The USAC National Sprint Car Series Indiana Sprint Week kicked off last week with five races resulting in four different winners.
Shane Cottle scored his first career Indiana Sprint Week win by capturing the main event on July 18 at Gas City I-69 Speedway. C.J. Leary was second, with Chris Windom, Brady Bacon and Kevin Thomas Jr. rounding out the top five.
On July 19, the series ventured to Plymouth Speedway, with Tyler Courtney taking the win over C.J. Leary, Justin Grant, Bacon and Jason McDougal.
The July 20 appearance at Kokomo Speedway saw Windom take his first ISW win in eight years over Bacon, Leary, Kyle Cummins and Scotty Weir.
On July 21, Lawrenceburg Speedway was the site, and Justin Grant became the fourth winner in four races as he held off Windom, Leary, Thomas and Carson Short for the win.
The July 24 event at Terre Haute Action Track saw the first repeat winner of ISW, with Courtney taking the win over Grant, Thomas, Bacon and Windom.
Courtney’s third career series win at Terre Haute also was his 22nd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win, which moved him past 1967 series champ Greg Weld and into a tie for 25th place all-time alongside Rick Hood, Bubby Jones and Sammy Sessions.
The 2019 edition of the USAC Indiana Sprint Week wraps up tonight at the Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt.
Columbus go-kart results
With a total of 40 karts on hand for the July 20 race at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds, the Columbus Speedway Go-Kart Racing held its post-fair race with five Columbus racers scoring wins.
Columbus winners were Brandon Malone (pred 212), Colton Lucas (flathead 365), John Palmer (yamaha), Elijah Knoke (jr. 1) and Johnny Smith (clone 380).
Other winners were Zach Roell (rookie), Scott Bowman (clone 425), Kayla Roell (jr. 3), Travis Wilburn (clone 400), Chris Buchanan (clone 340) and Kevin Cunningham (rwyb).
Racing will continue tonight at the fairgrounds. Grandstand admission is free.
Sweet takes Eldora biggie
Brad Sweet won his second career Kings Royal Sprint Car race on July 20 at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, when he claimed an unprecedented $175,000-to-win payoff. The event, which began in 1984, always had paid $50,000 to win until Stewart upped the ante for 2019.
The win was Sweet’s 11th World of Outlaws win of the year and the 45th of his career. Logan Schuchart finished in second, with Brent Marks taking third. Sheldon Haudenschild and David Gravel rounded out the top five.
The event, which drew 62 entries, saw Donny Schatz, Sammy Swindell, Jac Haudenschild, Tim Shaffer and Kerry Madsen complete the top 10.
Another noteworthy tidbit from this year’s Kings Royal is that the 50/50 winner claimed an Eldora record $60,000.
On July 17, preceding the Kings Royal weekend, Eldora hosted a make-up USAC National Sprint Car Series race that had been rained out in May. Courtney won the $10,000-to-win race, with C.J. Leary placing second, followed by Brady Bacon, Chase Stockon and Chris Windom.
It was the 200th series race Wednesday at the “Big E.” Courtney put one in the record books as just the fourth driver to win three straight USAC National Sprint Car features at Eldora. Jud Larson was the first to do it in 1964-65, followed by Bubby Jones in 1978-79 and Jack Hewitt, who put together two sets of back-to-back-to-back victories in 1988 and 1990-91, already putting Courtney in exclusive company in his young career.
O’Neal wins Twin Cities special
Marty O’Neal of Spencer won the Garlitch 50 for crate late models on July 20 at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon. Jeremy Helton of Paris Crossing won the super stock feature. Matt Hamilton of Aurora took top honors in the open wheel modified feature, Troy Clark of North Vernon won the pure stock main and Bryce Burton of Edinburgh won the hornet feature.
Tonight, Twin Cities will be racing the 410 sprints, TQ midgets, super stocks, modifieds and hornets. For the latest info, visit twincitiestrack.com.
Brownstown Fair race tonight
The 2019 Jackson County 4-H Fair will conclude tonight with a full racing program at Brownstown Speedway. The Seventh Annual Paul Crockett Memorial for super late models is on the docket with a first-place prize of $2,500 to the winner. Also competing will be modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks and hornets. For more info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Paragon results
Jadon Rogers held off a strong field in the sprint car division at Paragon Speedway, winning the main event on July 19 by edging out Garrett Abrams, Nate McMillin, Andrew Prather and Ethan Barrow for the win.
Other feature winners at Paragon were Andy Brown (hornets), Josh Litton (bombers), Josh Boller (super stocks) and Dustin Golden (modifieds).
The next event at Paragon will be on Friday with a regular card of sprints, modifieds, super stocks, bombers and hornets. For up-to-date info, visit paragonspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 50 years ago this weekend in 1969 at Bloomington, it was Butch Wilkerson winning the sprint car feature over Bob Kinser, Rex Mitchell, Bobby Black and Danny Bowlen.
At Brownstown 50 years ago this weekend, it was Pete Willoughby taking the feature victory over Jim Curry, Paul Hobbs, Ira Bastin and Carl Collins.
From 40 years ago in 1979 at Twin Cities, Gene Webber won the late model feature eover Russ Petro, Tommy Day, Carl Collins and Billy Brandenburg. Bill Cash took the street stock main event over Butch Davidson, Mac Swim, Kenny Poole and Bearcat Chaplin.
From 30 years ago this weekend in 1989 at Twin Cities, the late model feature was won by Bubby James over Daryl Herbert and Dill Whittymore. Scott McKeand won his 12th street stock feature of the season over Stan Brown and Donnie Wilson. Randy Petro took the bomber feature race over Mark Bruce and Don Walp.
Also from this weekend in 1989 at Brownstown, it was John Gill winning the late model feature over Mike Jewell, Gary Barrow, Steve Barnett and Bob Pierce. Joe Johnson took the street stock feature race over Scott Patman, Cooley Singer, Gary Green and Don Hoover. Bret Ezzo and Kevin Sebastian won the two bomber features that were ran.
From this weekend in 1999 at Brownstown’s Fair Race, the late model feature went to Don O’Neal over Steve Barnett, Doug Ault, Mike Jewell and Mark Barber. Todd Gilpin was victorious in the modified feature race over Scott Patman, Adam Sasser, Earl Plessinger and Matt Boknecht. Sam Chastain captured the bomber feature over Kevin Applegate, Ryan Scott, Matt Cummings and Nat Wentworth.
Also from 1999 at Lawrenceburg, Pete Abel won the Jeff Thickstun Memorial for sprints over Troy Link, Mike Mann, Terry Pletch and Jack Hewitt. Ron Jolliff Jr. took the modified feature over David Mills, Tom Doerflein, Warren Shingleton and Doug Wethington.
