By Richie Murray
Speedway, Indiana (November 4, 2020)………Following a one-year hiatus, the highly-anticipated Eastern Storm tour returns in 2021 for its 14th edition June 15-20 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship will tackle five dates in a six-night stretch with the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series taking center stage for a single night.
The Sprint Cars begin 2021 Eastern Storm on Tuesday, June 15, at the 1/3-mile Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., the only track that has appeared on the schedule since Eastern Storm’s inaugural run in 2007.
The following night, on Wednesday, June 16, the Sprint Cars will make their debut on the recently reconfigured 4/10-mile Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J.
Fifty years after the USAC National Sprint Cars last visited Pennsylvania’s ½-mile Selinsgrove Speedway, the series is back on Thursday night, June 17 for the first time since Mitch Smith’s victory five decades earlier in 1971.
A night off for the Sprint Cars doesn’t mean a night off for USAC racing on Friday, June 18, when the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series races its way to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania’s ½-mile Williams Grove Speedway.
USAC Sprints get back to work on Saturday night, June 19, at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway’s ½-mile. The tour closes out on Sunday night, June 20, with the USAC Sprint Car debut at the newly rejuvenated Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fairgrounds 3/8-mile dirt oval, where the sight and sound of auto racing of any kind has been absent for the past 40 summers.
C.J. Leary captured the most recent Eastern Storm championship during the 2019 season. Past champions of the tour of the east include Levi Jones (2007-10-11), Bryan Clauson (2012-13-16), Cole Whitt (2008-09), Chris Windom (2017-18), Brady Bacon (2014) and Robert Ballou (2015).
Bryan Clauson, Levi Jones and Chris Windom are tied for the most Eastern Storm victories with six apiece. Brady Bacon and Robert Ballou each have four victories while Cole Whitt has three. Two wins in the series belong to Tyler Courtney, Thomas Meseraull and Kevin Thomas Jr. Notching one career win apiece during Eastern Storm are Chad Boat, Chad Boespflug, Daron Clayton, Shane Cottle, Dave Darland, Bobby East, Damion Gardner, Jesse Hockett, Jason McDougal, Hunter Schuerenberg, Jon Stanbrough, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Stockon.
2021 EASTERN STORM SCHEDULE:
June 15: Grandview Speedway (Bechtelsville, Pa.)
June 16: Bridgeport Speedway (Swedesboro, N.J.)
June 17: Selinsgrove Speedway (Selinsgrove, Pa.)
June 18: Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) *Silver Crown*
June 19: Port Royal Speedway (Port Royal, Pa.)
June 20: Bloomsburg Fairgrounds (Bloomsburg, Pa.)