By Robert Haugh
Showing amazing resilience, Full Circle Racing worked off rust and gremlins en route to a strong performance in their 2014 season debut on Saturday, May 3 at the 1/3-mile Bakersfield Speedway.
After overcoming power steering issues in practice and fuel gremlins in qualifying, driver Ricky Shelton showed he hasn’t lost a step, moving from seventh of fifth in his Heat race, slowly getting more comfortable with the #71 Hall Ass Racing/Monster Seal Stealth/Ed Pink Ford.
After starting tenth in the 30-lap feature, Shelton quickly charged into the Top 5, dicing it up with some of the best in the West. Unfortunately for Shelton, his evening ended prematurely, losing a spark plug wire on Lap 12 while trading sliders with the best.
“I really thought we had a chance to win. The car was great and I was more comfortable each lap,” states Shelton.
The former USAC-Western States Midget champion Shelton is well en route to overcoming the odds, quickly silencing critics by proving himself both on and off the track.
Fully recovered from fighting addictions, Shelton returned to Midget racing last year, when after over 15 years, Shelton and his championship Crew Chief Ty Hindman came together, culminating in the team’s debut at the 2013 Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix under the Full Circle Racing banner.
One their favorite tracks, Shelton led 28 laps on the ESPN televised broadcast “Saturday Night Thunder” in 1997 and maintains the one-lap track record at Bakersfield, with a 12.239 lap recorded on June 21, 1997. In addition, Shelton has claimed wins at Bakersfield in a TQ Midget while Hindman is a Bakersfield track veteran; with a win there in 2011, plus several Top three finishes at the “fastest 1/3-mile dirt oval in the West.”
Not blessed with enormous finances, the newly formed Southern California Midget racing team came to fruition thanks to the hard work and dedication by both Shelton and Hindman. In addition to the untraceable hours churned by both Shelton and Hindman, the low-budget team has received generous support from many individuals, with special thanks to Midget racing icon Floyd Alvis and Shane Scully for taking a chance on Ricky and providing the chassis and engine to launch Full Circle Racing.
Shelton and Hindman claimed the 1997 USAC-Western States Midget championship together and are looking forward to coming Full Circle after winning many races and championships together.
Shelton claimed the 1997 USAC Western States championship and rookie-of-the-year, claiming more than 15 Midget victories from 1997 to 1999 and also claimed third place in the USAC National Midget series in 1998 with wins at such races as the Rich Vogler Classic at Winchester Speedway and Eagle Nationals in Lincoln, Neb., as well as a fifth-place finish at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. Shelton also owns the six-lap track record at the prestigious Belleville Midget High Banks in Kansas set in 1998.
Hindman has claimed many championships, feature wins and track records as a crew chief, most recently having claimed both USAC Western States and Bay Cities Racing Association championships along with multiple wins and track records.
FCR supporters include Hall Ass Racing, Monster Seal, So Cal Nitrous and Race Fuel, Scully Engineering, Hansen Welding, Floyd Alvis, Kevin Triplett, IMPACT Safety, Van Dyne Engineering, Pro Tech Services, Gansen Racing, Coast Fabrication, Western Proformance, Coast Fabrication, Rod End Supply and West Evans Motorsports.
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