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Seavey Sings a Winning Tune at Smackdown Night 2
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Logan Seavey celebrates his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature win following Friday's Sprint Car Smackdown VIII night two at Kokomo.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
SEAVEY SINGS A WINNING TUNE AT SMACKDOWN NIGHT TWO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 23, 2019).........One night after claiming a victory in Sprint Car Smackdown's annual karaoke contest, Logan Seavey was singing a different tune Friday night on the track at Kokomo Speedway, ending it on a high note in victory lane following his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car triumph.
The reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion used his voice to win karaoke hardware with Garth Brooks' "That Summer" after a broken wheel cover ended a solid run on track on Thursday. For the Sutter, Calif. native, however, tomorrow would come, and he'd use his right foot to capture an even bigger trophy, a bigger payday and the prestige of becoming the series' first "first-time" winner of the 2019 season.
Along the way, Seavey cut a new record, ripping 30 laps around Kokomo Speedway 33 seconds quicker than the previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car track record for that distance at the quarter-mile, a record formerly held by Bryan Clauson set during Smackdown in 2013, at six minutes and 48.92 seconds.
Seavey is emerging as a jack of all trades following three wins thus far on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget tour, then recently winning the pole and finishing fourth in last Sunday's ARCA Stock Car race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, and now jumping into a sprint car and taking it right to the front with limited seat time. Despite all the accolades, Seavey remains humble and appreciative of the opportunity, and the fun that comes along with it.
"Just to be racing Sprint Cars with USAC and to get to run good racecars with a family like this, is pretty crazy for me," Seavey admitted. "We just race and have fun. We normally end up pretty good and, the more fun we're having, the better we run. Finally, it all came together tonight. We've had that speed the last two nights, and it all finally came together."
Perhaps, most impressively, was that Seavey was making just his second start of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint car points season, the first of which came just 24 hours earlier. Seavey picked up a win behind the wheel of a Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports machine in USAC Southwest Sprint Car competition in April at Arizona Speedway. And, as it turns out, Friday of Smackdown has a special significance to Seavey, as this is the same night in which he first met team co-owner Andy Reinbold a year ago, kicking off a winning connection that certainly paid its dividends on this night.
"Friday night of Smackdown last year was the first time I met Andy," Seavey remembered. "We got together and ran a few races last year together out west. We came into this year knowing he had a full-time USAC car and that was going to take up a lot of his time. He told me early in the year that, in the big races, he wanted to bring out another car from Arizona to run Smackdown, Western World and the Oval Nationals."
Seavey made it all look relatively easy, comparatively, Friday night, although it's certainly never the case. With teammate and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary trying to hunt him down for the entire duration of the event, Seavey had to be flawless - flawless on the start, flawless on the cushion and flawless through traffic to ace the 30-lap test and become the second-straight first-time winner on the second night of Smackdown following Tyler Thomas' victory in 2018.
"For me, I feel like running a sprint car is a little bit harder than running a midget," Seavey explained. "These guys are so good that you have to adapt quickly. Luckily, I've been here a few times and I've been here in a sprint car a couple times. Even racing midgets, it seems to be one of the most technical racetracks we go to and it seems like the guys with a lot of experience do really well here. It's pretty crazy to think that I'd win my first USAC National Sprint Car race here. I definitely wasn't expecting that and didn't know if I would even ever win one."
Seavey began the main event from the pole and led a trio of nineteens on the opening lap aboard his No. 19s while leading the 19 of Kevin Thomas, Jr. and the 19AZ of Leary. Leary made quick work from his fourth starting spot, rushing into second by lap three past Thomas and began the hunt to track down Seavey.
Leary tried high, sought the middle, looked low, and even cut a diamond groove off turns one and three. Leary chopped into Seavey's advantage and gained ground off the corners on each go-around, pulling side-by-side in turns two and four each lap for several laps early on before Seavey utilized the topside momentum to surge ahead and maintain his lead.
By the 10th lap, Leary's exit plan on the low line became stifled with a bevy of traffic occupying the bottom, hindering his path as he pursued Seavey. At the halfway mark, Seavey maintained a three car length lead as he seemingly ran his own race up top and, with no cautions in sight, kept traffic as part of the equation and allowed the top lane to be wide open for Seavey all by his lonesome where he was most comfortable running, up against the cushion.
Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports' one-two finish between Logan Seavey and C.J. Leary was the first time teammates have occupied the top-two positions in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature on dirt since July of 2008 when Keith Kunz Motorsports' stable of Cole Whitt and Darren Hagen finished first and second, respectively, during the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
Seavey had to be perfect and execute flawlessly as a hungry Leary sought his first series victory in 20 starts. Yet, Seavey managed to up the interval in the final ten laps, from a half-second, to three quarters of a second, to more than a second on the final lap, closing out a superb performance with a 1.114 second win over Leary, Tyler Courtney, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Justin Grant.
Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports' one-two finish was the first time teammates have occupied the top-two positions in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature on dirt since July of 2008 when Keith Kunz Motorsports' stable of Cole Whitt and Darren Hagen finished first and second, respectively, during the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Justin Grant leads the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII points entering Saturday's finale. Grant (Ione, Calif.), the defending Smackdown main event feature winner, is one of eight drivers locked into Saturday night's feature as well as the King of the Hill, along with fellow drivers Tyler Courtney, Thomas Meseraull, C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Kyle Cummins.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo Speedway were Thomas Meseraull (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Jason McDougal (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Shane Cottle (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Josh Hodges (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Chase Stockon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Crume Evans Insurance/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Brady Bacon (ProSource Hard Work Award), Hunter Schuerenberg (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Jarett Andretti (Saldana Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tire First Non-Transfer), Scotty Weir (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Logan Seavey (Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation Winning Bonus) and Matt Westfall (American Racing Ministries Final Semi Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.549; 2. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland/Curb-Agajanian-12.572; 3. Carson Short, 21, RCM-12.645; 4. Logan Seavey, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.695; 5. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.732; 6. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-12.783; 7. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.927; 8. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.966; 9. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.008; 10. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.042; 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.054; 12. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.063; 13. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.088; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.117; 15. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.184; 16. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.277; 17. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-13.326; 18. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.494; 19. Brad Wyatt, 41w, Wyatt-13.888.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-12.549; 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.652; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.656; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-12.669; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.797; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.853; 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19BS, Reinbold/Underwood-12.919; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.956; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.091; 10. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.199; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.209; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.269; 13. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.362; 14. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-13.502; 15. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.521; 16. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.579; 17. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-13.602; 18. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.825; 19. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-13.829.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Timmy Buckwalter, 4. Isaac Chapple, 5. Max Adams, 6. Carson Short, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 9. Carmen Perigo, 10. Brad Wyatt. 2:12.73
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Jarett Andretti, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Tye Mihocko. 2:12.97
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Josh Hodges, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Scotty Weir, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Kyle Cummins, 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. Travis Hery, 9. Ty Tilton, 10. Lee Underwood. 2:13.60
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Cole Ketcham, 6. Dustin Christie, 7. Matt Westfall, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Brian VanMeveren.
