (15), 27. John Heydenreich (23). 23:29.46
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kevin Thomas, Jr., Laps 41-50 Brady Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/LARRY RICE HIGH PERFORMANCE AWARD HARD CHARGER: Matt Westfall (27th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ronnie Wuerdeman
ROSEWOOD MACHINE & TOOL PRECISION MOVE OF THE RACE: Matt Westfall
FINAL USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES DRIVER POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-638, 2-Justin Grant-578, 3-David Byrne-489, 4-Eric Gordon-418, 5-Chris Windom-397, 6-Kyle Hamilton-381, 7-Bobby Santos-378, 8-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-366, 9-Mike Haggenbottom-357, 10-Kyle Robbins-355.
FINAL USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES OWNER POINTS: 1-Klatt Enterprises #6-637, 2-Nolen Racing #20-613, 3-Hemelgarn Racing #91-578, 4-Byrne Racing #40-489, 5-Armstrong/Slinkard Racing #78-418, 6-Goodnight/Byrd Racing #17-378, 7-DJ Racing #22-378, 8-John Haggenbottom #24-357, 9-KR Racing #7-355, 10-Curtis Williams #81-347. |
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| Tyler Courtney became the first driver to win four consecutive Eldora Speedway USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car features at Saturday's 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv.
(Ryan Sellers Photo) |
COURTNEY CONNECTS ON RECORD 4TH STRAIGHT ELDORA SPRINT WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media Rossburg, Ohio (September 28, 2019).........Tyler Courtney reached unprecedented territory following Saturday night's 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature. Not even the likes of three-in-row winners Jud Larson, Bubby Jones, Jack Hewitt or Steve Butler can claim four consecutive USAC National Sprint Car victories at Eldora Speedway. However, Courtney, the reigning series champ, can now claim the record as his own after winning his seventh series main event of the year, three of which have come at the famed half-mile, with Saturday's being the 24th of his career, moving him past A.J. Foyt and Roger McCluskey on the all-time list and into a tie for 22nd with Chris Windom. "When you have guys like Jack Hewitt and Rich Vogler and all those guys that have ran here, for someone to never do four consecutive USAC National Sprint Car wins in a row here, is incredible," Courtney exclaimed. "To just even be compared to and having the opportunity to go for four in a row is pretty incredible. But now we get to put our name in the history books and hopefully come back in the spring for five in a row." Just as he did in the midget throughout the night, Courtney was the rabbit everyone was chasing in his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Energy Drink - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy-powered sprinter. But he had to do a little chasing himself early on as Kevin Thomas, Jr. shot out to the lead from his pole starting position. Sixth starting Courtney, meanwhile, was a rocket on the second lap as he exploded past Brady Bacon, Justin Grant and C.J. Leary on the back straightaway to move from 5th to 2nd before banging his right rear tire off the wall between turns there and four and settling into place in third behind leader Thomas and second-running Leary. On lap six, Courtney gave it another shot, sliding past Leary in turn three to secure the 2nd position, and now had sights set on tracking down Thomas 1.6 seconds in the distance, which he had whittled down to just a tick over a half second by the tenth lap as they both rode the rail up against the outside wall. Nearing the halfway point, traffic came into play and Thomas was determined to be the aggressor. Not wanting to play it safe and cautious, Thomas split hairs and threaded needles through the backend of the field as he sought his very own first career win at Eldora. With 12 laps remaining, Thomas bounced the right rear off the outside wall between turns three and four, which sucked his right front wheel into the concrete at the exit of four, thus breaking the front end as a result. Thomas was now a sitting duck in the lead, and less than a lap later, Courtney made him pay, driving by Thomas on the bottom of three to grab the spot and construct an ever-growing lead. With 10 to go, fourth-running Leary slid by third-running Thomas utilizing the bottom of turn one. As he drifted up in turn two, a surging Chris Windom had momentum up top, driving off turn two as both he and Leary clipped wheels, sending Leary spinning backwards into the outside wall leading with the left rear. Leary was unable to restart, sending the series point leader to a 22nd place result, only his second finish outside the top-ten in 28 starts this season. Courtney broke out to a half-straightaway lead in the final stages and appeared primed for his second victory of the night despite a particularly hairy moment that caught his attention. Exiting turn two with two laps to go, Courtney hit the right rear against the wall, getting his right front airborne and glancing off the concrete before continuing on without too much of a hindrance to speak of. No harm, no foul as they say. The final lap was as clean as a whistle for Courtney as he raced to a 1.424 second victory over Windom, Grant, Thomas and Bacon to extend his series-leading win total to seven. Contingency award winners Saturday night at Eldora Speedway were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Justin Grant (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Scotty Weir (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Matt Westfall (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger/Larry Rice High Performance Award), Chris Windom (Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race), Isaac Chapple (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Matt Goodnight (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) and Chris Phillips (ProSource Hard Work Award). --------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 28, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval FATHEADZ EYEWEAR / PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.671; 2. Chris Windom, 5G, Parallax/Goacher-16.780; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.832; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.917; 5. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.947; 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-17.081; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-17.146; 8. Dallas Hewitt, 18, Keen-17.153; 9. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-17.302; 10. Kory Crabtree, 60, Gagliardi-17.354; 11. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-17.378; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-17.384; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.393; 14. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-17.498; 15. Bill Rose, 6R, Rose-17.518; 16. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-17.520; 17. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-17.571; 18. Scotty Weir, 39G, Goodnight-17.579; 19. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-17.740; 20. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-17.811; 21. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland/Curb-Agajanian-17.823; 22. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-17.995; 23. Kody Swanson, 20N, Nolen-18.111; 24. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-18.254; 25. Landon Simon, 23s, Simon-18.342; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-18.401; 27. Jack James, 99, James-18.416; 28. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-18.656; 29. Gage Etgen, 99, Etgen-18.802; 30. Travis Welpott, 18T, Welpott/Gorman-18.809; 31. Tim Creech II, 2c, Creech-18.810; 32. Cody White, 26w, White-18.902; 33. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-18.912; 34. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-NT; 35. Scott Hampton, 51, Slinkard-NT. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Max Adams, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Landon Simon, 8. Gage Etgen, 9. Steve Thomas. 2:26.54 COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Scotty Weir, 4. Corey Smith, 5. Kory Crabtree, 6. Dustin Clark, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Travis Welpott, 9. Korbyn Hayslett. 2:28.17 AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. Nick Bilbee, 5. Kody Swanson, 6. Scott Hampton, 7. Jack James, 8. Tim Creech II, 9. Bill Rose. NT INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dallas Hewitt, 4. Carmen Perigo, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Chris Phillips, 7. Brian Ruhlman, 8. Cody White. 2:29.58 SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Kory Crabtree, 3. Dustin Clark, 4. Isaac Chapple, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Chris Phillips, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Scott Hampton, 9. Brian Ruhlman, 10. Kody Swanson, 11. Landon Simon, 12. Gage Etgen, 13. Jack James, 14. Travis Welpott, 15. Cody White, 16. Tim Creech II, 17. Steve Thomas, 18. Bill Rose, 19. Korbyn Hayslett. 3:54.09 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Justin Grant (4), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (1), 5. Brady Bacon (3), 6. Dallas Hewitt (8), 7. Matt Westfall (16), 8. Chase Stockon (7), 9. Isaac Chapple (13), 10. Nick Bilbee (18), 11. Carmen Perigo (15), 12. Jason McDougal (12), 13. Scotty Weir (17), 14. Mario Clouser (11), 15. Chris Phillips (22), 16. Dave Darland (20), 17. Dustin Clark (14), 18. Corey Smith (21), 19. Max Adams (9), 20. Kory Crabtree (10), 21. Josh Hodges (19), 22. C.J. Leary (2). NT FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Kevin Thomas, Jr., Laps 19-30 Tyler Courtney. SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Tyler Courtney KSE RACING PRODUCTS/LARRY RICE HIGH PERFORMANCE HARD CHARGER: Matt Westfall (16th to 7th) WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Scotty Weir SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Matt Goodnight ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Isaac Chapple PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Chris Phillips ROSEWOOD MACHINE & TOOL PRECISION MOVE OF THE RACE: Chris Windom NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,934, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,876, 3-Chris Windom-1,781, 4-Justin Grant-1,780, 5-Brady Bacon-1,778, 6-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,778, 7-Chase Stockon-1,705, 8-Jason McDougal-1,483, 9-Carson Short-1,361, 10-Isaac Chapple-1,157. NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 5, 2019 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Fall Nationals - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval | Saturday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget 4-Crown Nationals Midget feature winner Tyler Courtney.
(Dallas Breeze Photo) |
COURTNEY CLAIMS THRONE IN 4-CROWN MIDGET MAIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media Rossburg, Ohio (September 28, 2019).........Tyler Courtney had all the right moves in Saturday night's 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature, but when you're amidst a high-speed game of chess on the banks of Eldora Speedway, you've got to have all the right moves at just the right time. That's among the laundry list of accomplishments the Indianapolis, Ind. driver achieved in becoming just the third driver to repeat a 4-Crown Midget feature victory, joining Rich Vogler in 1985-86 and Kyle Larson in 2011-12. Yet it took everything in his might to prevail for the second time in as many years after waging war in a lap-after-lap classic Eldora patented slider-fest involving Tanner Carrick and Logan Seavey. Seavey, the defending series champ, jumped to the initial lead on the opening lap, sliding to the top of turn one past both pole sitter Jerry Coons, Jr. and outside front row starter Carrick. Carrick quickly took control by turns three and four with a slider past his Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian teammate to take the lead. The red flag came early in the 25-lap event, on lap five, when 12th running Jason McDougal walked away from a turn four flip. When racing resumed, Seavey immediately went on the attack, sliding by Carrick. Carrick returned the favor on the other end, rinse and repeat, as the two teammates put on a spectacular show of who could make the other blink first. Courtney cleared two-time 4-Crown Midget winner Rico Abreu for third on the seventh lap and closed in on the top two, riding the rim in formation behind Carrick and Seavey with two car lengths separating the freight train nearing the halfway point. With 10 to go, Seavey made a breathtaking scoop to the bottom in turn three, climbing the stairs to the outside wall as he slid past Carrick, leading by a single car length at the line. Both Carrick and Courtney went double-barrel buckshot low into turn one nose to tail, sliding past Seavey, who countered underneath off turn two and drag raced Carrick into turn three, reclaiming the advantage. Carrick went right back to the well and fired another shot on Seavey in turn three with eight to go, sliding by Seavey and drifting up, tapping the wall with his rear bumper as Seavey ducked under off turn four to narrowly nip Carrick at the line by a bumper. Heading into one on the 19th lap side-by-side, Carrick clamped down on Seavey, driving to the middle on entry while Seavey went even lower. Both drifted high to the outside wall in turn two, but Carrick surged ahead to the lead the fight into turn three where Courtney split both Carrick and Seavey, threading the needle between turns three and four. Seavey muscled his way back ahead of Courtney for second as the front runners worked their way by the lapped car of Andrew Layser. Courtney chose the low line under Layser on the back straightaway as Seavey's momentum was briefly stifled. Seavey came back at Courtney, both drifting wheel-to-wheel to the concrete with Courtney kissing the wall with his right rear tire and launching around the outside to secure second with now just five laps remaining. On laps 22 and 23, Courtney went into action, slide jobbing Carrick into turn one. But, each time, Carrick had an answer, driving downhill off the second turn to beat Courtney into turn three to claw his way back into the lead. However, coming to the white flag, Courtney went after Carrick once more in turn one, successfully pulling off the slider. Carrick drove low off two to pull even with Courtney midway down the back straightaway. Courtney used the lapped car of Karsyn Elledge as a sort of pick, closing up the alleyway that Carrick would've aimed for into turn three. Courtney distanced himself just enough on the final circuit, disallowing any chance of one final haymaker from Carrick into turn three to score his seventh series feature victory of the season and the 12th of his career over Carrick, Seavey, Rico Abreu and Kevin Thomas, Jr. "I just tried to time my moves right, but Tanner kept coming back," Courtney explained. "He's turning into one heck of a driver. That one was a lot harder than I was hoping for, but this is Eldora and that's what this place is all about." For Carrick, it was a story of "what could've been" after leading a race-high 20 laps. "I ran that whole race as hard as I could," Carrick said. "It's just kind of a bummer. I got into lapped traffic there and Tyler squeezed me down into a lapped car and I lost all my momentum and my shot at getting back around him. There weren't enough laps to get my speed back up and going. This is a big momentum place, and once you're out front, you just keep going and you're good. It kind of sucks. I led a lot of laps there and came out with a second. Maybe next year." Contingency award winners Saturday night at Eldora Speedway were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear/ProSource Fast Qualifier, Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race), Rico Abreu (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (AutoMeter/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Tucker Klaasmeyer (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger/Larry Rice High Performance Award). -------------------------------------
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 28, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.880; 2. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.023; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-17.025; 4. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.213; 5. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.363; 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-17.400; 7. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-17.414; 8. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-17.444; 9. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-17.445; 10. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-17.597; 11. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-17.639; 12. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-17.645; 13. Jason McDougal, 76m, FMR-17.658; 14. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.662; 15. Dave Darland, 15, Petry-17.907; 16. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-17.909; 17. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-17.966; 18. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.980; 19. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-18.088; 20. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-18.227. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Sam Johnson. NT COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Jesse Colwell, 3. Zeb Wise, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Karsyn Elledge, 7. Ethan Mitchell. 2:25.21 AUTOMETER/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Chad Boat, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Holley Hollan. 2:27.42 FEATURE: (25 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Tanner Carrick (2), 3. Logan Seavey (3), 4. Rico Abreu (5), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 6. Chris Windom (9), 7. Justin Grant (10), 8. Zeb Wise (8), 9. Tucker Klaasmeyer (18), 10. Tanner Thorson (7), 11. Chad Boat (11), 12. Holley Hollan (17), 13. Dave Darland (14), 14. Jesse Colwell (13), 15. Karsyn Elledge (19), 16. Andrew Layser (16), 17. Sam Johnson (15), 18. Jerry Coons, Jr. (1), 19. Jason McDougal (12). NT **Jason McDougal flipped on lap 5 of the feature. FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Tanner Carrick, Laps 16-18 Logan Seavey, Laps 19-23 Tanner Carrick, Laps 24-25 Tyler Courtney. SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Tyler Courtney KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER/LARRY RICE HIGH PERFORMANCE AWARD: Tucker Klaasmeyer (18th to 9th) WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland ROSEWOOD MACHINE & TOOL PRECISION MOVE OF THE RACE: Tyler Courtney NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,601, 2-Chris Windom-1,465, 3-Logan Seavey-1,424, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,351, 5-Zeb Wise-1,341, 6-Chad Boat-1,255, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,203, 8-Jerry Coons, Jr.-1,179, 9-Jason McDougal-1,097, 10-Tucker Klaasmeyer-1,084. NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 17, 2019 - Wayne County Speedway - Wayne City, Illinois - Jason Leffler Memorial - 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval | Kevin Thomas, Jr. will start from the pole in Saturday's USAC Silver Crown season finale at Eldora Speedway's 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv.
(Rich Forman Photo) |
KTJ WINS 4-CROWN POLE IN DYSON DEBUT
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media Rossburg, Ohio (September 27, 2019).........So far, so good. Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s debut in the Chris Dyson Racing USAC Silver Crown car went as smoothly as he could have planned for by winning the pole for Saturday night's season finale 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv at Eldora Speedway.
Thomas drew the final pill in the draw and, thus, was the final car to make a qualifying attempt in Friday's Fatheadz Eyewear time trial session. After a lengthy rain delay prior to practice, the Cullman, Ala. driver laid down the best lap of the night at 16.054 seconds, the fastest lap by a Silver Crown pole winner at Eldora since Mat Neely in 2006.
Thomas has yet to win a Silver Crown race in his career, finishing 2nd in last year's event at Eldora behind winner C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) who will start 10th on Saturday. Jason McDougal will start from the outside of the front row in the same Foxco Racing car that Thomas drove in last year's race. McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) finished 4th a year ago in Dyson's car.
Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) qualified 3rd and will clinch an unprecedented fifth USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series title by presenting at Saturday's main event. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) qualified 4th and will start alongside Swanson in the second row. Bacon's Klatt Enterprises team and Swanson's Nolen Racing team are involved in a tight series owner title race that is separated by only 15 points. A 4th place finish or better by Bacon in the Klatt car on Saturday will secure the owner's title.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), a 2016 Silver Crown champ and 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, will start 6th . Six-time Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Chad Kemenah (Alvada, Ohio) will lineup 7th . Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), a 2017 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, is slotted in 11th . Last year's pole winner Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) will start from the 24th spot in the 27-car field.
On Saturday, September 28, Silver Crown teams will again have a practice session leading into their 50-lap main event which will also feature complete shows for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and the Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.
On Saturday, pits open at 11am Eastern, spectator gates open at noon, autograph session from 3-4pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 5:30pm. General admission tickets are $34 for ages 13 & up and free for ages 12 & under. Reserved tickets are $39 for ages 13 & up and $9 for ages 12 & under.
The USAC portion of the 4-Crown can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app. --------------------------------------------
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: September 27, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9, Dyson-16.054 2. Jason McDougal, 56, Foxco-16.070 3. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.176 4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.250 5. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.321 6. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-16.366 7. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-16.445 8. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-16.483 9. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-16.523 10. C.J. Leary, 10, DMW-16.548 11. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.562 12. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-16.992 13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.048 14. Jimmy Light, 123, Two-Three-17.074 15. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-17.078 16. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-17.094 17. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-17.138 18. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-17.143 19. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-17.192 20. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.272 21. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-17.279 22. Terry Babb, 34, Morford-17.378 23. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker-17.448 24. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-17.456 25. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.569 26. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-18.941 27. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall/Marshall-NT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-577, 2-Justin Grant-514, 3-David Byrne-456, 4-Kyle Hamilton-381, 5-Bobby Santos-378, 6-Eric Gordon-375, 7-Chris Windom-342, 8-Mike Haggenbottom-328, 9-Kyle Robbins-320, 10-Austin Nemire-315.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: September 28, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv WINDOM A GAS CITY GIANT AT JAMES DEAN CLASSIC
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (September 26, 2019).........Gas City I-69 Speedway had greeted Chris Windom on numerous occasions throughout his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, 19 to be exact, since his debut at the quarter-mile dirt oval in 2007.
It's unfair to say that the track had been unkind to the Canton, Ill. driver over the years, with nine top-five finishes in those 19 previous starts coming into Thursday night's second running of the James Dean Classic. Yet, that one single, solitary victory had remained elusive.
Windom had trekked the road to Gas City many a time, but this time, he drove off as a winner there in USAC competition with a sterling performance, leading all 30 laps to score his fourth series victory of the season and the 25th of his career which tied Steve Butler and Jay Drake for 20th all-time.
Ultimately, Windom's persistence paid off, and now he can call himself a USAC winner at Gas City, finally.
"It seems like I've had countless podiums here," Windom recounts. "We've run 2nd or 3rd almost every USAC race here. To get that first one's pretty cool."
Windom set the tone right from the get-go, recording sixth quick time which would, if everything went to his plan through the prelims, would net him a starting spot up front. As it turned out, it was from the pole. But a good starting spot alone does not make or break a night, there's several variables to endure throughout 30 laps. Yet, being in the proverbial and literal driver's seat at the front of the field for the drop of the green does have its kicks.
"I knew I had to get a good jump on that initial start because the track was so hooked up," Windom explained. "It seemed that, if your car was good and you could get out and click off good laps, it was going to be tough to get by you."
That proved to be fortuitous for the 2017 series champ as he raced side-by-side with outside front row starter Kevin Thomas, Jr. through turns one and two at the start. Windom surged ahead under Thomas on the back straightaway and led entering the third turn. There, Thomas made slight contact with the rear bumper of Windom, forcing Thomas to get on the binders, dropping him from 2nd to 4th as Justin Grant and 2019 Gas City track champ Thomas Meseraull slipped by to snare 2nd and 3rd, respectively, at the conclusion of the opening lap.
A three-car tussle between Grant, Meseraull and Thomas ensued as Windom opened up a half second lead. Meseraull drove to 2nd by Grant on the fourth lap and held onto the spot until exiting the fourth corner on the sixth lap when both Grant and Thomas slipped by, and Meseraull began to slow dramatically with smoke billowing from his ride. The seven-time Gas City winner this year slid his car backward into the infield on the front straightaway as a small and brief fire broke out from the engine compartment, prematurely ending his night.
When racing resumed, Windom put on the same song and dance, running middle to bottom as he incrementally distanced himself from Grant as the race crossed the halfway point, which is where lapped traffic came into play. Windom worked his way under heat race winner Cole Ketcham first, then worked around the outside of Cody White and Dave Darland, all while maintaining a fairly healthy eight-tenths of a second advantage over Grant.
"I felt like I was setting a pretty fast pace around the middle to bottom," Windom remembered. "I was a little nervous to go to the top with how thick the cushion was. You don't have a choice when you catch lapped traffic. If you follow them, somebody's going to find a way around, so I moved to the top and we were maneuvering through lapped traffic pretty well."
Once Windom reached first-time USAC feature starter Harley Burns, Windom sought high and low, tiptoeing on his path to avoid getting caught out, sliding up and allowing the now not-so-distant Grant and Thomas, who were right on his rear bumper, to drastically close up the gap. Windom was eventually able to drive around Burns as were Grant and Thomas just moments before 7th running Scotty Weir spun in turn four, necessitating a yellow flag and bringing about a clear road ahead for Windom.
"You're always going to have that in lapped traffic," Windom said. "So, we did the best we could there, and we caught cautions at the times I wanted them. It doesn't seem to normally work out that way, but it did tonight. We just had to stay out front and hit our marks, and not get in too heavy of lapped traffic and make a wrong decision because, at that point, your kind of a sitting duck when you're the leader."
Windom, who was back in his team's DRC chassis tonight, found it to be a better fit for Gas City with how tight and hooked up the track can get. As it turned out, they were the ones hooked up on this night in the Parallax Group-Goacher Racing/NOS Energy Drink - Parallax Power Supply/DRC/Claxton Mopar, pulling away on the restart and appeared headed for victory.
However, with just three laps remaining, the night's KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Jason McDougal, clobbered an orange cone sitting amidst the infield tires at the exit of turn four, dropkicking the inanimate object into the middle of the racing surface. That forced the yellow flag to be displayed and the field to be restacked once again.
For Windom, the holdup was simply momentary as he once again burst away on the lap 28 restart, cruising to victory by a 0.808 margin, while letting the three trailing drivers duke it out for the runner-up spot, which reigning series champ Tyler Courtney snagged with a big drive around the outside of Grant off turn four on the final lap to get the 2nd spot by a wheel, or .056 sec, over Grant with Thomas a car length behind in 4th. Chase Stockon, in his record 287th consecutive series start, rounded out the top-five.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway were C.J. Leary (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Cole Ketcham (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Scotty Weir (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tye Mihocko (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Jason McDougal (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Harley Burns (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Dustin Smith (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2019 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - 2nd James Dean Classic - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.121; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Whitney-12.174; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.219; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.299; 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-12.364; 6. Chris Windom, 5G, Parallax/Goacher-12.441; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.479; 8. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.491; 9. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.555; 10. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-12.557; 11. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-12.561; 12. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-12.568; 13. Harley Burns, 16K, Knight-12.574; 14. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-12.614; 15. Scotty Weir, 39G, Goodnight-12.634; 16. Cody White, 26w, White-12.720; 17. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-12.720; 18. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.733; 19. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-12.751; 20. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-12.767; 21. Tyler Hewitt, 1, RL-12.830; 22. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-12.841; 23. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.856; 24. Dave Darland, 43m, Tibbits-12.867; 25. Shane Cottle, 19c, Cooley-12.966; 26. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-12.996; 27. Jack James, 99, James-13.422; 28. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.582.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Isaac Chapple, 4. Cody White, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Tyler Hewitt, 7. Harley Burns. 2:08.98
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Ketcham, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Dustin Clark, 6. Matt Goodnight, 7. Corey Smith. 2:03.85
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Chad Boespflug, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Jack James. 2:04.18
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Dustin Ingle, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Max Adams, 6. Anthony D'Alessio, 7. Dustin Smith. 2:04.03
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chad Boespflug, 2. Max Adams, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Dustin Clark, 9. Anthony D'Alessio, 10. Corey Smith, 11. Jack James, 12. Tyler Hewitt. 2:28.28 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Tyler Courtney (7), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 5. Chase Stockon (8), 6. C.J. Leary (6), 7. Brady Bacon (4), 8. Jason McDougal (17), 9. Isaac Chapple (9), 10. Max Adams (15), 11. Scotty Weir (14), 12. Matt Westfall (20), 13. Tye Mihocko (18), 14. Matt Goodnight (10), 15. Harley Burns (12), 16. Cody White (16), 17. Cole Ketcham (13), 18. Dustin Ingle (19), 19. Dave Darland (21), 20. Chad Boespflug (11), 21. Thomas Meseraull (5), 22. Dustin Clark (23), 23. Shane Cottle (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Chris Windom
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jason McDougal (17th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tye Mihocko
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Dustin Smith
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Harley Burns
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,903, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,792, 3-Brady Bacon-1,710, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,708, 5-Justin Grant-1,704, 6-Chris Windom-1,702, 7-Chase Stockon-1,649, 8-Jason McDougal-1,436, 9-Carson Short-1,361, 10-Isaac Chapple-1,110.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 28, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval |
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NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTES united states auto club |
| Tanner Carrick (#71K), a first-time winner during the 2019 USAC National Midget season at Sweet Springs, Mo. in July.
(Rich Forman Photo) |
FIRST-TIME WINNERS MAKE MARK ON 2019 USAC MIDGET SEASON
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (October 16, 2019).........Everybody has to start somewhere. The same rings true for everybody who's ever won a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature. They've all earned that first win somewhere, some place.
Entering this weekend's double-dip over a three-night span, this season has already produced four first-time winners with the series, the most in any single year since 2008: Cannon McIntosh (Southern Illinois Center), Chris Windom (Lawrenceburg), Jason McDougal (Jefferson County) and Tanner Carrick (Sweet Springs).
This Thursday, the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets enter the 1/8-mile bullring of Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Ill. for the 6th running of the Jason Leffler Memorial, a race which was won by a first-time winner in Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.) in 2018.
The namesake of the event, Leffler, was the winner of the second-ever race held at the "new" 16th Street Speedway, which was constructed inside the former Bush Stadium, home of AAA Baseball's Indianapolis Indians. That night in May of 1997 served as Leffler's first career series win, which was also the first for car owner Pete Willoughby, a team which has thrived since that night more than two decades ago, a team now known as Keith Kunz Motorsports.
Leffler's black No. 71 from his 1997 championship season remains relatively cosmetically unchanged from the cars campaigned by the team to this day for series Rookie Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.), who is on the lookout for his first series win. The team's No. 71, with a K, was victorious this year with another first-time USAC winner, Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, Calif.) at Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
Windom (Canton, Ill.) joined an interesting and exclusive club of drivers who've won a USAC National Sprint Championship prior to winning their first career USAC National Midget feature race, along with Greg Leffler and Levi Jones.
On Saturday, Oct. 19, the series heads across the border over to Haubstadt, Indiana's Tri-State Speedway for 10th ever appearance by the mighty midgets of USAC. Three of the first nine of those events have produced first-time USAC National Midget feature winners: New Zealand's Barry Butterworth (1979), Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (2007) and Zach Daum (2011).
Many contenders lie in wait for their turn to live out their aspirations of joining the list of USAC National Midget winners. Among them are USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.), Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.), Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.), Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.), Karsyn Elledge (Mooresville, N.C.), Holley Hollan (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) and yes, 2013 World of Outlaws champ Daryn Pittman (Owasso, Okla.), who'll make his annual appearance at Thursday's Leffler Memorial.
On Thursday at Wayne City, pits open at 4pm Central, grandstands at 5pm, drivers meeting at 6pm and hot laps at 6:30pm. Adult general admission tickets are $20, age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece. Along with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship are Non-Wing 600 Outlaws, Non-Wing Restrictors & Non-Wing Jr. Sprints.
Saturday's Harvest Cup at Tri-State will also feature the Brandeis Midwest Sprint Car Series and MMSA Mini Sprints. Pits open at 2:30pm central, grandstands at 3:30pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and hot laps at 5pm. Adult general admission tickets are $25, students are $20 and age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 apiece.
You can watch LIVE flag-to-flag coverage of both races on FloRacing. Live audio of the events can be heard on the USAC app. Follow along with live updates on www.facebook.com/usacracing & www.twitter.com/USACNation and live timing and scoring on the Race-Monitor and USAC apps.
-------------------------------------- USAC NATIONAL MIDGET FIRST TIME WINNERS
1956: Shorty Templeman, Jack Turner, Eddie Sachs, Gays Biro, Gene Force, Johnnie Tolan, Andy Linden, Chuck Rodee, Gene Hartley, George Amick, Jimmy Davies, Jimmy Knight, Leroy Warriner, Rex Easton, Tony Bettenhausen, Al Alpern, Al Herman, Bud Clemons, Chuck Weyant, Earl Motter, Edgar Elder, Forrest Parker, Jimmy Reece, Johnnie Parsons, Mel McGaughy & Rodger Ward
1957: Billy Garrett, Johnny Boyd, Len Sutton, A.J. Foyt, Danny Oakes, Frank Burany, Bill Chennault, Bob Tattersall, Don Branson, Hank Nykaza, Lloyd Ruby & Norm Hall
1958: Bill Homeier, Bob Wente, Eddie Johnson, Joe Garson, Jim Packard, Johnny Moorhouse, Johnny Roberts, Mauri Wilson, Russ Congdon & Tony Bonadies
1959: Cliff Spalding, Davey Moses, Tommy Copp, Bob McLean, Bob Veith, Dale Swaim, Don Boorse, Jiggs Peters, Johnny Baldwin, Larry McCloskey & Van Johnson
1960: Billy Cantrell, Billy Wood, Bobby Grim, Bud Bogard, Buddy Rackley, Dick Northam, Johnny White & Potsy Goacher
1961: Allen Crowe, Parnelli Jones, Porky Rachwitz, Arnie Knepper, Bobby Marshman, Danny Frye, Joe Walter & Verne Harriman
1962: Roger McCluskey, Mel Kenyon, Ronnie Duman, Dwight Brown, Harry Beck, Jim McElreath, Johnny Riva & Russ Moynagh
1963: Bobby Unser, Don Horvath, Allen Heath, Bob Harkey, Chuck Hulse, Dean Holden, Elmer George & Mike McGreevy
1964: Ray Elliott, Don Meacham, Bob Hogle, George Snider & Lowell Sachs
1965: Les Scott, Dick Atkins, George Benson, Henry Pens, Ned Spath & Sonny Ates
1966: Chuck Arnold, Billy Vukovich, Billy Mehner, Cotton Farmer, Larry Dickson, Dave Strickland, Frank Secrist, Mario Andretti & Tom Sellberg
1967: Gary Bettenhausen, Bob Hare, Bob Hauck, Bob Richards, Dutch Schaefer, Gene Roehl & Jimmy Caruthers
1968: Sam Sessions, Tom Bigelow, Burt Foland, Gene Pastor, Jigger Sirois, Lee Kunzman, Merle Bettenhausen, Paul Bates, Roger West & Steve Troxell
1969: Don Vogler, Billy Engelhart, Bill Kollman, Bruce Walkup, Hank Butcher, Larry Cannon & Larry Rice
1970: Jerry McClung, Mel Cornett & Johnny Parsons
1971: Danny Caruthers, Gary Ponzini, John Batts, Eddie Jackson, Jim McClean, Jimmy Kirk & Steve Cannon
1972: Pancho Carter, Rich Vogler, Rick Goudy, Danny O'Neill, J.P. Standley, Joe Saldana, Sam Sauer & Tony Simon
1973: Bobby Olivero, Billy Shuman, Tommy Astone, Chuck Gurney, Jim Beckley, Leo Tucker & Mike Gregg
1974: Danny McKnight, Gary Byers, Richard Powell & Sleepy Tripp
1975: Dana Carter, Ken Nichols & Larry Patton
1976: Jan Opperman, Bruce Robey, Bubby Jones, Buddy Taylor, Steve Lotshaw & Tom Steiner
1977: Buddy Irwin, Gary Patterson, Jerry Nuckles, Jerry Stone, Ron Shuman & Roy Cook, Jr.
