By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – November 24, 2020 – The defending (2019) United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee added to his massive resume to capture his 13th USCS National Championship during the 2020 season. Gray who has competed regularly with the United Sprint Car Series since the 2001 season and only missed three events during his USCS career used 31 top ten and 7 top five finishes plus points accumulated from the nightly USCS Hoosier Speed Dash to reel in the crown. In addition to the National Championship title he also finished in the runner-up spot in both the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series and the USCS Southern Thunder regional series.
Although going winless during the 2020 season for only the second time in the two plus decades he has competed with the USCS he was able to take the point lead in mid-season when early season points leader, Mark Smith missed several races due to a mid-season hiatus. Gray then continued to string together consistent finishes while holding off 2020 National Rookie of the Year, Conner Leoffler’s late season charge for the title. Gray bested Leoffler by a scant 41 points on the final race weekend to capture his 13th title in ten seasons competing in the United Sprint Car Series. Gray had to best a total of 150 different driver entries during the 2020 season to wear the series 24th season crown.
The 2020 USCS National Rookie of the Year and USCS Southern Thunder regional series Champion, 16-year-old Conner Leoffler from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina finished in the runner-up spot in the final USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National point standings just 41 points behind Terry Gray for the title. Leoffler had 28 top 10 finishes, 14 top 5 finishes and three wins to garner the second position in the standings. The top 2020 USCS Rookie driver was the 2020 Champion of the USCS Southern Thunder regional series. He also garnered the fourth position in the highly competitive USCS Mid-South region final point standings. Leoffler was also a three-time USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour feature winner. He is the first Rookie USCS competitor to ever win multiple main events in their first season competing in the series. Leoffler’s three trips to the www.rockauto.com USCS Victory Lane were the third most series wins for drivers competing in the 36 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour events during the 2020 season.
Newcomer to the United Sprint Car Series in 2020, Jim Shuster, from Newville, Pennsylvania finished in the third position in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National point standings after competing in all 36 races. Jim Shuster also finished in fifth place in the USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series. He finished the 2020 Covid-19 shortened season in sixth position in the Mid-South regional series.
Mallie Shuster, the other half of the Dad and Boy Race Team, who is also from Newville, Pennsylvania finished in fourth position after 36 completed events in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National Championship point standings. Mallie Shuster also finished in fourth place the USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series. He also earned enough points in the tough USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series point standings to finish seventh in the USCS Mid-South regional series standings.
The “Ripley Rooster”, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi, who was the 2012 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour “Rookie of the Year” garnered a fifth-place finish in the 2020 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National point standings. This was his fifth year in a row to finish in the top five of the National point standings. Willingham finished sixth in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series standings and additionally finished in the eighth position during the 2020 season in the USCS Mid-South regional series final standings.
Mark Smith from Sunbury, Pennsylvania garnered a sixth-place finish in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National standings while competing in 27 of the 36 National events. Smith, who led the series in wins during the 2020 season with 14 stops in the www.RockAuto.com USCS Victory Lane after those victories had 2 top five and 25 top ten finishes including the wins. He led the series National point standings through the July 4th weekend then competed in only half of the events in the latter half of the season due to unforeseen circumstances.
Mark Smith competed in 15 of the 20 USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series events and had eight of his fourteen USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour wins in USCS Mid-South regional series competition. That was good enough to finish in the fifth position in the final USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series point standings. Mark Smith also finished in ninth place in the USCS Southern Thunder Tour where he won the first six events. He then added two more on Labor Day weekend that were dual region points awarded events.
Dale Howard from Byhalia, Mississippi finished the 2020 season in seventh place in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National point standings after competing in 26 of the 36 National points events. Howard was the second winningest driver in the series during the 2020 season with six victories in USCS competition. He focused his primary effort on the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series title and it paid off as he is the 2020 USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series Champion, The USCS Mid-South regional series Championship title is Howard’s first ever USCS series Championship and should be noted that this title is for the Championship of the tough USCS Mid-South regional series where Howard secured five of his six 2020 season wins.
Two-time (2015 and 2016) USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National Champion and two-time USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series Champion, Morgan Turpen from Somerville, Tennessee finished in the eighth position in the 2020 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National point standings. Turpen, like Dale Howard, ran less than the full National title schedule competing in 26 of the National Championship events. She did compete in all 20 of the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour reginal series events and claimed the runner-up spot in the Mid-South standings just 62 points back. The USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour title chase was not decided until the final points event during the USCS Flip Flop 50 at Riverside International Speedway on November 7th.
