By Linda Mansfield
GAS CITY, Ind., May 31 —
Friday’s fifth annual “Jack and Jiggs Classic” pays homage to current track owner Jack Himelick and former promoter Jiggs Thomason with a five-division card of non-wing sprint cars, United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) modifieds, Kenyon midgets, street stocks and hornets. Race time is 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday vintage motorcycles take to the quarter-mile dirt oval in their only appearance this year at the Grant County track. The show that celebrates heavily customized, old motorcycles and the people who love them will start at 7 p.m.
Clinton Boyles of Indianapolis won the non-wing sprint feature at the first “Jack and Jiggs Classic” in 2018 in the famous Paul Hazen 57 enroute to the division’s championship. The event featured the Sprints on Dirt (SOD) sprint cars in 2019, and the winner of that feature was Chad Blonde of Litchfield, Mich. Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill., was the non-wing sprint feature winner at the “Jack and Jiggs Classic” in 2020. Last year’s event was rained out, but the weather forecast for this weekend is perfect, and who will win on Friday night is anyone’s guess.
The UMP modifieds will make their first appearance of the year at Gas City, and extra money is on the line because it’s round one of the “Neighborly Modified Challenge” mini-series with nearby Montpelier Motor Speedway, which will stage leg number two on Saturday night. Bub Roberts of Warren, Ind., is the defending Gas City modified champion.
The Kenyon midgets are also making their first appearance of the season at Gas City on Friday night. Trey Osborne of Columbus, Ohio leads the current Kenyon midget series point standings followed by Jackson Macenko of Cincinnati and Dameron Taylor of Indianapolis.
James Headley of Marion, Ind., the winningest driver in track history, is definitely the man to beat in the street stock class. He’s led every lap of both of the street stock features held so far this year at Gas City. One of the drivers hoping to get past him on Friday night will be Andy Bishop of Gas City, the division’s defending champion.
Landon Arcaro of Brookville, Ind., and Topher Hillman of Camby, Ind., have shared the top honors in the hornet class so far in 2022, and Arcaro leads Hillman in the current point standings by just one point. Jeremy Jones of Gas City; Brady Hines of Denver, Ind., and Tracey Runion of Wilkinson, Ind., complete the top five in the current point standings.
Another big event coming up at Gas City will occur on Friday, June 10. The USAC NOS Energy Drink national midgets will be on hand in a USAC Midget Week show with Gas City non-wing sprint cars sharing the card. Michael “Buddy” Kofoid of Penngrove, Calif., won Gas City’s USAC Midget Week feature last year and is expected to try to do it again June 10. Kofoid is second in the USAC national midget point standings at press time to Justin Grant of Avon, Ind. Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala., won the non-wing sprint car feature during Gas City’s USAC Midget Week show last year.
Gas City I-69 Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-mile west of exit 259 of Interstate 69, about halfway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Ind.
For the complete 2022 schedule and more information see the track’s website at gascityI69Speedway.com and also follow its social media outlets. The track is on Twitter (@GasCitySpeedway), Instagram (@GasCitySpeedway) and Facebook (GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas).