From Adam Mackey
Each and every year, fans flock to the DuQuoin State Fair in Southern Illinois for the tradition of racing at The Magic Mile. The Labor Day weekend show closes out the fair with racing in three highly popular classes. On tap are the USAC Silver Crown cars, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, and the UMP Modifieds. The expected entry lists are very good heading into the weekend’s events, adding to the excitement of an already great show.
On Sunday, September 6, the resurgent USAC Silver Crown tour will be paying the dirt track a visit for the Ted Horn 100. Horn, who made numerous starts in the Indianapolis 500, finished no worse than fourth over a stretch of nine years between 1936 and 1948. Horn passed away late in 1948 after a crash at the fairgrounds. In 2015, 30 drivers are expected to compete for the Ted Horn 100 trophy.
The odds on favorite for the open wheel racecars is defending champion, Kody Swanson. Swanson has won seven of the last nine dirt track races in the Silver Crown cars but DuQuoin has provided new winners in each of the last three campaigns. NASCAR star Kyle Larson won in 2011, Chris Urish took the hardware in 2013, and local favorite Shane Cockrum won last season. Cockrum, from Benton, IL, will be trying for a double, racing with both USAC and ARCA this weekend. Swanson will be challenged by other point contenders this year, including Jerry Coons, Jr., A.J. Fike, Aaron Pierce, and C.J. Leary. Chris Windom, David Byrne, Austin Nemire, Jacob Wilson, and Rex Norris, III complete the top ten in this year’s standings.
30+ drivers are also entered in the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. That event will take place on Labor Day Monday, September 7. In addition to the aforementioned Shane Cockrum, Galesburg, IL driver A.J. Fike will be trying for the double, running both top tier races. Fike has a great chance, coming off of his first ARCA victory at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield two weeks ago. Two veterans that will try to keep that from happening are NASCAR’s Ken Schrader and Frank Kimmel, who will be making his 500th ARCA start on Monday. Of course, you can’t count out point leader Grant Enfinger as well as other series front-runners, Josh Williams, Austin Wayne Self, Tom Hessert, and David Levine. Sarah Cornett-Ching, Bo LeMastus, Thomas Praytor, James Swanson, and Kyle Weatherman are top ten in the current ARCA standings.
A healthy pre-entry list of UMP Dirtcar Modified drivers are looking forward to their one chance a year to compete at The Magic Mile. Currently, 20 drivers have let their intentions to compete be known, while a number of others are expected to show up this weekend. The field will be running hotlaps and preliminaries on Sunday and their feature on Monday. Entry forms and information are available at the Track Enterprises webpage.
On Sunday, September 6, pit gates open at 1:00, grandstands and the ticket office open at 4:00, practice begins at 5:00, USAC Silver Crown qualifying begins at 6:30, Modified heats are scheduled for 7:00, and the Ted Horn 100 will take the green at 8:00.
The Monday, September 7 schedule has pits and registration opening at 6:00 AM, grandstands and ticket office at 8:30, ARCA practice at 9:00 and qualifying at 11:15, the Modified feature at 12:00, and the Southern Illinois 100 for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards at 1:30.
Advance discount tickets are on sale at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds box office in person or by calling 618-542-1535. Early purchase of tickets will save the buyer $5 per day.
For more information on racing at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, visit www.trackenterprises.com.
USAC Silver Crown Ted Horn 100 Entries
2 PATRICK LAWSON/Edwardsville, IL
3 A.J. FIKE/Galesburg, IL
5 J.C. BLAND/Springfield, IL
7 BRIAN TYLER/Pleasant Garden, NC
8 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA
18 KENNY GENTRY/Henderson, KY
20 JERRY COONS JR./Tucson, AZ
21 CHARLES DAVIS, JR./Buckeye, AZ
23 TERRY JAMES/St. Louis, MO
26 AARON PIERCE/Muncie, IN
29 JOEY MOUGHAN/Springfield, IL
30 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN
40 DAVID BYRNE/Shullsburg, WI
41 STEVEN RUSSELL/Springfield, IL
44 DANNY LONG/Bonne Terre, MO
48 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK
53 STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA
55 CASEY SHUMAN/Tempe, AZ
56 RICKEY HOOD/Memphis, TN
57 LEVI JONES/Swansea, IL
63 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA
71 SHANE COCKRUM/Benton, IL
77 CHRIS URISH/Elkhart, IL
81 SHANE COTTLE/Kokomo, IN
86 JACKIE BURKE/Houston, TX
88 CHRIS FETTER/Troy, MO
91 AUSTIN NEMIRE/Sylvania, OH
98 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL
00 TERRY BABB/Decatur, IL
07 JACOB WILSON/Crawfordsville, IN
117 RICHIE TOBIAS/Lebanon, PA
ARCA Racing Series Southern Illinois 100 Entries
0 Wayne Peterson/Pulaski TN
2 Josh White/Charleston WV
3 Sarah Cornett-Ching/Summerland BC
5 Mark Littleton/Arenzville IL
6 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL
9 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL
10 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY
16 Kelly Kovski/Sherman IL
22 Kyle Weatherman/Wentzville MO
23 Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL
24 Ryan Unzicker/El Paso IL
25 Frank Kimmel/Borden IN
27 A.J. Fike/Galesburg IL
34 Mike Basham/Henryville IN
40 Justin Lloyd/Raleigh NC
42 Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY
48 James Swanson/Clarksboro NJ
52 Ken Schrader/Concord NC
55 Justin Boston/Baltimore MD
56 Nick Higdon/Big Clifty KY
58 Tyler Dippel/Wallkill NY
59 David Levine/Highland Park IL
68 TBA
69 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN
70 Billy Alger/Logansport IN
71 Shane Cockrum/Benton IL
73 Dale Shearer/Alhambra IL
77 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ
97 Alex Clubb/Morris IL
98 Austin Wayne Self/Austin TX
00 Mike Abram/St. Louis MO
06 Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus MI
UMP Dirtcar Modified Entries
3s Tom Sample/Cape Girardeau, MO
9 Charles Baker/LaBelle, MO
9c Blake Cook/DuQuoin, IL
10 Curt Rhodes/Taylorville, IL
16 Rick Pauley/Sumner, IL
17 Michael Jones/Marissa, IL
21x Chris Winters/DuQuoin, IL
35 Mike Galloway/Scheller, IL
36 Danny Ems/Barnhart, MO
58 Eddie Martin/Lafayette, IN
71 Louie Baker, Jr./DuQuoin, IL
82 Jeff Parks/Marion, IL
85G Joe Giesler/St. Mary, MO
87 David Shain/Sullivan, IL
89W Rick Weitekamp/Springfield, IL
95 Danny Sissom/Cape Girardeau, MO
95 Josh Sissom/Cape Girardeau, MO
500 Steve Adams/Humboldt, IL
X Jesse Snyder/Robinson, IL