4-Crown Nationals

BACK-TO-BACK: WINDOM WINS 4-CROWN MIDGETS FOR 2ND STRAIGHT YEAR

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio (September 24, 2022)………”It was good last year, but I almost think it was better this year.”

That line spoken by Chris Windom could describe his satisfaction in a myriad of manners after he captured victory of his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature on the Saturday night of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

Those words were specifically referring to how good his car was on the topside of the racetrack throughout the 25-lap feature, but it was also an apt description of the sense of relief of a much-needed first feature victory of any kind this season, which came after a tumultuous weekend and culminated by taking his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/ Spike/Speedway Toyota to a $10,000 score at the half-mile dirt oval.

During Friday’s USAC Silver Crown practice, Windom hit the turn one wall and flipped several times, ending his weekend prematurely in the champ cars. Furthermore, he missed the final transfer spot by one position in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship portion of the program earlier Saturday evening.

This triumph was much needed for the Canton, Ill. native as he became the fourth driver to win the midget feature at the 4-Crown in consecutive years, joining Rich Vogler (1985-86), Kyle Larson (2011-12) and Tyler Courtney (2018-19).

Meanwhile, Windom became the sixth driver to reach five overall victories at the 4-Crown after previously winning the USAC Silver Crown race in 2013 and 2016, the USAC Sprint Car main event in 2013 and now the USAC Midget feature in both 2021 and 2022. He joins the fairly exclusive category along with Jack Hewitt (19), Courtney (7), Dave Darland (7), Vogler (5) and Tracy Hines (5).

Windom’s 14th career USAC National Midget win moved him into 51st all-time alongside Chuck Arnold, Jack Turner and Leroy Warriner, and he accomplished it by completing a CB Industries weekend sweep after teammate Mitchel Moles was victorious in Friday night’s midget feature.

“I love this place, and it feels great to get this done because it definitely hasn’t been the 4-Crown I wanted in the other classes,” Windom acknowledged. “Laps around here are key, and it’s taken me a lot of years to get good at running the fence here. It’s definitely tough to do and to hit your marks, especially when you’re out front by yourself for that long, it’s kind of easy to get distracted from stuff. You’ve got to stay laser-focused when you’re running that close to the fence, but this car was so good tonight.”

Windom started fourth on the grid while outside front row starter Chance Crum took the early advantage by leading the first two laps. Windom steadily edged forward and tore around the outside right up against the outside wall and into the lead on lap three.

Trouble came early for Moles whose Saturday night performed a complete 180-degree turn from his success 24 hours earlier. Running fifth, Moles got into the turn four wall and tumbled nose-to-tail down the banking. Moles ultimately was able to walk away from his heavily damaged racecar.

On the lap nine resumption, Crum made a charge on the bottom to pull even with Windom for the race lead, but Windom was able to stave off the pressure as he kept his foot on the throttle wide-open up top. Point leader Buddy Kofoid followed suit with Windom and rode the highwire around Crum and into the runner-up spot on lap 14.

Disaster struck on lap 17 as second running Kofoid’s right rear tire came apart upon entry on the turn one cushion. Suddenly, Kofoid’s car veered right and went nose first into the outside wall, whipped around like a propeller in mid-air directly into the path of third-running Crum who plowed in with no place to go. The resulting high speed collision sent both drivers flipping several times before coming to a rest upright in their mangled machines. Thankfully, both drivers emerged from the wreckage and walked away under their own power.

From that point forward, the story was written with the contest well in Windom’s hands as he closed out the victory by a 3.462 second margin over Bryant Wiedeman who grabbed second after dicing it up with Alex Bright late in the going. Bright came home third with RMS Racing teammates Justin Grant fourth and Thomas Meseraull fifth.

On Friday night, Wiedeman (Colby, Kan.) earned his best career USAC National Midget feature result with a second-place finish. On Saturday night, he tied that mark with another runner-up placing in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Nutrien Ag Solutions – PurpleWave.com/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.

