Columbus native J.J. Hughes won a thrilling sprint-car feature Sept. 23 at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon.
Hughes and Drew Abel of North Vernon raced hard for the win, with Hughes coming out on top. Garrett Abrams of Rushville was second, with Andy Bradley of Bloomington taking third. Brandon Spencer and Abel completed the top five.
Troy Clark of North Vernon won the pure stocks feature race over Mark Hines of Scipio, Ronnie Pardue of Vallonia, Tim Clark of North Vernon and Charles Newby of Edinburgh.
Cordell Moore won the hornets feature over Cody Perry of North Vernon, Jacob Owens of North Vernon, Donnie Modesty of Seymour and Corebin McRoberts of Dupont.
Tonight will be the next-to-last event of the season at Twin Cities. The track hosts a complete show for crates, modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks and hornets. For more info, visit twincitiestrack.com.
Annual Four Crown Nationals at Eldora
The 36th Annual Four Crown Nationals were conducted last weekend at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
On Sept. 22, the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars were on hand, with Tim Shaffer taking the win over Donny Schatz, Joey Saldana, Jason Johnson and David Gravel. Paul Pardo won the companion Eldora stock cars feature.
On Saturday, USAC was the headliner program with the USAC Silver Crown, Sprints and Midgets, along with the All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars all in action. Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis was the winner of the Silver Crown race for the very first time in his career. It marked the final Silver Crown race of the season, and Kody Swanson was named the champion for 2017. Trailing Courtney to the finish line were Chris Windom, Shane Cottle, Dave Darland and Brady Bacon.
The Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champion Sprint Cars raced, with Brady Bacon taking the feature triumph. Bryan Nuckles was second, with Max Stambaugh claiming third. Lee Jacobs and Hunter Schuerenberg completed the top-five drivers.
In the AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series event, it was C.J. Leary of Greenfield taking home the money ahead of Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Justin Grant. It was Leary’s fourth series win of the season.
The National Midget feature was taken by Spencer Bayston of Lebanon in the Keith Kunz/Curb Agajanian entry. Shane Golobic finished in second, followed by Brady Bacon, Dave Darland and Tanner Thorson.
The next AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series was Friday at Montpelier Motor Speedway and it will be in action tonight at Lawrenceburg Speedway. For more info, visit usacracing.com.
Brownstown Speedway hosts 2 nights of racing
Brownstown Speedway had a successful Jackson 100 weekend last weekend. On Sept. 22, Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tennessee, won the special Tribute to Steve Barnett. Barnett was a long-time track regular, winning four late model track championship and winning 50 features during his career that began in 1975.
Owens led all 30-laps to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event over Devin Gilpin of Columbus, Tim McCreadie of Watertown, New York, Josh Richards of Shinnston, West Virginia and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Kentucky.
Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville drove the Isaac Rainey-prepared Indiana Pro Late Model Series crate car to victory in the Bowman 50. With several sponsors adding in money, the race paid $2,500 to win instead of the normal $2,000. Victor Lee of Danville, Kentucky, was second, with Marty O’Neal of Spencer taking third. Justin Shaw of Greenwood was fourth, and Matt Bex of Avoca rounded out the top-five drivers.
Jason Combs of Seymour won the pure stocks feature on Sept. 22 at Brownstown over Zachary Stalker of Heltonville, Tim Rivers of Salem, Josh Hayes of Seymour and Derek Clegg of Nabb.
On Saturday at Brownstown, Hall-of-Fame Late Model driver Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tennessee, continued his stranglehold on the Jackson 100. He led all 100 laps in winning the 38th Annual event, worth $15,000. It was Bloomquist’s seventh win in the event and his 13th career win at the Jackson County Fairgrounds track. Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg made a late-race charge to place second, and Hudson O’Neal claimed the third spot in only his second career start in the annual event. Jimmy Owens was fourth, with Gregg Satterlee of Indiana, Pennsylvania, taking fifth.
Matt Boknecht of Seymour took top honors in the modifieds class. Tyler Nicely of Owensboro, Kentucky, was the runner-up, with Bradley Sterrett of Bloomington taking third. Jeremy Owens of North Vernon and Peyton Harlow of Glasgow, Kentucky, was fifth in the finishing order.
After 11 years of trying, Tim Schumpe of Vallonia finally won his first career super stocks feature race. Randy Petro of Columbus was second, with points leader Jamey Wilson of Seymour crossing the line a close third. Jason Hehman of Brownstown was fourth, with Colton Sullivan of Columbus notching another top-five finish.
Tonight, Brownstown will host the Indiana Pro late models, modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks, hornets and RaceSaver sprints. For more info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Bloomington track hosts next-to-last event of season
Bloomington Speedway hosted its next-to-last racing program of the season on Sept. 22.
Former track champions Jeff Bland Jr. of Bedford and Brady Short of Bedford topped the field in the two sprint-car features that were ran.
In the first feature, Bland won over Brady Short, Hunter O’Neal of Ellettsville, Ethan Barrow of Unionville and Stephen Schnapf of Newburgh. Jamie Williams of Columbus was sixth.
The second feature saw Short come back to take the victory over Bland, Barrow, O’Neal and Travis Welpott of Pendleton.
The 2017 racing season concluded Friday at Bloomington Speedway with the super stocks, modifieds and TQ Midgets. For more info, visit bloomingtonspeedway.com.
Lawrenceburg Speedway hosts USAC tonight
As mentioned earlier, Lawrenceburg Speedway will host the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car tour tonight for the Fall Nationals. Also racing will be the modifieds and the VARC series. For more info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 50 years ago in 1967, Russ Petro of Columbus closed out the Brownstown Speedway racing season by winning the late models feature over Gerald Dixon, Jack Owens, Gene Dalton, Jim Haley, Dennis Bingham and Jim Reichenba.
