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Lots Of USAC Racing This Week

How about 318 years of racing tradition in one week? Next week?s motorsports slate in the Hoosier state offers just that!

It all kicks off with Wednesday night?s 9th Annual ?Banjo Glen Niebel Classic? USAC Sprint race at Anderson Speedway. A 100-lap feature is on tap at the 1/4-mile paved oval. Eight-time ?Little 500? winner Eric Gordon won the first ?Glen Niebel Classic? in 2000.

Thursday night?s 38th Annual First Financial ?Tony Hulman Classic? presented by Budweiser showcases the USAC Sprint cars at the Terre Haute Action Track. A 30-lap feature continues the tradition started at the 1/2-mile dirt oval by race winner George Snider in 1971.

Friday?s 56th ?Hoosier Hundred? K & N USAC Silver Crown race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds offers 100 miles of feature competition on the 1-mile Indianapolis dirt oval where Bob Sweikert won the inaugural in 1953.

Saturday night?s 63rd Toyota Challenge ?Night Before the 500? USAC Mopar National Midget race at O?Reilly Raceway Park in the speed capital has roots dating back to 1946 when Leroy Warriner and Benny Emerick won races at the now-defunct 16th Street Speedway. A 50-lap main event concludes the program at the 5/8-mile paved oval.

Saturday night also offers the spectacular PayLess ?Little 500? Sprint race, being held for the 60th time at Anderson Speedway. Starting 33 cars, three-abreast, ala-Indy, the race constitutes 500 laps around the 1/4-mile paved oval! Sam Skinner won the first ?Little 500? back in 1949.

USAC also has a ?tripleheader? of regional competition scheduled Thursday night at the Mount Lawn Speedway in New Castle, Ind. The Regional, Kenyon and Indiana Ford Focus Series are all involved, with 30-lap features for each on the 3/10-mile pavement.

It all culminates with the World?s Greatest Spectator Sporting Event on Sunday ? the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

USAC National Sprint racing tradition continues with back-to-back pavement and dirt track events in central Indiana next Wednesday and Thursday.

The 9th Annual Banjo ?Glen Niebel Classic? is Wednesday night at Anderson Speedway. A 50-lap feature is on tap, serving as a prelude to Saturday night?s 60th PayLess ?Little 500? at the 1/4-mile paved oval.

Thursday night?s race at the Terre Haute Action Track is the 38th First Financial ?Tony Hulman Classic? presented by Budweiser. A 30-lap feature event completes the action on the 1/2-mile dirt oval.

Defending National Sprint Champion Levi Jones is the defending champion of the ?Glen Niebel Classic? and the current series point leader. Other former winners are Eric Gordon, Derek Davidson, Tracy Hines, Aaron Pierce, Jay Drake, Dave Steele and Dave Darland. No driver has won the race more than once!

Jon Stanbrough won last year?s ?Tony Hulman Classic,? one of 29 drivers who have won the classic in its 38 years. The former winners of the race form a veritable ?who?s-who? of the sport of Sprint racing.

Jones? point lead will be in jeopardy as he holds a slim three-point lead over youngster Brady Bacon. Jones? Tony Stewart Racing teammate, Tracy Hines, ranks third, only one point behind Bacon after winning last Saturday night?s 30-lap feature at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

“MIDGET MAYNIA TOUR” THIS WEEK IN WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS; RACES AT LaCROSSE, SLINGER & ROCKFORD
This week’s “Midget Maynia Tour” includes races at three tracks relatively new to the USAC Mopar National Midget calendar. Friday night’s “Battle in the Bluffs” is at the LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, Wisc., while Slinger (Wisc.) Super Speedway hosts Saturday night’s 2nd Annual Kubota “Stan Fox Classic.” Sunday afternoon’s race is at Rockford (Ill.) Speedway. The “Midget Maynia Tour” wraps up with the 7th Annual Mid-State Equipment “Sue Thiel Memorial” May 30 at Dodge County Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam, Wisc.

A $5,000 point fund has been posted in addition to purse money for the “Midget Maynia Tour.”

USAC’s only previous event at the 5/8-mile paved LaCrosse Fairgrounds oval came in 1973 when Butch Hartman won a 100-lap Stock car race there. USAC’s only previous Slinger appearance found Jeff Nuckles winning a 50-lap Midget race in 1984. Rockford has hosted 21 USAC events beginning with Jack Holbrook’s victory in a 1958 Short-Track Stock Car race and ending with Rich Vogler’s victory in a 1979 Midget feature. Twenty of the 21 USAC races at Rockford were Midget races.

Youngster Cole Whitt of Alpine, Calif. and veteran Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind. enter this week’s three-races in a virtual tie for the USAC Mopar National Midget point lead. Whitt is still seeking his first USAC feature win at age 16, while Hines won Saturday night’s 30-lap USAC Sprint Car race at Rossburg, Ohio and has a total of 22 National Midget wins to his credit.

Early entries forecast a large field for the three races this week, headlined by no less than 12 drivers with USAC championships on their resume. They include two-time defending National Champion Jerry Coons Jr. of Tucson, Ariz., Dave Darland, Hines, Levi Jones, Bobby East, Bradley Galedrige, Kody Swanson, Brad Kuhn, Chase Barber, Chris Windom, Josh Wise and Dakoda Armstrong.

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