Meanwhile, Bright (Collegeville, Pa.) brought the Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota to its best finish of the season on Saturday night. Bright also collected his first USAC National Midget podium finish since a second place run at Pennsylvania’s Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in 2018. He also became the first Pennsylvanian to finish on the podium of the 4-Crown USAC National Midget feature since John Heydenreich in 1991.

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CLOUD NINE: GRANT GETS 50TH USAC NATIONAL TRIUMPH IN 4-CROWN SPRINT

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio (September 24, 2022)………On a milestone night, Justin Grant became the 26th driver to reach 50 USAC national feature victories as he checked off his second career 4-Crown Nationals USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory on Saturday night at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

The Ione, Calif. native, who won the 2016 4-Crown race, took over the lead on the fifth lap of the 30-lap feature from Jason McDougal and finished it off in fashion by becoming the first driver to reach six series victories on the season to remain afloat with an 80-point lead in his pursuit of a first career USAC National Sprint Car driving title.

Grant’s fourth overall USAC National Sprint Car victory at Eldora came in the 300th USAC national open wheel points paying event ever held at Eldora, and in doing so, Grant reaped the rewards with a $10,000 payday for a rim-riding performance on one the most famed dirt tracks in the land in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – MPV Express – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.

“Eldora Speedway is so awesome,” Grant exclaimed. “It’s on the fence. It’s high stakes. It’s high risk. It’s high reward. I was having an absolute blast out there. I’ve really kind of struggled the last couple of years at Eldora and I about wrote myself off during 4-Crown here last year.”

Grant flipped during a hot lap run at the 4-Crown in 2021, but there were no such qualms this time around as he earned his 34th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph, which sits just one notch below Jon Stanbrough and Rich Vogler for 13th all-time.

The only hindrance came early on and, by chance, during a red flag period in the preceding USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature, Grant was able to communicate from the track to the pits that a few changes needed to be made to the sprint car.

“We rolled into Eldora with our normal (set-up),” Grant revealed. “(We thought) it would be slick, and we’d go ahead and tighten up. I was way too tight in qualifying and way too tight in the heat race. So, we left it alone. During that red in the midget feature, I pulled down to the fence, and I was yelling for (crew chief) Dylan Cook, saying, “tighten it up, it’s slick, it’s slick!” He got it tightened up and got the motor detuned on it and gave me one heck of a hot rod. I can’t thank him enough. He works his absolute tail off. I had kind of lost my way on set up here a little bit lately and I’ve had Dan Drinan coming with me the last couple of nights just to give me another set of eyes to get us back on track.”

Every win is meaningful for Grant, but this particular one especially, as he became the first driver to win three Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster races in 2022 – a 10-race miniseries within the USAC National Sprint Car schedule. Jones was Grant’s father-in-law who won six USAC National Sprint Car features at Eldora, including the first of his career in 1977.

“It’s special to win every one of these, but to win a Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster race at Eldora, this is as cool as sprint car racing gets for me,” Grant prided. “I’m on cloud nine.”

Grant started his race from the third position, but in the beginning, the point was controlled by pole sitter McDougal who scooted along the bottom to lead the opening lap while Grant shot along the outside to slot into second.

The first sign of trouble came on lap three when Dallas Hewitt (16th) tagged the turn four wall and flipped several times. Robert Ballou, who had already advanced from 22nd to 18th in the first two laps, got collected into the incident, and he too flipped heavily, ending both drivers nights prematurely with both walking away under their own power.

A side-by-side battle commenced up front once racing resumed as Grant raced around the outside of McDougal for the lead on the back straight on lap five. Meanwhile, Brady Bacon was hauling on the high line as he doubled up on lap seven to move from fifth to third past Jake Swanson and Shane Cottle. A full circuit later, on lap eight, Bacon continued to pour it on as he powered around the outside of McDougal for the runner-up spot.

