By Bryan Gapinski
Sun Prairie, Wis., August 29—Defending Champion Caleb Armstrong, along with past winners Scott Hatton (2004, ’05) and Davey Ray (2003) lead the list of drivers excepted to compete in the 32nd annual Pepsi Midget Nationals at Angell Park Speedway on Saturday and Sunday Nights Aug. 31-Sept. 1.The event will be co-sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series and Stark Automotive Group/Mid-State Equipment Badger Midget Series.
A repeat victory for Armstrong would mark the seventh time in event history a driver has scored back-to-back victories, Armstrong will drive the C & A Motorsports Beast/Toyota. Hatton driving the Jerry Hatton owned Stealth/Fontana ranks fifth on the all-time feature win list at the track with 34 feature wins. Ray will drive the Jerry Hardy owned Buzzard/Hawk-Chevrolet and look for his second Nationals win, ten years after capturing his first event victory.
A complete program of racing is slated each night, will Saturday being highlighted by a 30-lap feature. Sunday’s 50-lap feature will pay $4,000 to win and crown the Pepsi Nationals Champion. Sunday’s events will also include the 10th annual Dave Schulenberg Memorial Dash, along with the popular Pepsi “Lets Make a Deal” fan activities on the front stretch.
The events will determine the 2013 Badger Midget and Badger 600 Micro Champions, with Brad Kuhn (Midget) and Matt Paderta (Micro) leading the points. Zach Daum holds a slim margin over defending Champion Andrew Felker in POWRi points. Spectator gates open at 4;30 pm, with practice at 6:00 pm, followed by racing.