From Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – (January 27, 2014) – Just over one hundred attendees watched as Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas was honored as the 2013 United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters National Champion on Saturday at the 17th annual USCS Champions Awards Banquet in Memphis, Tennessee. The twenty-two year old past USCS Rookie of the Year (2006) made ten visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane as the series feature win leader for 2013. Additionally Hagar’s 2013 USCS statistics show twenty-four top five and twenty-eight top ten finishes in the series thirty A-Main events. Hagar also claimed the title in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series. He bested ten-time series National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee in both the National and Southern Thunder regional series point’s battles. Both titles are Hagar’s first United Sprint Car Series Championships. Hagar additionally finished in the runner-up spot in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series final standings just four points behind 2012 National Champion Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas and just four points away from a complete sweep of all three series. His first year crew chief, Bill Croswait, was honored as United Sprint Car Series Crew Chief of the Year.
Ten-time series National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee who finished 53 points back of Hagar in the runner-up spot for the National crown, also collected runner-up honors for his effort on the Southern Thunder regional series and followed Champion Tim Crawley and Hagar in the third place in the USCS Mid South regional series standings. Gray’s team-mate and the 2010 USCS Rookie of the Year, Morgan Turpen from Oakland, Tennessee who was the only female sprint car competitor near the top of the USCS standings, collected third place honors in the National title chase. Turpen, who grabbed her career fourth USCS feature win during the season, finished third in the Southern Thunder region and fifth in the Mid South Thunder regional series. She completed her fourth successful season in the USCS while never finishing worse than fourth in the series final National standings.
The 2012 USCS National sprint car Champion Tim Crawley collected fourth place honors for his efforts in the final National standings. He made six visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane to accept feature winner honors during 2013. Crawley was honored for his third USCS Mid South Thunder Tour regional series title (2008, 2012 and 2013). Ageless veteran sprint car racer Ray Bugg from Iuka, Mississippi rounded out the top five in the series National point standings. Bugg’s top ten finishes and near perfect attendance was good enough to be recognized at the annual banquet for his best series finish ever. He also finished in sixth place in the final standings in both the Mid South and Southern Thunder regional series.
Two-time 2013 USCS feature winner Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee who was the 2008 USCS Rookie of the Year, lead the next group of drivers in sixth place. Nicholson also finished in fourth place in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series. The 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi followed Nicholson to the stage with a seventh place finish in the National standings. Willingham also collected awards for a seventh place finish in the USCS Mid South regional series and an eighth place finish in the final Southern Thunder region standings.
Three-time 2013 USCS feature winner Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who was the 2010 USCS Southern Thunder regional series Rookie of the Year was recognized for an eighth place finish in the final USCS National sprint car standings. Riggins won on April 12th at Carolina Speedway and visited the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane twice on back-to-back nights in October when the eighteen year-old driver swept the first ever USCS vs. URC North vs. South Shootout weekend at Carolina Speedway and at Cherokee Speedway.
Rookie driver Curt Terrell from Bartlett, Tennessee, who contested his first full season in winged sprint cars, was honored for a ninth place finish in the final 2013 USCS National point standings. He additionally finished in the eighth position in the 2013 USCS Mid South Thunder standings. Terrell was recognized for his achievements as the USCS National Rookie of the Year. His Father, Tommy Terrell received recognition as Rookie Crew Chief of the Year.
Thirteen year-old Taylor Tidmore from Hernando, Mississippi followed Terrell in tenth place in the National standings. Tidmore moved up to the USCS’ winged 360 sprint car division after a successful 2012 season in the www.rockauto.com USCS 600 Sprint Car Series. Tidmore additionally performed well enough in his Rookie season to finish in ninth place in the USCS Mid South Thunder region and was additionally awarded the USCS Mid South Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters “Rookie of the Year” at the USCS Championship Awards Banquet. Todd Tidmore was also recognized as USCS Mid South Thunder Rookie Crew Chief of the Year.
Additional USCS Mid South Thunder Tour regional series awards:
The 2010 USCS Mid South Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jerod Roller also from Hernando, Mississippi rounded out the USCS Mid South 2013 regional series point standings in tenth place behind Taylor Tidmore.
Additional USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series awards:
Eighteen year-old Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who won three 2013 main events in the Southern Thunder regional series, finished in fourth place in the USCS Southern Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters regional series standings. Lance Moss from Cherryville, North Carolina rounded out the top five in the regional series standings. Terry Witherspoon from Jacksonville, Florida finished in ninth place in the Southern Thunder regional series standings just ahead of Joe Larkin from Suwannee, Georgia who also earned a spot in the regional series final point standings.
One hundred and twenty-eight different drivers competed in the thirty 17th anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters events. Thirteen different drivers won 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour main events. Those included Derek Hagar, who led the series victory column with ten wins. Hagar was followed by Tim Crawley with six feature wins. Eric Riggins, Jr. was next with three wins. Anthony Nicholson made two visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane at Toccoa Speedway on September 1 and again at Tennessee National Raceway on September 14th.
Nine other drivers collected one feature win during the 2013 season. Those included: Robbie Stillwagon from Burlington, New Jersey at Toccoa Speedway on April 13th. Dalton Davis from Millington, Tennessee collected his career-first USCS win at 411 Speedway on May 3rd. The 2011 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jordan “The Jet” Mallett got his career second USCS win at Riverside Int. Speedway on June 29th. Brian Gingras from Lakeland, Florida won the road to Atlanta qualifier on the paved Watermelon Capital Speedway on July 20th. Top ranked pavement sprint racer, JoJo Helberg from California won the 50-lap USCS Sprint Car Shootout on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s paved ¼ mile on August 30th. On the following night, Morgan Turpen bested Hagar and Company at Cleveland Speedway for her one win of the 2013 season. On November 3rd, Benton, Arkansas’ Cody Gardner won the first half of the USCS Flip Flop 50 at Riverside Int. Speedway. Marshall Skinner from Marion, Arkansas collected the victory in the second fully inverted 25-lap main event to close the season.
The seventeenth anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters kicked off on Friday, March 8th at Magnolia Motor Speedway and concluded at Riverside Int. Speedway on Sunday, November 3rd. For complete and archived results from these events please visit the series Official website at www.uscsracing.com .
The United Sprint Car Series thanks the 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour supporting sponsors including: K&N Filters, Hoosier Racing Tire, and USCS victory lane sponsor www.RockAuto.com plus Bulldog Rear Ends/DMI, DSR Fuel Systems, Engler Machine and Tool, JE Pistons, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, KSE Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson Racing Products, Something Inked and Wilwood Engineering.
The 2014 (18th Anniversary) USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour kicks off at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi on Friday, February 28th and Saturday, March 1st. A full schedule of 2014 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint car events is available online at www.uscsracing.com . For series rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office at 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097.
Final 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National point standings (30 events)
Pos. Car# Driver
1 9Jr Derek Hagar
2 10 Terry Gray
3 10M Morgan Turpen 3583
4 88 Tim Crawley
5 25 Ray Bugg
6 16 Anthony Nicholson 3067
7 28 Jeff Willingham
8 47 Eric Riggins, Jr. 2457
9 27 Curt Terrell
10 13T Taylor Timor
11 12 Dalton Davis
12 3H Brandon Hanks 1538
13 23 Lance Moss
14 5 Jerod Roller
15 26 Marshall Skinner 1408
16 C4 Casey Rowland 1198
17 43 Terry Witherspoon 1186
18 44 Ronny Howard 1154
19 4m Michael Miller 1090
20 33 Joe Larkin
21 83 Bob Auld
22 8Z Zack Pringle
23 31 Justin Webb
24 39 Brad Bowden
25 13 Todd Fayard
26 3 AG Raines
27 13 Tristan Tidmore 885
28 1A Lee Moore
29 12M Greg Merritt
30 51 Lee Sowell
31 11 Jake Roach
32 1G Cody Gardner
33 38 Tony Agin
34 5s Tyler Smith
35 92 Matt Kurtz
36 89 Robbie Stillwaggon 528
37 96D Nick DeFeo
38 67 Jake McLain
39 51 Jay Dunham
Tie 07 Johnny Bridges 492
41 58 Wade Oliver
42 14 Jordon Mallett
43 46 Kyle Amerson
44 01 Shane Morgan
45 7D Don Goodwin
46 10 P Jim Perriconne
47 42 Henry Gustavus
48 33 Mark Huddleston 324
49 6c Brandon McLain 322
50 31G Johnny Gardner 306
51 25 JJ Grasso
Tie 29 Josh Weller
53 1 Brian Gingras
54 36 Billy Pouch, Jr. 294
55 22 Troy Betts
56 3 Garrett Green
57 X Daniel Mazy
Tie 22 Shawn Murray
59 99 Tanner Witherspoon 262
60 20 Joey Moughan
61 46 Jim Blenkarn
Tie 303 Joe B Miller
Tie 28 Keith Prutzman
64 34 Darren Orth
Tie 22 Dustin Barks
66 40h Chad Jones
Tie 1 Eddie Gallagher
68 17J Jonathan Swanson 248
69 7 Ed Aikins
70 119 Chandler Leiby 244
71 7 D Dylan DeJournett 242
72 26 Howard Moore 236
73 33 Scott Lutz
74 8X Chris Williams
Tie 4 Tommy Snellgrove 230
76 59 Johnny Petrozelle 228
77 74Jr JR Berry
78 117 David Swanson 220
79 40 Raymond Stull 216
80 56 Randy West
81 14 Marty Echols
Tie 99 Ray Stevison
83 44c Brandel Greer
Tie 2 Brandon Kilpatrick 200
Tie 61 Cody Howard
Tie 22 Kevin Kilpatrick
Tie 32k Robert Richardson 200
88 7 Jojo Helberg
89 05 Brad Loyet
90 94 Jeff Swindell
91 40.1 Troy DeCaire
92 3A AJ Maddox
93 12x Joey Montgomery 136
94 12t Joe Young
95 3 Brad Greer
Tie 38 Dave Baumgartner 132
97 2 Alex Pettas
Tie 11 Chris Hladik
Tie 8 Kurt Taylor
Tie 100 Tom Paterson
101 11 Don Blaney
Tie 17 Mike Pack
103 0 Andy McElhannon 126
Tie 5 Dave Thorman
Tie 17 Francis Crowder 126
Tie 5 Randy Dilling
Tie 0 T.J. Hughes
Tie 82T Tyler Godwin
109 4T Jason Troutman
110 0 Bubba Harrisson 122
111 606 Carl Finder
112 4Q Jason Day
Tie 21 Matt Hope
Tie 1B Nic Jenkins
115 21 Aubrey Black
Tie 55 Donny Howard 116
Tie 36 Lane Wittington
118 66 Geoff Dodge
119 1x Blake Jenkins
Tie 44c Brett McDaniel
Tie 44c Bubba Jones
Tie 12 Darren Hasty
Tie 11 George Blaney 100
Tie 57 Jay New
Tie 9 Kevin Petty
Tie 77 Mike Leraas
Tie 38 Rick Pringle
Tie 11p Skylar Pippin