By Linda Mansfield
GAS CITY, Ind., June 24 — Exciting racing and a fun-natured round of the “Battle of the Sexes” headline Friday night’s “Summer Thunder” motorsports entertainment at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
A full racing card featuring non-wing sprint cars, modifieds, street stocks, hornets and A-class winged micro-sprints is on tap as the action heats up now that summer has arrived.
Bragging rights for gender supremacy will be the motivation in the “Battle of the Sexes” spectator car challenge during intermission. Two men and two women will do one-lap eliminations in their street-legal passenger cars to decide the overall winner. The winner will be awarded $100 cash, a season pass, and a trophy. Entries are being accepted by emailing the speedway at info@gascityi69speedway.com.
Thomas Meseraull of Waveland, Ind. has been the hottest driver in the sprint car class with four feature victories this season, including last Friday night in the Jerry Gappens Sr. Memorial. Thanks to his hot streak he leads the point standings over Tyler Hewitt of Marion, Ind.; last year’s champion, Clinton Boyles of Brownsburg, Ind.; Scotty Weir of Marion, and Matt Westfall of Pleasant Hill, Ohio. Nearly 70 drivers have already earned points at Gas City this year in the non-wing sprint car class.
Bill Griffith of Van Buren, Ohio is leading the track’s UMP modified point standings even though he hasn’t won a feature in that class at Gas City so far this year. Neither has Scott Orr of Columbia City, Ind., who is second in the current point standings. Derek Losh of Renssalaer, Ind., who has three victories at Gas City so far this year, is third in the overall standings followed by Bub Roberts of Warren, Ind., and Andy Bishop of Gas City. Besides Losh, Logan Kirkman of Richmond, Ind. and Dylan Woodling of Warsaw, Ind. have won UMP modified features so far in 2019 at the Grant County quarter-mile clay oval.
Bishop also competes in the street stock class, and he leads those standings thanks in large part to his three victories. Mike Fincher of Rochester, Ind. is currently second. Chris Tippit of DeMotte, Ind.; Ron Flaugh of Converse, Ind., and Ervin Turner of Marion round out the top five in that division.
Young James Headley Jr. of Wabash, Ind., who has won the last two hornet features at Gas City and has perhaps the most enthusiastic fan following at the track, tops that division’s current point standings, although Jacob Beard of Columbia City, Ind. is right behind him. Stevie Clark of Galveston, Ind.; Rookie-of-the-Year contender Dustin Franks of Portland, Ind., and Alyssa Clark of Columbia City round out the top five in that class.
An adult general admission ticket only costs $15, and kids 12 and under are free. A pit pass costs $30. The pit gate opens for competitors at 3 p.m., while the grandstands open at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the first race is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. Parking is free.
The track is centrally located between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, and is just west of exit 259 of Interstate 69.
The track offers a wide variety of food and reasonable prices at its concession stand, and even has a small playground for kids and a gift shop stocked with great racing-related items.
Fans can see the 2019 schedule and get additional information on the track’s website at GasCityI69Speedway.com. Fans can also follow it on Facebook (@GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas), Twitter (@GasCitySpeedway) and Instagram (@GasCitySpeedway).