USAC HPD MIDGETS AT KALAMAZOO MAY 31

From Dick Jordan

            Kalamazoo (Michigan) Speedway will host USAC’s HPD Midgets as part of the 2014 Midwest calendar May 31, the eighth time USAC’s racing series have competed at the 3/8-mile paved oval.

            Sponsored by Lane Automotive, the race is part of the track’s festivities which also include the USAC Midwest Thunder Series .25 Midgets, expected to draw a huge turnout of race fans and cars.

            Gene Hartley, winner of USAC’s inaugural race in 1956 at Fort Wayne, Ind., also scored the first USAC victory at Kalamazoo, in a 15-lap Midget race on June 11, 1960. Subsequent USAC features there found Mike Fedorcak winning a Midget race in 1989, Tate Martz the winner of a Ford Focus feature in 2005 and Bobby Santos the Sprint car winner in 2009.

            In 2012, the last time USAC visited the oval, Ryan Krachun and Ross Rankine posted Ford Focus wins and Kyle O’Gara won a D1 Midget feature as part of a USAC “tripleheader.”

            In related series news Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway will host a June 14 race, creating a back-to-back weekend of HPD Midget racing in the Buckeye State which starts with the June 13 appearance at Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia.

            The track record drives will shoot for at Kalamazoo May 31 will be Cooper Clouse’s 13.113 second circuit established two years ago.