By Richie Murray
Speedway, Indiana (February 4, 2020)………As a frontrunner, when all is said and done at the end of a long season, the most important things in the stat book are wins and championships. Those two things pay the bills and get the most pub from fans and scribes such as myself.
However, when a driver sets a new track record while winning or setting fast qualifying time, that puts the proverbial icing on the cherry, so you could say, for the ultimate dominant performance.
Several of the top combatants from the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget circuit own records themselves at tracks big and small, from east to west and everywhere in between.
When going through the track holders from each of this year’s venues on the series schedule, some tracks featured long-standing records while some have been established and/or broken in recent years by the current crop of talent.
The 3/8-mile D-shaped Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., which hosts this weekend’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget openers on February 7-8, had its one and eight-lap records set by the same driver on the same night one year ago with Kevin Thomas, Jr. laying down the times to beat during the inaugural appearance by the series in 2019. They are the lone two track records Thomas holds with the USAC Midget series on the 2020 slate of tracks.
No driver owns more current USAC National Midget track records at this year’s venues than Tyler Courtney with six, including the one-lap mark at Pennsylvania’s Action Track USA in 2019. He holds 8-lap records at both California’s Bakersfield Speedway and Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway, plus 10-lappers at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway and Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Pa. The reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion from Indianapolis, Ind. nabbed the most difficult record to establish, the 30-lap feature record, in 2017 at Bloomington Speedway during Indiana Midget Week.
When Tanner Carrick gets out front in his heat race, he is adamant about setting the pace. That’s proven through the Lincoln, Calif. native’s four track records with the series, all of which have come in heat race action, including an 8-lap mark at Dirt Oval 66 in Joliet, Ill. in 2019 as well as 10-lap triumphs at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway, Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway and Path Valley Speedway Park in Spring Run, Pa., all of which came during the 2019 campaign.
The 2018 series champ, Logan Seavey, owns three total track records on the current series’ slate of venues. The Sutter, Calif. pilot topped qualifying for the all-time best USAC Midget laps at Arizona Speedway and Jefferson County in 2019 as well as setting a 12-lap semi-feature track record at Bloomington during Indiana Midget Week.
As a series Rookie in 2019, Jesse Colwell (Red Bluff, Calif.) imprinted his name into the record books at Arizona Speedway by recording the fastest 8-lap heat during the series’ second ever visit to the track during the 2019 Western World Championships.
Meanwhile, Tanner Thorson, Zeb Wise and Chris Windom each own a single track record with the series. Thorson (Minden, Nev.) set the standard for a 12-lap semi-feature at Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway a year ago, while Wise (Angola, Ind.) ran the fastest one lap at Path Valley Speedway Park in Pa. and Windom (Canton, Ill.) did the same in qualifying last season at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
Of course, we’ll all be watching the front of the pack this weekend and throughout the entirety of the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season. However, it’ll be interesting to see who wins or sets fast time in a quicker fashion than anybody else ever has has done it before them in the history of the series.
A total of 26 new track records were set in 2019. With new venues, a return to past venues and a talent-laden lineup of drivers and teams, make sure to check the timing charts for some new ink in the record books this season.
This Friday night, February 7, the drivers meeting begins at 6pm Eastern with cars getting on track at 6:30pm. The action gets underway an hour earlier on Saturday night, February 8, with the drivers meeting set for 5pm and cars on track at 5:30pm.
General admission tickets both nights for adults are $25 and $20 for kids age 11-15. Pit passes are $35 apiece. You can watch all the action live on www.FloRacing.com or listen to free audio of the broadcast on the USAC app or on your desktop or laptop at http://mixlr.com/usac-official/. You may also follow along with live timing from the event on the USAC app.