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Corey Smith, 2. Carmen Perigo, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Brian VanMeveren, 6. Lee Underwood, 7. Brad Wyatt. 2:20.57
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Carson Short, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Cole Ketcham, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Clinton Boyles, 10. Max Adams, 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 12. Dustin Christie, 13. Tye Mihocko, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Carmen Perigo, 16. Corey Smith, 17. Travis Hery, 18. Sterling Cling. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 4. Tyler Courtney (7), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Jason McDougal (10), 7. Thomas Meseraull (6), 8. Chris Windom (12), 9. Kyle Cummins (9), 10. Brady Bacon (22), 11. Chase Stockon (11), 12. Carson Short (8), 13. Scotty Weir (16), 14. Dave Darland (3), 15. Isaac Chapple (14), 16. Shane Cottle (19), 17. Cole Ketcham (18), 18. Matt Westfall (15), 19. Timmy Buckwalter (17), 20. Josh Hodges (20), 21. Hunter Schuerenberg (13), 22. Brandon Mattox (23), 23. Dustin Smith (21). 6:48.92 (New Track Record)
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**Tyler Courtney flipped during qualifying. Sterling Cling flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Logan Seavey.
CRUME EVANS INSURANCE/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (22nd to 10th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Scotty Weir
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Jarett Andretti
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Hunter Schuerenberg
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Brady Bacon
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,638, 2-Brady Bacon-1,512, 3-Tyler Courtney-1,511, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,469, 5-Justin Grant-1,464, 6-Chris Windom-1,446, 7-Chase Stockon-1,429, 8-Jason McDougal-1,248, 9-Carson Short-1,246, 10-Isaac Chapple-958.
NEW PROSOURCE SMACKDOWN VIII PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-13, 2-Brady Bacon-12, 3-Carson Short-8, 4-Tyler Courtney-7, 5-Jason McDougal-7, 6-Hunter Schuerenberg-4, 7-Scotty Weir-4, 8-Shane Cottle-3, 9-C.J. Leary-2, 10-Justin Grant-2.
NEW SMACKDOWN VIII POINTS (TOP-8 LOCKED INTO SATURDAY'S FEATURE): 1-Justin Grant-324, 2-Tyler Courtney-323, 3-Thomas Meseraull-320, 4-C.J Leary-301, 5-Chase Stockon-295, 6-Logan Seavey-294, 7-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-293, 8-Kyle Cummins-290.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII
T-Mez Turns it Up at Smackdown VIII Opener
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) is all smiles after capturing Thursday night's victory in the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII opener at Kokomo Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
T-MEZ TURNS IT UP AT SMACKDOWN VIII OPENER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 22, 2019).........Time after time, Thomas Meseraull has proven every time he straps into a racecar, he's a threat to win.
One night after leading 12 laps in Simon Racing's No. 23s at #GYATK Night, the San Jose, Calif. native stepped into Tom Eades' No. 47 Thursday night for the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII opener and never skipped a beat, racing to his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the year, and first for Eades, a Kokomo, Ind. native in his first year of owning a sprint car.
The win was a sense of redemption for Meseraull who had a particularly rough showing in the car during the series' most recent visit to Kokomo during Indiana Sprint Week in July where he started 13th and finished 21st. Meseraull knew he had to put together a complete night to provide himself his best shot to collect a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win for the fifth-straight year, something accomplished only by five other drivers: Brady Bacon, Justin Grant, Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Chris Windom over the same time span since 2015.
"After (Indiana) Sprint Week, we got our ass handed to us, flat out," Meseraull admitted. "We just got beat. It was a little unexpected. I had to qualify a little better tonight, and I did, which put us up front. Track position in these deals is everything. It's everything."
Meseraull began his journey from the outside of the front row, but it was Bacon who took control early on, sliding from his pole starting position to the top in turn one to lead the opening seven circuits with Meseraull in tow, trailing the two-time series champ a couple car lengths behind.
The first stoppage of the night came on lap seven when the night's ProSource Hard Work Award winner and 19th running Josh Hodges flipped upside down in turn four. He'd walk away uninjured but was finished for the evening.
Once racing resumed, Meseraull stuck right with Bacon, and on the ninth lap, made his bid for the lead, dipping to the bottom of turn one and sliding up in front of Bacon for the top spot. With tension high and the competition at a peak level, Meseraull knew there was no time to putt around in second.
"It was so slick to the curb, and the curb was on the wall. It was as tall as me, I swear," Meseraull recalled. "It was so big out there, I knew I couldn't waste any time. After the red flag, we ended up parking there right off of three and realized that it wasn't slick to the curb. It had a big hole before the curb, like the track had gotten ate up and it had this big dip and my car was evil up there. I'd hit it and it'd get up on two wheels. I just started going in above it in three and cheating across it and driving to the slick. That hole got Brady one lap, and I knew I had to just bomb it in there and hope to God that it would stick, and it stuck."
Meanwhile, as the battle for the lead switched hands, fourth-running C.J. Leary biked entering on the bottom of turn one. The series point leader miraculously saved his mount without flipping or making contact, but the landing is what got him, flattening his left rear tire before slowing to bring out the yellow. Leary restarted from the tail after getting fresh rubber in the work area, and, ultimately, finished 14th, ending his streak of 21 consecutive top-tens to begin the season.
On the tenth lap restart, Bacon went to work on the bottom underneath Meseraull for the lead in turn one, however Meseraull retained the momentum on the high side as did Courtney back in third. While Bacon trekked the low line, Courtney stuck to the top and raced around the outside to nip Bacon at the line for second and nail down the position exiting turn two.
The victory was the 10th of Meseraull's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him past Mario Andretti, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley on the list and into a tie with Tony Stewart for 49th all-time. Three of Meseraull's 10 wins have come at Kokomo.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
Courtney put the chase on Meseraull, diamonding off the third turn as well as following him on the top shelf to find a way to close the gap. On the 12th lap, though, Courtney got in above the cushion a bit off turn four, allowing Meseraull to jump away and build his lead to nearly a full straightaway (2.729 seconds) just after the midway point.
On the 17th lap, 7th running Logan Seavey slowed to a stop on the bottom of turn one, erasing Meseraull's substantial advantage just prior to hitting lapped traffic.
It hardly seemed to make a difference to Meseraull once the green flag dropped on the restart with 13 to go where he once again utilized the high line to break away from Courtney, holding a half-straightaway advantage down the stretch with only lapped traffic to contend with in the final five-lap push.
Meseraull skimmed the outside concrete in turn two with two to go, with no tiptoeing around the outside of the lappers occurring whatsoever, as he closed out a sterling performance in his Tom Eades Racing/Physical Medicine Consultants - 1-Way Technologies/DRC/Stensland Chevy with a 1.339 second victory over Courtney, Justin Grant, Brady Bacon and Chase Stockon.
The victory was the 10th of Meseraull's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him past Mario Andretti, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley on the list and into a tie with Tony Stewart for 49th all-time.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Kokomo Speedway were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Carson Short (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Kyle Cummins (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Crume Evans Insurance/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Josh Hodges (ProSource Hard Work Award), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Brandon Mattox (Saldana Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tire First Non-Transfer), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Thomas Meseraull (Elliott's Custom Trailers and Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation Winning Bonus) and Cole Ketcham (American Racing Ministries Final Semi Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.635; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.706; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.815; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.820; 5. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.825; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-12.834; 7. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.837; 8. Logan Seavey, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.882; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-12.918; 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19BS, Reinbold/Underwood-12.928; 11. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland-13.038; 12. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.073; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-13.175; 14. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.187; 15. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.193; 16. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.204; 17. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-13.284; 18. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.304; 19. Carson Short, 21, RCM-13.329; 20. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-13.416; 21. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.447; 22. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.468; 23. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.535; 24. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.549; 25. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.780; 26. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.950; 27. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.955; 28. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.959; 29. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.996; 30. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-14.061; 31. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.080; 32. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-14.251; 33. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-14.258; 34. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-14.448; 35. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-14.455; 36. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Dustin Christie, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Corey Smith. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Isaac Chapple, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Travis Hery. 2:12.79
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Max Adams, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Cole Ketcham, 9. Brad Greenup. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Carmen Perigo, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Ty Tilton, 7. Brian VanMeveren, 8. Timmy Buckwalter. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dustin Smith, 4. Max Adams, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Cole Ketcham, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Jarett Andretti, 10. Tye Mihocko, 11. Timmy Buckwalter, 12. Sterling Cling, 13. Ty Tilton, 14. Brian VanMeveren, 15. Matt Westfall, 16. Matt Goodnight, 17. Dustin Christie, 18. Travis Hery, 19. Anthony D'Alessio. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (2), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Brady Bacon (1), 5. Chase Stockon (7), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg (10), 7. Chris Windom (16), 8. Scotty Weir (9), 9. Kyle Cummins (4), 10. Carson Short (18), 11. Jason McDougal (14), 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12), 13. Dave Darland (11), 14. C.J. Leary (3), 15. Logan Seavey (8), 16. Dustin Smith (13), 17. Isaac Chapple (17), 18. Max Adams (20), 19. Shane Cottle (15), 20. Carmen Perigo (19), 21. Dustin Christie (24), 22. Brian VanMeveren (23), 23. Josh Hodges (22), 24. Cole Ketcham (21). NT
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**Corey Smith flipped during the first heat. Brad Greenup flipped during the third heat. Josh Hodges flipped on lap 7 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Brady Bacon, Laps 9-30 Thomas Meseraull.
CRUME EVANS INSURANCE/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (16th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Brandon Mattox
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kevin Thomas, Jr.
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Josh Hodges
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,563, 2-Brady Bacon-1,464, 3-Tyler Courtney-1,445, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,398, 5-Justin Grant-1,394, 6-Chris Windom-1,390, 7-Chase Stockon-1,380, 8-Carson Short-1,202, 9-Jason McDougal-1,185, 10-Isaac Chapple-920.
NEW PROSOURCE SMACKDOWN VIII PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-9, 2-Carson Short-8, 3-Tyler Courtney-4, 4-Hunter Schuerenberg-4, 5-Jason McDougal-3, 6-Justin Grant-2, 7-Chase Stockon-2, 8-Max Adams-2, 9-Thomas Meseraull-1, 10-Scotty Weir-1.
NEW SMACKDOWN VIII POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-168, 2-Justin Grant-164, 3-Thomas Meseraull-163, 4-Brady Bacon-156, 5-Chase Stockon-156, 6-Kyle Cummins-151, 7-Hunter Schuerenberg-148, 8-Scotty Weir-145, 9-C.J Leary-139, 10-Chris Windom-137.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 23-24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII
BC39 Entry List Rises to 83!
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Last year's Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink runner-up Chad Boat of Phoenix, Arizona has entered for this year's event on Sept. 4-5. (Adam Mollenkopf Photo)
BC39 ENTRY LIST RISES TO 83 FOR THE SEPT. 4-5 SPECTACULAR AT IMS
Speedway, Indiana (August 22, 2019).........The entry list for the Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink continues to grow by leaps and bounds and now stands at 83 cars for the September 4-5 event at The Dirt Track at IMS. Just one week remains until the entry cutoff on Thursday night, August 29 at www.thebc39.com/.
Among the newest entries for the event are a four-car team for Tucker/Boat Motorsports, led by last year's BC39 runner-up finisher Chad Boat (Phoenix, Ariz.), son of 1998 Indianapolis 500 pole winner Billy Boat. He's joined by Gio Scelzi (Fresno, Calif.), whose resume includes becoming the youngest ever winner with the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series as well as at both Knoxville Raceway and Williams Grove Speedway.
Talented racer/motorsports announcer Dillon Welch (Carmel, Ind.) is entered for Tucker/Boat, with whom he set a new one lap USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget track record at Kokomo Speedway this past April and finished 25th in last year's Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink. Series Rookie Karsyn Elledge (Mooresville, N.C.) is set to make her second BC39 appearance this year. She is the granddaughter of 1995 Brickyard 400 winner Dale Earnhardt.
Elledge is one of five female drivers entered thus far for the BC39 along with Hollan, west coast drivers Shannon McQueen (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Randi Pankratz (Atascadero, Calif.) and newly-entered Maria Cofer (Macdoel, Calif.), a recent USAC Western States Midget feature winner at California's Petaluma Speedway and 17th place finisher in last year's inaugural BC39 main event. She's on a three-car Team Ripper effort also featuring USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) and Jonathan Beason (Broken Arrow, Okla.), a 5th place finisher in his lone USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start this season in July at Oklahoma's Red Dirt Raceway.
Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.), a 2011 Hut 100 winner, has entered along with 2006 Turkey Night Grand Prix victor Billy Wease (Noblesville, Ind.).
The newest group of entries joins an impressively-talented field from top to bottom, headlined by the likes of three past USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champs in Christopher Bell (Norman, Okla.), Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) and Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) leading an eight-car assault from the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian stable, which also features May's NASCAR Monster Energy All-Star Race winner Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), plus July Sweet Springs, Mo. winner Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, CA), series Rookie Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.), Holley Hollan (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.).
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (Olive Branch, Miss.), a veteran of 243 starts on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series tour, has an extensive background in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing, earning five wins and Rookie of the Year honors in 2007. In 2015, he won again indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.
Stenhouse started 11th and finished 11th in last year's BC39 for Clauson/Marshall Racing, with who he'll be competing for again, joined alongside CMR's full-time combatants, series point leader and six-time winner Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), two-time winners Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) and Zeb Wise (Angola, Ind.) along with leading series Rookie Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.).
Stenhouse, a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion in 2011-12, has two career wins at the Cup level, both of which came in 2017 at Talladega and Daytona. He's also made starts in each of the last six editions of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line, finishing a best of 12th in 2016.
Defending BC39 winner Brady Bacon, along with July Fairbury, Neb. winner Jason McDougal, are a part of the Broken Arrow, Okla. connection teamed with FMR Racing for the race. Bacon, a two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion, led the final nine laps to capture the inaugural event a year ago.
Chase Briscoe, who'll pilot his own No. 5B in the event, has extensive experience in midget and sprint car racing, including an appearance at the BC39 in the inaugural event a year ago. Of late, however, the Mitchell, Ind. native has made a big name for himself in NASCAR's Truck and Stock Car divisions. The 2016 ARCA champion was a recent NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at Iowa Speedway in July and was also victorious with the series in the debut on the "Roval" at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2018.
Briscoe made his debut on 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the series' stop in 2018, charging from his 22nd starting position to finish 9th in the Lilly Diabetes 250. Briscoe also owns a pair of victories in NASCAR's Gander Outdoors Truck Series, winning the finale at Homestead in 2017, then winning the Eldora Dirt Derby in 2018.
Two-time series champs Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) and Dave Darland (Lincoln, Ind.) are part of an all-star Petry Motorsports cast that also features Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) who led a race-high 30 laps and finished 3rd in last year's BC39 main event.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) took 7th in the 2018 BC39 and has already won once this season at Gas City I-69 Speedway during Indiana Midget Week, one of 12 different winners in the first 21 events of this season.
Michael Pickens, the winningest driver from New Zealand in the history of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing with four series wins, will roll with the RMS LLC team at the BC39 alongside teammate Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.), a nine-time winner on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car trail and a winner of last December's Junior Knepper 55 Midget race at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.
USAC National Midget champion Russ Gamester (Peru, Ind.), a winner in all three of USAC's National divisions throughout his career with 12 National Midget wins, 6 Silver Crown victories and a single National Sprint Car triumph.
Making his BC39 debut is Cannon McIntosh, who burst onto the USAC scene in a big way this past March where he scored his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin. In just six starts this season, the Bixby, Okla. driver has finished in the top-five on three occasions, including a runner-up finish at Gas City during Indiana Midget Week.
Also joining the list of BC39 entries is 2005 & 2006 Indiana Midget Week champion Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) for car owner Bill Ecker. Cottle is a multi-time winner in all three of USAC's National divisions in his career and owns three career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature wins. This past July, he emerged victorious on the final lap in one of the closest races in USAC history in a photo finish at Gas City I-69 Speedway during Indiana Sprint Week.
Spencer Bayston, the 2017 USAC National Midget champion from Lebanon, Ind. is entered, along with 2018 Jason Leffler Memorial winner Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.), USAC National Sprint Car feature winners Brent Beauchamp (Avon, Ind.) and Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), plus past USAC Western States Midget champion Shannon McQueen (Bakersfield, Calif.) among many others.
Teams can file their entry for the event at www.TheBC39.com, where they may also purchase pit and parking passes for the two-night USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event.
There are three options for viewing the racing action and also having pit pass access. You can purchase a competitor pit pass only where no seat is included with limited viewing of the track. Secondly, you can purchase a competitor pit pass with reserved seating included, which are available in the lower level of the main grandstands. Both options are available on www.thebc39.com/.
Competitor/crew seating has been added as a special general admission-only section in the main grandstand for the upcoming Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at IMS on September 4-5. Pits are located outside turns three and four this year, giving competitors and crews direct access to the grandstands.
Parking will also be available on both ends of the track for those with infield parking passes. Each entry filed will come with two VIP parking passes for inside parking at IMS. All others must either purchase inside parking or park outside of turns three and four of the 2.5-mile paved oval track.
Spectator tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/usac/buy-tickets.
The BC39 officially gets underway on Tuesday, Sept. 3 with team parking at noon. From 4-6pm, catch five USAC icons at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum's USAC Stars: From the Dirt Track to the Brickyard series. The event will feature legends Don and Mel Kenyon, and current drivers Michael Pickens, Chris Windom and Chad Boat. Pat Sullivan, longtime USAC public address announcer, historian, and author, will emcee this evening of entertaining banter and thrilling stories.
Tickets are available to Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum members for $15 and non-members for $20. Limited seating. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information or to buy tickets, contact Kelly Hartman at khartman@brickyard.com.
Following the event, make your way to USAC headquarters, just across the street from the IMS Administration office at 4910 W. 16th Street, for the BC39 Draft Party from 5:30pm to 8:30pm Eastern where drivers will draw for their heat race positions. All cars entered will be randomized into a draft order for the heat race draft. Teams will be able to pick their heat race spot, either in person with a representative, or remotely through USAC officials. Any unrepresented team will be given the first available spot. The heat race position draft is open to the public with team members getting priority into the new USAC worldwide headquarters. Food and beverages will be available.
On track action begins Wednesday, Sept. 4, beginning with the drivers meeting in the IMS Media Room at 2pm. Public gates open at 3pm with cars hitting the track for practice at 5pm, followed by opening ceremonies at 6:30pm. Heat races and the Stoops Pursuit race will conclude the night's racing action.
The finale, on Thursday, Sept. 5, will have the public gates opening at 3pm and cars on track for practice at 4:30pm, with qualifying races to follow at 5:30pm. Opening ceremonies are slated for 7pm and immediately followed by the main feature events, starting with multiple D-Mains, C-Main, the semi-feature and the 39-lap main event.
BC39 ENTRY LIST (83 cars as of 8/22/2019)
0 LUKE HOWARD/Overland Park, KS (Jay Mounce)
08 CANNON McINTOSH/Bixby, OK (Dave Mac Motorsports)
1 KARSYN ELLEDGE/Mooresville, NC (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
1BR CHASE JONES/Greenwood, IN (SFH Racing Development)
1NZ MICHAEL PICKENS/Auckland, NZ (RMS LLC)
1ST TBA (Daryl Saucier)
2 RYAN HALL/Midlothian, TX (Mark Bush)
2J TBA (Jeff Taylor)
2x MATT LINDER/Hoschton, GA (Mark Bush)
3N JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman)
4A JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (RAMS Racing)
4D ROBERT DALBY/Anaheim, CA (Ken Dalby)
5 KEVIN THOMAS, JR./Cullman, AL (Petry Motorsports)
5B CHASE BRISCOE/Mitchell, IN (Chase Briscoe Racing)
5D ZACH DAUM/Pocahontas, IL (Daum Motorsports)
7 CRITTER MALONE/Pittsboro, IN (Seven LLC)
7BC TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
7u KYLE JONES/Kennedale, TX (Trifecta Motorsports)
7x THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (RMS LLC)
8 RANDI PANKRATZ/Atascadero, CA (Wally Pankratz)
9 CHRIS BAUE/Indianapolis, IN (Chris Baue)
9H EMILIO HOOVER/Broken Arrow, OK (James Hoover)
9x TBA (Jay Mounce)
10 LANCE BENNETT/Aurora, CO (Olivia Bennett)
11L AARON LEFFEL/Springfield, OH (Chuck Taylor)
11m KENDALL RUBLE/Vincennes, IN (Martin Motorsports)
11T TOMMY KOUNS/Lebanon, IN (Chuck Taylor)
12 BILLY WEASE/Noblesville, IN (Amanda Wease)
14H TBA (Mike Dickerson)
15 DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (Petry Motorsports)
15DJ DAVID PRICKETT/Fresno, CA (Neverlift Motorsports)
15J JEFF WIMMENAUER/Indianapolis, IN (Jeff Wimmenauer)
15s SHANNON McQUEEN/Bakersfield, CA (Broc Garrett)
15x CARSON GARRETT/Littleton, CO (Broc Garrett)
17 RICKY STENHOUSE, JR./Olive Branch, MS (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
17BC CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
19 SPENCER BAYSTON/Lebanon, IN (Brodie Hayward)
19m ETHAN MITCHELL/Mooresville, NC (Bundy Built Motorsports)
20 CODY WEISENSEL/Sun Prairie, WI (Kevin Weisensel)
21 CHRISTOPHER BELL/Norman, OK (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
21D JUSTIN DICKERSON/Pittsboro, IN (Mike Dickerson)
21F JONATHAN BEASON/Broken Arrow, OK (Team Ripper)
21K C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Team Ripper)
21m MARIA COFER/Macdoel, CA (Team Ripper)
23m DAVID BUDRES/Beloit, WI (Manic Racing)
25 JERRY COONS, JR./Tucson, AZ (Petry Motorsports)
27 TUCKER KLAASMEYER/Paola, KS (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
28 ACE McCARTHY/Tahlequah, OK (Jim Neuman)
31 TRAVIS BERRYHILL/American Canyon, CA (Manic Racing)
35 TBA (Petry Motorsports)
39BC ZEB WISE/Angola, IN (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
41 OLIVER AKARD/Ft. Myers, FL (Dan Akard)
43 BRENT BEAUCHAMP/Avon, IN (Kevin Arnold)
46 RUSS GAMESTER/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)
47BC ANDREW LAYSER/Collegeville, PA (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
50 TONY DiMATTIA/Malvern, PA (Tony DiMattia Motorsports)
54 MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Steve Bordner)
54m RAY SEACH/Beloit, WI (Manic Racing)
56A COLTEN COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Travis Young)
56x MARK CHISHOLM/Cheyenne, WY (Mark Chisholm)
57A SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Bill Ecker)
57D DANIEL ROBINSON/Ewing, IL (McCreery Motorsports)
57K KEVIN STUDLEY/Plainfield, IN (Kevin Studley)
61 TREY OSBORNE/Columbus, OH (Mel Kenyon)
67 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
67F KYLE O'GARA/Beech Grove, IN (SFH Racing Development)
67K HOLLEY HOLLAN/Broken Arrow, OK (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71 JESSE COLWELL/Red Bluff, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71K TANNER CARRICK/Lincoln, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71s CODY SWANSON/Norco, CA (Marcie Campbell)
76 KEN DRANGMEISTER/Hobart, IN (Ken Drangmeister)
76E BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
76m JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
77B BLAZE BENNETT/Parker, CO (Olivia Bennett)
81 DILLON WELCH/Carmel, IN (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
84 CHAD BOAT/Phoenix, AZ (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
85 GIO SCELZI/Fresno, CA (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
88 TYLER NELSON/Olathe, KS (Tyler Nelson)
91T TYLER THOMAS/Collinsville, OK (Brian Thomas)
97 KYLE LARSON/Elk Grove, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
97A AUSTIN O'DELL/Rochester, IL (Patrick O'Dell)
98 TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
TBA (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
Grant Gasses it to #GYATK Night Triumph
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
#4 Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) captured the victory in Wednesday's #GYATK Night at Kokomo Speedway.
