By Dick Jordan
Next Friday night’s UAW “Mel Kenyon 100” at the Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome not only salutes the career of the greatest Midget driver in history, it wraps up a busy week which also includes Thursday night’s race at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, part of the track’s “Kroger SpeedFest” opener also featuring the “J.D. Byrider 100” USAC TRAXXAS Silver Crown race and the “Ansell Protective Gloves 200” for the ARCA Stock Car Series presented by Menards.
The two Mopar USAC National Midget races will offer a “shootout” for the series point lead between defending series champion Bryan Clauson and pavement master Darren Hagen, separated by only six points entering Thursday’s race. Clauson won this year’s openers at Dodge City, Kansas and added a pair of wins during “Indiana Midget Week,” while Hagen has won four on pavement and one on dirt, including the “Night Before the 500” classic at Lucas Oil Raceway. Together they have accounted for nine wins in the 13 races contested to date.
Kenyon scored an all-time USAC record 111 National victories during his career and racked up seven National titles and one regional championship along the way. Mel won 21 times at the Indianapolis Speedrome and his son Brice also recorded three wins at the southeastside Indy oval.
Hagen tuned up for Friday’s race by winning Wednesday night’s second 30-lap USAC Mopar D1 Midget feature at the Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome. He’ll be joined by the race’s first entrant, Bobby East, when the track opens for practice Friday. East has three wins of his own at the track and has 21 career wins in the USAC National Midget series.
Only Caleb Armstrong has been able to stop Hagen on the pavement since April. Armstrong, of New Castle, Ind., won the race at Iowa Speedway last month.
Kenyon’s racing career expanded beyond the boundaries of Midget racing and included an extremely successful streak at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he finished third in the 1968 “500” and fourth in 1969 and 1973 and fifth in 1966. He is a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.