By Richie Murray
Du Quoin, Illinois (August 30, 2022)………The largest Ted Horn 100 field in 20 years is set to compete in this Saturday night’s 68th running of the event under the lights at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in southern Illinois on September 3.
Forty-two (42) USAC Silver Crown entries are expected for the 100-mile, 100-lap Ted Horn 100 Presented by MiteXstream, which was first held in 1951 under American Automobile Association (AAA) sanctioning and won by that year’s National Champion, Tony Bettenhausen.
The most recent Du Quoin Silver Crown event to feature a car count in excess of 40 came in 2002 when 43 cars signed in.
Six past Ted Horn 100 winner are in this Saturday’s Du Quoin field, including defending winner, Parma, Michigan’s Brian Tyler (2008 & 2021), current point leader, Kingsburg, California’s Kody Swanson (2010 & 2017), and Benton, Illinois’ Shane Cockrum (2014 & 2015).
Single-time Ted Horn 100 winners eying a return to victory lane at the event include Peru, Indiana’s Russ Gamester (1997), Kansas, Illinois’ Shane Cottle (2007) and Elkhart, Illinois’ Chris Urish (2013).
Swanson and Cottle have previously won the pole for the event. Swanson has done it three times in 2015-16-21 while Cottle has achieved the feat twice, during back-to-back years, in 2007-08. No driver has won the pole in USAC Silver Crown competition at Du Quoin more often than Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) with four in 2001-10-13-17.
A number of USAC national champions are scattered throughout the field, eight in fact. Kody Swanson is a six-time USAC Silver Crown champion in 2014-15-17-18-19-21. Coons captured USAC National Midget titles in 2006-07 as well as USAC National Sprint Car and USAC Silver Crown top honors in 2008.
Tyler scored consecutive USAC National Sprint Car championships in 1996-97. Gamester collected a USAC National Midget crown in 1989. Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) became a USAC National Midget titlist in 2018. C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) notched a USAC National Sprint Car title in 2019.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) became the king of the USAC Silver Crown series in 2020. Buddy Kofoid (Sutter, Calif.), making his debut run at Du Quoin this weekend, is the reigning 2021 champ and current point leader of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.
On Saturday, pits and registration open at 1pm Central. The ticket office and grandstands open at 4pm. The drivers meeting will be held at 4:15pm. USAC Silver Crown practice takes place from 5-6:10pm, DIRTcar Modified hot laps/qualifying at 6:15pm, with Silver Crown Fatheadz Qualifying at 6:30pm, followed by DIRTcar Modified heat races at 7:15pm and the Silver Crown Qualifying Race before concluding with the Silver Crown Ted Horn 100 main event at 8:15pm.
Saturday’s event can be watched LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/3O5Fb2j.
ENTRY LIST FOR THE 2022 TED HORN 100 PRESENTED BY MITEXSTREAM:
08 KYLE STEFFENS/St. Charles, MO (Gordon Steffens)
1 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Doran-Dyson Racing)
2 PATRICK LAWSON/Edwardsville, IL (Patrick Lawson)
6 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Klatt Enterprises)
7 KYLE ROBBINS/New Castle, IN (KR Racing)
8 DAVEY RAY/Davenport, IA (Cornell Racing Stables)
10 JAKE SWANSON/Anaheim, CA (DMW Motorsports)
11 (R) CARY OLIVER/Buncombe, IL (Cary Oliver)
14 STEVEN RUSSELL/Rochester, IL (McQuinn Motorsports)
15 CHRIS FETTER/Troy, MO (Chris Fetter)
16 AUSTIN NEMIRE/Sylvania, OH (Nemire-Lesko Racing)
18 TRAVIS WELPOTT/Pendleton, IN (Welpott Racing)
22 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Rice Motorsports)
27 JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (Daigh-Phillips Motorsports)
31 DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA (Berkheimer Racing)
32 (R) GREGG CORY/Shelbyville, IN (Williams Racing)
39 MATT GOODNIGHT/Winchester, IN (Goodnight Racing)
44 DANNY LONG/Bonne Terre, MO (Danny Long)
48 (R) NATHAN MOORE/Kaufman, TX (Joe Moore)
49 (R) BRIAN RUHLMAN/Clarklake, MI (Brian Ruhlman)
51 RUSS GAMESTER/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)
52 CARMEN PERIGO/Stoystown, PA (John Stehman)
53 A.J. FIKE/Galesburg, IL (Five Three Motorsports)
54 MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Westfall Motorsports)
55 JERRY COONS JR./Tucson, AZ (Patty Bateman)
57 DALLAS HEWITT/Troy, OH (Dallas Hewitt)
69 (R) CHASE STOCKON/Fort Branch, IN (Pink 69 Racing)
71 SHANE COCKRUM/Benton, IL (BLS Motorsports)
74 SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Hodges Motorsports)
77 CHRIS URISH/Elkhart, IL (Chris Urish)
81 BRIAN TYLER/Parma, MI (BCR Group)
88 (R) TYE MIHOCKO/Phoenix, AZ (Sammy & Mouren Fetter)
91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Hemelgarn Racing)
95 PATRICK BRUNS/Champaign, IL (Full Throttle Racing)
97 (R) BUDDY KOFOID/Penngrove, CA (Hans Lein)
99 ERIC GORDON/Greenfield, IN (Brad & Tara Armstrong)
110 CASEY BUCKMAN/Chandler, AZ (DMW Motorsports)
111 (R) TOM PATERSON/Argos, IN (Tom Paterson)
123 JIMMY LIGHT/West Springfield, PA (Two-Three Motorsports)
157 (R) KYLE CHADY/Benton, IL (McCreery Motorsports)
177 (R) DAVE PEPERAK/Clinton, IN (Peperak Motorsports)
199 KOREY WEYANT/Springfield, IL (Scott Weyant)
(R) represents a USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year contender