By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – July 14, 2022 – Wild and exciting winged outlaw sprint car racing will headline the USCS “Sprint Car Mania” IX racing program at historic Boyd’s Speedway on Friday and Saturday, July 15th at 7:30p.m. The United Sprint Car Series “Outlaw Thunder” Tour presented by K&N Filters (www.uscsracing.com) will roar into the high-banked 3/8-mile Georgia red-clay oval for their 26th event of their 26th Anniversary USCS National Championship schedule.
This is the one and only USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint car event scheduled during the 2022 season at Boyd’s Speedway. This two races will award National Championship points as well as points in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series standings. The USCS Southern Thunder regional series consists of USCS races in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, both Carolinas, and Eastern Tennessee.
The special event is expected to bring top winged Outlaw sprint car drivers from at least seven states to the track seeking a stop in the K&N Filters USCS Victory Lane at the historic track. The exotic fire-breathing, alcohol-burning, 700-horsepower open-wheel cars weigh just 1,300 pounds, and are pound for pound the World’s most powerful short track race cars. The cars will literally fly around the track surface at speeds over 120 M.P.H. It is not uncommon to see USCS sprint cars popping “wheelies” or doing wheel stands because of the brute force of their engines and their huge 16-inch wide Hoosier rear racing tires.
Friday night’s USCS winged sprint car action will feature a full program of racing in the winged sprint cars that include test and tune hot laps followed by the evening’s first sprint car races, the qualifying heat races when competitors earn passing points given for advancing positions. The Hoosier Speed Dash follows and showcases the top six cars from the qualifying heat races in an edge-of-your-seat shootout that will determine the starting position of the front three rows of the main event with the Dash winner starting from the K&N Filters Pole Position. Next up will be the Last Chance/B-Main race if necessary. The evening’s grand finale will be the 30-lap “Sprint Car Mania” IX USCS A-main event.
Several of the Boyd’s Speedway weekly racing divisions will join the traveling sprint car series for an action-packed night of family entertainment on Friday night. Those divisions include the speedway’s Late Model, Sportsman 602, B-Hobby, B-Sportsman/Beginner, Front Wheel Drive, and new Crown Vic divisions. There will be a full program of racing action in every division including the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint cars. This should guarantee an action-packed night of Family entertainment.
Thirteen-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee, tops the entry list for the Boyd’s Speedway event. He is a class of 2022 inductee into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. The veteran racer (Gray) leads the current 2022 National point standings. Gray has 94 career USCS wins and over forty USCS National and regional titles in his storied career.
Morgan Havener (formerly Morgan Turpen from Goodlettsville, Tennessee, who is Terry Gray’s team-mate is considered by most to be the Nation’s top-ranked female sprint racer is entered for the USCS Sprint Car Mania double-header. The two-time USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National Champion was the 2015 and 2016 Champion. In addition to her two National titles, she has multiple USCS titles on dirt and asphalt and was the 2010 USCS Rookie of the Year. She has thirty-plus USCS Victory Lane stops in her stellar career. Her most recent win came at nearby I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tennessee on April 30, 2022.
The most recent entry is Jordon Mallett from Greenbrier, Arkansas who was the 2017 and 2018 USCS National Champion is entered. Mallett was the 2011 USCS National Rookie of the Year as well. Mallett has 23 career wins with the USCS series including one this year.
Also entered is the 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi who is currently in second place in the USCS National point standings.
Another sprint car racer for local fans to cheer for is USCS veteran Aubrey Black from nearby, Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Several other expected entries from Georgia will also be in the field. These include the 2020 USCS Southern Thunder Tour Rookie of the Year, Eric Gunderson from Canton, Georgia, and veteran USCS driver Joe Larkin from Suwanee. Two other Georgia drivers are expected as well. Those are 2021 Carolina Sprint Tour Champion Jeff Oliver and veteran USCS competitor Brian Thomas. Both are from Pendergrass, Georgia. Jake McLain who is also a former Champion of the Carolina Sprint Tour and a former USCS Rookie of the Year is towing from his shop in Indian Trail, North Carolina to enter the fray on Friday night.
Also entered all the way from the British Isles is 2021 and 2022 Great Britain Modified Stock Car Champion Ryan Harrison who has come stateside several times over the last two seasons to compete with the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour. His last outing at Southern Raceway in February produced a top-five finish.
Gates open at 5:30 pm on Friday and racing action begins at 7:30pm sharp! On Saturday night gates open in the general admission grandstands at 5:30 pm with racing action again at 7:30 p.m. Friday night’s General Admission prices on are $20 for Adults and Youth 6-12 years old are $10 with children 5 years and younger FREE.
Boyd’s Speedway is located less than one-quarter mile off Interstate 75 at Tennessee Exit 1A/Ringgold Road. The physical address for the facility is 1481 Scruggs Road, Ringgold, GA 30736. The track’s phone number is 423-664-4174 and the website is www.boydsspeedway.com For USCS info please visit the Official USCS website at www.uscsracing.com or call 770-865-6097.