By Tracy Hines Racing PR
New Castle, Ind.โNov 7, 2012โ It would be pretty difficult to find a Midwest-based driver competing in the Western Classic this week at Canyon Speedway Park in Arizona that has turned more laps at the three-eighths-mile in 2012 than Tracy Hines. After opening his outdoor season at the end of January with six rounds of sprint car racing at the venue located just outside of Phoenix, he returned two weeks ago for another pair of events in a sprinter. This week, heโll head back to the desert for two midget races.
Hines will compete in the Western Classic aboard the Parker Machinery Toyota-powered Spike on Friday, Nov. 9, and Saturday, Nov. 10, with a full racing program each night, beginning with time trials, followed by heat races and a main event. The Western Classic will serve as the penultimate round of the 2012 USAC Mopar National Series season. An open practice session is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 8.
โItโs been a few weeks since weโve raced a midget and about a month since the last USAC midget race, so Iโm definitely looking forward to this weekend,โ said Hines. โWeโll be at Canyon Speedway Park for the next couple of weeks and we were just here two weeks ago, so we certainly have some good notes and should have a good chance both nights.โ
In eight races at Canyon Speedway Park this season in a sprint car, Hines has earned three wins and seven Top-10 finishes, including sixth and ninth-place showings in his most recent two starts at the track. The Western Classic will mark his first-ever start in a midget at the semi-banked oval. Hines made his debut at Canyon Speedway Park last season with the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series in a pair of late season races.
โWe were really good at Canyon at the beginning of the year and didnโt quite finish where we wanted the last time there, so weโre looking to make up for that this weekend,โ shared the veteran driver. โIt will be the first time in a midget on that track, so practice and hot laps will be very important, and thatโs where all of the laps weโve turned in a sprint car there this year will come in handy as well.โ
Hines has visited Victory Lane four times this season with the USAC Mopar National Midget Series. He scored his first win of the season on the dirt at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas in May. He picked up two victories on the asphalt at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, including in the famed Night Before the 500. The native of New Castle, Ind., scored his most recent triumph with the series on the opening night of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois. In his last start in a midget during the Kokomo Klash at Kokomo Speedway in his home state of Indiana, Hines was victorious in a self-owned machine for the second straight year in the late season event.
Hines enters the Western Classic at Canyon Speedway Park second in points with the USAC Mopar National Midget Series on the strength of those four wins, along with 12 Top-10 finishes, of which seven are Top-Five performances. He is second in the USAC National Driver of the Year standings, with three events remaining in that competition, including this weekend.
โItโs been a pretty good year in the midget for us and with three races left, weโd like nothing more than to get a couple more wins,โ stated Hines. โThere will be a good field of cars with some of the West Coast drivers on-hand and weโll have to be on our game both nights to put ourselves in a good position to be in contention.โ
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank: Parker Machinery, AFCO Racing Shocks, Bell Race Gear, FatHeadz, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers, Rod End Supply, Schoenfeld Headers and Stanton Racing for their continued support.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, including a complete 2012 schedule, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.com. Follow Tracy on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TracyHinesRacin.