1978: Jeff Heywood, Jerry Weeks & Billy Cassella
1979: Lonnie Caruthers, Barry Butterworth, Jeff Nuckles & Stan Fox
1980: Ken Schrader, Dave Ray, Mack McClellan & Terry Wente
1981: Warren Mockler, Dave Strickland, Jr. & Gene Gennetten
1982: Alan Brown, Dick Pole, Doug Wolfgang & Greg Leffler
1983: Kevin Olson, Jim Hines, Mike Fedorcak, Nick Fornoro, Jr., Todd Forbes & Tommy White
1984: Bob Cicconi & Rick Hood
1985: Bruce Field, Barry Reed, Brent Kaeding, Drew Fornoro, John Andretti & Russ Gamester
1986: Blake Hollingsworth, John Heydenreich, Kevin Doty, Kevin Koch & Sam Isenhower
1987: Steve Knepper, Dan Boorse, Jack Hewitt, Lee Smith, Mike Appio & Stevie Reeves
1988: Jack Calabrase, Jim Keeker, Danny Pens, Dean Billings, J.R. Miller, Mike Streicher & P.J. Jones
1989: Robby Flock, Don Schilling, Jeff Gordon, Richard Myhre, Steve Gennetten & Terry Farrar
1990: Graham Standring, Jim Hettinger, John Meyers & Keith Rauch
1991: Page Jones, Donnie Beechler, Johnny Cofer, Michael Lang, Tony Elliott & Wally Pankratz
1992: Doug Kalitta, Kenneth Nichols, Dan Drinan, Kenny Irwin, Jr., Eric Wilkins & Joe Gaerte
1993: Andy Michner, Critter Malone, Jimmy Sills, Mike Bliss, Randy Tolsma, Tony Stewart & Tyce Carlson
1994: Brian Gerster, Jordan Hermansader, Page Jones & Ted Hines
1995: Billy Boat & Jack Runyon
1996: Tracy Hines, Jay Drake, Jerry Coons, Jr. & Randy Koch
1997: Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Dave Darland & Jimmy McCune
1998: Ricky Shelton & Dave Steele
1999: Ed Carpenter, J.J. Yeley & Ron Smoker
2000: Kasey Kahne, Aaron Pollock, Dane Carter & Michael Lewis
2001: Bobby East & A.J. Fike
2002: Aaron Fike, Mike Hess, Ryan Scott & Teddy Beach
2003: Josh Wise
2004: Davey Ray, Billy Wease, David Gough, Ron Gregory & Travis Miniea
2005: Brad Kuhn, Bryan Clauson, Danny Stratton, Johnny Rodriguez & Scott Hatton
2006: Bobby Santos, Brady Bacon, Bud Kaeding, Darren Hagen, Kevin Swindell, Ryan Durst & Shane Cottle
2007: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Cory Kruseman, Levi Jones & Michael Pickens
2008: Brad Sweet, Cole Whitt, Bradley Galedrige, Brian Olson, Chuck Gurney, Jr. & Kody Swanson
2009: Caleb Armstrong
2010: Shane Hmiel, Steve Buckwalter & Tanner Swanson
2011: Kyle Larson & Zach Daum
2012: Kyle Hamilton
2013: Christopher Bell & Rico Abreu
2014: None
2015: Tanner Thorson & Kevin Thomas, Jr.
2016: Chad Boat, Shane Golobic & Spencer Bayston
2017: Tyler Courtney & Justin Grant
2018: Logan Seavey, Tyler Thomas & Zeb Wise
2019: Cannon McIntosh, Chris Windom, Jason McDougal & Tanner Carrick |
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| Chad Boat (#84) runs wheel-to-wheel with Chris Windom (#17BC).
(Dave Dellinger Photo) |
TRI-STATE HARVEST CUP USAC MIDGET RACE PREVIEW
Haubstadt, Indiana (October 14, 2019).........It's been seven years since the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship graced the quarter-mile dirt of Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., but this Saturday, October 19, the series is back at the racy southern Indiana oval as part of the Harvest Cup.
In nine previous appearances by the series dating back to its debut at Tri-State in 1969, no driver has repeated their USAC Midget victory. A new winner will likely emerge this Saturday night in the tenth trip to the track. Many others, meanwhile, will be making their midget debut at the tricky paperclip-shaped track.
Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) is among those contenders. He has won in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car in each of the past two seasons at Tri-State but has not reached victory lane there yet this year. Thomas is currently tied for first with Daron Clayton in terms of all-time USAC Sprint wins at Tri-State with five. Thomas, the 2014 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year, ran 4th in POWRi Midget event at Tri-State in 2014.
The man with the lockdown on Tri-State Speedway in 2019 is Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.). He is 7-for-7 thus far this year in a Sprint Car at Tri-State, including two-for-two in the USAC rounds in July and September. Cummins, who made his first career USAC National Midget start in June at Montpelier, Ind., will make a rare Midget appearance and will pilot an RMS team car alongside teammate Thomas Meseraull.
Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) is a 10-time USAC National Sprint winner and a midget victor indoors last December at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin. In three Tri-State midget races, he's finished 10th in 2010, 3rd in 2011 and 12th in 2012. He holds the Tri-State Speedway 10-lap track record of 2:20.38, set on May 21, 2011.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) finished 2nd in USAC's most recent midget appearance at Tri-State in 2012. The 2017 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ is a winner at Tri-State in a sprint car, winning in the spring of 2017 en route to the series title. Windom, who's won his first two career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races in 2019 at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway and Pennsylvania's Grandview Speedway, was 5th in September's Haubstadt Hustler sprint race at Tri-State.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point leader Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) recently took 2nd at the same Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State after earlier winning his heat, equaling his best career showing at the track after leading 12 laps and finishing as the runner-up spot in the 2016 edition of the event. He recently won both the USAC Midget and Sprint portion of September's 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora coming into his first midget try at Tri-State on Saturday.
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has had a high rate of success in a sprint car over the years at Tri-State, but Saturday marks just his second midget race there. In fact, that first start in 2012 at Tri-State was Leary's first career USAC National Midget feature start, finishing 33rd. He won his heat and finished third in the recent Haubstadt Hustler sprint race in September. Leary was victorious three times with MSCS in 2018 at Tri-State, capturing the Sprint Stampede, the Hoosier Sprint Nationals and the Harvest Cup.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) was the fastest qualifier in both July's Indiana Sprint Week and September's Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State. He finished 3rd in July and was running 4th in September when he ramped over the infield tire off turn four. Grant was perfect in June at Gas City during June's Indiana Midget Week, leading all 30 laps on the way to his lone midget victory of the season.
Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was charging hard in September's Haubstadt Hustler until, with three laps to go, heartbreak befell him while running 4th after starting 21st, as he slowed to a stop in turn two, ending his night. McDougal was a 3rd place finisher at the 2018 Haubstadt Hustler and 9th in July in his two other previous USAC starts, all of which came in a sprint car for July's USAC Midget winner in Fairbury, Neb.
Two-time USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) was the fastest qualifier for the 2012 Hut 100 at Tri-State Speedway. He led 82 of the 100 laps and was in front on the white flag lap when a suspension piece on the left-rear went awry, relegating him to 6th at the finish. He's been strong in each of his other three USAC Midget starts at Tri-State with a 5th in 2007, 2nd in 2010 and 5th in 2011.
Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.) has made three previous appearances at Tri-State in a sprint car and twice in a midget. He took 17th in the last USAC Midget event at Tri-State in 2012 and was 5th in a run with POWRi there in 2014. Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.) made a pair of POWRi starts at Tri-State in 2015, a 13th and a 9th.
Reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) was superb in his USAC Sprint Car debut at Tri-State in the spring of 2018, qualifying 2nd and finishing 3rd. September BC39 winner Zeb Wise (Angola, Ind.) had a solid run in his NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws debut last Sunday at Tri-State, finishing 14th. In Chad Boat's (Phoenix, Ariz.) two previous Tri-State USAC Sprint appearances, he qualified 2nd and 1st, and collected a 3rd place feature finish during the Indiana Sprint Week round in 2009.
Several drivers will be making their first trek to Tri-State this Saturday night, including July Sweet Springs, Mo. winner Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, Calif.), top Rookie Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.), Karsyn Elledge (Mooresville, N.C.) and Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) among others.
Prior to Saturday's race at Tri-State, the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets will be in action on Thursday night, October 17, at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Illinois.
Saturday's Harvest Cup will also feature the Brandeis Midwest Sprint Car Series and MMSA Mini Sprints. Pits open at 2:30pm central, grandstands at 3:30pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and hot laps at 5pm. Adult general admission tickets are $25, students are $20 and age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 apiece.
You can watch LIVE flag-to-flag coverage of the Jason Leffler Memorial on FloRacing. Live audio of the event can be heard on the USAC app. Follow along with live updates on www.facebook.com/usacracing & www.twitter.com/USACNation and live timing and scoring on the Race-Monitor and USAC apps.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,601, 2-Chris Windom-1,465, 3-Logan Seavey-1,424, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,351, 5-Zeb Wise-1,341, 6-Chad Boat-1,255, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,203, 8-Jerry Coons, Jr.-1,179, 9-Jason McDougal-1,097, 10-Tucker Klaasmeyer-1,084. TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS: 1. (1) Brady Bacon, Barry Butterworth, Lonnie Caruthers, Bryan Clauson, Zach Daum, Mike McGreevy, Johnny Parsons, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. & Sleepy Tripp TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS: 1969: Mike McGreevy (6/27) 1978: Sleepy Tripp (5/5) 1979: Johnny Parsons (6/15) & Barry Butterworth (8/24) 1980: Lonnie Caruthers (5/2) 2007: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (5/12) 2010: Bryan Clauson (5/8) 2011: Zach Daum (5/21) 2012: Brady Bacon (6/2) PAST USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RESULTS AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY:
2012: 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Ryan Bernal, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Brett Anderson, 9. Levi Roberts, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Andrew Felker, 12. Thomas Meseraull, 13. Davey Ray, 14. Mario Clouser, 15. Bobby East, 16. Caleb Armstrong, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Rico Abreu, 19. Cameron Hagin, 20. Dalton Armstrong, 21. Zach Daum, 22. Austin Brown, 23. Bubba Altig, 24. Chett Gehrke, 25. Colten Cottle, 26. Andy Malpocker, 27. Ryan Criswell, 28. Ted Hines, 29. Tyler Robbins, 30. Daniel Robinson, 31. Tracy Hines, 32. Mike Hess, 33. C.J. Leary, 34. Jimmy Simpson.
2011: 1. Zach Daum, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Darren Hagen, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Caleb Armstrong, 8. Davey Ray, 9. Bobby East, 10. Kyle Larson, 11. Kellen Conover, 12. Levi Jones, 13. Mario Clouser, 14. Travis Berryhill, 15. John Campbell, 16. Levi Roberts, 17. Bubba Altig, 18. Shane Cockrum, 19. Tanner Swanson, 20. Kody Aldrich, 21. Brady Bacon, 22. Kody Swanson, 23. Jimmy Simpson, 24. Seth Motsinger, 25. Kent Schmidt, 26. Chase Barber, 27. Michael Koontz, 28. Tyler Robbins, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Mike Hess, 31. Brad Kuhn, 32. Doug Day, 33. Dalton Armstrong.
2010: 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Shane Hmiel, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Dereck King, 7. Nick Knepper, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Brad Loyet, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Henry Clarke, 12. Brad Kuhn, 13. Tim Siner, 14. Daniel Adler, 15. Shane Cockrum, 16. Kyle Hamilton, 17. Mario Clouser, 18. Tyler Robbins, 19. Levi Jones, 20. Kent Schmidt, 21. Hud Cone, 22. Bobby East, 23. Tracy Hines, 24. Austin Brown, 25. Davey Ray, 26. Evan Lents, 27. Alex Bowman, 28. Darren Hagen, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Kellen Conover, 31. Andrew Felker, 32. Levi Roberts, 33. Travis Berryhill.
2007: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2. Hud Cone, 3. Darren Hagen, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Cole Carter, 7. Davey Ray, 8. Tom Hessert III, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Danny Stratton, 11. Kevin Swindell, 12. Shane Cottle, 13. Mike Hess, 14. Bobby East, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Brad Loyet, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Mat Neely, 19. Gary Taylor, 20. Donnie Lehmann, 21. A.J. Felker, 22. Nick Knepper, 23. Damion Gardner, 24. Josh Wise, 25. Dave Darland.
1980: 1. Lonnie Caruthers, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Johnny Parsons, 4. Sleepy Tripp, 5. Steve Lotshaw, 6. Jeff Heywood, 7. Mel Kenyon, 8. Bob Wente, 9. Nick Gojmeric, 10. Marty Davis, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Dave Keith, 13. Bob Bennett, 14. Kenneth Nichols, 15. Alan Brown, 16. Jerry Nuckles, 17. Tracy Potter, 18. Bob Carey, 19. Bobby Grim, Jr., 20. Jerry Harris.
1979: (8/24) 1. Barry Butterworth, 2. Sleepy Tripp, 3. Rich Vogler, 4. Bob Wente, 5. Mel Kenyon, 6. Steve Lotshaw, 7. Lonnie Caruthers, 8. Chuck Gurney, 9. Ken Schrader, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Nick Gojmeric, 13. Chris Cumberworth, 14. Jerry Weeks, 15. Kenneth Nichols, 16. Bob Bennett, 17. Bill Renshaw, 18. Stan Fox, 19. Dave Ray, 20. Danny Frye, Jr.
1979: (6/15) 1. Johnny Parsons, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Steve Lotshaw, 4. Dana Carter, 5. Rick Goudy, 6. Rich Vogler, 7. Wes Stafford, 8. Barry Butterworth, 9. Stan Fox, 10. Lonnie Caruthers, 11. Lee Carey, 12. Ken Schrader, 13. Terry Wente, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Steve Cannon, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Ron Mullen, 18. Bob Wente, 19. Jerry Nuckles, 20. Chuck Gurney.
1978: 1. Sleepy Tripp, 2. Ron Shuman, 3. Lonnie Caruthers, 4. Mel Kenyon, 5. Steve Cannon, 6. Larry Gates, 7. Jeff Heywood, 8. Mack McClellan, 9. Steve Lotshaw, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Ron Eden, 12. Dave Stoltz, 13. Bubby Jones, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Rich Vogler, 16. Jerry Weeks, 17. Stan Fox, 18. Chris Cumberworth, 19. Kevin Olson, 20. Wes Stafford.
1969: 1. Mike McGreevy, 2. Dave Strickland, 3. Roger West, 4. Les Scott, 5. Clark Templeman, 6. George McBeath, 7. Gary Irvin, 8. Dave Ward, 9. Bill Renshaw, 10. Sonny Ates, 11. Mel Cornett, 12. Rob Greentree, 13. Merle Bettenhausen, 14. Bob Tattersall, 15. Larry Kirkpatrick, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Jack Fitzpatrick, 18. Steve Troxell. |
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| Chris Windom (#5G) won the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Midwest finale in 2016 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track where the series returns this Friday night, Oct. 11, for the Wabash Clash.
(Cameron Neveu Photo) |
LAST DANCE FOR USAC SPRINTS IN THE MIDWEST AT TERRE HAUTE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (October 9, 2019).........The last dance. The last chance. One more time for USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing in the Midwest before heading westward bound comes to Indiana's Terre Haute Action Track this Friday night, October 11.
Finishing the season out west has been a tradition for the series since the CRA Sprint Car division came under the USAC banner in 2004. This year's swing brings the club to California's Perris Auto Speedway for the Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by All Coast Construction on Nov. 7-8-9 and to Arizona Speedway for the Western World Championships on Nov. 15-16.
Since that point 15 years ago, several drivers have been able to ride the wave of momentum from east of the Mississippi to the west at the end of the year. This Friday's contest at Terre Haute could be the boon a team and driver are seeking to give them the extra boost on their haul to west.