The USCS Veteran Midwest and Worldwide sprint car racer and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 2015 inductee Danny Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio finished in ninth place in the USS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National Championship point standings. Danny Smith competed in 26 USCS National events during the 2020 season and had 18 top ten and 10 top five finishes. He also had a seventh-place finish in the USS Southern Thunder Tour regional series point standings.
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Kyle Amerson from Montgomery, Alabama competed the top ten drivers in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National point standings. Amerson had a career-best season in sprint car racing while picking up his first two career-wins in United Sprint Car Series competition during the 2020 Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters season. He won the prestigious Randy Helton Memorial Race at famed Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia in July and then parked in the www.RockAuto.com USCS Victory Lane again at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, South Carolina in September. Amerson, who is a medical student was a no-show early in the season at one event or maybe would have finished higher, but, his two wins, six top five and nine top ten finishes during 2020 had to go down as his best ever season in the USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series competition where he claimed the third spot in the final 2020 USCS Southern Thunder regional series standings. He will most certainly be one to watch in the future.
Another 2020 USCS Rookie of the Year contender, Eric Gunderson from Canton, Georgia who had no sprint car experience prior to running just a few races in 2019 completed the top ten in the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National Championship point standing. Mid-South Thunder Tour point standings. Gunderson showed marked improvement throughout the 2020 season and was impressive at the USCS Flip Flop event at Riverside International Speedway on November 6th and 7th. He also finished just out of the top ten in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series and in the National standings, where he was just out of the top ten in the 11th place in both standings.
Mark Smith from Sunbury, Pennsylvania led the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters Thunder region wins column during the 2020 season with fourteen wins in the series. He was followed by Dale Howard with six 2020 wins in second place. The 2020 USCS Rookie of the Year and USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series Champion, Conner Leoffler and 2013 USCS National Champion, Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas were tied for third during 2020 with three victories each. Howard Moore from Memphis, Tennessee won twice as did Kyle Amerson, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr from Mooresville, North Carolina. Danny Martin, Jr. from Sarasota, Florida, Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina, Justin Barger from Denver, North Carolina and Hayden Martin from Olive Branch, Mississippi each won one time during the 2020 and 24th anniversary USCS season.
USCS Founder and President, Pete Walton said ‘We are proud to announce that veteran USCS competitor Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee captured his 13th USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National Championship title in a USCS series after having a great 2020 season. He proved once again that he is one of the Nation’s top 360-winged sprint car drivers.”
The complete 2020 season schedule for the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters with winners can be found at www.uscsracing.com For rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office 770-865-6097. We invite you to please follow USCS Racing on Facebook and Twitter as well @uscsracing