(Adam Mollenkopf Photo)
GRANT GASSES TO #GYATK NIGHT TRIUMPH
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 21, 2019).........Sprint Car Smackdown week began just as it left off the year before with Justin Grant racing to victory Wednesday in #GYATK Night following the Ione, California driver's victory in the Smackdown finale in 2018.
Grant emerged from a mid-race tussle with Brady Bacon and Thomas Meseraull, then slid by Bacon with eight laps remaining to score the victory in the non-points special event, a 27-lap feature race which Grant described as feeling like "slick track go-kart racing" around the quarter-mile dirt oval where one has to "figure out how big of a slider you can throw, then throw it and see if it sticks."
"Man, that was a heck of a race," Grant exclaimed. "It was an absolute blast to run. Maybe the only thing more fun than running it would've been watching it."
Grant had a good seat to watch early on as he went to work in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - Bow Foundation - Challenger Construction/Maxim/Claxton Chevy, starting fifth in the 22-car field while Meseraull and Bacon occupied the front row where the two went toe-to-toe into turn one on the opening lap before Bacon blasted around the outside of Meseraull in turn two to occupy the lead.
Near the completion of the second lap, third-running Carson Short walked away uninjured after tangling with C.J. Leary off turn four and barrel-rolled twice down the front straightaway. Despite the incident, the Marion, Ill. driver's crew made repairs and he rejoined the field for the restart, ultimately racing to a 12th place finish at the checkered.
Once racing resumed, Meseraull was on the attack from the second position, sliding Bacon into turn one on lap four. Bacon countered underneath off turn and raced back to the point into turn three. Meseraull kept his foot in it and, with four wheels above the turn four cushion, managed to drive around Bacon to snare the race lead.
After a Max Adams tangle with the turn two wall on the fifth lap, Meseraull rode the rim out front, nearly dancing with the concrete in turns one and two on lap nine as he kept Bacon at arm's length distance behind in second.
Just before the halfway mark, the battle at the front became a three-way affair with Bacon applying pressure underneath Meseraull between turns three and four. That opened the door for Grant to slide under Bacon for second in turn one with 14 circuits remaining.
The trio went three-deep on the other end of the speedway in turn three, but Grant snagged the turn four cushion, popping the front wheels up, thus allowing Bacon to slide back by Grant into turn one. Grant was prepared and cut back underneath Bacon to retake second off two. Bacon wasn't ready to give in and drove back underneath Grant for second off turns three and four, nipping Grant by a car length at the line with Meseraull just two lengths ahead out front.
Grant got up on the wheel and drove around the outside of Bacon off turn two for second, then went for broke, throwing a slider into turn three by Meseraull as Bacon poked underneath both drivers to make it three-wide off turn four. Meseraull beat Grant to the line by a half-car length with Bacon a car length behind Grant.
Meseraull attempted to move up to the top line entering turn one with 11 to go, nearly making contact with Grant as Bacon shot underneath both to go to the point. Both Grant and Meseraull raced to the bottom entering turn three side-by-side with just micrometers separating the two while Bacon exited the fray with the lead on top by two car lengths at the line with 10 to go.
Grant entered turn one on the bottom, sliding up and nearly picking off two positions in one fell swoop, pulling even with Bacon in turn two while Meseraull found a rocky road atop the cushion, enduring a half-spin, but managed to keep going and avoid contact from the evasive actions of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary, putting him out of contention to battle for the win down the stretch.
Now, with two-thirds of the race in the book, it became a one-on-one contest between Bacon and Grant. Grant had a feeling he would be good to go once the chaos of a three-car war cleared. Easier said then done, but Grant made it happen with just eight to go.
"I knew we were pretty good if I could get those guys cleared," Grant explained. "It got so ledgy off of four, guys would hit that and get messed up. Fortunately, it wasn't upsetting us much. We could get a big run on guys and I could slide them into one and two and make enough grip there to not get crossed over."
There'd be no crossing over by the competition on the 20th lap as Bacon went to the middle line in turn one. Grant ventured lower and slid up in front of Bacon for the lead. Bacon nearly came to a complete stop in the process, almost killing the engine, but kept it fired and continued on, albeit two-and-a-half seconds now behind Grant.
Down the stretch, Grant ripped around lapped traffic, opening up a 3.398 second advantage at the checkered to capture the victory in the third edition of #GYATK Night over Bacon, Leary, Meseraull and Logan Seavey.
Grant and TOPP Motorsports form a formidable combo at Kokomo where Grant has won quite often and where TOPP has won the last two Smackdown finales with Grant (2018) and Tyler Courtney (2017). A non-points special event, such as Wednesday night's, allowed the team to try a few new things, and by all accounts, everything seemed to pan out excellently.
"Tonight, we had some stuff we've been thinking would work," Grant explained. "But it's been kind of a dice roll whether to do it or not. We threw it at it and boy did it work! We've been sketching out stuff on paper trying to figure out how to come up with the best mousetrap we can, and it makes you feel good when you hit it. A lot of the things we've been working on and trying and we're finally getting them to come together. I felt like during Indiana Sprint Week, we had a lot of speed, and we kind of found our legs again.