In 2005, Dave Darland won the final Midwest race of the season on the paved high banks of Indiana's Winchester Speedway. The USAC Triple Crown champ carried the "mo" to the west immediately after where he won the final night of both the Oval Nationals and Western World, which was then held at the now-defunct Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz.
Levi Jones was the most consistent driver of his era, owning the Midwest finales in both 2010 and 2011 at Ohio's Eldora Speedway and Indiana's Lawrenceburg Speedway, respectively. Following his Eldora triumph in 2010, Jones captured the first night of Perris en route to the series title. In 2011, Jones followed up with a victory in the season finale, at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., which resulted in a second consecutive championship for the Olney, Ill. native.
Bryan Clauson controlled the Fall Nationals at Lawrenceburg in 2013, then set forth with another win in the Western World opener at Arizona's Canyon Speedway Park to start off the western trail. The end result was a second consecutive USAC National Sprint Car driving title. The ensuing year, in 2014, saw BC rack up a second-straight Fall Nationals score followed by a win in the finale at Canyon. Although, he'd settle for a second-place finish in the final series standings.
In recent years, Terre Haute has served as the Midwest season finale where, in 2016, Chris Windom snared a wild victory on the half-mile, then immediately swept the first two nights of Western World at the event's new home, Arizona Speedway.
Kevin Thomas, Jr. won at Terre Haute in October of 2017, then went on to capture the finale at Perris Auto Speedway's Oval Nationals. After a rain out at Terre Haute in 2018, in retrospect, Lawrenceburg served as the final showcase in the Midwest, where Justin Grant was in the midst of one of the hottest streaks of success in recent years. After The Burg, Grant won three of the next four out west, notching the opener at Arizona and doubling-up at Perris.
While success in the Midwest season finale isn't necessarily a make-or-break deal among the competitors, it certainly doesn't hurt to have good vibes as you stare through the windshield of the hauler on the trek to the west. And, of course, the alternative feeling isn't as ideal.
The warmer weather isn't merely an exclusive attribute of the west during this time of the year. The warm fuzzy feelings of success carried by a driver and team with them on the road almost makes one feel like they're already there, a notion that can very well begin this Friday at Terre Haute.
The Wabash Clash featuring the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and DIRTcar Modifieds is this Friday, October 11, at the Terre Haute Action Track in Terre Haute, Ind. Pits open at 3pm Eastern, grandstands at 4pm, drivers meeting at 6pm and cars on track at 6:30pm.
Adult general admission tickets are $25, adult reserved grandstands are $30. Children 11 and under general admission tickets are free, and $10 for reserved grandstand. Adult infield tickets are $15. Kids 11 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.
Friday's Wabash Clash can be watched LIVE exclusively on FloRacing. Fans can also listen to live audio on the USAC app and follow along with live time and scoring on both the Race-Monitor and USAC apps. FINAL USAC SPRINT WINNERS BEFORE HEADING WEST: 2004: Jon Stanbrough (Dixie Speedway / Woodstock, Ga.) 2005: Dave Darland (Winchester Speedway / Winchester, Ind.) 2006: Daron Clayton (Terre Haute Action Track / Terre Haute, Ind.) 2007: Robert Ballou (Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, Ohio) 2008: Brady Bacon (Winchester Speedway / Winchester, Ind.) 2009: Dave Darland (Winchester Speedway / Winchester, Ind.) 2010: Levi Jones (Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, Ohio) 2011: Levi Jones (Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, Ind.) 2012: Chase Stockon (Terre Haute Action Track / Terre Haute, Ind.) 2013: Bryan Clauson (Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, Ind.) 2014: Bryan Clauson (Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, Ind.) 2015: Thomas Meseraull (Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, Ind.) 2016: Chris Windom (Terre Haute Action Track / Terre Haute, Ind.) 2017: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Terre Haute Action Track / Terre Haute, Ind.) 2018: Justin Grant (Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, Ind.) | Sleepy Tripp in the Zarounian No. 67 at California's Ascot Park on April 28, 1985.
(Wendell Bundy Photo) |
TRIPP AND ZAROUNIAN NAMED TURKEY NIGHT GRAND MARSHALS
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Ventura, California (October 8, 2019).........USAC West Coast Midget racing legends Sleepy Tripp and Gary Zarounian have been named co-grand marshals for the 79th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix on Thanksgiving Night, November 28, at California's Ventura Raceway.
Tripp, of Costa Mesa, Calif., scored more USAC Midget victories (total National and Regional) than anyone in history. His total of 161 lists him third on the all-time USAC win list (all series) behind Rich Vogler (171) and A.J. Foyt (162). The 1986 National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee won a pair of USAC National Midget titles (1975 and 1976) and seven championships in USAC's Western Midget Series.
Tripp also earned notoriety for his exploits in New Zealand, which resulted in numerous major race victories and championships, including an amazing nine wins in the prestigious 50-Lap Classic at Auckland. In 1985 and 1987, he also won the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas. In addition to his United States and New Zealand successes, his career also included victories in Australia and Canada.
Zarounian, of Visalia, Calif., whose family owned and operated car dealerships throughout central California, immersed himself in not only auto racing but also in numerous business ventures. The Zarounian team hired the best drivers in the business and their success was immense. In addition to eight USAC Silver Crown victories and 11 in the USAC National Midget wars, the team fielded cars for drivers like Tripp.
During the 1980s and 1990s the Tripp-Zarounian Western team was nearly unbeatable. Tripp won 78 USAC Western States Midget races aboard Zarounian's immaculately-prepared No. 67. In all, Zarounian cars won 88 total Western States Midget features between 1983 and 2000 with drivers Tripp, Ken Nichols, Jeff Gordon, Donnie Beechler, Pat Bliss and Tony Hunt. Nine of Zarounian's 88 victories came at Ventura Raceway, all with Tripp. Zarounian was previously inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
The 2019 edition of the Turkey Night Grand Prix begins Wednesday, November 27 and closes out on Thursday, November 28, the 98-lap main event for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National and Western States Midgets. Also in action both nights are the USAC West Coast and VRA 360 Sprint Cars, who'll clash in special non-point races and the finale of the ARP Battle of the Beach mini-series.
Advance tickets for the Turkey Night Grand Prix are available online through www.venturaraceway.com or by calling (805) 648-7223. Ventura Raceway is located on the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 West Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, California. | September Terre Haute USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner Justin Grant is back on the saddle this Friday, October 11, on the half-mile.
(Ryan Sellers Photo) |
WABASH CLASH USAC SPRINT RACE PREVIEW
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (October 7, 2019).........The final stretch of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season is about to commence, but first things first, it's time for one more round at western Indiana's legendary Terre Haute Action Track this Friday, October 11, for the Wabash Clash as the series bids adieu to the Midwest before heading west. in for the season closers in November.
The last time out at Terre Haute, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) led all 30 laps to win September's Jim Hurtubise Classic for his first career sprint car score on the half-mile. In fact, he's won twice at Terre Haute under the USAC banner, capturing his first main event victory there in 2018's Sumar Classic Silver Crown 100-lapper. He's been a force at Terre Haute this year in USAC Sprint Car competition, finishing 5th in May, then leading a race-high 21 laps en route to a 2nd place finish in July.
Like Grant, series point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has won once at Terre Haute before in a Silver Crown car, doing so in the 2016 Sumar Classic. He's still seeking his first USAC Sprint win at Terre Haute, however, after setting quick time in May where he finished 9th after encountering late-race trouble. He won his heat and took 6th in July followed by a 5th place run in September.
Three-time Terre Haute USAC Sprint winner Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) stands a mere 47 points behind Leary in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship race with six events remaining. Courtney swept the night in July at Terre Haute by recording fast time, winning his heat race, then scoring the feature win where he led the final eight laps en route to the checkered. He also collected 3rd place results at Terre Haute in both May and September of this year, the latter of which he won his heat and was the night's hard charger after starting 9th.
Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) is the series' most recent winner, connecting on his second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the season last Saturday at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. He's a two-time USAC Sprint winner at Terre Haute, first finding victory lane in 2013 and again in 2017 during the most recent October race at the track. He won his heats in both May and July and took home a 3rd place finish during July's feature and a 2nd in September.
Of Friday's expected entrants for the Wabash Clash, no driver owns more USAC Sprint victories at Terre Haute than Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) with four. He won twice in 2011, once again in October of 2016 and for the fourth time in the Fall of 2017. He also was victorious in a Silver Crown car at Terre Haute in 2017. He was 2nd in May at Terre Haute and 5th in July where he led the opening lap of the main. In September, the 2016 USAC Silver Crown and 2017 Sprint champ was the Fatheadz Eyewear fast qualifier and finished 4th.
Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) had his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car triumph occur right at Terre Haute in October of 2012. He's won twice since then at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds racetrack with the second coming in the summer of 2016 and, most recently, this past May where he led all 30 laps on his way to victory. In fact, he's led all 30 laps in all three of his Terre Haute USAC victories. He's already won the other three Terre Haute USAC Sprint Car races on the schedule - the Tony Hulman Classic, Jim Hurtubise Classic and Don Smith Classic, and a first Wabash Clash win on Friday would make him the first driver to accomplish the feat of winning all four.
Twice a winner at the Action Track with the USAC Sprint Cars is Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.), who won the final USAC Sprint races held at Terre Haute in both 2014 and 2018. The two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ in 2014 and 2016 was 6th in May and 4th in July, where he collected hard charger honors after starting from the 14th position.
Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was 7th in May and 6th in September at Terre Haute. Isaac Chapple (Willow Branch, Ind.) was the hard charger in May's Hulman Classic, finishing 10th after starting 16th. Max Adams (Loomis, Calif.) collected an 8th in July in an impressive series debut at the track. Likewise, Nick Bilbee (Indianapolis, Ind.) was 8th in September at Terre Haute, beginning a stretch of three-straight top-ten finishes with the series that remains active coming into Friday's race. Josh Hodges (Tijeras, N.M.) notched a 9th in September with the series. Leading series Rookie Dustin Clark (Washington, Ind.) was 19th in July and 15th in September during his first two career appearances at Terre Haute.
Of note, it's been 20 years since at least four different drivers have claimed USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories at Terre Haute in a single season. Stockon, Courtney and Grant have already won this year entering Friday's race. In 1999, there were five different winners: Tracy Hines, Tony Jones, Jerry Coons, Jr., Frankie Kerr and Terry Pletch.
The Wabash Clash featuring the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and DIRTcar Modifieds is this Friday, October 11, at the Terre Haute Action Track in Terre Haute, Ind. Pits open at 3pm Eastern, grandstands at 4pm, drivers meeting at 6pm and cars on track at 6:30pm. Adult general admission tickets are $25, adult reserved grandstands are $30. Children 11 and under general admission tickets are free, and $10 for reserved grandstand. Adult infield tickets are $15. Kids 11 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-2,003, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,956, 3-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,861, 4-Justin Grant-1,850, 5-Chris Windom-1,843, 6-Brady Bacon-1,837, 7-Chase Stockon-1,757, 8-Jason McDougal-1,483, 9-Carson Short-1,361, 10-Isaac Chapple-1,193
TERRE HAUTE ACTION TRACK USAC SPRINT CAR WINS: (162 Points Races & 1 Special Event)
1. (8) Gary Bettenhausen & Jack Hewitt
3. (6) Bubby Jones, Sheldon Kinser & J.J. Yeley
6. (5) Jim Hurtubise, Levi Jones, Jon Stanbrough & Rich Vogler
10. (4) Bud Kaeding, Roger McCluskey & Chris Windom
13. (3) Don Branson, Steve Butler, Pancho Carter, Daron Clayton, Jerry Coons, Jr, Tyler Courtney, Jay Drake, Cary Faas, Tracy Hines, Rick Hood, Joe Saldana & Chase Stockon
25. (2) Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Rollie Beale, Tom Bigelow, Dave Darland, Cory Kruseman, Johnny Rutherford, Dick Tobias, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Bruce Walkup & Greg Weld
36. (1) Billy Cassella, Steve Chassey, Bryan Clauson, Mel Cornett, Larry Dickson, Ed Elisian, Tony Elliott, Aaron Farney, A.J. Foyt, Justin Grant, Richard Griffin, Chuck Gurney, Tommy Hinnershitz, Tray House, Chet Johnson, Tony Jones, Doug Kalitta, Frankie Kerr, Steve Kinser, Eddie Leavitt, Andy Linden, Bobby Marshman, Charlie Masters, Rusty McClure, James McElreath, Jim McElreath, Jim McWithey, Jan Opperman, Terry Pletch, Larry Rice, Eddie Sachs, Sam Sessions, Ron Shuman, George Snider, Robbie Stanley, Brad Sweet, Kevin Thomas & Bobby Unser
TERRE HAUTE ACTION TRACK USAC SPRINT CAR WINNERS: 1957: Ed Elisian (6/16) & Andy Linden (8/18) 1958: Eddie Sachs (6/22) & Tommy Hinnershitz (8/17) 1959: Don Branson (6/21) & Jim McWithey (8/16) 1960: Don Branson (6/12) & Jim Hurtubise (8/21) 1961: Jim Hurtubise (6/11) & Jim Hurtubise (8/13) 1962: Jim Hurtubise (6/17) & Jim Hurtubise (8/12) 1963: Roger McCluskey (6/16) & Bobby Marshman (8/11) 1964: A.J. Foyt (6/14) & Don Branson (8/9) 1965: Johnny Rutherford (6/13) & Johnny Rutherford (8/15) 1966: Roger McCluskey (6/19), Roger McCluskey (6/19) & Roger McCluskey (9/14) 1967: Bobby Unser (6/11), Greg Weld (6/11), Rollie Beale (8/13) & Greg Weld (9/10) 1968: Gary Bettenhausen (6/16), Larry Dickson (8/11) & Gary Bettenhausen (9/8) 1969: Gary Bettenhausen (8/10) & Gary Bettenhausen (10/19) 1970: Jim McElreath (6/21), Dick Tobias (8/9) & Bruce Walkup (9/13) 1971: George Snider (5/1) & Gary Bettenhausen (8/8) 1972: Bruce Walkup (4/30), Charlie Masters (6/11) & Rollie Beale (8/19) 1973: Joe Saldana (5/5), Mel Cornett (6/9) 7 Sammy Sessions (8/5) 1974: Gary Bettenhausen (4/14) & Sheldon Kinser (8/4) 1975: Pancho Carter (5/4), Joe Saldana (6/1), Gary Bettenhausen (8/3) & Tom Bigelow (9/21) 1976: Jan Opperman (5/1), Tom Bigelow (6/6), Gary Bettenhausen (8/1) & Chuck Gurney (10/31) 1977: James McElreath (5/7), Sheldon Kinser (6/5), Bubby Jones (7/31) & Pancho Carter (9/25) 1978: Dick Tobias (5/6), Billy Cassella (6/4) & Bubby Jones (9/24) 1979: Pancho Carter (5/5), Bubby Jones (5/6), Bubby Jones (6/3), Bubby Jones (8/5) & Bubby Jones (9/23) 1980: Eddie Leavitt (5/3), Steve Chassey (5/4), Joe Saldana (6/29), Rich Vogler (8/3) & Rich Vogler (9/21) 1981: Sheldon Kinser (5/3), Rich Vogler (8/9) & Sheldon Kinser (9/7) 1982: Chet Johnson (5/9), Sheldon Kinser (6/20), Steve Kinser (8/8) & Larry Rice (9/5) 1983: Jack Hewitt (5/8), Rich Vogler (6/19) & Jack Hewitt (8/28) 1984: Rick Hood (6/10) & Steve Butler (8/26) 1985: Ron Shuman (5/5), Rick Hood (6/9) & Rick Hood (8/25) 1986: Rich Vogler (5/4) & Sheldon Kinser (8/3) 1987: Steve Butler (5/3) & Steve Butler (5/23) 1992: Rusty McClure (7/12) & Cary Faas (10/11) 1993: Dave Darland (5/2) & Robbie Stanley (7/11) 1994: Cary Faas (5/1) & Tray House (7/17) 1995: Jack Hewitt (4/30) & Jack Hewitt (7/16) 1996: Doug Kalitta (5/12), Kevin Thomas (7/12) & Jack Hewitt (10/5) 1997: J.J. Yeley (6/27), J.J. Yeley (7/23) & Jack Hewitt (10/4) 1998: Cary Faas (5/29) & Tony Elliott (8/14) 1999: Tracy Hines (5/8), Tony Jones (6/17), Jerry Coons, Jr. (6/18), Frankie Kerr (6/19) & Terry Pletch (7/21) 2000: Jay Drake (6/15), Richard Griffin (6/16), Jay Drake (6/18) & Jay Drake (7/28) 2001: Tracy Hines (5/19), Bud Kaeding (10/20) & Bud Kaeding (10/20) 2002: Jon Stanbrough (5/11), Cory Kruseman (7/27) & J.J. Yeley (10/5) 2003: J.J. Yeley (5/17), Tracy Hines (7/26), J.J. Yeley (8/14 Special Event) & J.J. Yeley (10/4) 2004: Cory Kruseman (5/22), J.J. Yeley (7/24) & Bud Kaeding (9/4) 2005: Levi Jones (7/22), Levi Jones (9/30) & Levi Jones (10/1) 2006: Daron Clayton (10/6) & Daron Clayton (10/7) 2007: Jon Stanbrough (5/19) 2009: Levi Jones (5/21), Brad Sweet (7/15) & Jon Stanbrough (9/12) 2010: Jerry Coons, Jr. (5/27), Jon Stanbrough (7/14) & Jon Stanbrough (9/11) 2011: Chris Windom (7/13) & Chris Windom (9/10) 2012: Bud Kaeding (5/24), Daron Clayton (7/18) & Chase Stockon (10/12) 2013: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7/17) & Jerry Coons, Jr. (8/31) 2014: Dave Darland (5/21), Bryan Clauson (7/16) & Brady Bacon (9/18) 2015: Aaron Farney (7/15) & Robert Ballou (9/18) 2016: Robert Ballou (5/25), Chase Stockon (7/17) & Chris Windom (10/15) 2017: Chris Windom (9/15) & Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10/14) 2018: Tyler Courtney (5/23), Tyler Courtney (7/25) & Brady Bacon (9/14) 2019: Chase Stockon (5/22), Tyler Courtney (7/24) & Justin Grant (9/13) 
| The four-wide salute at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., where the 2020 USAC National season kicks off for Winter Dirt Games XI.
