KOKOMO, Ind. — After enduring a vicious flip during the previous night’s feature that wiped out their primary ride, C.J. Leary and BGE Dougherty Motorsports turned to a car that had been sitting on jack stands for the past three years.
With body panels adorned in the look Leary sported during the 2020 season when he drove the family-owned No. 30, the Greenfield, Ind. native and his Altoz – Hornbeck Concrete – Highsmith Guns – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts/DRC/1-Way Chevy hit the ground running during Saturday night’s Darland Classic at Kokomo Speedway.
Starting fifth, Leary became the third and final driver to race into first place when race leader Brady Bacon stumbled upon the turn two cushion with six laps remaining, opening the door for Leary to drive past and earn his seventh career USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented By Honest Abe Roofing victory.
Clawing his way back from the depths of despair following a massive crash on Friday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway to the joy of achieving his third USAC win of the season, and first since early May, Leary was overjoyed with the result of his hard work coming to fruition.
“Man, this is huge,” Leary exclaimed. “I’m sick, I’m worn out, and the last night really put a hurt on me. Last night was unfortunate and I feel like we had a good car; it just happened so fast. We stayed up all night last night building this thing. This car has never been raced, and tonight’s the first night on it. We built this thing new in 2020 and it’s just been sitting.”
It didn’t sit idle for long during feature time, however, although Leary initially fell back two spots to seventh in the early going before settling into a groove. Meanwhile, up front, outside front row starter Jake Swanson rang around the topside to lead the opening two laps before third-starting Bacon took over the lead on lap three when Jake Swanson nearly turned over on the turn three cushion. Kyle Cummins also scooted past, slotting into second as Swanson dropped to third.
Cummins soon tracked down and caught up with Bacon on lap seven, and just as he was making his bid for the lead off the exit of turn four, it turned out to be all for naught as 19th running Braxton Cummings spun around to a stop in turn two.
When action got back underway, soon, a battle for fourth had developed between Swanson and Mitchel Moles.
However, the battle for position between the two soon became among the most spectacular incidents of the entire USAC season. As Swanson worked a lower line, Moles occupied the high road as he attempted to work his was around Swanson.
Exiting turn four on lap eight, real estate was at a premium as the two came together on the front straight. Moles’ car then ramped up the wall and tore down layers of catch fencing.
Severe damage was immediately evident on Moles’ machine with much of the front half of the car shredded into pieces along the quarter-mile dirt oval’s surface. Moles climbed away from the wreckage while Swanson was beset by a flat right-rear tire.
Sitting sixth at the time of the incident, under the red flag, C.J.’s father, past USAC Midget and Silver Crown Rookie of the Year driver Chuck Leary, was there on the scene to assist C.J. But, as it turned out, all C.J. needed was a different plan of attack.
“Under the red, my dad came up to the fence and asked me what I needed,” C.J. recalled. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ I just didn’t think we were that good. I really hadn’t cowboy’d up or went four in the fluff that hard. Honestly, I felt like the 3R was probably the best car.”
Soon after the lap eight restart, trouble became evident with the right front shock tower on the 3R of Cummins as his front wheels constantly dangled, creating quite a tumultuous ride for the winner of the last two USAC Sprint Car features at Kokomo dating back to August of 2022.
On that same lap eight restart, the suddenly surgent Carson Garrett was showcasing his presence, driving under Cummins on the restart for second, then slid past Bacon for the lead in turn two on lap 10. Bacon was initially able to fend off Garrett by driving back under in turn two to retain the spot, but Garrett came right back on the bottom on lap 11 to take over up front.
Bacon found the diamond line over in turns three and four and charged back into the lead past Garrett on lap 17. Leary followed suit and mimicked the same such pattern to race past his teammate for second on the 18th trip.
Leary carved into Bacon’s lead during the ensuing laps, and with six to go, was in a prime spot when Bacon’s right rear tire ricocheted off the turn two cushion, which kicked him sideways and scrubbed his momentum. Leary, with a full head of steam, freight-trained his way under Bacon and into the lead.
From that point forward, total control belonged to Leary who opened up the gap to 1.413 seconds by race’s end as he captured his second career Indiana Sprint Week feature win at Kokomo, also doing so in 2020.
Bacon grabbed second with Carson Garrett third, Emerson Axsom fourth and Logan Seavey fifth.