However, Bacon still stood roughly two seconds behind leader Grant as the surging C.J. Leary began to apply pressure to Bacon for third after starting back in eighth. With five to go, Leary made it happen as he slide jobbed Bacon for the second spot in turn one and promptly began to go to work to track down Grant.

Leary shaved Grant’s advantage in half, down to a second, as Grant worked lapped traffic and even gave a patented Jack Hewitt-esque kiss of the right rear tire off the outside wall in turn three as he came back to the white flag.

Grant remained in total control and completed the quest by racing under the checkered flag 0.644 sec. ahead of Leary at the finish line with Bacon third, McDougal fourth and Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Chase Stockon rounding out the top-five.

Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) came one spot shy of his second career 4-Crown USAC National Sprint Car win in his Michael Motorsports/Kodiak Products – Gray Auto – Highsmith Guns – DMI/DRC/Chevy. However, he was able to secure his third career top-two result in the event after winning in 2017 and finishing as the runner-up in 2018.

Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) took the final spot on the podium in his Dynamics, Inc./Cobalt Civil – Fatheadz Eyewear – Cressman Sanitation/Triple X/Rider Chevy. His third-place tally was his best in the event since finishing second back in 2017.

Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) set the fastest qualifying time for the 31st time in his USAC National Sprint Car career on Saturday night at Eldora. That moved him into a tie for 11th all-time with Sheldon Kinser while surpassing the 30 of Pancho Carter and Justin Grant.

Meanwhile, Grant joined an elite crew of drivers who’ve earned at least 50 career USAC national series feature victories: A.J. Foyt (159), Rich Vogler (134), Mel Kenyon (111), Dave Darland (106), Tracy Hines (91), Gary Bettenhausen (82), Bryan Clauson (81), Tom Bigelow (81), Bob Wente (79), Jack Hewitt (76), Pancho Carter (70), Parnelli Jones (69), Bob Tattersall (63), Dave Steele (60), J.J. Yeley (60), Sleepy Tripp (59), Tyler Courtney (57), Bobby East (56), Bobby Unser (56), Mario Andretti (56), Roger McCluskey (55), Brady Bacon (54), Don White (53), Larry Dickson (52) and Chris Windom (52).

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SUCCESSIVE SUCCESS STORY: SEAVEY SCORES 2ND STRAIGHT SILVER CROWN 4-CROWN WIN

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio (September 24, 2022)………”I love racing Silver Crown cars and I love coming to Eldora.”

It’s certainly easy to see why for Logan Seavey as he kept his unblemished, undefeated USAC Silver Crown record at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway intact during Saturday night’s 40th running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO.

The Sutter, Calif. racer now stands at two starts and two victories in the event following his exceptional performance which repeated his champ car victory from a year ago at Eldora.

Seavey’s fifth career USAC Silver Crown victory put him 25th on the all-time series win list beside many of the greats of the sport, including Mario Andretti, Donnie Beechler, Pancho Carter, Jay Drake, Tony Elliott, Bud Kaeding, Sheldon Kinser and Larry Rice.

Becoming the third and final race leader just nine laps into the 50-lap race, Seavey took over and controlled the remaining 42 laps in his DiaEdge Mitsuibishi Materials – STIDA.com – Lucas Oil/DRC/Felker Chevy, which marked his third victory of the year, and his second consecutive, after winning in early September on the mile at the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds and required a brand new powerplant under the hood for Eldora, which worked to absolute perfection.

“We kind of melted the engine down in Du Quoin a couple weeks ago,” Seavey explained. “A.J. Felker got us an engine and got it driving really good.”

The 50-lap distance on the half-mile dirt oval is among the shortest events of the USAC Silver Crown season, akin to a full-out sprint. The only other race of its ilk – in June at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway – Seavey also mastered the victory there.