(Dave Olson Photo) |
WINTER DIRT GAMES XI DATES SET FOR FEBRUARY 2020
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (October 4, 2019).........The decade of the 2020s for USAC racing gets underway in grand fashion over two consecutive weekends in February of 2020 with National Sprint Car and Midget racing in the state of Florida at Ocala, Florida's Bubba Raceway Park.
The festivities begin on Thursday, February 6, with a practice night for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, followed by two-straight nights of complete shows for the series at the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track on Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8.
The action picks up again at Bubba's a few days later with USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship practice night on Wednesday, February 12, followed by three nights in a row of racing on Thursday, February 13, on Friday, February 14, and the finale on Saturday, February 15.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets made their debut at Bubba Raceway Park in 2018 with Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) sweeping both nights of feature events. Meanwhile, USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars saw three different winners in as many nights during their Sunshine State trip with races won by Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) and C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.).
"Winter Dirt Games in February is one of USAC's best traditions and is always one of our most looked-forward-to events," said Levi Jones, USAC Series Coordinator. "Last year was a thrilling two weekends with the addition of Midgets to the lineup and it's made this great event even greater. What a way to open up the season under the sunshine with both Midget and Sprint Car racing!"
While "Winter Dirt Games" has certainly proven to be a top-notch event among drivers seeking to get their season started off on the right foot, it's also been the same for fans who exit the winter weather for a much-needed foray into the "Sunshine State" to witness the series' lone appearance in the state during the year.
"This has become a must-see event that everybody circles on their calendars," track owner Tom Bean said. "We thoroughly enjoy the USAC fans and race teams that make the trip to Bubba Raceway Park each year for the Winter Dirt Games, and in 2020, the tradition continues while getting even bigger and better with two premier USAC divisions on board again. We can't wait to get the 2020 season started in a big way!"
Twenty-four USAC National Sprint Car events have been held at Bubba Raceway Park since 2011. Bryan Clauson remains the winningest USAC Sprint Car driver at Bubba's with four victories in four different seasons. Damion Gardner has won three times while Grant, Tracy Hines, Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney and Robert Ballou have each scored a pair of victories. Windom, Leary, Darren Hagen, Dave Darland, Thomas Meseraull, Chase Stockon and Hunter Schuerenberg have all won once.
The first three USAC Sprint Car races ever held took place in Florida in February of 1956. Bob Sweikert won the first such race at Southland Speedway in West Palm Beach, followed by Chuck Weyant at Jacksonville Speedway and Pat O'Connor at Medley Speedway in Miami.
Likewise, Florida and USAC Midget racing have a history dating back to the initial years of the club. Only 20 times have USAC Midgets ventured to Florida over the years. Prior to the 2018 visit to Bubba's, the series took part in a 11-race series entitled the Tangerine Tournament in early 1957. Jimmy Knight, Sonny McDaniel, Andy Linden, Al Keller, Al Alpern, Leroy Warriner and Len Duncan were among the winners held at several different Florida venues. Linden took home the overall Tangerine Tournament crown.
USAC Midgets took on the pavement of New Smyrna Speedway in 2013, won by Bobby Santos and Kyle Larson. The first USAC National Midget points races in Florida came in a week span during 1963. Johnny Riva and Bob Wente were victorious at Palmetto Speedway while Chuck Rodee and Wente also picked up victories at Golden Gate Speedway. It was another 42 years before the series returned in 2005 for a non-points special event at Orlando Speed World Speedway, won by Josh Wise.
Additional info on the events will be made public in the coming months. 
| Tyler Courtney (#7BC) has earned the three most recent "sweeps" in USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car competition.
(Dave Dellinger Photo) |
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE USAC SPRINT HAT TRICK
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (October 3, 2019).........Much ado is made about perfect games in the fields of baseball and bowling. However, a perfect game of sorts applies to the world of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing as well.
Like a pitcher throwing a complete game of hitless, walkless, runless, errorless baseball and a bowler rolling 12 straight strikes without a single pin left standing, a clean sweep with USAC involves setting fast time in qualifying, winning the first heat race, then adding the proverbial cherry on top with a feature victory, all within a single night.
That signifies the ultimate domination any driver can achieve in a racing night outside of leading every lap. Yet, in USAC, work has to be done to reach wins in heats and features for the fast qualifier due to the inversion, leaving a driver only 8 or 10 laps in the heat and 30 in the feature to race to first from their sixth starting position.
Over the past 16 months of action, only one driver has been able to pull off the accomplishment, Tyler Courtney, who has done it three teams over the last season-and-a-half, including last weekend at Eldora Speedway during the 4-Crown Nationals.
For Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), it was his third such sweep in that time period, all coming on three of the most famous half-mile dirt tracks in the USA, Iowa's Knoxville Raceway (2018), Indiana's Terre Haute Action Track (2019) and Ohio's Eldora Speedway (2019), quickly moving him up the charts of drivers with the most sweeps during their USAC Sprint career - a feat that's been done 113 times since 1961.
Now with three total sweeps in the series, Courtney has moved himself into a nine-way tie for third all-time, standing behind only the ultimate sweep king Rich Vogler (7), Parnelli Jones (6), Tom Bigelow, Larry Dickson and A.J. Foyt (5), Pancho Carter, Jack Hewitt, Jud Larson and Roger McCluskey (4) - all of whom are inductees into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
Among the venues where sweeps have taken place the most, the high majority of them are on the big tracks, those a half-mile in length or longer where cars and drivers can stretch their legs and have the room and the time to maneuver around traffic. Not to mention, all tracks within the top-five on the list have tenure, with roots that date back to the earliest years of USAC.
No single track comes close to Indiana's Winchester Speedway in that regard with 21 sweeps, nearly one-fifth of all on the list. Of the current venues on this year's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car schedule, Eldora is the leader in the clubhouse with 10 sweeps while Terre Haute has nine of its own.
Interestingly, 62 of the sweeps occurred in the first two decades of USAC's National Sprint Car series between 1961 and 1979, nearly 55 percent of all that have ever happened. Only 51 sweeps have happened in the four decades since beginning in 1980.
Theories can vary in that regard as to why. The disparity in quality equipment among teams from top-to-bottom in those days may have been larger than it is now, with several displaying their ability throughout a schedule consisting solely of half-mile tracks both dirt and paved, making it seemingly easier for passing opportunities.
Once the schedule began implementing tracks shorter in length starting in 1981, sweeps became less prevalent and only 10 such sweeps have occurred on tracks less than a half-mile since that time, the most recent one happening in May of 2018 at the 3/8-mile Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway by Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.).
Thomas and Courtney, along with Brady Bacon (Knoxville 2011) and Dave Darland (2015 Eagle), are among the four active series drivers with a USAC Sprint sweep on their resume entering this Saturday's Fall Nationals at Indiana's Lawrenceburg Speedway where a sweep has been performed just once, by Jack Hewitt in 1995 on the former quarter-mile configuration there. The series returns to the now 3/8-mile high-banked dirt oval this weekend.
Saturday is Pretty in Pink Night at the track. Wear a pink shirt to show support of Breast Cancer Awareness and receive a chance to win a $100 Kroger gift card from Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Pits open at 3pm Eastern, spectator gates open at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:30pm and cars on track at 6pm. General admission tickets are $25 for ages 13 and up, $7 for ages 7-12 and free for children age 6 and under. Pit passes are $30 apiece for all ages.
The Fall Nationals can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app. USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR COMPLETE SWEEPS: (113 times - updated 10/2/2019) 4/23/1961: Roger McCluskey at Williams Grove Speedway 6/25/1961: Parnelli Jones at New Bremen Speedway 7/4/1961: Parnelli Jones at Salem Speedway 7/23/1961: Parnelli Jones at Dayton Speedway 8/6/1961: A.J. Foyt at Salem Speedway 7/8/1962: Parnelli Jones at Indianapolis Raceway Park 7/29/1962: Roger McCluskey at Eldora Speedway 9/7/1962: Jim Hurtubise at Lancaster Speedway 9/22/1962: Parnelli Jones at the Allentown Fairgrounds 3/24/1963: A.J. Foyt at the Reading Fairgrounds 6/2/1963: Roger McCluskey at New Bremen Speedway 8/4/1963: Don Branson at Salem Speedway 8/25/1963: Chuck Hulse at New Bremen Speedway 3/24/1964: A.J. Foyt at the Reading Fairgrounds 6/14/1964: A.J. Foyt at the Terre Haute Action Track 7/4/1964: Bud Tingelstad at Salem Speedway 7/5/1964: Jud Larson at Eldora Speedway 7/18/1964: A.J. Foyt at Williams Grove Speedway 8/2/1964: Parnelli Jones at Salem Speedway 4/4/1965: Jud Larson at the Reading Fairgrounds 4/18/1965: Jud Larson at Eldora Speedway 5/9/1965: Jud Larson at Eldora Speedway 7/4/1965: Don Branson at Salem Speedway 8/15/1965: Johnny Rutherford at the Terre Haute Action Track 9/19/1965: Bobby Unser at Baer Field Raceway 6/11/1966: Bobby Unser at Reading Fairgrounds 7/10/1966: Roger McCluskey at Winchester Speedway 5/28/1967: Bob Wente at Winchester Speedway 9/1/1967: Ralph Liguori at Tri-City Speedway 4/19/1968: Larry Dickson at Heidelberg Raceway 6/2/1968: Larry Dickson at Dayton Speedway 6/21/1968: Gary Bettenhausen at Heidelberg Raceway 7/5/1968: Carl Williams at Lakeside Speedway 7/26/1968: Gary Bettenhausen at Stafford Springs Speedway 4/27/1969: Cy Fairchild at New Bremen Speedway 6/19/1969: Gary Bettenhausen at Reading Fairgrounds 8/22/1969: Greg Weld at Stafford Springs Speedway 6/26/1970: Larry Dickson at Berlin Raceway 5/15/1971: Sammy Sessions at Indianapolis Raceway Park 6/11/1971: Sammy Sessions at Berlin Raceway 6/19/1971: Mitch Smith at Williams Grove Speedway 6/27/1971: Larry Dickson at Winchester Speedway 7/17/1971: Mitch Smith at Selinsgrove Speedway 5/13/1972: Tom Bigelow at Indianapolis Raceway Park 6/24/1973: Jan Opperman at Williams Grove Speedway 7/13/1973: Tom Sneva at Sharon Speedway 8/26/1973: Jerry Hansen at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds 9/29/1973: Tom Sneva at Tri-County Speedway 10/7/1973: Tom Sneva at New Bremen Speedway 5/5/1974: Tom Bigelow at Tri-County Speedway 7/28/1974: Pancho Carter at Winchester Speedway 3/23/1975: Larry Dickson at the Reading Fairgrounds 5/3/1975: Pancho Carter at the Terre Haute Action Track 6/21/1975: Rollie Beale at Eldora Speedway 11/20/1976: Gary Patterson at Ascot Park 4/3/1977: Tom Bigelow at Winchester Speedway 5/15/1977: Pancho Carter at Winchester Speedway 9/17/1978: Bubby Jones at Eldora Speedway 5/28/1979: Tom Bigelow at Dayton Speedway 6/2/1979: Bubby Jones at Eldora Speedway 9/2/1979: Steve Chassey at Winchester Speedway 9/3/1979: Steve Chassey at Winchester Speedway 5/10/1980: Pancho Carter at Indianapolis Raceway Park 8/23/1980: Tom Bigelow at Hartford Speedway Park 5/5/1982: Jac Haudenschild at Millstream Motor Speedway 6/5/1982: Sheldon Kinser at Knoxville Raceway 6/6/1982: Jeff Swindell at I-70 Speedway 8/20/1982: Rich Vogler at Santa Fe Speedway 6/4/1983: Rich Vogler at Eldora Speedway 6/19/1983: Rich Vogler at the Terre Haute Action Track 4/1/1984: Jac Haudenschild at Eldora Speedway 5/4/1986: Rich Vogler at the Terre Haute Action Track 6/20/1987: Kenny Jacobs at K-C Raceway 7/30/1988: Rich Vogler at Winchester Speedway 8/24/1989: Rich Vogler at Indianapolis Raceway Park 8/26/1989: Rich Vogler at Winchester Speedway 6/9/1990: Jeff Gordon at Indianapolis Raceway Park 7/14/1990: Jack Hewitt at Richmond Raceway 10/21/1990: Steve Butler at Winchester Speedway 7/7/1991: Jack Hewitt at the Terre Haute Action Track 8/31/1991: Jack Hewitt at Tri-City Speedway 7/17/1993: Mike Bliss at Indianapolis Raceway Park 5/14/1994: Mike Bliss at Indianapolis Raceway Park 5/26/1994: Doug Kalitta at Winchester Speedway 7/16/1994: Doug Kalitta at Winchester Speedway 8/14/1994: Mike Bliss at Winchester Speedway 4/2/1995: Kenny Irwin, Jr. at Winchester Speedway 4/9/1995: Kenny Irwin, Jr. at Salem Speedway 7/1/1995: Jack Hewitt at Lawrenceburg Speedway 9/15/1995: Kenny Irwin, Jr. at Lakeside Speedway 9/16/1995: Tony Stewart at I-70 Speedway 4/12/1996: Dave Steele at Lakeside Speedway 7/26/1996: Kevin Thomas at Bloomington Speedway 5/22/1997: Brian Tyler at Winchester Speedway 8/27/1997: Doug Kalitta at Winchester Speedway 6/3/1998: Brian Tyler at Winchester Speedway 6/27/1998: Dave Steele at Winchester Speedway 8/15/1999: Ryan Newman at Winchester Speedway 5/6/2000: Jay Drake at Tri-City Speedway 6/10/2000: Tracy Hines at Indianapolis Raceway Park 8/11/2000: Jay Drake at Hartford Speedway Park 10/22/2000: Tracy Hines at Winchester Speedway 6/20/2002: J.J. Yeley at Fremont Speedway 5/17/2003: J.J. Yeley at the Terre Haute Action Track 6/18/2003: J.J. Yeley at Attica Raceway Park 7/26/2003: Tracy Hines at the Terre Haute Action Track 8/24/2005: Jay Drake at Tri-City Speedway 8/7/2011: Brady Bacon at Knoxville Raceway 4/24/2015: Dave Darland at Eagle Raceway 5/5/2018: Kevin Thomas, Jr. at Plymouth Speedway 6/9/2018: Tyler Courtney at Knoxville Raceway 7/24/2019: Tyler Courtney at the Terre Haute Action Track 9/28/2019: Tyler Courtney at Eldora Speedway SWEEPS IN USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR COMPETITION: (By Driver)
3. (5) Tom Bigelow, Larry Dickson & A.J. Foyt
6. (4) Pancho Carter, Jack Hewitt, Jud Larson & Roger McCluskey
10. (3) Gary Bettenhausen, Mike Bliss, Tyler Courtney, Jay Drake, Tracy Hines, Kenny Irwin, Jr., Doug Kalitta, Tom Sneva & J.J. Yeley
19. (2) Don Branson, Steve Chassey, Jac Haudenschild, Bubby Jones, Sammy Sessions, Mitch Smith, Dave Steele, Brian Tyler & Bobby Unser
28. (1) Brady Bacon, Rollie Beale, Steve Butler, Dave Darland, Cy Fairchild, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Hansen, Chuck Hulse, Jim Hurtubise, Kenny Jacobs, Sheldon Kinser, Ralph Liguori, Ryan Newman, Jan Opperman, Gary Patterson, Johnny Rutherford, Tony Stewart, Jeff Swindell, Kevin Thomas, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Bud Tingelstad, Greg Weld, Bob Wente and Carl Williams. SWEEPS IN USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR COMPETITION: (By Track) 1. (21) Winchester Speedway
3. (9) Indianapolis Raceway Park & Terre Haute Action Track
6. (6) Reading Fairgrounds
7. (5) New Bremen Speedway
8. (4) Lakeside Speedway, Tri-City Speedway & Williams Grove Speedway
11. (3) Dayton Speedway & Knoxville Raceway
13. (2) Berlin Raceway, Hartford Speedway Park, Heidelberg Raceway, I-70 Speedway, Stafford Springs Speedway & Tri-County Speedway
19. (1) Allentown Fairgrounds, Ascot Park, Attica Raceway Park, Baer Field Raceway, Bloomington Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Fremont Speedway, K-C Raceway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Millstream Motor Speedway, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, Plymouth Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Santa Fe Speedway, Selinsgrove Speedway & Sharon Speedway | Brady Bacon on the gas in the Hoffman No. 69 at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo) |
LAWRENCEBURG FALL NATIONALS TO HONOR RICHARD HOFFMAN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 2, 2019).........This Saturday's Fall Nationals at Indiana's Lawrenceburg Speedway will mark a tribute to Richard Hoffman, the venerable car owner from the winningest USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car team of all-time, Hoffman Auto Racing, who passed away this past April at the age of 76.