C.J. Leary challenges Stevie Sussex (77) at Kokomo Speedway. (Dick Ayers photo)
The Boxscore
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Ind., July 22, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.924; 2. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-12.957; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.005; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.006; 5. Stevie Sussex, 77s, Sturgeon-13.023; 6. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-13.056; 7. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-13.075; 8. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.112; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.116; 10. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-13.145; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 42, Cheney-13.147; 12. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-13.172; 13. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-13.205; 14. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-13.283; 15. Alex Bright, 27, Heffner-13.298; 16. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.347; 17. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland/Curb-Agajanian-13.399; 18. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.405; 19. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-13.439; 20. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-13.468; 21. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.470; 22. Tyler Hewitt, 118, Evans-13.511; 23. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.517; 24. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.528; 25. Geoff Ensign, 17, On The Gass-13.535; 26. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.537; 27. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-13.558; 28. Jadon Rogers, 14, 4J Motorsports-13.563; 29. Xavier Doney, 74, Doney/Lawson-13.638; 30. Tim Creech, 31, Creech-13.644; 31. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-13.659; 32. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-13.661; 33. Brayden Clark, 42G, Jackson/Clark-13.663; 34. Colten Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.663; 35. Parker Frederickson, 34F, Frederickson-13.667; 36. Joey Amantea, 88J, Amantea-13.683; 37. Dalton Stevens, 99x, Stevens-13.707; 38. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.737; 39. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.745; 40. Noah Whitehouse, 00, Whitehouse-13.748; 41. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-13.751; 42. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-13.773; 43. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.773; 44. Travis Millar, 93AU, Millar-13.795; 45. Cole Bodine, 57B, Bodine-13.816; 46. Justin Zimmerman, 1, D-Up-13.822; 47. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.901; 48. Larry Kingseed Jr., 59, Powell-13.992; 49. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-14.070; 50. Tyler Kendall, 20, Kendall-14.079; 51. Devan Myers, 75, Myers-14.098; 52. Jack James, 99, James-14.382; 53. Tyler Miller, 67, Miller-15.277; 54. Bryar Schroeter, 21s, Schroeter-15.300.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Zack Pretorius, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Geoff Ensign, 8. Brayden Clark, 9. Xavier Doney, 10. Logan Calderwood, 11. Dalton Stevens, 12. Cole Bodine, 13. Troy Carey, 14. Tyler Miller. 2:13.79
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Tyler Hewitt, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Tim Creech, 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 10. Ryan Barr, 11. Tyler Kendall, 12. Justin Zimmerman, 13. Bryar Schroeter, 14. Trey Osborne. 2:15.68
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Garrett, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Alex Bright, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Parker Frederickson, 8. Braxton Cummings, 9. Kobe Simpson, 10. Rylan Gray, 11. Sterling Cling, 12. Devan Myers, 13. Dustin Ingle. 2:15.57
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Brent Beauchamp, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Joey Amantea, 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Max Adams, 9. Travis Millar, 10. Saban Bibent, 11. Jack James, 12. Noah Whitehouse, 13. Larry Kingseed Jr. NT
THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL D MAIN: (8 laps, top-2 transfer to the C-Main) 1. Rylan Gray, 2. Tyler Kendall, 3. Justin Zimmerman, 4. Devan Myers, 5. Troy Carey, 6. Tyler Miller, 7. Bryar Schroeter. 1:54.62
STEEL-IT C MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Joey Amantea, 2. Braxton Cummings, 3. Saban Bibent, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Brayden Clark, 7. Parker Frederickson, 8. Ryan Barr, 9. Rylan Gray, 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 11. Kobe Simpson, 12. Dalton Stevens, 13. Sterling Cling, 14. Logan Calderwood, 15. Travis Millar, 16. Tyler Kendall. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. Geoff Ensign, 3. Stevie Sussex, 4. Braxton Cummings, 5. Trey Osborne, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Joey Amantea, 8. Alex Bright, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Dustin Ingle, 11. Max Adams, 12. Xavier Doney, 13. Charles Davis Jr., 14. Jadon Rogers, 15. Tyler Hewitt, 16. Cole Bodine, 17. Tim Creech, 18. Saban Bibent. 2:55.86
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (5), 2. Brady Bacon (3), 3. Carson Garrett (1), 4. Emerson Axsom (8), 5. Logan Seavey (7), 6. Robert Ballou (12), 7. Justin Grant (11), 8. Shane Cottle (20), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 10. Daison Pursley (17), 11. Stevie Sussex (10), 12. Brent Beauchamp (18), 13. Chase Stockon (9), 14. Braxton Cummings (22), 15. Brandon Mattox (15), 16. Jake Swanson (2), 17. Matt Westfall (16), 18. Geoff Ensign (21), 19. Kyle Cummins (6), 20. Trey Osborne (14), 21. Zack Pretorius (19), 22. Mitchel Moles (4).
Keyword: From Jack Stands To Victory Lane