A practice night for the midgets opens the Winter Dirt Games XI festivities on Thursday, February 6, from 6-9pm at Bubba Raceway Park. Grandstand tickets are free while pit passes are $20 apiece. The Sunoco Southern Fuels Gladiators will also be on the event card with the midgets all three nights.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET TRACK RECORDS
(Only tracks on the 2020 series schedule are listed)
Action Track USA – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Kutztown, Pennsylvania
1 Lap – 7/31/2019 – Tyler Courtney – 11.313 – 63.644 mph
10 Laps – 7/31/2019 – Karsyn Elledge – 2:01.97 – 59.031 mph
Arizona Speedway – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – San Tan Valley, Arizona
1 Lap – 11/15/2019 – Logan Seavey – 15.426 – 77.713 mph
8 Laps – 11/15/2019 – Jesse Colwell – 2:07.777 – 75.056 mph
Bakersfield Speedway – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Bakersfield, California
1 Lap – 11/23/1995 – Billy Boat – 12.349 – 97.077 mph
6 Laps – 11/23/1991 – Lynn Carter – 1:26.46 – 83.192 mph
8 Laps – 11/17/2018 – Tyler Courtney – 1:43.59 – 92.580 mph
10 Laps – 11/22/1997 – Shane Scully – 2:07.82 – 93.788 mph
12 Laps – 11/18/2017 – Brady Bacon – 2:35.69 – 92.399 mph
15 Laps – 11/25/1993 – Sleepy Tripp – 3:25.91 – 87.678 mph
100 Laps – 11/23/1995 – Billy Boat – 26:58.12 – 74.086 mph
Bloomington Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Bloomington, Indiana
1 Lap – 6/3/2016 – Christopher Bell – 11.301 – 79.639 mph
8 Laps – 6/18/2010 – Dave Darland – 1:36.17 – 74.867 mph
10 Laps – 6/7/2019 – Justin Grant – 2:03.18 – 73.064 mph
12 Laps – 6/7/2019 – Logan Seavey – 2:40.02 – 67.492 mph
30 Laps – 6/9/2017 – Tyler Courtney – 6:57.95 – 64.601 mph
Bridgeport Speedway – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Bridgeport, New Jersey
N/A
Bubba Raceway Park – 3/8-Mile Dirt D-Shaped Track – Ocala, Florida
1 Lap – 2/8/2019 – Kevin Thomas, Jr. – 13.773 – 98.018 mph
8 Laps – 2/8/2019 – Kevin Thomas, Jr. – 1:58.89 – 91.456 mph
Dirt Oval 66 – 3/8 Mile Dirt Oval – Joliet, Illinois
1 Laps – 6/29/2019 – Kyle Larson – 16.667 – 80.999 mph
8 Laps – 6/29/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 2:21.24 – 76.466 mph
Eldora Speedway – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Rossburg, Ohio
1 Lap – 9/25/2004 – Mike Hess – 15.801 – 113.917 mph
3 Laps – 8/24/1969 – Jimmy Caruthers – 59.070 – 91.417 mph
4 Laps – 6/20/1976 – Sleepy Tripp – 1:19.58 – 90.475 mph
6 Laps – 9/25/1999 – Dean Franklin – 1:47.87 – 100.121 mph
-8 Laps – 9/24/2016 – Rico Abreu – 2:08.94 – 111.680 mph
10 Laps – 9/22/2001 – Donnie Lehmann – 2:53.76 – 103.591 mph
12 Laps – 9/22/2007 – Danny Stratton – 3:28.13 – 103.781 mph
20 Laps – 10/11/1981 – Ken Schrader – 6:26.50 – 93.144 mph
25 Laps – 9/30/2000 – Kasey Kahne – 7:05.68 – 105.713 mph
40 Laps – 8/29/1964 – Bobby Marshman – 12:57.71 – 92.579 mph
Gas City I-69 Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Gas City, Indiana
1 Lap – 6/1/2016 – Rico Abreu – 12.048 – 74.701 mph
8 Laps – 6/10/2011 – Matt Smith – 1:39.76 – 72.173 mph
10 Laps – 6/5/2019 – Tyler Courtney – 2:05.54 – 71.690 mph
Grandview Speedway – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania
1 Lap – 7/30/2019 – Kyle Larson – 14.310 – 83.019 mph
8 Laps – 7/30/2019 – Tyler Courtney – 1:58.97 – 80.612 mph
Jefferson County Speedway – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Fairbury, Nebraska
1 Lap – 7/12/2019 – Logan Seavey – 10.685 – 67.384 mph
10 Laps – 7/12/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 1:56.27 – 61.925 mph
Kokomo Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Kokomo, Indiana
1 Lap – 4/5/2019 – Dillon Welch – 12.665 – 71.062 mph