Hoffman Auto Racing, and later, Dynamics, Inc., notched 11 career USAC National Sprint Car owner titles in 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2016 with drivers Rich Vogler, Robbie Stanley, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Brady Bacon, who continues the legacy of the famed team to this day aboard the Mean Green No. 69.
Bacon and Richard immediately clicked and quickly found that each had the same desire and ethic required to win races and championships. It's a desire that led to Bacon becoming the team's winningest and longest-tenured driver in the nine-decade history of Hoffman Auto Racing, scoring the team's two most recent series championships and 19 USAC National Sprint Car wins, including one of the team's six USAC wins at Lawrenceburg.
"We had a great relationship over the years," Bacon said of Hoffman. "He gave me my entrance back into non-wing sprint car racing in 2013. We raced a few times before that, and I think we just got along really well. The Hoffmans, in general, are intense. They want to win, and they want to see someone put in as much effort and have as much drive in winning as they do. That was never an issue for us. We had our struggles at times and it's hard to get out of those slumps, but we were always able to do that and got two championships, which was awesome."
Along the way, lessons were learned by Bacon, many of which he applied to his own career as a car owner and driver.
"I just appreciate that I was taught things on what to spend your money on and what not to spend your money on," Bacon explained. "Obviously, their truck and trailer weren't on the top of the priority list. They always had good engines, always had good tires, always had fresh equipment and things like that. Their priorities were right, in my opinion. That's helped me now that I'm running some things on my own with my own equipment. It was a good run with Richard, and still being involved with the Hoffman's definitely created a unique friendship with the whole family. I'm definitely disappointed that he's not here with us anymore."
For Hoffman Auto Racing's VP of Marketing and Public Relations, Tim Waechter, he found once you're with the Hoffmans, you're forever a member of an exclusive group and create everlasting friendships, the kind he had with Richard.
"If you're part of the Hoffman team, you're part of the Hoffman team forever," Waechter said. "Richard was my best friend in life for the past 20 years. He was just such a competitor and we had so much time together as roommates on the road, talking about what happened that night and other things. He was just a great person, a very intelligent person and a competitor. Second just wasn't good enough; any driver can tell you that. Even up until the very end, he was so full of energy and passion for the sport like no other you ever seen."
Richard, of Milford, Ohio, began his racing career working for father Gus Hoffman's team in the initial season of USAC racing in 1956. Throughout the past six decades, Gus, Richard and, eventually, his son Rob, and Dynamics, Inc. would accumulate 120 USAC victories, dating back to Eddie Sachs' midget win at Ohio's Dayton Speedway in 1956 to Brady Bacon's four Sprint Car scores in 2019 at Indiana's Bloomington Speedway, Pennsylvania's Grandview Speedway and twice at Iowa's Knoxville Raceway.
In addition to those listed above, a who's who list of the top drivers of the era won USAC Sprint car features in top-flight Hoffman sprinters, including Jim Hemmings, Larry Cannon, Steve Butler, Cary Faas, Kenny Irwin, Jr., Andy Michner, Brian Tyler, Jon Stanbrough, Daron Clayton, Kyle Larson, Darren Hagen, Chad Boespflug and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Whether it was on pavement on dirt, Hoffman cars are tough to beat from the paved high banks of Winchester and Salem, to the dirt tracks of Eldora and Terre Haute, Manzanita and Perris. All of which were conquered by Hoffman racecars.
Richard, a 2013 inductee of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, was also an author of seven career USAC Silver Crown wins as a team owner, with Johnny Parsons, Pat Abold and Brian Tyler. With Tyler, the team claimed victory in the 1999 Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway.
Hoffman/Dynamics, Inc. also competed on the USAC Championship trail during the 1970s and 80s, making six starts with Larry Cannon (1974-76), Joe Saldana (1978-79), Jerry Sneva (1982) and Spike Gehlhausen (1984).
Pits open Saturday at Lawrenceburg at 3pm Eastern, spectator gates open at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:30pm and cars on track at 6pm. General admission tickets are $25 for ages 13 and up, $7 for ages 7-12 and free for children age 6 and under. Pit passes are $30 apiece for all ages.
The Fall Nationals can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app. |
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 | Justin Grant (#4) battles Brady Bacon at Lawrenceburg Speedway, host of this Saturday night's Fall Nationals.
(Dave Dellinger Photo) |
LAWRENCEBURG FALL NATIONALS PREVIEW
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (September 30, 2019).........This Saturday's 63rd appearance by the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship at Indiana's Lawrenceburg Speedway brings to us the 10th running of the Fall Nationals under USAC sanction on October 5.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) enters as the reigning Fall Nationals winner, leading the first lap and the final 18 laps in a spirited duel with Brady Bacon. He's riding a hot streak at The Burg as the winner of the two most recent series appearances, also capturing the win during July's Indiana Sprint Week round. In fact, four of Grant's 16 career USAC National Sprint wins have come at Lawrenceburg. He was also the fastest qualifier at Lawrenceburg during Indiana Midget Week in June. He has five top-five finishes at the Fall Nationals, including a 5th in 2013, a 4th in 2014, a 5th in 2016 and a 3rd in 2017.
The very first of Chase Stockon's 12 career USAC National Sprint Car victories came at the Fall Nationals in 2012. He's started all nine Fall Nationals under USAC sanction since 2009. The Fort Branch, Ind. native, who holds the ultimate ironman streak of 288 USAC National Sprint Car consecutive starts entering the weekend, also finished as the runner-up at the Fall Nationals in 2013.
Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) has three career USAC National Sprint Car feature wins at Lawrenceburg, twice in 2013 and again during the 2017 Fall Nationals. He also scored a 4th at the Fall Nationals in 2013, a runner-up finish in 2015 and a 5th place run in last year's event. He took a 4th in July at Lawrenceburg during Indiana Sprint Week.
Josh Hodges (Tijeras, N.M.) picked up his first and, thus far, only career USAC National Sprint Car feature win during the Fall Nationals in 2016. In fact, he's finished in the top-10 in all three of his Fall Nationals starts: 1st in 2016, 8th in 2017 and 10th in 2018. His 2016 run was the fastest 30-lap USAC Sprint Car race in the history of Lawrenceburg Speedway at 7:21.09.
Dave Darland (Lincoln, Ind.) is the winningest USAC National Sprint Car driver of all-time with 62 wins. He also holds the record for most USAC Sprint Car wins at Lawrenceburg with seven dating back to 1998. In Fall Nationals' past, he's been 3rd in both 2013 and 2016 and was 6th a year ago. Additionally, he set quick time during qualifying in both in 2014 and 2017. The USAC Triple Crown champ's most recent victory at the track came on Sept. 14 in a Lawrenceburg Sprint program.
Brady Bacon's lone USAC National Sprint Car win at Lawrenceburg came during the summer of 2015. The two-time USAC National Sprint Car champ from Broken Arrow, Okla. was the fastest qualifier at the 2011 Fall Nationals and has finished in the top-three in the event over the years, including 2nd in 2014, 4th in 2015 and a runner-up finish in 2018 where he led 11 laps.
Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the most recent USAC National Sprint Car feature winner last Saturday at Eldora Speedway where he became the first driver in the series this season to record a complete sweep of the night with fast qualifying time, a heat race win and a feature victory within a single night. The defending USAC Sprint champ has one career Lawrenceburg win with the series in 2018. He finished 5th in the Fall Nationals in 2017 and was 3rd in 2018.
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader and 2013 Lawrenceburg Speedway track champion C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has finished in the top-three twice at the Fall Nationals in his career. He was 3rd in 2015 and 2nd in 2017. In both 2015 and 2018, he was the fastest qualifier at the Fall Nationals and was so again this past July at Lawrenceburg during Indiana Sprint Week where he raced to a 3rd place finish in the main event. He carries a 58-point lead in the series standings entering the event.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) is the only driver to finish in the top-ten of all nine previous Fall Nationals run under the sanctioning of USAC, but the Spring 2017 winner remains on the hunt for his first Fall Nationals triumph. He was 3rd in 2009, 2nd in 2011, 2nd in 2012, 10th in 2013, 9th in 2014, 5th in 2015, 2nd in 2016, 7th in 2017 and 4th in 2018. He was 2nd in July at Lawrenceburg and was victorious there during Indiana Midget Week this past June.
Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was 17th during his first Fall Nationals run one year ago in 2018. The Bridgeport, N.J. Eastern Storm winner and Fairbury, Neb. Mid-America Midget week victor was 7th during his Lawrenceburg USAC Sprint Car return in July of this year. His Daigh/Phillips Motorsports team has been the fastest qualifier twice at the Fall Nationals, in 2014 with Darland and in 2016 with Stevie Sussex.
Isaac Chapple (Willow Branch, Ind.) enters the Fall Nationals after reeling off a pair of top-tens last weekend at Gas City and Eldora where he finished 9th in both. The 2016 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year has made three past Fall Nationals starts, finishing a best of 9th one year ago.
Dustin Clark (Washington, Ind.) has taken command of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year battle. He plans to make his first career Fall Nationals appearance this Saturday at Lawrenceburg where he's made one previous series start, a 14th place finish this past July.
Nick Bilbee (Indianapolis, Ind.) has won three times at Lawrenceburg this season in weekly Sprint Car competition and finished 4th in the track's standings for 2019. He was the fastest qualifier in USAC Sprint Car competition at Lawrenceburg during the summer of 2018. A 14th place finisher last year at the Fall Nationals, his best result in the event was an 11th in 2017.
Saturday is Pretty in Pink Night at the track. Wear a pink shirt to show support of Breast Cancer Awareness and receive a chance to win a $100 Kroger gift card from Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Pits open at 3pm Eastern, spectator gates open at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:30pm and cars on track at 6pm. General admission tickets are $25 for ages 13 and up, $7 for ages 7-12 and free for children age 6 and under. Pit passes are $30 apiece for all ages.
