From USAC
Sam McGhee Motorsports is proud to announce that Ione, California’s Justin Grant will take the wheel of the team’s No. 11 full-time during the 2017 racing season, which includes a run at the entire USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule.
“We partnered with Justin midway through August of 2016 and had outstanding success during the months that followed,” team owner Sam McGhee said. “Justin picked up SMM’s very first USAC National Car win during the ‘4-Crown Nationals’ at Eldora speedway, which we are very excited to build off as we aim for a series championship during the 2017 season.”
For 2017, the car will have a slightly new look as the team switches over from No. 17 to No. 11, which was Sam’s number when he raced in USAC’s Ford Focus Midget series from 2011-2013. In fact, Sam, now 17 years old, scored seven feature victories en route to the USAC Ford Focus Young Gun Midget series championship in 2011.
In the six USAC National Sprint Car starts Grant made with SMM in 2016, the team never once finished outside the top-8. Four of those finishes resulted in top-five finishes. In local Indiana sprint car competition, Grant took wins at Bloomington in his first ever start for SMM as well as the final sprint car race of 2016 in the state of Indiana at the “Kokomo Klash.”
The 26-year-old Grant owns four career USAC National Sprint Car victories and is the 2010 series “Rookie of the Year.”
“Racing for Sam the latter part of 2016 was a great opportunity for me to build my confidence again,” Grant said. “Sam gives me a great racecar to drive night-in and night-out and I couldn’t be happier having the chance to race the full 2017 schedule for him and the McGhee family.”
The car will be sponsored by Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Mike McGhee & Associates, Indy Race Parts and utilizing a Maxim Chassis with Foxco power.