Photo/Caption car #10: Veteran USCS competitor Terry Gray from Bartlett, TN claimed his 13th USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National title during 2020. (USCS file photo)
USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters Final
2020 National Championship Point Standings after 36 events:
Pos. Car# Driver Point
1 10 Terry Gray 4950
2 22 Connor Leoffler 4910
3 20 Jim Shuster 4319
4 49 Mallie Shuster 4296
5 28 Jeff Willingham 4135
6 M1 Mark Smith 4092
7 47 Dale Howard 3628
8 10m Morgan Turpen 3549
9 4 Danny Smith 3507
10 29 Kyle Amerson 3227
11 7E Eric Gunderson 2906
12 10L Landon Britt 2422
13 43 Terry Witherspoon 2322
14 17 Alex Lyles 1834
15 13 Chase Howard 1773
16 29 Jeff Oliver 1763
17 44 Ronny Howard 1700
18 5 Justin Barger 1661
19 14 Jordon Mallett 1571
20 67 Hayden Martin 1478
21 3 Howard Moore 1148
22 97 Dale Day 1102
23 23 Lance Moss 1082
24 17b Shelby Brown 1076
25 18j RJ Jacobs 1064
26 7 Johnny Bridges 1050
27 w20 Greg Wilson 1015
28 10k Dewayne White 1010
29 9jr Derek Hagar 998
30 24 Danny Martin Jr 988
31 5M Max Stambaugh 946
32 4m Michael Miller 916
33 93 Jake Knight 880
34 17jr Ricky Stenhouse Jr 865
35 6 Dustin Gates 844
36 33 Joe Larkin 842
37 83 Mark Ruel Jr 800
38 5k Jake Karklin 794
39 g6 Cody Gardner 774
40 4s Carson Short 771
41 21 Spencer Meredith 762
42 20 Matt Kurtz 697
43 26 Marshall Skinner 695
44 99 Tanner Witherspoon 676
45 99J Blake Jenkins 672
46 88 Brandon Blenden 670
47 3B Chris Banja 644
48 7 Brandon Taylor 640
49 28M Conner Morrell 636
50 14 Tony Stewart 587
51 12 Luke Hall 578
52 2H Tommy Hall 574
53 72k Rick Kahler 566
54 5 Hayden Campbell 566
55 4x Terry McCarl 562
56 2 Brad Bowden 539
57 28 Davie Franek 524
58 22M Dan McCarron 502
59 187 Landon Crawley 502
60 9 Danny Oliver 496
61 7j Gregg Jones 468
62 67 Brian Thomas 466
63 20 Frank Carlsson 466
64 15 Danny Burke 462
65 83 Bob Auld 450
66 1 Lee Moore 450
67 17H Hud Horton 439
68 24 Jeffrey West Jr 434
69 27J Joseph Poe Jr 422
70 16 Koty Adams 422
71 95 Asa Swindell 418
72 91A Ernie Ainsworth 408
73 7c Phil Gressman 404
74 1st Steve Surniak 402
75 92 AJ Maddox 380
76 93 Chris Sweeney 370
77 21B Brandon Mclain 367
78 61 Cody Howard 358
79 15 Dan Nanticoke 358
80 14R Sean Rayhall 354
81 2 Josh Grimes 332
82 83 Lynton Jeffrey 292
83 3 Todd Gracey 288
84 41G Giovanni Scelzi 284
85 47 Eric Riggins 280
86 17G Channin Tankersley 278
87 4g Eddie Gallagher 278
88 41 Dominic Scelzi 274
89 14B Brett Wright 270
90 1 Shane Morgan 258
91 24 Kobe Allison 256
92 16B Zane Devault 256
93 8A Alan Myers 250
94 67 Pete Richardson 250
95 197 Ryan Harrison 242
96 83A Austin Miller 238
97 17 Jared Horstman 234
98 69K John Karklin 232
99 3 Paxton Gregory 230
100 121 Steve Glover 230
101 44M Michael Magic 228
102 1x Tim Crawley 226
103 88N Frank Neill 222
104 12B Bryan Eckley 220
105 12m Greg Merritt 220
106 26 Jeff Bye 218
107 5 Richard Reynolds 210
108 4B Billy Boyd Jr 200
109 12 Corbin Gurley 200
110 44 Dylan Norris 200
111 17L Jeff Leach 200
112 94 Jeff Swindell 148
113 15J Jeremy Middleton 136
114 70 Nick Tucker 134
115 22 Shawn Murray 132
116 0 Aaron Turkey 130
117 218 Dillon Thrower 130
118 57c Chris Schmelzle 126
119 45B Casey Burkham 124
120 15jr Geoff Styner 124
121 51 Jay Dunham 124
122 0x Clint Weiss 122
123 41 Luke Hill 122
124 B52 Bill Mason 118
125 92 Cody Hays 118
126 9 Edward Guidry 118
127 11B Tyler Horn 118
128 8x Tony Higgins 116
129 13 Nathan Barouch 112
130 B4 Bronzie Lawson 110
131 10H Dustin Homan 108
132 44 Jason Troutman 108
133 17 Seth Bergman 106
134 22s Slater Helt 106
135 65 Brandon Lovelace 104
136 21m Adam Cruea 100
Tie 21 Aubrey Black 100
Tie 29 Chad Jones 100
Tie 66 Chase Dunham 100
Tie 21 Corey Bailey 100
Tie 27 Curt Terrell 100
Tie 7D Dylan DeJournett 100
Tie 121 Jan Howard 100
Tie 1s Joey Schmidt 100
Tie 21k Kevin Hinkle 100
Tie 2 Ricky Peterson 100
Tie 17x Trapper Brown 100
Tie 52 Tristan Lee 100
Tie 74 Tucker Boulton 100
Tie 16 Wesley Shepard 100
Tie 00 Harley Zimmerman 100