The Fall Nationals can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app. USAC SPRINT CAR FALL NATIONALS WINNERS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY: 2009: Damion Gardner 2011: Levi Jones 2012: Chase Stockon 2013: Bryan Clauson 2014: Bryan Clauson 2015: Thomas Meseraull 2016: Josh Hodges 2017: Kevin Thomas, Jr. 2018: Justin Grant USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY: (61 Points Races, 1 Special Event) 1. (7) Dave Darland 2. (5) Jon Stanbrough 3. (4) Justin Grant & Jack Hewitt 5. (3) Kevin Briscoe, Bryan Clauson, Rick Hood & Kevin Thomas, Jr. 9. (2) Tony Elliott, Levi Jones, Danny Milburn & Brian Tyler 14. (1) Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Jeff Bland, Jr., Mark Cassella, Jerry Coons, Jr., Tyler Courtney, Kevin Doty, Jay Drake, Dickie Gaines, Damion Gardner, Josh Hodges, Logan Jarrett, C.J. Leary, Thomas Meseraull, Rodney Ritter, Jr., Brady Short, Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas, Chris Windom, Josh Wise & J.J. Yeley USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY: 1983: Danny Milburn (9/18) 1984: Rick Hood (6/9) & Danny Milburn (9/16) 1985: Rick Hood (6/8) 1986: Rick Hood (6/7) 1988: Jack Hewitt (6/4) 1989: Rodney Ritter, Jr. (7/1) 1992: Kevin Thomas (8/8) 1993: Jack Hewitt (7/10) 1994: Jon Stanbrough (6/18) 1995: Jack Hewitt (7/1) 1996: Mark Cassella (8/31) 1997: Brian Tyler (7/19) & Brian Tyler (8/30) 1998: Kevin Doty (5/30), Dave Darland (7/18) & Dave Darland (8/29) 1999: Kevin Briscoe (6/5), Jack Hewitt (7/22) & Tony Elliott (8/28) 2000: Kevin Briscoe (7/22) & Tony Elliott (8/26) 2001: Dave Darland (7/26) 2002: Kevin Briscoe (7/25) 2003: J.J. Yeley (5/31), Jay Drake (6/1) & Jon Stanbrough (7/24) 2004: Jon Stanbrough (7/22) 2005: Dickie Gaines (7/21) 2006: Jon Stanbrough (4/22) 2007: Levi Jones (4/21), Jon Stanbrough (7/11) & Dave Darland (7/12) 2008: Jeff Bland (7/9) & Brady Short (7/10) 2009: Josh Wise (4/18), Dave Darland (7/10), Jerry Coons Jr. (8/22 Special Event) & Damion Gardner (10/2) 2010: Jerry Coons Jr. (4/17) & Dave Darland (7/9) 2011: Robert Ballou (7/10), Levi Jones (10/1) 2012: Justin Grant (7/15) & Chase Stockon (9/29) 2013: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4/6), Kevin Thomas Jr. (7/14) & Bryan Clauson (9/28) 2014: Justin Grant (4/5) & Bryan Clauson (9/27) 2015: Logan Jarrett (4/4), Brady Bacon (7/12) & Thomas Meseraull (10/3) 2016: Dave Darland (4/2), Bryan Clauson (7/10) & Josh Hodges (10/1) 2017: Chris Windom (4/1), C.J. Leary (7/9) & Kevin Thomas, Jr. (9/30) 2018: Tyler Courtney (7/22) & Justin Grant (9/29) 2019: Justin Grant (7/21) PAST FALL NATIONALS USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RESULTS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY 2009 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cole Whitt, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Jon Stanbrough, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Levi Jones, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 10. Scotty Weir, 11. Dave Darland, 12. Jeff Bland Jr., 13. Nic Faas, 14. Bobby East, 15. Darren Hagen, 16. Casey Riggs, 17. Brady Short, 18. Bryan Clauson, 19. Jesse Hockett, 20. Brady Bacon, 21. John Memmer, 22. Chad Boat, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Chase Stockon. FAST QUALIFIER: Jon Stanbrough 2011 1. Levi Jones, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Hunter Schuerenberg, 4. Casey Riggs, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Jon Stanbrough, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Ted Hines, 9. Bobby East, 10. Bryan Clauson, 11. Jac Haudenschild, 12. Brady Short, 13. Chad Boespflug, 14. Blake Fitzpatrick, 15. Damion Gardner, 16. Matt Westfall, 17. Logan Hupp, 18. Chase Stockon, 19. Jonathan Hendrick, 20. Brady Bacon, 21. Coleman Gulick, 22. Justin Grant, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Critter Malone. NT FAST QUALIFIER: Brady Bacon 2012 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Jon Stanbrough, 12. Bobby East, 13. Logan Hupp, 14. C.J. Leary, 15. Robert Ballou, 16. Scotty Weir, 17. Brady Short, 18. Wes McIntyre, 19. Dave Darland, 20. Jonathan Hendrick, 21. Dakota Jackson, 22. Daron Clayton, 23. Coleman Gulick. FAST QUALIFIER: Coleman Gulick 2013 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Justin Grant, 6. Gary Taylor, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Chad Boespflug, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Shawn Westerfeld, 12. Daron Clayton, 13. Kyle Cummins, 14. Robert Ballou, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Joss Moffatt, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Ted Hines, 20. Scotty Weir, 21. Tyler Courtney, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. Matt Westfall. FAST QUALIFIER: Bryan Clauson 2014 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Dave Darland, 11. Jac Haudenschild, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Chad Boespflug, 14. Daron Clayton, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Scotty Weir, 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. C.J. Leary, 20. Logan Jarrett, 21. Landon Simon, 22. Shane Cottle. NT FAST QUALIFIER: Dave Darland 2015 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Kody Swanson, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Scotty Weir, 9. Jon Stanbrough, 10. Robert Ballou, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Chad Boespflug, 13. Justin Grant, 14. Jarett Andretti, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Max McGhee, 18. Jerry Coons Jr., 19. Dustin Ingle, 20. Logan Jarrett, 21. Garrett Abrams, 22. Kyle Cummins. FAST QUALIFIER: C.J. Leary 2016 1. Josh Hodges, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Stevie Sussex, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Jarett Andretti, 11. Chase Stockon, 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 13. Carson Short, 14. Bret Mellenberndt, 15. Nick Bilbee, 16. A.J. Hopkins, 17. C.J. Leary, 18. Chad Boespflug, 19. Isaac Chapple, 20. Aaron Farney, 21. Joss Moffatt, 22. Landon Simon, 23. Drew Abel. 7:21.09 (NTR) FAST QUALIFIER: Stevie Sussex 2017 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Josh Hodges, 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10. Jon Stanbrough, 11. Nick Bilbee, 12. Scotty Weir, 13. Joss Moffatt, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Kyle Robbins, 16. Isaac Chapple, 17. Garrett Abrams, 18. J.J. Hughes, 19. Tony McVey, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Aric Gentry, 22. Shawn Westerfeld, 23. Chad Boespflug. NT FAST QUALIFIER: DaveDarland 2018 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Tyler Courtney (7), 4. Chris Windom (18), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 6. Dave Darland (1), 7. Jarett Andretti (11), 8. Chase Stockon (3), 9. Isaac Chapple (8), 10. Josh Hodges (9), 11. Dallas Hewitt (19), 12. Tyler Thomas (20), 13. Dakota Jackson (13), 14. Nick Bilbee (16), 15. Matt Westfall (14), 16. Justin Peck (15), 17. Jason McDougal (12), 18. Shane Cottle (10), 19. Dickie Gaines (17), 20. Brandon Spithaler (21), 21. C.J. Leary (6). NT FAST QUALIFIER: C.J. Leary |
 | Champion Kody Swanson at speed in the Nolen Racing #20 during the 2019 USAC Silver Crown season.
(Cameron Neveu Photo) |
A CHAMPIONSHIP YEAR UNLIKE ANY OTHER FOR SWANSON
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio (September 28, 2019).........For Kody Swanson, 2019 was a year unlike any other. The record books will forever show the Kingsburg, Calif. driver having another dominant year with five wins in 10 races and adding an unprecedented fifth USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series title to his laundry list of accomplishments within the series.
They say stats never lie, which is true. However, stats don't always tell the whole story, a story that's had its ups and downs, peaks and valleys, heartaches and headaches, yet ended with the thrill of victory and another triumph in a year the 31-year-old driver calls gratifying.
"It's been a very challenging year," Swanson admitted. "The thing that's been great is these guys have been resilient. We won two pavement races with a backup car. Issues will happen in racing and you never know what will happen, but that's what makes it so gratifying to win a race or a title, when you overcame so much. These guys overcame an awful lot this year and they're champions with me."
It's a story that began over the offseason, when Kody's former team with which he had won four Silver Cronw driver's titles in a four-year-span, DePalma Motorsports, closed up shop and sent the hottest free agent on the hunt for a new ride.
He landed at Greenwood, Indiana-based Nolen Racing, the venerable team that had been winners with the series spanning from 1991 to 2018 with drivers Johnny Parsons, Jim Keeker, Tony Elliott, Shane Hollingsworth and Chris Windom.
After a rigorous offseason of prepping equipment, building a relationship with the crew, and adapting to the new environment in general, Swanson and the Nolen team were thrown into the proverbial heat of the fire at March's season opener in Memphis.
During Friday's practice that weekend, Swanson practiced both of Nolen's cars. They had their primary car pulled apart on pit lane during the session after a brand-new driveshaft dealt them trouble. Meanwhile, the team pulled out their backup and Swanson put some laps on it to make sure it was ready to run. Swanson jumped back into the primary with a new driveshaft and proceeded to set the fastest lap of the afternoon.
Fast forward to raceday on Saturday, Swanson took to practice back in the primary before encountering what he described as a fluke engine part issue. Nolen once again had to roll the backup car out where they tweaked on the chassis to get it to where Kody felt it was at its best. Enter qualifying and Swanson promptly put it on the pole position. Enter race time, and after dropping back following an early-race lead, Swanson dug his way back to lead the final 20 laps and score the victory.
"I'm exhausted; I'm elated; I don't even know what to feel," Swanson exclaimed at the time. "I'm very grateful. I haven't been to my day job since Tuesday. I could see the writing on the wall that we were already in a corner then. We had guys that were there into the wee hours of the morning with me almost every night this week, then back at it the next day, just digging for all we were worth to be ready. We got one ready and dug deep enough to get the other one ready just in case. You hate to think you'd ever have a failure and need it, but we did, and it was ready to come in off the bench and do a great job for us."
Granted, any victory is difficult to come by. Yet, Swanson always seems to make it look relatively easily, although the backstories certainly tell a different tale as was the case in round two at Ohio's Toledo Speedway in April. However, as with most success stories in racing, chapter one begins "Once upon a time..." somewhere in the race shop, with a crew burning the midnight oil with hour-after-hour of tedious maintenance and improvements. Or, perhaps, on the road, the setting may become a parking lot, as it was with Swanson and Nolen.
"The Nolen Racing 20 and everybody that's involved is just digging harder and harder," Swanson explained. "Yesterday, we worked in the parking lot for six-and-a-half hours before the rain came to make sure we'd be ready. Whether we liked it or not at the time, it's the kind of stuff like that that gives you a chance to finish 100 laps and a chance to win on race day."
Swanson did just that as the class of the field once again, winning the pole and wiring all 100 laps to capture his second-straight series victory to begin the new season at the Rollie Beale Classic.
Swanson was solid in his dirt debut with Nolen Racing in May's Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, starting 4th and finishing 3rd. The following night, back on the pavement at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., provided one of the team's most challenging moments of the season. On a restart just following the halfway mark of the 100-lapper, Swanson was leading after winning the pole for the third consecutive pavement race and all seemed right in Swanson and team's world. However, his car failed to launch on the lap 54 restart with an engine issue, handing over the lead to Kyle Hamilton who raced away to victory while Swanson settled for a 16th place finish.
Back to the drawing board, the team locked down and went straight to business with a 2nd on the dirt at Pennsylvania's Williams Grove Speedway and another pristine pole-starting/race-winning performance at Wisconsin's Madison International Speedway.
However, two weeks later on the high banks of Indiana's Salem Speedway, Swanson and Nolen Racing were thrust into a painfully familiar scenario. Right before the second round of practice began, crew member Chris Phillips noticed that water was coming through one of the nozzle filters. Engine builder Bill Tranter noticed it was a big issue as well, and Swanson was forced to hop out of the primary while the team quickly retrieved the backup car. Crew members Rick Laughlin and Dale Latty had worked on the backup car leading up to the event to make sure it was ready just in case it was needed.
In a matter of minutes, the backup car went from having travel tires on it to race tires that could be scuffed for qualifying. The time that was left only allowed for two laps of practice, which proved pivotal for Swanson to diagnose what needed to be done.
"In those two laps, I was able to find the things I didn't like about the racecar and what made me uncomfortable from the cockpit," Swanson explained. "Immediately, we came in and there was no 'hey, we're tired. You figure it out.' They all jumped in and continued to just battle it out to make it better."
Swanson described his qualifying run that day as an uncomfortable two laps. Yet, it was good enough for the four-time series champ to win the pole by more than three tenths of a second. Despite all that, Swanson had the hunger for more.
"After we qualified, I came in and wanted to change four shocks and four springs," Swanson recalled. "Not once did any of the guys give me any grief, like 'hey, don't be greedy.' They just kept after it."
Swanson promptly put the car on the pole and led wire-to-wire to capture his fourth consecutive Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial victory, equaling a feat previously only accomplished by Pancho Carter in 1974-75-76-77, the very same night he became the 19th driver to join the 100-start club in the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series.
The following race on the dirt mile of the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds on Labor Day weekend provided yet another grief-stricken scenario during practice, which saw the Nolen Racing team losing power to not one, but two different engines during practice. Fellow driver Patrick Lawson gave up his ride to Swanson for the main event where Swanson charged from 29th to 14th to earn KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.
A short week followed and, six days later, the story was written in reverse as Swanson and Nolen executed their smoothest night of the year, getting back to the basics - racing and winning, which they did again for the fifth and final time of the season under the lights of Lucas Oil Raceway at the Rich Vogler Classic after pulling another engine out from under the bench, installing it in their designated backup car and leading all 100 laps.
At the Eldora finale, all Swanson had to do was present his car for the 50-lap feature event and the title was his. But Swanson is a racer and proceeded to knock out one of his better Eldora performances, starting 3rd and finishing 4th to wrap up the title by 60 points over Justin Grant.
The path to a championship isn't always a point A to point B process, although that's always the initial goal. And though it was certainly unlike any other year Swanson had experienced in his illustrious USAC Silver Crown career, the end result was as familiar as a comfortable pair of shoes. It's something we've become accustomed to - Kody Swanson standing on the stage celebrating a Silver Crown driver's championship where, Saturday night, at Eldora, he concluded the decade as the most decorated driver of the 2010s, and in the history of the series, perhaps the likes we will never see again to this extent. KODY SWANSON'S 2019 USAC SILVER CROWN SEASON BY THE NUMBERS:
638: The number of points accumulated by Swanson during the 2019 season, ranks 1st among all drivers.
404: The number of laps led by Swanson during the 2019 Silver Crown season, 277 more than his nearest competitor, which ranks 1st among all drivers.
103: The number of starts Swanson now has in his Silver Crown career, which ranks 17th amongst all drivers in the history of the series.
82: The number of consecutive Silver Crown starts Swanson has made since 2012, which ranks 2nd all time behind Brian Tyler's 97 and 1st among all active drivers.
10: The number of 2019 Silver Crown starts, which is tied for 1st along with 8 other drivers.
8: The number of times Swanson finished in the top-five and top-ten during the 2019 season. His top-fives ranks 1st while his top-tens rank tied for 2nd.
5: The number of wins Swanson earned in 2019 as well the amount of Fatheadz Eyewear Pole Awards he's won and the number of Silver Crown driving championships he now has, all of which rank 1st among all drivers. |
NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESNEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESbuckeye outlaw sprint series |
Atomic Speedway Doublehader This Saturday
For only the second time this season, the NAPA Auto Parts - FAST on Dirt winged 410 tour will pair up with the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series (BOSS) non wingers. The FAST portion is the 21st annual "Freedom 40" paying $5,000 to the main event winner. The BOSS show will be the 6th running of the "Jason Soudrette Memorial" paying $1,500 to win the 25 lap main event.
Troy, Ohio racing legend, Jack Hewitt, won the first two Freedom 40's in 1990 and 1991. Originally and unsanctioned event, the Freedom 40 now falls under FAST sanction for the first time ever. Cole Duncan will lead the touring regulars into Atomic with a 53 point lead on Lee Jacobs. Duncan has won the last 4 consecutive runnings of this special event and seems to have a stranglehold on the 3/8 mile high banked speed palace. Jacobs will be shooting to become the first ever father/son Freedom 40 winners as his father, Kenny Jacobs, won it in 1997. Tyler Gunn, Jordan Harble and Cody Bova round out the top 5 in the current standings. Max Stambaugh, T.J. Michael, Cale Conley, Cap Henry and Justin Peck round out the current top 10.
On the BOSS side, Matt Westfall holds a 274 point lead over Cody Gardner. Westfall has 2 prior tour wins at the facility and can clinch the 2019 championship just by making Saturday night's main event. Trailing the lead duo is Dustin Ingle who is only 18 points behind Gardner with Kory Crabtree and Dustin Webber completing a very close top 5. Dallas Hewitt, the nephew of the inaugural Freedom 40 winner Jack Hewitt, sits sixth in BOSS non wing points. Korbyn Hayslett, Steve Little, Parker Frederickson and Mike Miller round out the current top 10.
Both main event parade laps will hold special significance. The FAST "Freedom 40" field will go 3 wide to salute the fans and pay tribute to local sprint car racing driver and supporter, Rick Fraley, who passed unexpectedly this past Saturday. The BOSS field will go "4 Wide for the 44" of Jason Soudrette. The family car 44 will be racing with Dickie Gaines at the wheel. Jason and his father, John Soudrette, came to Atomic in July of 2011 to compete in the very first tour event. They were among the first full time supporters, despite Jason's diagnosis with leukemia. We lost Jason on December 2nd of 2013, but we will race Saturday night in his memory.
With fall weather finally scheduled to arrive, start times have been moved forward. Pit gates will open at 2 pm with general admission gates open at 3. Driver meeting is set for 4:30 with hot laps at 5. General admission is $20 with seniors and veterans admitted for $18 while kids 10 and under are free. Pit passes will be $35. For teams competing, no mufflers are required. We will be using the Westhold (yellow) transponders. They will be available to rent for $10. Both TCB Speed and Kear's Speed Shop will be on hand to service teams and methanol is available for purchase at the track.
For BOSS cars, it is a 4 corner Hoosier tire rule, open to ANY Hoosiers. For FAST, all teams must run flat top wings with a maximum 2" wickerbill. Tires must be 4 corner Hoosiers with the left rears being the "H" series and the right rear being the "H" or "Medium" or "W18". Also, a 1400 pound minimum weight is in effect for FAST.
Complete payouts for each are as follows: FAST (40 Laps): 5000, 2500, 1200, 900, 800, 700, 600, 500, 450, 425, 400 on back to start. We start 20 cars. If the car count is 30+, we start 22 and if the car count hits 40+ we start 24 cars. All B-Main non transfers will earn $100. For the BOSS event (25 Laps): 1500, 900, 700, 600, 500, 450, 400, 375, 350, 325, 300, 290, 280, 270, 260, 250, 250, 250, 250, 250. The same rules apply to adding cars to the field and B-main non transfer money is still $100.
