From Dick Jordan
USAC’s National racing calendar debuts this week at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. with “Winter Dirt Games VII” featuring the stars and cars of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series. Races are slated Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at the 3/8-mile dirt oval located in the heart of the Sunshine State. A practice night is also slated at Bubba Raceway Park on Wednesday night.
Defending series champion Robert Ballou of Rocklin, Calif. is eager to return for this year’s “Games” after kicking off last year’s championship season with a pair of Florida wins, including the Ocala opener. Ballou stormed to 13 victories on his way to his inaugural USAC driving title.
Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Ind., fresh from his historic 100th USAC feature victory, is expected to be a strong challenger for the “Winter Dirt Games VII” crown. His January 29 West Coast/Southwest Sprint win at Peoria, Ariz. earned him a spot alongside just five other drivers who have reached the century mark in terms of total USAC victories. Rich Vogler, A.J. Foyt, Sleepy Tripp, Mel Kenyon and Dave Darland share that distinction with Bryan. Clauson owns three Ocala victories in the past five years.
Darland, of Lincoln, Ind., added four AMSOIL wins to his all-time series-leading total last year and hopes to build on his 57 career wins in this week’s 2016 openers.
Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla., USAC’s 2014 AMSOIL Champion, is another top contender, having posted Ocala victories the past two seasons.
Other 2015 AMSOIL victors expected to compete at Ocala include Chase Stockon of Haubstadt, Ind., Brady Short of Bedford, Ind., Justin Grant of Ione, Calif., 2015 “Rookie of the Year” Aaron Farney of Brookston, Ind., Chris Windom of Canton, Ill. and Thomas Meseraull of San Jose, Calif.
Two-time USAC Silver Crown Champion Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. is also among early driver entrants, seeking his initial dirt-track AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car win.
Drivers will be competing for additional prizes posted by Buck and Betty Rice of ProSource (fast qualifiers), KSE Racing Products (hard chargers), Simpson Race Products, Competition Suspension (CSI) Shocks, Benic Enterprises and Indy Race Parts (heat race sponsors), Schroeder Torsion Bars (third and eighth place in the feature each night), Schoenfeld Headers (fifth in the feature each night), and Maxim Chassis (highest finishing Maxim).
This week’s events will be streamed by SpeedShiftTV and can be secured by visiting www.speedshifttv.com. Each night of “Winter Dirt Games VII” can be seen LIVE for just $19.95; a two-night pass is only $34.95 while all three nights of racing can be purchased for just $49.95. Additional race info can be found on www.bubbaracewaypark.com.