Meanwhile, Anton Hernandez earned $1,539 for capturing the #GYATK Challenge, rewarding the best finisher among the group of drivers making their first appearance in a sprint car without a wing at Kokomo Speedway. Hernandez (Arlington, Texas) finished one spot out of the final transfer spot in the semi-feature.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 21, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - #GYATK Night
QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.057; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.089; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.127; 4. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-13.210; 5. Carson Short, 21, RCM-13.218; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.240; 7. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland-13.281; 8. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.281; 9. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.328; 10. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.330; 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19BS, Reinbold/Underwood-13.337; 12. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.347; 13. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.365; 14. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.404; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.411; 16. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.413; 17. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.428; 18. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.441; 19. Logan Seavey, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-13.528; 20. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.549; 21. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.549; 22. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.563; 23. Anton Hernandez, 19c, Cooley-13.575; 24. David Hair, 44, Hair-13.586; 25. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.595; 26. Thomas Meseraull, 23s, Simon-13.598; 27. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.602; 28. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.626; 29. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-13.632; 30. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-13.657; 31. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.664; 32. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-13.672; 33. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.678; 34. Paul Nienhiser, 9x, Nienhiser-13.728; 35. Scott Hampton, 59, Powell-13.771; 36. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.784; 37. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.805; 38. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-13.812; 39. Andrew Prather, 16K, Knight-13.908; 40. Aaron Leffel, 12L, Taylor-14.028; 41. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-14.100; 42. Brayden Clark, 42G, Jackson-14.118; 43. Parker Frederickson, wee34, Frederickson-14.150; 44. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-14.178; 45. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-14.295; 46. Cooper Welch, 2, Welch-14.550; 47. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-14.613; 48. Jack James, 99, James-14.690; 49. Zack Pretorius, 39x, Goodnight-14.697; 50. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-14.968.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Carmen Perigo, 8. Zack Pretorius. 2:12.18
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Cole Ketcham, 3. Timmy Buckwalter, 4. Corey Smith, 5. Dustin Smith, 6. Travis Hery, 7. Paul Nienhiser, 8. Brayden Clark. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Scotty Weir, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Andrew Prather, 5. Aaron Davis, 6. Cooper Welch, 7. Dave Darland. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Isaac Chapple, 3. Anthony D'Alessio, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brayden Fox, 6. David Hair, 7. Aaron Leffel, 8. Jarett Andretti. NT
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Max Adams, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Dustin Christie, 6. Parker Frederickson, 7. Evan Mosley, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Sterling Cling. NT
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Matt Goodnight, 4. Ty Tilton, 5. Brad Greenup, 6. Steve Thomas, 7. Jack James, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Brian VanMeveren. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Carmen Perigo, 2. Paul Nienhiser, 3. Evan Mosley, 4. Aaron Leffel, 5. Brayden Clark, 6. Zack Pretorius, 7. Jack James, 8. Eric Perrott. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Clinton Boyles, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Andrew Prather, 8. Ty Tilton, 9. Carmen Perigo, 10. Travis Hery, 11. Paul Nienhiser, 12. Aaron Leffel, 13. Parker Frederickson, 14. Evan Mosley, 15. Dustin Christie, 16. Steve Thomas, 17. Cooper Welch, 18. Brad Greenup, 19. Aaron Davis, 20. David Hair, 21. Corey Smith, 22. Brayden Fox. NT
FEATURE: (27 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (5), 2. Brady Bacon (2), 3. C.J. Leary (4), 4. Thomas Meseraull (1), 5. Logan Seavey (7), 6. Scotty Weir (9), 7. Chase Stockon (12), 8. Tyler Courtney (13), 9. Shane Cottle (11), 10. Chris Windom (19), 11. Jason McDougal (6), 12. Carson Short (3), 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (20), 14. Cole Ketcham (8), 15. Timmy Buckwalter (14), 16. Brandon Mattox (15), 17. Anthony D'Alessio (16), 18. Matt Goodnight (18), 19. Hunter Schuerenberg (22), 20. Isaac Chapple (10), 21. Max Adams (17), 22. Clinton Boyles (21). NT
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## Jarett Andretti flipped during the fourth heat. Sterling Cling flipped at the start of the fifth heat. Brian VanMeveren flipped during the sixth heat. Carson Short flipped on lap 2 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Brady Bacon, Laps 4-16 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 17-19 Brady Bacon, Laps 20-27 Justin Grant.
#GYATK CHALLENGE WINNER: Anton Hernandez
CRUME EVANS INSURANCE HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (19th to 10th)
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 22-23-24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII
Ironman Stockon in Line for Record at Kokomo
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
#32 Chase Stockon has 281 consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car starts coming into the Aug. 22-24 Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, three away from tying the all-time mark of 284 set by Levi Jones.
(David Nearpass Photo)
STOCKON IN LINE TO EQUAL CONSECUTIVE USAC SPRINT START RECORD AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 20, 2019).........One of the ultimate ironman streaks is on the line for Chase Stockon as he prepares to equal the series' most consecutive starts streaks this week during Sprint Car Smackdown VIII at Aug. 22-24 at Kokomo Speedway.
Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) has made 281 consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature starts since 2012. If all were to go in accordance with his plans and he qualifies for the feature on all three nights of Smackdown, he would tie the mark on Saturday of 284-straight starts in the series, set by five-time series champ Levi Jones between 2004 and 2012.
Stockon would then be in line to set the new standard of 285-straight feature starts with the series on Friday, Aug. 30, in the River Town Showdown at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill.
During Stockon's streak, he's accumulated 12 feature victories, which are tied with Eric Gordon for 45th all-time. Stockon's 27 fast qualifying times during the streak rank 12th all-time, tied with Dave Steele.
To put Stockon's consecutive starts streak into perspective, only eight times in the 64-year history of USAC has a driver put together 100 or more starts in a row. Jones, of course, right now is tops with 284, followed by Stockon at 281. Dave Darland has done it twice, putting together 204 consecutive starts between 2012-17 and 106 between 2004-2008. Brady Bacon had 147 from 2013-17. Damion Gardner had 126 between 2008 and 2012. Tracy Hines made feature starts in 123-straight between 2009 and 2012.
Chris Windom is one of those eight occasions as well, accumulating 132-straight starts since the 2016 season to hold the second longest active streak of starts. Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney stand at 98 starts in-a-row since the beginning of the 2017 season and would become the newest members of the exclusive 100-club if they compete in both Thursday and Friday night's feature events at Kokomo. Kevin Thomas, Jr. stands at 96 and could hit the 100-straight start mark in Granite City at the end of August.
The racing festivities at Kokomo first get underway on Wednesday, August 21, with #GYATK Night, a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car non-points Special Event in honor of the late, great Bryan Clauson, winner of the first Smackdown in 2012. Admission is FREE for all racefans. Driver pit passes are also all FREE courtesy of AllStar Performance. All gates open at 3pm Eastern, draw closes at USAC trailer at 6:10pm, drivers meeting in front grandstands at 6:15pm and cars on track at 6:30pm.
For the first two nights of Smackdown on Thursday, August 22 and Friday, August 23, all gates open at 3pm Eastern with cars on track at 6:45pm. Adult general admission tickets are $25 and children age 12 and under free. Pit passes are $35 apiece. 3-day advance reserved: $80.00, call 815-468-8690 for tickets. Advanced tickets sales will end on 8/19, after 8/19 3-day tickets can be purchased at the ticket window on race night for $85.00.
On the final night of Smackdown on Saturday, August 24, all gates open at 3pm Easter with cars on track at 6pm. Adult general admission tickets are $35 and children age 12 and under free. Pit passes are $45 apiece. The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series will also be on the event card.
All three nights of Smackdown, in addition to #GYATK Night, will be shown live and on-demand on FloRacing. You can listen to live audio of each night on the USAC app and follow along with live timing and scoring on the Race-Monitor app as well as the USAC app.