But mainly, it’s been the dirt that Seavey has mastered as he’s become the fifth driver in series history to connect on wins in three consecutive dirt races in a single season: Mario Andretti (1974), Jack Hewitt (1986), Kody Swanson (2014) and Chris Windom (2016).

“That was 50 laps running nearly as hard as I could,” Seavey pointed out. “My spotter (and crew chief) Ronnie (Gardner) did such a good job in helping me keep my distance with C.J. (Leary) behind me. I knew he was really good, and I was running really hard. I didn’t want to have to run that hard for 50 laps, but my car was so good, and it was easy to do. Ronnie does such a good job with this thing. We won last year through the middle, then we could still go up there and hammer the wall if we have to. I knew right away my car was really good and I kind of wanted to get to the lead, set the pace and keep a gap there.”

Starting third, Seavey had to overcome a talented front row of pole sitter C.J. Leary and outside front row starter Jake Swanson. However, in what was perhaps the unlikeliest event of the Silver Crown season, fifth starting Kody Swanson and sixth starting Carmen Perigo collided on the opening lap in turn one, sending Swanson backwards into the outside retaining wall, then was clipped while spinning by the right rear tire of the oncoming Matt Westfall.

The result was a bent front axle on Swanson’s ride, which knocked him out of the race and into a 27th place result, which is the worst finishing result of his USAC Silver Crown career, which now stands at 126 career starts. The melee accrued disastrous consequences as his commanding 57-point lead entering the race dwindled to zero by race’s end with the six-time champ and Seavey knotted up atop the standings with two races remaining.

With urgency on his mind, Seavey already knew this was the time to pounce, but now he knew a victorious performance would be especially crucial to his title hopes.

“I knew if we were going to gain anything to be close, this would be the race to do it,” Seavey revealed. “We saw him crash there on the first lap, which is unfortunate, but I knew I still had to win the race and get as many points as I could, and I wasn’t holding back there. I was running hard; I slapped the fence a couple times off (turn) two, but, luckily, this thing stayed together and was just a dream to drive.”

Perigo, meanwhile, suffered a flat left rear tire. However, after making a pit stop in the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area, the tire was changed, and the Pennsylvanian charged back from the 26th spot to finish an impressive eighth, all things considered.

Jake Swanson raced to the early for the initial three circuits, but Leary wasted little time in catching and sliding by in between turns one and two on lap four to assume the lead. One lap later, Seavey dipped below Jake Swanson for second and beat him to the stripe for the position.

Seavey reeled Leary in on lap nine and executed a patented Eldora slide job to corral the lead in turns one and two. However, Leary fought back and dove under Seavey to briefly retake the lead a half lap later in turn three. However, Seavey pulled no punches and successfully crossed over Leary’s slider to beat him back to the lead by a half car length.

Tripling his lead to 1.5 sec., Seavey began to manhandle the rest of the field and even upped his lead to the tune of 2.5 sec. when he successfully parted the sea of lapped traffic and discovered some clear air and some clarity with just 20 laps to go.

The final stoppage came on the 37th lap when Kyle Robbins (15th) became entangled with another car and backed into the outside wall on the front straight at the exit of turn four, ending his night with a mashed-in rear bumper.

Seavey went uninterrupted the rest of the way despite the bunched up field with 14 laps to go and secured the victory to become the first driver since Dave Darland in 2008-09 to notch consecutive 4-Crown USAC Silver Crown victories.

Trailing Seavey to the line by a 0.836 sec. margin was Leary while Justin Grant rounded out the podium with a third-place finish after wrestling the position away from Matt Westfall with nine laps remaining. Westfall grabbed fourth while Cottle extended his top-five Silver Crown streak at Eldora to five consecutive races dating back to 2017 with a fifth-place result on Saturday night.

Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) led five laps en route to a second place finish in his Klatt Enterprises/Wilwood Disc Brakes – Lucas Oil – Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Beast/Ford, his best Silver Crown result at Eldora since winning in 2018. It was a solid night for Leary, who also finished second in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship main event earlier in the night.

