By Richie Murray
Gas City, Indiana (June 9, 2020)………Gas City I-69 Speedway’s origins with Indiana Midget Week began in 2005, the very first year of the mini-series. Fifteen years later, it’s still home-sweet-home for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets with their 14th appearance at the ¼-mile dirt oval.
Shane Cottle (2006-07) and Darren Hagen (2011-12) are the only multi-time USAC National Midget feature winners at Gas City, and both did it in consecutive years.
Indiana Midget Week Tickets: www.usactickets.com
Last year’s Gas City IMW winner Justin Grant has every wave of momentum riding with him entering the 2020 IMW round two event at Gas City on Wednesday, June 17, having just won the last two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car races last weekend at Iowa’s 34 Raceway and Missouri’s Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 as well the most recent USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature event on May 23 at Port City Raceway in Oklahoma.
In 2019, Grant (Ione, Calif.) wired all 30 laps to win the IMW feature at Gas City and is one of four previous IMW Gas City feature winners in this year’s field, along with Steve Buckwalter (2010), Kyle Larson (2013) and Tanner Thorson (2015), twice a winner on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail this year, outdoors at Ocala, Fla. and indoors at Du Quoin, Ill.
Five additional drivers in the field have won in USAC Sprint Car competition at Gas City, including Dave Darland and Kevin Thomas Jr., both two-time winners, as well as Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney and Chris Windom, who’ve each won once. Courtney and Windom have each won a singular USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature in 2020, Courtney at Port City and Windom at Ocala.
Reigning Gas City Sprint Car track champion Thomas Meseraull is also entered in this year’s IMW Gas City Midget lineup as an RMS teammate to the 2018 Gas City Sprint Car champ, Clinton Boyles.
Paragon opens Indiana Midget Week on Tuesday, June 16, followed by Gas City on Wednesday, June 17. Next, on both Thursday, June 18 and Friday, June 19, Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville joins the IMW docket for the 11th straight year with two-straight nights of racing.
The three-eighths of a mile Lawrenceburg Speedway, which hosted the very first IMW event in 2005, serves as the penultimate race of the mini-series on Saturday, June 20. The 2020 IMW finale at Kokomo Speedway comes to the quarter mile venue on Sunday, June 21, which first hosted USAC Midget racing in USAC’s inaugural season of 1956.
All six Indiana Midget Week events will also feature local sprint car racing as part of the racing festivities. All nights of the IMW, along with all USAC National events in 2020, will be live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/2WQucRL.
Fields at each venue will be capped at 48 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets and 45 Sprint Cars. Limited spots remain. Competitor entry for Indiana Midget Week is now open for the events not filled yet, including for Sprint Cars as well at https://usacracing.ticketspice.com/2020-midget-week-entry-for-competitors. There, you may also purchase pit passes when entering a car.
USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS AT GAS CITY I-69 SPEEDWAY
2-Shane Cottle & Darren Hagen
1-Spencer Bayston, Steve Buckwalter, Jerry Coons Jr., Justin Grant, Brad Kuhn, Kyle Larson, Michael Pickens, Davey Ray & Tanner Thorson
USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS AT GAS CITY I-69 SPEEDWAY
2005: Davey Ray (8/19)
2006: Shane Cottle (8/18)
2007: Shane Cottle (8/10)
2008: Brad Kuhn (8/6)
2009: Jerry Coons Jr. (6/10)
2010: Steve Buckwalter (6/16)
2011: Darren Hagen (6/8)
2012: Darren Hagen (6/13)
2013: Kyle Larson (6/12)
2015: Tanner Thorson (6/10)
2016: Spencer Bayston (6/1)
2017: Michael Pickens (6/7)
2019: Justin Grant (6/5)
JUNE 17 GAS CITY INDIANA MIDGET WEEK ENTRY LIST: (48 CARS)
08 NOAH GASS/Mounds, OK (Dave Mac Motorsports)
2 RYAN HALL/Midlothian, TX (Mark Bush)
2ND DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (Dan & Patricia Harris)
3G KYLE CUMMINS/Princeton, IN (Jack Yeley)
3N JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman)
4 ROBERT DALBY/Anaheim, CA (Robert Dalby Motorsports)
4B BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (Klatt Enterprises)
4A JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (RAMS Racing)
5 KEVIN THOMAS JR./Cullman, AL (Petry Motorsports)
5D ZACH DAUM/Pocahontas, IL (Daum Motorsports)
7BC TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
7m BRODY ROA/Garden Grove, CA (Iron Dome-Moonshine Motorsports)
7R RONNIE GARDNER/Corona, CA (Iron Dome-Moonshine Motorsports)
7x THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (Response Management Services)
9 DAISON PURSLEY/Locust Grove, OK (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
15J JEFF WIMMENAUER/New Whiteland, IN (Jeff Wimmenauer)
17 RICKY STENHOUSE JR./Olive Branch, MS (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
17w SHANE GOLOBIC/Fremont, CA (Matt Wood Racing)
19 TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV (Hayward Motorsports)
19A HAYDEN REINBOLD/Gilbert, AZ (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports)
19AZ LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports)
19G GAGE RUCKER/Bellflower, MO (Hayward Motorsports)
19m ETHAN MITCHELL/Mooresville, NC (Bundy Built Motorsports)
20 KAMERON GLADISH/Indianapolis, IN (Nolen Racing)
21 DARYN PITTMAN/Owasso, OK (Pittman Motorsports)
21D JUSTIN DICKERSON/Pittsboro, IN (Mike Dickerson)
25 CHASE JOHNSON/Penngrove, CA (Tom Malloy)
25B STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA (Brian Buckwalter)
28 ACE McCARTHY/Tahlequah, OK (Dave Mac Motorsports)
35 TANNER CARRICK/Lincoln, CA (Petry Motorsports)
39BC COLE BODINE/Rossville, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
41 OLIVER AKARD/Fort Myers, FL (Dan & Shellie Akard)
57 MARIA COFER/Macdoel, CA (Johnny Cofer)
67 BUDDY KOFOID/Penngrove, CA (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
67K RICO ABREU/St. Helena, CA (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
71 KAYLEE BRYSON/Muskogee, OK (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
71K CANNON McINTOSH/Bixby, OK (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
72 SAM JOHNSON/St. Peters, MO (Sam Johnson)
73 DYLAN ITO/Ventura, CA (Josh Ford Motorsports)
73T JAKE SWANSON/Anaheim, CA (Josh Ford Motorsports)
82 ANDREW LAYSER/Collegeville, PA (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
84 GIO SCELZI/Fresno, CA (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
86 KYLE LARSON/Elk Grove, CA (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
88 TYLER NELSON/Olathe, KS (Tyler Nelson)
89 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
97 ZEB WISE/Angola, IN (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
97K MAX McLAUGHLIN/Mooresville, NC (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports)
98 CLINTON BOYLES/Greenwood, MO (Response Management Services)