ALL-TIME CONSECUTIVE USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR FEATURE STARTS:
(Drivers with 100 or more)
1. (284) Levi Jones / 2004-2012
2. (281) Chase Stockon / 2012-Present
3. (204) Dave Darland / 2012-2017
4. (147) Brady Bacon / 2013-2017
5. (132) Chris Windom / 2016-Present
6. (126) Damion Gardner / 2008-2012
7. (123) Tracy Hines / 2009-2012
8. (106) Dave Darland / 2004-2008
TOP CURRENT CONSECUTIVE USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STARTS:
(Drivers with 50 or more)
1. (281) Chase Stockon / 2012-Present
2. (132) Chris Windom / 2016-Present
3. (98) Tyler Courtney / 2017-Present
4. (98) Justin Grant / 2017-Present
5. (96) Kevin Thomas, Jr. / 2017-Present
6. (68) Brady Bacon / 2017-Present
7. (64) C.J. Leary / 2017-Present
BC39 Field Soars Past 50 with Bacon, Bell, Larson and Other Top Stars Entered
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
2018 Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink winner Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla.
(Mike Roth Photo)
BC39 FIELD SOARS PAST 50 WITH BACON, BELL, LARSON AND OTHER TOP STARS ENTERED
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (August 14, 2019).........Defending BC39 winner Brady Bacon, along with USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champions Christopher Bell, Jerry Coons, Jr. Dave Darland, Logan Seavey and Tanner Thorson, as well as NASCAR Monster Energy Cup winner Kyle Larson and a host of others, are among the latest drivers entered for the second running of the Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink, as the field has now grown to 55 cars for the September 4-5 event at The Dirt Track at IMS.
Bacon, along with July Fairbury, Neb. winner Jason McDougal, are a part of the Broken Arrow, Okla. connection teamed with FMR Racing for the race. Bacon, a two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion, led the final nine laps to capture the inaugural event a year ago.
Three series champs in Bell (Norman, Okla.), Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) and Thorson (Minden, Nev.) lead an eight-car assault from the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian stable, which also features May's NASCAR Monster Energy All-Star Race winner Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), plus July Sweet Springs, Mo. winner Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, CA), plus series Rookie Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.), Holley Hollan (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.).
Two-time series champs Coons (Tucson, Ariz.) and Darland (Lincoln, Calif.) are part of an all-star Petry Motorsports contingent that also features Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) who led a race-high 30 laps and finished 3rd in last year's BC39 main event.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) took 7th in the 2018 BC39 and has already won once this season at Gas City I-69 Speedway during Indiana Midget Week, one of 12 different winners in the first 21 events of this season.
USAC Western States Midget point leader Robert Dalby (Anaheim, Calif.) returns for his second BC39 appearance. Dalby has won each of the last two USAC Western States Midget feature events at Merced Speedway and Santa Maria Raceway in California, the first two series victories for him in his career.
Clauson/Marshall Racing has entered their core group of four full-time USAC competitors for the event: Tyler Courtney, Chris Windom, Zeb Wise and Andrew Layser.
Defending USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) leads all drivers with six USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature wins in 2019 and has led the standings since the start of the season. His CMR teammate, Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), runs second in the standings behind Courtney. Windom, the 2016 Silver Crown and 2017 National Sprint Car titlist, has won his first two National Midget races over the past two months.
Wise (Angola, Ind.) runs fourth in the standings with two recent victories to his credit during Pennsylvania Midget Week. He was victorious in last year's opening night Stoops Pursuit Race at the BC39. Andrew Layser is in his first year for CMR and tops the series' Rookie points by a commanding margin as he seeks to make his first BC39 feature start.
Michael Pickens, the winningest driver from New Zealand in the history of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing with four series wins, will roll with the RMS LLC team at the BC39 alongside teammate Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.), a nine-time winner on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car trail and a winner of last December's Junior Knepper 55 Midget race at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.
David Prickett (Fresno, Calif.), the 2012 USAC Western States Dirt Midget champ, will drive for Neverlift Motorsports in his second BC39 appearance. Meanwhile, Trey Osborne (Columbus, Ohio), a veteran of Kenyon Midget racing and the Little 500 at Anderson, will drive the famed yellow No. 61 for Mel Kenyon, USAC's winningest National Midget driver with 111 career victories and a four-time top-five finisher at the Indianapolis 500 between 1966 and 1973.
Spencer Bayston, the 2017 USAC National Midget champion from Lebanon, Ind. is entered, along with 2018 Jason Leffler Memorial winner Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.), USAC National Sprint Car feature winners Brent Beauchamp (Avon, Ind.) and Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), plus past USAC Western States Midget champion Shannon McQueen (Bakersfield, Calif.) among many others.
Teams can file their entry for the event at www.thebc39.com/, where they may also purchase pit and parking passes for the two-night USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event.
With the expansion of grandstand seating around the quarter-mile dirt oval, teams purchasing pit passes for the BC39 will be able to add a grandstand seat. Five-hundred reserved seats in Tier 3 (lower level) have been made available for purchase at a discounted rate until August 15. Unsold tickets as of August 15 will be made available at public prices and may sell out.
There are three options for viewing the racing action and also having pit pass access. You can purchase a competitor pit pass only where no seat is included with limited viewing of the track. Secondly, you can purchase a competitor pit pass with reserved seating included, which are available in the lower level of the main grandstands. Both options are available on www.thebc39.com/.
Competitor/crew seating has been added as a special general admission-only section in the main grandstand for the upcoming Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at IMS on September 4-5. Pits are located outside turns three and four this year, giving competitors and crews direct access to the grandstands.
Competitors and crews have two options: 1) Purchase reserved seats at IMS.com/BC39 and upgrade to a pit pass there or... 2) Purchase a reserved 2-day pit pass at usacracing.ticketspice.com/2019-bc39 and upgrade to include a seat in the general seating section for crews/competitors only.
Additionally, parking will also be available on both ends of the track for those with infield parking passes.
Each entry filed will come with two VIP parking passes for inside parking at IMS. All others must either purchase inside parking or park outside of turns three and four of the 2.5-mile paved oval track.
Spectator tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/usac/buy-tickets.
The BC39 officially gets underway on Tuesday, Sept. 3 with team parking at noon. From 4-6pm, catch five USAC icons at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum's USAC Stars: From the Dirt Track to the Brickyard series. The event will feature legends Don and Mel Kenyon, and current drivers Michael Pickens, Chris Windom and Chad Boat. Pat Sullivan, longtime USAC public address announcer, historian, and author, will emcee this evening of entertaining banter and thrilling stories.
Tickets are available to Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum members for $15 and non-members for $20. Limited seating. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information or to buy tickets, contact Kelly Hartman at khartman@brickyard.com.
Following the event, make your way to USAC headquarters, just across the street from the IMS Administration office at 4910 W. 16th Street, where drivers will draw for their heat race positions at the BC39 opening night races. All cars entered will be randomized into a draft order for the heat race draft. Teams will be able to pick their heat race spot, either in person with a representative, or remotely through USAC officials. Any unrepresented team will be given the first available spot. The heat race position draft is open to the public with team members getting priority into the new USAC worldwide headquarters. Food and beverages will be available.
On track action begins Wednesday, Sept. 4, beginning with the drivers meeting in the IMS Media Room at 2pm. Public gates open at 3pm with cars hitting the track for practice at 4pm, followed by opening ceremonies at 7pm. Heat races and the Stoops Pursuit race will conclude the night's racing action.
The finale, on Thursday, Sept. 5, will have the public gates opening at 3pm and cars on track for practice at 4pm, with qualifying races to follow at 5pm. Opening ceremonies are slated for 7:30pm and immediately followed by the main feature events, starting with multiple D-Mains and C-Mains, the semi-feature and the 39-lap main event.