Grant (Ione, Calif.) capped off an impressive evening at Eldora by recording his third career podium finish in USAC Silver Crown competition at the 4-Crown, scoring a third place result in his Hemelgarn Racing/NOS Energy Drink – Super Fitness – Hemelgarn Enterprises/DRC/Speedway Ford. Grant also finished second in 2016 and third in 2019 during the Silver Crown portion of the 4-Crown. He was also the only driver to finish inside the top-five in all three USAC features on Saturday night with a win in the Sprint Car, a third with Silver Crown and fourth in the midget.

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7 FOR 7BC AT 4-CROWN

ROSSBURG, Ohio (September 24, 2022) – Snapping what was to become an unexpected winless spell with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1, Indianapolis, Indiana’s Tyler Courtney is back in victory lane, doing so in Eldora Speedway’s annual 4-Crown Nationals on Saturday, September 24. The win, Sunshine’s seventh of the All Star season, was as rich as it was fashionable, securing the defending Series champion a $10,000 score – his first All Star triumph since Lake Ozark’s Beach Brawl sweep in late July. In addition, the victory added to Courtney’s All Star championship lead, all but securing a second consecutive title with only two events remaining on the 2022 calendar. Courtney’s sheer presence in Fremont Speedway’s season ending Jim & Joanne Ford Classic on October 7-8 will clinch his second title in as many tries.

Although Sunshine was in command for 29 of the 30 circuits, commencing his winning march from the front row, Buch Motorsports’ Justin Peck, who started from the outside of row two, did not go down without a fight. In fact, the Monrovia, Indiana, native and All Star championship contender did all he could to outduel the ace of the Clauson Marshall Racing No. 7BC, actually sneaking by Courtney to lead at exactly halfway. Despite his attempts to maintain the top spot, Courtney quickly returned the favor, getting back by Peck at the exit of turn four on lap 16.

“Obviously, Justin and I had a run-in last weekend at Lincoln. I take full responsibility for that, and hats off to him for racing me tonight like I always intend to race him,” Tyler Courtney expressed. “He knows how to get around these places this year, and everytime we get back to places like Eldora, it always seems like it’s him and I battling up front. It’s been fun racing him and the Buch team all year. It was definitely hard-fought tonight…this is awesome.”

Peck would hold on to finish second, followed by Aaron Reutzel, Rico Abreu, Travis Philo, and Greg Wilson, who charged 17 positions to earn the evening’s Hercules Tires Hard Charger Award.

The Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude the 2022 season with the annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic at Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio, on Friday and Saturday, October 7-8. A $16,000 weekend, the All Stars and Ohio’s finest will battle in a $6,000-to-win preliminary on Friday, followed by a $10,000-to-win finale on Saturday.

For those who can not witness the All Star Circuit of Champions live and in person, FloRacing.com, the official media partner and broadcast provider of the All Stars, has you covered. To access live and on-demand racing action from the All Star Circuit of Champions, visit FloRacing.com and become an annual PRO subscriber. Race fans can see all the USAC and dirt late-model action they want in addition to Eldora Speedway’s slate of races and those of the All Star Circuit of Champions. The subscription unlocks access to premium content across the entire FloSports network. Watch the events across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast.

Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway | September 24, 2022:
4-Crown Nationals | $10,000-to-win
Kistler Racing Products Pill Draw | Entries: 34
Nunzi’s Advertising Hot Laps: Buddy Kofoid | 13.412
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Justin Peck | 12.928
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #1 Winner: Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Competition Suspension Inc Heat #2 Winner: Brady Bacon
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #3 Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Logan Seavey
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash Winner: Tyler Courtney
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting and Embroidery B-Main Winner: Bill Balog
Rayce Rudeen Foundation Contingency Award: Ryan Myers
Tezos A-Main Winner: Tyler Courtney (7)
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Greg Wilson (+17)
Carquest Perseverance Award: Bill Balog