Both BOSS and FAST pay heat race and bonus money courtesy of the following sponsors: (heat races pay- 40, 30, 20, 10)
BOSS Heats: TCB Speed, Hoosier Race Tire, Performance Powder Coating and Mark Cole Insurance
$50 BOSS Bonus Awards: The Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Apple Metal Polishing, All Star Performance Products, and Cowen Truck Line.
FAST Heats: NAPA Auto Parts, Ohio Logistics, Helms & Sons Construction, and Hoosier Race Tire
$50 FAST Bonus Awards: The Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, Kear's Speed Shop, and All Star Performance Products
Be sure to join us for this special combo event. Check out the Atomic Speedway bar where you can stay up to date with the college football games and visit the BOSS/FAST souvenir trailer to get your free scorecard and see the 1991 Freedom 40 on TV!
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NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESNEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTES midwest sprint car series |
Final MSCS of 2019!
The season finale comes this Saturday night October 19th at Tri-State Speedway.
Season ender, The Harvest Cup, will have 3 great divisions on tap, MSCS Sprints, USAC Midgets, and MMSA Winged Mini Sprints.
Final chance of 2019 to see some great MSCS racing on the high banks in Haubstadt, IN.
Warm ups 5:00, Racing 6:30 PM (CST) early start times! |
NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESNEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESunited rebel sprint series |
United Rebel Sprint Series 2019 Season Review! Oberlin, Kansas – September28, 2019 - It was a tale of consistency as well as dominance during the fourteenth anniversary of the Lucas Oil POWRi United Rebel Sprint Series presented by Mel Hambelton Ford Racing tour as the 2019 race season has concluded with Zach Blurton claiming his 3rd Championship. Alvarado, Colorado driver Jake Bubak dominated the season as he claimed eight series victories, including his second consecutive Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals championship. He scored three victories at Dodge City Raceway Park as well as three victories atop the Belleville High Banks half-mile oval, including two during the two-night Nationals. Other victories came at Rolling Plains Motor Speedway in Hays as well as opening night of the Bob Salem Memorial in Oberlin , Kansas . Former series champion Jason Martin of Lincoln , Nebraska scored four feature wins, coming at Lincoln County Speedway in North Platte , Nebraska ; Solomon County Speedway in Beloit , Kansas ; Thayer County Speedway in Deschler , Nebraska and the annual Bod Salem Memorial championship at Oberlin Speedway. Jake Martens of Fairview, Oklahoma at the season opener at 81 Speedway in Park City , Kansas as well as Rush County Speedway in LaCrosse. Luke Cranston of Ness City , Kansas scored a pair of victories, both coming at his home track of DCRP. Veteran J.D. Johnson of Wichita found the series return to Wakeeney Speedway to his liking as he took home the victory in the next to the last race of the season. A trio of drivers found victory lane for their first career URSS feature wins. They include Todd Plemons from Arvado , Colorado at El Paso County Speedway in Calhan , Colorado ; Tanner Conn from Oklahoma City at 81 Speedway and Jeremy Huish from Jetmore , Kansas at RPM Speedway . Despite not finding victory lane until the last race of the season, Quinter, Kansas driver Zach Blurton claimed his third-straight series championship and competed in all twenty-one events that were held. Blurtons lone victory came at DCRP. Huish used a season of consistency to finish second in the final series point standings. Coupled with his lone feature victory at RPM Speedway consistent top ten finishes in the twenty events he competed propelled him for his best season yet with the series and just 184-points out of the point lead. Third generation driver Kyler Johnson of Quinter found his first season aboard a full-fledge sprint car quite successful. Son of former sprint car champion C.J. and grandson to the legendary Jon, Kyler only missed two events to finish third in the final season point standings and earn rookie of the year honors. Oklahoma’s Ty Williams found Kansas and URSS to his liking, making the trip up north sixteen times to finish a strong fourth in points. Aaron Ploussard Of Oberlin took part in nineteen of the twenty-one events to finish fifth in the standings. Rounding out the top ten include Tracey Hill, Dalton Webb, Martens, Jed Werner and Steven Richardson. In total, 103 different drivers competed in at least one of the twenty-one events that were held across the states of Kansas , Nebraska and Colorado . Five events were rained out, including two attempts at a return trips at Longdale Speedway ( Oklahoma ) and the anticipated return to Thunder Hill Speedway in Mayetta , Kansas . Officials and staff with the United Rebel Sprint Series would like to thank the series partners for their involvement for the 2019 race season. They include Lucas Oil, POWRi and Mel Hambelton Ford Racing along with Hoosier Racing Tires, Hilker Trucking, S&S Trailer Sales, Racinboys, Scott’s Auto Shop, S&W Supply, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Randy Patterson Welding, Radcliffe’s Truck Sales, Poor Boys Kustomz, MAP Inc. and Hill’s Truck & Equipment, A host of great sponsors contributed to several marquee events on the season as well. They include Kevin Schramek with Schramek Landscaping; Jeff Cooper and Coopers Carts; Eagle Travel Stop, Scott Precision Aerial, Aqua Shield, Rayes Grocery, Reeves Seed House, Randy Patterson Welding, Hilker Trucking, Decatur Beef, Decatur Co-op Association, Tornado Engines, Sargent Trucking, Performance Fire Protection, Lincoln Repair, Circuitech, Oberlin Concrete, Prairie Petals, Fredrickson Insurance, Murfin Drilling Co. Inc., Creative Collision, CHS, Ward Drug, Sappa Valley Construction, The Reload, Stanley Hardware, ABC Tire, Dust Cloud Construction, Ron’s Application Service, BA Car Wash, Oberlin American Legion. The series would also like to thank the many fans who helped make each event on the 2019 schedule successful and we invite you to keep tabs on all the off-season happenings on our official fb page: United Rebel Sprint Series. For a full rundown on complete results final point standings, the history of the series and more, check out the official series website www.unitedrebelsprintseries.com. |
NEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTESNEWS AND NOTES NEWS AND NOTES midwest open wheel association |
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| Key | Date | | Location | Track | (P)# | Mar 23 | | Memphis, TN | Memphis International Raceway | (D) | Apr 14 | | Terre Haute, IN | Terre Haute Action Track | (P) | Apr 28 | | Toledo, OH | Toledo Speedway | (D) | May 23 | | Indianapolis, IN | Indiana State Fairgrounds | (P) | May 24 | | Brownsburg, IN | Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis | (D) | Jun 14 | | Mechanicsburg, PA | Williams Grove Speedway | (P) | Jun 28 | | Oregon, WI | Madison International Speedway | (P) | Aug 10 | | Salem, IN | Salem Speedway | (D)# | Aug 17 | | Springfield, IL | Illinois State Fairgrounds | (D) | Sep 01 | | Du Quoin, IL | Du Quoin State Fairgrounds | (P) | Sep 07 | | Brownsburg, IN | Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis | (D) | Sep 28 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway |
(D) represents a dirt event (P) represents a pavement event # represents a daytime event Key | Date | | Location | Track | | | Feb 14 | | Ocala, FL | Bubba Raceway Park | | | Feb 15 | | Ocala, FL | Bubba Raceway Park | | | Feb 16 | | Ocala, FL | Bubba Raceway Park | | | Apr 12 | | Bloomington, IN | Bloomington Speedway | | | Apr 20 | | Lawrenceburg, IN | Lawrenceburg Speedway | | | May 10 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway | | | May 11 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway | | | May 17 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | | | May 18 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | | | May 22 | | Terre Haute, IN | Terre Haute Action Track | (E) | Jun 11 | | Bechtelsville, PA | Grandview Speedway | (E) | Jun 12 | | Swedesboro, NJ | Bridgeport Speedway | (E) | Jun 13 | | York Haven, PA | BAPS Motor Speedway | (E) | Jun 15 | | Port Royal, PA | Port Royal Speedway | (E) | Jun 16 | | Weedsport, NY | Weedsport Speedway | | | Jun 22 | | Putnamville, IN | Lincoln Park Speedway | (M) | Jun 30 | | Haubstadt, IN | Tri-State Speedway | | | Jul 05 | | Knoxville, IA | Knoxville Raceway | | | Jul 06 | | Knoxville, IA | Knoxville Raceway | | | Jul 17 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway | (I) | Jul 18 | | Gas City, IN | Gas City I-69 Speedway | (I) | Jul 19 | | Plymouth, IN | Plymouth Speedway | (I) | Jul 20 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | (I) | Jul 21 | | Lawrenceburg, IN | Lawrenceburg Speedway | (I) | Jul 24 | | Terre Haute, IN | Terre Haute Action Track | (I) | Jul 25 | | Putnamville, IN | Lincoln Park Speedway | (I) | Jul 26 | | Bloomington, IN | Bloomington Speedway | (I) | Jul 27 | | Haubstadt, IN | Tri-State Speedway | | | Aug 21 | (SE) | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Aug 22 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Aug 23 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Aug 24 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Aug 30 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | | | Sep 13 | | Terre Haute, IN | Terre Haute Action Track | (M) | Sep 14 | | Haubstadt, IN | Tri-State Speedway | | | Sep 26 | | Gas City, IN | Gas City I-69 Speedway | | | Sep 28 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway | | | Oct 05 | | Lawrenceburg, IN | Lawrenceburg Speedway | | | Oct 11 | | Terre Haute, IN | Terre Haute Action Track | (C) | Nov 07 | | Perris, CA | Perris Auto Speedway | (C) | Nov 08 | | Perris, CA | Perris Auto Speedway | (C) | Nov 09 | | Perris, CA | Perris Auto Speedway | (C) | Nov 15 | | San Tan Valley, AZ | Arizona Speedway | (C) | Nov 16 | | San Tan Valley, AZ | Arizona Speedway |
- (M) Represents an event co-sanctioned by MSCS (E) represents an Eastern Storm event (I) represents an Indiana Sprint Week event (C) represents an event with the USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Cars (SE) represents a non-points, special event Key | Date | | Location | Track | | | Feb 08 | | Ocala, FL | Bubba Raceway Park | | | Feb 09 | | Ocala, FL | Bubba Raceway Park | (N) (A) | Mar 09 | | Du Quoin, IL | Southern Illinois Center | | | Apr 05 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Apr 06 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | May 17 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | | | May 18 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | (I) | Jun 04 | | Montpelier, IN | Montpelier Motor Speedway | (I) | Jun 05 | | Gas City, IN | Gas City I-69 Speedway | (I) | Jun 06 | | Putnamville, IN | Lincoln Park Speedway | (I) | Jun 07 | | Bloomington, IN | Bloomington Speedway | (I) | Jun 08 | | Lawrenceburg, IN | Lawrenceburg Speedway | (I) | Jun 09 | | Kokomo, IN | Kokomo Speedway | | | Jun 29 | | Joliet, IL | Dirt Oval at Route 66 | | | Jul 09 | | Meeker, OK | Red Dirt Raceway | | | Jul 10 | | Concordia, KS | Concordia High Banks | | | Jul 12 | | Fairbury, NE | Jefferson County Speedway | | | Jul 13 | | Fairbury, NE | Jefferson County Speedway | | | Jul 14 | | Sweet Springs, MO | Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex | | | Jul 30 | | Bechtelsville, PA | Grandview Speedway | | | Jul 31 | | Kutztown, PA | Action Track USA | | | Aug 01 | | Spring Run, PA | Path Valley Speedway Park | | | Aug 02 | | Jonestown, PA | Linda's Speedway | | | Aug 03 | | Newmanstown, PA | Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway | | | Aug 30 | | Granite City, IL | Tri-City Speedway | (A) | Sep 04 | | Speedway, IN | The Dirt Track at IMS | (A) | Sep 05 | | Speedway, IN | The Dirt Track at IMS | | | Sep 28 | | Rossburg, OH | Eldora Speedway | (A) | Oct 17 | | Wayne City, IL | Wayne County Speedway | | | Oct 19 | | Haubstadt, IN | Tri-State Speedway | (W) | Nov 15 | | San Tan Valley, AZ | Arizona Speedway | (W) | Nov 16 | | San Tan Valley, AZ | Arizona Speedway | (W) (A) | Nov 19 | | Placerville, CA | Placerville Speedway | (W) (A) | Nov 20 | | Placerville, CA | Placerville Speedway | (W) | Nov 23 | | Bakersfield, CA | Bakersfield Speedway | (W) | Nov 28 | | Ventura, CA | Ventura Raceway |
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(N) represents an indoor event (I) represents an Indiana Midget Week event. (W) represents a race with the USAC Western States Midgets (A) represents a race awarding appearance points only | Saturday, April 13 - Atomic Speedway ; Alma, OH
Saturday, April 27 - Montpelier Motor Speedway ; Montpelier, IN
Sunday, April 28 - Kokomo Speedway ; Kokomo, IN
Saturday, May 4 - Fremont Speedway ; Fremont, OH
Saturday, May 18 - Lawrenceburg Speedway ; Lawrenceburg, IN
Saturday, June 1 - Oakshade Raceway ; Wauseon, OH
Friday, June 7 - Moler Raceway Park; Williamsburg, OH
Saturday, June 15 - Fremont Speedway ; Fremont, OH
Friday, June 21 - Twin Cities Raceway Park ; North Vernon, IN (Soudrette Memorial)
Saturday, June 22 - Richmond Raceway ; Richmond, KY
Friday, June 28 - Lernerville Speedway ; Sarver, PA
Saturday, June 29 - Mercer Raceway Park ; Mercer, PA
Wednesday, July 3 - Waynesfield Raceway Park; Waynesfield, OH (Hewitt Classic)
Saturday, July 27 - Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway ; Imperial, PA
Friday, August 9 - Gas City Speedway ; Gas City, IN
Saturday, August 10 - To Be Announced
Saturday, August 24 - Kokomo Speedway ; Kokomo, IN (Smackdown)
Saturday, September 7 - Montpelier Motor Speedway ; Montpelier, IN
Saturday, October 5 - Atomic Speedway ; Alma, OH |
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| Saturday, Apr 13 | Tri-State Speedway | Saturday, May 18 | Tri-State Speedway | Friday, May 24 | Bloomington Speedway | Saturday, May 25 | Lincoln Park Speedway | Sunday, May 26 | Tri-State Speedway | Friday, May 31 | Paragon Speedway | Saturday, Jun 8 | Tri-State Speedway | Saturday, Jun 29 | Brownstown Speedway | Sunday, Jun 30 | Tri-State Speedway | Thursday, Jul 4 | Paragon Speedway | Friday, Jul 5 | Lincoln Park Speedway | Saturday, Jul 6 | Lincoln Park Speedway | Wednesday, Jul 10 | Terre Haute Action Track | Saturday, Jul 13 | Tri-State Speedway | Saturday, Aug 10 | Tri-State Speedway | Sunday, Aug 11 | Terre Haute Action Track | Friday, Aug 16 | Paragon Speedway | Saturday, Aug 17 | Lincoln Park Speedway | Sunday, Sep 1 | Tri-State Speedway | Saturday, Sep 14 | Tri-State Speedway | Saturday, Oct 19 | Tri-State Speedway |
| | April 5 | 81 Speedway, Wichita KS | | April 6 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS | | | | | May 4 | Lincoln County Speedway, North Platte NE | | May 5 | | | May 18 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS | | May 25 | Longdale Speedway, Longdale OK | | May 26 | 81 Speedway, Wichita KS | | | | | June 8 | El Paso County Speedway, Calhan CO | | June 13 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS | | June 14 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS | | June 15 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS | | | | | July 4 | Belleville High Banks, Belleville KS | | July 5 | | | July 6 | Thunderhill Speedway, Mayeta, KS | | July 13 | RPM Speedway, Hays KS | | July 14 | RPM Speedway, Hays KS | | July 27 | Solomon Valley Raceway, Beloit KS | | July 28 | Rush County Speedway, LaCrosse KS | | July 31 | Thayer County Speedway, Deschler NE | | | | | Aug 1 | Belleville High Banks, Belleville KS | | Aug 2 | Belleville High Banks, Belleville KS | | Aug 3 | Belleville High Banks, Belleville KS | | Aug 15 | Stockton Speedway, Stockton KS | | Aug 16 | Oberlin Speedway, Oberlin KS | | Aug 17 | Oberlin Speedway, Oberlin KS | | | | | Sept 14 | DCRP, Dodge City, KS |
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