BC39 ENTRY LIST (55 cars as of 8/14/2019)
1NZ MICHAEL PICKENS/Auckland, NZ (RMS LLC)
1ST TBA (Daryl Saucier)
2 RYAN HALL/Midlothian, TX (Mark Bush)
2x MATT LINDER/Hoschton, GA (Mark Bush)
3N JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman)
4A JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (RAMS Racing)
4D ROBERT DALBY/Anaheim, CA (Ken Dalby)
5 KEVIN THOMAS, JR./Cullman, AL (Petry Motorsports)
7BC TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
7u KYLE JONES/Kennedale, TX (Trifecta Motorsports)
7x THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (RMS LLC)
8 RANDI PANKRATZ/Atascadero, CA (Wally Pankratz)
9 CHRIS BAUE/Indianapolis, IN (Chris Baue)
9H EMILIO HOOVER/Broken Arrow, OK (James Hoover)
11L AARON LEFFEL/Springfield, OH (Chuck Taylor)
11T TBA (Chuck Taylor)
14H TBA (Mike Dickerson)
15 DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (Petry Motorsports)
15J JEFF WIMMENAUER/Indianapolis, IN (Jeff Wimmenauer)
15s SHANNON McQUEEN/Bakersfield, CA (Broc Garrett)
15x CARSON GARRETT/Littleton, CO (Broc Garrett)
17 JUSTIN PECK/Monrovia, IN (Bus Racing Team)
17BC CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
19 SPENCER BAYSTON/Lebanon, IN (Brodie Hayward)
20 CODY WEISENSEL/Sun Prairie, WI (Kevin Weisensel)
21 CHRISTOPHER BELL/Norman, OK (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
21D JUSTIN DICKERSON/Pittsboro, IN (Mike Dickerson)
22Q DAVID PRICKETT/Fresno, CA (Neverlift Motorsports)
25 JERRY COONS, JR./Tucson, AZ (Petry Motorsports)
27 TUCKER KLAASMEYER/Paola, KS (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
28 ACE McCARTHY/Tahlequah, OK (Jim Neuman)
35 TBA (Petry Motorsports)
39BC ZEB WISE/Angola, IN (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
41 OLIVER AKARD/Ft. Myers, FL (Dan Akard)
43 BRENT BEAUCHAMP/Avon, IN (Kevin Arnold)
47BC ANDREW LAYSER/Collegeville, PA (Clauson/Marshall Racing)
50 TONY DiMATTIA/Malvern, PA (Tony DiMattia Motorsports)
54 MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Steve Bordner)
56A COLTEN COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Travis Young)
57A TBA (Bill Ecker)
57D DANIEL ROBINSON/Ewing, IL (McCreery Motorsports)
57K KEVIN STUDLEY/Plainfield, IN (Kevin Studley)
61 TREY OSBORNE/Columbus, Ohio (Mel Kenyon)
67 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
67K HOLLEY HOLLAN/Broken Arrow, OK (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71 JESSE COLWELL/Red Bluff, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71K TANNER CARRICK/Lincoln, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71s CODY SWANSON/Norco, CA (Marcie Campbell)
76E BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
76m JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
88 TYLER NELSON/Olathe, KS (Tyler Nelson)
91T TYLER THOMAS/Collinsville, OK (Brian Thomas)
97 KYLE LARSON/Elk Grove, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
97A AUSTIN O'DELL/Rochester, IL (Patrick O'Dell)
98 TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
USAC Hall of Fame Class of 2019: Capels, Clauson, Jordan, Steele
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
USAC HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2019: CAPELS, CLAUSON, JORDAN, STEELE
Speedway, Indiana (August 14, 2019).........USAC's newest Hall of Fame class members have been named for 2019 with Johnny Capels, Bryan Clauson, Dick Jordan and Dave Steele receiving the votes to make up the eighth class of inductees, who will be formally inducted on Wednesday, September 4, during the Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
New Mexico native Capels is a five-time National Championship-winning chief mechanic, winning back-to-back USAC National Championships with driver Joe Leonard in 1971-72, plus USAC Champ Dirt Car titles with Al Unser in 1973, Mario Andretti in 1974 and as a chief mechanic/car owner for Pancho Carter in 1978. He was also victorious as a USAC Sprint Car driver in 1968 and served in the roles of USAC Senior VP and Director of Competition in 1992, USAC President and COO from 1997 to 2001 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for USAC from 2002 to 2010.
Clauson, of Noblesville, Ind. won 112 USAC races as a driver between 2004 and his 2016 passing and is one of just six drivers to reach the 100-win mark during his career with the club. Clauson ranks seventh on both the USAC National Sprint Car and USAC National Midget wins list with 41 and 38 wins, respectively, in each division. He also scored two career USAC Silver Crown victories. He captured the overall USAC National Driver Championship in 2010-11-12, USAC National Midget championships in 2010-11 and USAC National Sprint Car titles in 2012 and 2013.
Jordan, of Brownsburg, Ind., was USAC's public/media relations man for over half a century from 1968 until his death in 2019, and it's safe to say, no individual has witnessed more USAC events than he. Jordan devoted his entire working life to publicizing the club's drivers and events, working with the media, as well as preserving the club's rich history with his thorough race reports, statistics and record-keeping. One of the most respected individuals in all racing media, the recognition Jordan received from around the racing world because of his contributions have been extensive.
Tampa, Fla. native Steele racked up one of the greatest careers in the history of USAC, ultimately becoming a two-time Silver Crown driving champion in 2004 and 2005 and one of the club's most accomplished drivers in the decades of the 1990 and 200s. Steele earned 60 USAC National victories, all of which came on pavement, including 16 Silver Crown, 26 National Sprint Car and 18 Midget. A two-time Little 500 winner at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway where he earned his final USAC win in 2009, Steele passed away in 2017 following a crash on the opening lap of a Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series event at Florida's Desoto Speedway.
The USAC Hall of Fame began in 2012 and has previously inducted 80 individuals over the past seven years: J.C. Agajanian, Mario Andretti, Earl Baltes, Henry Banks, Rollie Beale, Gary Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Tom Bigelow, George Bignotti, Tom Binford, Don Branson, Clint Brawner, Steve Butler, Jimmy Bryan, Duane Carter, Pancho Carter, Jimmy Caruthers, Russ Clendenen, Donald Davidson, Jimmy Davies, Willie Davis, Frankie Delroy, Mike Devin, Larry Dickson, Bob East, Tony Elliott, A.J. Foyt, Paul Goldsmith, Chuck Gurney, Gene Hartley, Butch Hartman, Jack Hewitt, Bob Higman, Tommy Hinnershitz, Gus Hoffman, Lindsey Hopkins, Tony Hulman, Jim Hurtubise, Parnelli Jones, Don Kenyon, Mel Kenyon, Dick King, Sheldon Kinser, Jud Larson, Jason Leffler, Steve Lewis, Howard Linne, Bill Lipkey, Fred Lorenzen, Roger McCluskey, Rick Mears, Norm Nelson, Pat O'Connor, Kevin Olson, Roger Penske, Larry Rice, Lloyd Ruby, Johnny Rutherford, Troy Ruttman, Eddie Sachs, Ken Schrader, Bob & Gene Shannon, Jimmy Sills, Don Smith, Robbie Stanley, Steve Stapp, Tony Stewart, Bob Stroud, Bob Tattersall, Shorty Templeman, Johnny Thomson, Sleepy Tripp, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Rich Vogler, Rodger Ward, A.J. Watson, Bob Wente, Don White & Bob Wilke.
