Lonnie Wheatley
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (December 16, 2020) – Brady Bacon proved to be the class of the Non-Wing field in a topsy-turvy 2020, topping the Non-Wing Sprint Car portion of the Open Wheel Power Rankings for the first time since its inception in 2013.
Bacon served noticed by sweeping through Bubba Raceway Park’s “Winter Dirt Games” in Florida to open the season in February and went on to rack up 11 overall wins to top the Non-Wing Power Rankings by 61 points over Chris Windom.
The only driver to finish among the top ten in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings since 2013, it is the first time Bacon has finished out the year at the top of the charts after a previous best of second in 2016.
Six of Bacon’s 11 overall wins came en route to a third USAC National Sprint Car championship including a second consecutive Corn Belt Nationals triumph at Knoxville and the season finale at Lawrenceburg to seal the deal.
Bacon put a margin of 61 points between himself and Windom, who finished among the top three in Non-Wing Power Rankings for the fourth time in the past five years.
Justin Grant filled out the podium in third after a runner-up finish in 2019 with C.J. Leary (top-ranked in 2019) edging Chase Stockon for fourth on the strength of more feature wins.
After finishing atop the Non-Wing Power Rankings for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, Kevin Thomas, Jr., finished out 2020 in sixth with Kyle Cummins posting his best finish yet in seventh. Dave Darland broke back into the top ten at eighth after a year’s absence with Shane Cottle and Robert Ballou both returning to the top ten as well.
Bacon is the fifth different driver to top the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings since Darland topped the inaugural edition in 2013 followed up by Ballou in 2014 and 2015, Thomas, Jr., in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and then Leary in 2019.
Separated into Non-Wing 410 and Non-Wing 360 Power Rankings through 2018, those were consolidated into a single Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Ranking for 2019 and beyond with all Non-Wing 410 and injected Non-Wing 360 events included in the Rankings.
The Non-Wing Power Rankings are a part of the Open Wheel Power Rankings that also includes STIDA Winged 410s, Rod End Supply Winged 360s and www.midgetmadness.com Midgets along with the STIDA Super Late Models.
Title sponsorship for the 2021 Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings is available. Anyone interested in additional exposure at an extremely reasonable rate can make contact at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Features Completed: 153 (243 in 2019, 197 in 2018, 225 in 2017, 206 in 2016, 218 in 2015, 224 in 2014, 235 in 2013)
Number of Different Winners: 61 (91 in 2019, 71 in 2018, 76 in 2017, 72 in 2016, 75 in 2015, 85 in 2014, 92 in 2013)
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 203 (267 in 2019, 204 in 2018, 226 in 2017, 231 in 2016, 268 in 2015, 293 in 2013, 336 in 2013)
Note: Prior to 2019, Non-Wing Power Rankings were broken into 410-ci and 360-ci categories instead of combined into one overall ranking.
Past Top Tens in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings:
2019 – 1. C.J. Leary (4) 701, 2. Justin Grant (8) 697, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7) 689, 4. Tyler Courtney (9) 678, 5. Brady Bacon (8) 671, 6. Chris Windom (8) 632, 7. Thomas Meseraull (12) 492, 8. Chase Stockon (1) 486, 9. Kyle Cummins (14) 468, 10. Jason McDougal (1) 354.
2018 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (15) 917, 2. Chris Windom (9) 863, 3. Tyler Courtney (12) 785, 4. C.J. Leary (6) 664, 5. Justin Grant (10) 655, 6. Dave Darland (4) 642, 7. Brady Bacon (5) 578, 8. Robert Ballou (5) 553, 9. Chase Stockon (2) 529, 10. Thomas Meseraull (7) 384.
2017 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (18) 928, 2. Justin Grant (9) 682, 3. Chris Windom (10) 667, 4. Tyler Courtney (7) 616, 5. Robert Ballou (4) 599, 6. C.J. Leary (8) 479, 7. Brady Short (7) 465, 8. Thomas Meseraull (6) 454, 9. Chad Boespflug (2) 437, 10. Brady Bacon (3) 436.
2016 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (13) 782, 2. Brady Bacon (3) 742, 3. Chris Windom (5) 661, 4. Thomas Meseraull (8) 658, 5. Dave Darland (2) 632, 6. Chad Boespflug (6) 555, 7. Robert Ballou (4) 503, 8. Chase Stockon (3) 497, 9. Shane Cottle (4) 451, 10. C.J. Leary (3) 446.
2015 – 1. Robert Ballou (18) 959, 2. Dave Darland (6) 895, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6) 649, 4. Chase Stockon (5) 607, 5. Brady Bacon (9) 601, 6. Jon Stanbrough (2) 577, 7. Brady Short (16) 561, 8. C.J. Leary (4) 517, 9. Thomas Meseraull (9) 466, 10. Shane Cottle (5) 419.
2014 – 1. Robert Ballou (11) 822, 2. Dave Darland (11) 750, 3. Jon Stanbrough (8) 705, 4. Bryan Clauson (9) 671, 5. Justin Grant (8) 625, 6. Brady Short (12) 605, 7. Chase Stockon (4) 532, 8. Brady Bacon (4) 477, 9. Chad Boespflug (7) 438, 10. Shane Cottle (3) 410.
2013 – 1. Dave Darland (9) 631, 2. Bryan Clauson (11) 627, 3. Brady Short (10) 531, 4. Jon Stanbrough (3) 509, 5. Chase Stockon (3) 507, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10) 496, 7. Robert Ballou (5) 474, 8. Chris Windom (6) 414, 9. Chad Boespflug (6) 390, 10. Brady Bacon (2) 389.
The Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.