TERRE HAUTE, IN (September 18, 2020) – Chris Windom convincingly won the Jim Hurtubise Classic on Friday night at the Terre Haute Action Track with the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Championship. Windom from Canton, Illinois wrestled the lead away from Dave Darland on the opening lap and held off challenges and multiple caution flags for the victory. The win was Windom’s 10th victory of the 2020 season.
The win also put Windom in rare air with the most victories in the 21 editions of the Hurtubise Classic with five victories, breaking a tie with Jack Hewitt.
“That’s pretty special,” Windom said of becoming the winningest driver in the event’s history. “This place has been good to me my whole sprint car career. I just love coming here. Every race here so far, we have gotten different track conditions and tonight it got slick up to the fence and was technical. I don’t know how good the race for the lead was, but that’s good for me when its like that.”
After the initial start was red flagged for an incident with C.J. Leary, Darland led the field into turn one. Darland’s time at the front was short lived as Windom drove by Darland in turns three and four to take the lead on the opening lap.
Further back in the field Justin Grant, Brady Bacon, and Robert Ballou diced for third position on back. Bacon was able to get by Grant on lap seven in turns three and four but jumped the cushion and allowed Grant and Ballou to get by.
The remainder of the race Darland tried to keep pace with Windom and was able to close in a couple of times to Windom’s back bumper but was unable to make the pass. With a restart with six laps to go Windom pulled away to the victory. Darland held on for second with Grant, Ballou, and Bacon rounding out the top five.
For Windom the victory brought him one step closer in his attempt to win the USAC National Midget and Sprint Car Championships in the same season.
“We’re digging hard for both of them,” Windom said of his pursuit of both titles. “Obviously the midget championship would give me my triple crown, but I want to win a second sprint car championship with these guys just as badly,” in reference to his Hayward Motorsports team on the sprint car side.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 18, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Jim Hurtubise Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.061; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.246; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.421; 4. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-20.453; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.455; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-20.469; 7. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-20.489; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-20.516; 9. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-20.549; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.588; 11. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-20.606; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-20.608; 13. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-20.652; 14. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-20.672; 15. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-20.685; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-20.715; 17. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-20.818; 18. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.821; 19. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-20.833; 20. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-21.032; 21. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-21.073; 22. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-21.108; 23. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-21.109; 24. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-21.171; 25. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-21.315; 26. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-21.489; 27. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-21.584; 28. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-21.707; 29. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-22.044; 30. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-24.386; 31. Will Barnett, 88, Barnett-NT; 32. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-(Time of 21.616 disallowed – light at the scales).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Carson Short, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Matt McCarthy. 2:48.253
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. J.J. Hughes, 7. Kyle Robbins, 8. Will Barnett. 2:48.235
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Max Adams, 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Jonathan Vennard, 7. Evan Mosley, 8. Austin Williams. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Chris Phillips. 2:49.914
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Jonathan Vennard, 3. J.J. Hughes, 4. Austin Williams, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Matt McCarthy, 9. Kyle Robbins, 10. Evan Mosley, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Robert Bell, 13. Nate McMillin, 14. Will Barnett. 4:28.048
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (3), 2. Dave Darland (1), 3. Justin Grant (2), 4. Robert Ballou (4), 5. Brady Bacon (5), 6. Shane Cottle (9), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 8. Chase Stockon (7), 9. Logan Seavey (22), 10. Anton Hernandez (8), 11. Carson Short (10), 12. Clinton Boyles (19), 13. Austin Williams (18), 14. J.J. Hughes (14), 15. Jake Swanson (12), 16. Jadon Rogers (17), 17. Tye Mihocko (16), 18. Max Adams (21), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (20), 20. Brandon Mattox (11), 21. Jonathan Vennard (15), 22. C.J. Leary (6). NT