LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — It will have been exactly 50 days since we’ve last seen the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship in action.
It’s a week later than we would’ve like after last weekend’s washout, but this Saturday night, April 8, presents the long-awaited return of the series as the competition gears up for the three-eighths-mile high banks of Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway, culminating with a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win feature event.
While it’s the fifth time the USAC National Sprint Cars have been on track this season, technically, this Saturday’s race will mark round number three of the 2023 calendar with the opening two events in February at Volusia Speedway Park not paying points toward the championship while the two most recent displays at Bubba Raceway Park have thrusted four-time series champion Brady Bacon into the early point lead.
Here are six storylines to grab your attention heading into the weekend.
BACONATOR ON MOUNT RUSHMORE OF USAC SPRINT WINS
At Bubba Raceway Park, Bacon was greeted in victory lane by Jack Hewitt after Bacon passed “Dew-It” for fourth place on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car feature win list with his 47th career victory. In the process, that victory tied 2002 series champion Tracy Hines for third on the all-time win list.
Bacon nearly reached number 48 after leading 31 of the 35 laps before finishing as the runner-up behind Kyle Cummins on the final night at Bubba’s on February 18. With another victory Saturday at Lawrenceburg, Bacon would move himself into the top-three all-time in that regard, trailing only Dave Darland (62) and Tom Bigelow (52).
THE “WAIT” OFF THEIR SHOULDERS
While USAC Sprint Cars have had to endure a month-and-a-half wait to get back on track, several drivers and teams were able to get their season underway in local Indiana action at both Paragon Speedway and Lincoln Park Speedway while the western states have opened their doors to 2023 as well.
Logan Seavey and the 2B Racing team scored a big win in mid-March during the No Way Out 40 at Paragon while C.J. Leary locked down the victory this past Sunday at Lincoln Park. On the AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car scene, Justin Grant made the venture to California’s Perris Auto Speedway on March 18 to grab a Sokola Shootout triumph.
What’s one thing they all have in common outside of winning this season? They’ve all experienced multiple USAC feature winning performances at Lawrenceburg with Seavey taking both a midget and sprint win in 2021, Leary with sprint victories in 2017 and 2019 in addition to a track championship in 2013. Grant has won four USAC Sprint features at The Burg, including the first of his career in 2012, and is the winningest driver on the 3/8-mile configuration at the venue, which was renovated prior to the 2008 season.
I REPEAT – NOBODY REPEATS AT LAWRENCEBURG’S SPRING RACE
Justin Grant has experienced springtime success at Lawrenceburg, winning the USAC round in April of 2014. However, in 10 springtime USAC Sprint Car rounds at Lawrenceburg, there’s never been a repeat winner dating back to the track’s initial early season outing in 2006.
Among those who’ve won with the USAC Sprints at Lawrenceburg in the spring are Jon Stanbrough (2006), Levi Jones (2007), Josh Wise (2009), Jerry Coons Jr. (2010), Kevin Thomas Jr. (2013), Justin Grant (2014), Logan Jarrett (2015), Dave Darland (2016), Chris Windom (2017) and Brady Bacon (2021).
Thomas, Grant and Bacon, who possess a total of 12 Lawrenceburg USAC Sprint Car victories between them, will all be in the field on Saturday with expectations to obliterate this particular statistic to smithereens.
COMING INTO LAWRENCEBURG, BRINGING IN A COUPLE OF KEY WINS
Exiting Florida and February and entering the swing of the season starting Saturday at Lawrenceburg, USAC National Sprint Car racing has already seen four different winners emerge with Jake Swanson, Daison Pursley, Brady Bacon and Kyle Cummins all tasting victory thus far.
Bacon has been the most consistent to this point with a 7th, 4th, 1st & 2nd in his four appearances this year. Cummins, meanwhile, experienced multiple engine woes in Florida early on with a 22nd followed by an absence the following night at Volusia due to the troubles. Cummins and the Rock Steady Racing team lived up to their moniker by rebounding with gusto by finishing 5th and 1st to close out Florida and head into Lawrenceburg where both he and Bacon have won at over the past two seasons.
A NEW BEGINNING STARTS NOW
A number of USAC National Sprint Car feature winners are off to less-than-ideal starts to their 2023 campaigns based on circumstances and misfortune down in Florida, but the odds of the magic 8-ball say, “Chances are Good” that a complete turnaround is in store starting Saturday at Lawrenceburg.
Thomas Jr. (11th), Swanson (12th), Jason McDougal (14th), Pursley (15th), Robert Ballou (17th) and Jadon Rogers (18th) all currently reside outside the top-10 of the USAC standings coming into the weekend, and all are primed to put a quality mark onto the performance chart this weekend.
Thomas owns five USAC Sprint main event wins at Lawrenceburg, second only to Dave Darland’s all-time record of seven. Ballou has been a USAC winner at Lawrenceburg, doing so back in 2011. Swanson and Rogers have both been USAC Sprint Car fast qualifiers there in 2020 and 2021, respectively. McDougal and Pursley have each hit seventh in the running order at Lawrenceburg in their USAC careers, McDougal with the sprints in 2019 and Pursley with the midgets in 2021.
RACE #100 FOR USAC AT THE BURG
Lawrenceburg Speedway, which opened in 1950 and conducted its first USAC event in 1961 with A.J. Foyt winning a midget feature, will become the eighth track to have hosted 100 or more combined USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint Car and National Midget races.
Ohio’s Eldora Speedway (301) has hosted the most in this category followed by Indianapolis Raceway Park (267), Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track (250), Indiana’s Winchester Speedway (196), Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway (162), California’s Ascot Park (140) and Indiana’s Salem Speedway (135).
Fifty-one different drivers have reached victory lane in a USAC National event at Lawrenceburg Speedway with USAC Triple Crown champion Dave Darland leading all drivers with seven, all of which have come in a sprint car.
Keyword: USAC Sprints Bound For Lawrenceburg