8 Laps – 6/20/2010 – Steve Buckwalter – 1:51.62 – 64.505 mph
10 Laps – 4/5/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 2:10.06 – 69.199 mph
12 Laps – 4/13/2018 – Holly Shelton – 2:46.01 – 65.056 mph
Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Newmanstown, Pennsylvania
1 Laps – 8/4/2018 – Spencer Bayston – 10.129 – 44.427 mph
10 Laps – 8/4/2018 – Tyler Courtney – 1:46.75 – 42.155 mph
12 Laps – 8/16/2016 – Holly Shelton – 2:15.80 – 39.764 mph
Lawrenceburg Speedway – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Lawrenceburg, Indiana
1 Lap – 8/9/2008 – Bobby East – 13.660 – 98.829 mph
8 Laps – 8/9/2008 – Danny Stratton – 1:53.03 – 95.550 mph
12 Laps – 6/13/2009 – Steve Buckwalter – 2:59.60 – 90.200 mph
Lincoln Park Speedway – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Putnamville, Indiana
1 Lap – 6/6/2019 – Kyle Larson – 12.383 – 90.850 mph
4 Laps – 5/5/1979 – Steve Lotshaw – 55.770 – 80.689 mph
8 Laps – 6/9/2011 – Darren Hagen – 1:46.62 – 84.412 mph
10 Laps – 5/29/2018 – Holly Shelton – 2:11.64 – 85.460 mph
30 Laps – 6/12/2014 – Dave Darland – 6:59.80 – 80.395 mph
Paragon Speedway – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Paragon, Indiana
1 Lap – 6/19/1985 – Mel Kenyon – 16.442 – 82.107 mph
8 Laps – 8/13/1977 – Wes Stafford – 2:21.83 – 76.148 mph
10 Laps – 6/19/1985 – Andy Hurtubise – 2:53.15 – 77.967 mph
Path Valley Speedway Park – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Spring Run, Pennsylvania
1 Lap – 8/1/2019 – Zeb Wise – 11.057 – 81.396 mph
10 Laps – 8/1/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 1:57.93 – 76.317 mph
Placerville Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Placerville, California
1 Lap – 11/19/2019 – Dillon Welch – 11.979 – 75.132 mph
10 Laps – 11/19/2019 – Thomas Meseraull – 2:08.680 – 69.941 mph
Port City Raceway – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Tulsa, Oklahoma
N/A
Riverside International Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – West Memphis, Arkansas
1 Lap – 6/18/2016 – Spencer Bayston – 13.373 – 67.300 mph
10 Laps – 6/18/2016 – Chad Boat – 2:15.25 – 66.543 mph
Southern Illinois Center – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval – Du Quoin, Illinois
12 Laps – 3/10/2018 – Matt Moore – 2:18.22 – 52.091 mph
Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval – Sweet Springs, Mo.
1 Lap – 7/14/2019 – Chris Windom – 11.951 – 50.205 mph
12 Laps – 7/15/2018 – Brady Bacon – 2:05.78 – 47.702 mph
The Dirt Track at IMS – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval – Speedway, Indiana
10 Laps – 9/6/2018 – Jake Neuman – 2:06.99 – 47.248 mph
Tri-State Speedway – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Haubstadt, Indiana
1 Lap – 5/8/2010 – Bryan Clauson – 13.629 – 66.036 mph
3 Laps – 6/27/1969 – Bob Tattersall – 50.000 – 54.000 mph
8 Laps – 6/8/2011 – Hunter Schuerenberg – 1:43.14 – 69.808 mph
10 Laps – 5/21/2011 – Thomas Meseraull – 2:20.38 – 64.112 mph
12 Laps – 10/19/2019 – Tanner Thorson – 2:59.89 – 60.037 mph
40 Laps – 6/15/1979 – Johnny Parsons – 11:07.40 – 53.941 mph
50 Laps – 6/27/1969 – Mike McGreevy – 14:15.27 – 51.563 mph
Ventura Raceway – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Ventura, California
1 Lap – 11/18/1995 – Johnny Cofer – 11.675 – 61.670 mph
8 Laps – 11/18/1995 – J.R. Lawson – 1:40.28 – 57.439 mph
10 Laps – 11/12/1988 – Stan Fox – 2:17.22 – 52.471 mph
12 Laps – 11/12/1988 – Wally Pankratz – 2:24.67 – 59.722 mph
Wayne County Speedway – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Wayne City, Illinois
10 Laps – 10/17/2019 – Justin Grant – 1:51.74 – 40.272 mph
12 Laps – 10/21/2016 – Ryan Robinson – 2:19.19 – 38.796 mph