By Lance Jennings
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022… This Saturday, September 24th, the USAC Western States Midgets are back in action at Ventura Raceway. Promoted by Jim Naylor, the eleventh point race will also feature the USAC West Coast Sprint Cars, VRA Dwarf Cars, IMCA Sport Compacts, and Kids Classes. Located at the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 West Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, California, the Pit Gates will open at Noon, the Front Gates open at 3:00pm, with Racing scheduled for 5:30pm at “The Best Little Dirt Track in America.” For more event information, visit the track’s website at venturaraceway.com or call 805.648.RACE.
For those that cannot travel to the races, floracing.com will broadcast a live stream of the night’s action.
NOTICE TO RACERS:
– MEMBERSHIPS / TEMPORARY PERMITS: All racers MUST PURCHASE their USAC license / membership or temporary permit online PRIOR TO THE EVENT at usaclicense.com or usacracing.com. Season memberships come with extra insurance.
– ENTRY FEE: There is an entry fee due at registration / pill pick.
– TRANSPONDERS: Transponders ARE MANDATORY and will be available to rent.
– APPROVED/LEGAL MUFFLERS: B&B: FRAC-0375-S w/side outlet, COAST FABRICATION: 300x625x17-2s, 350x625x17-2s, 400x625x17-2s, EXTREME: 3515-3030 (15″ Long 5″ round shell with 3″inlet & 3″ outlet), 3615-3030 (15″ Long 6″ round shell with 3″ inlet & 3″ outlet), 3515-3030-8 (15″ Long 5″ round shell with 3″inlet & 3″ outlet with turnout), 3615-3030-8 (15″ Long 6″ round shell with 3″ inlet & 3″ outlet with turnout), FLOWMASTER: (BCRA Approved) 13009130, 13509130, 13509135, SCHOENFELD: 14272535, 14272730-78 *Failure to comply with the muffler rule will risk disqualification from the event.
– ONE WAY RADIOS / RACECEIVERS: One way radios ARE MANDATORY.
– FULL CONTAINMENT SEATS: Full containment seats ARE MANDATORY.
– RULE BOOK: The USAC Western States Midget Rule Book can be found online at usacracing.com.
– California state protocol calls for competitors, crews, officials, and anyone on the grounds to practice safe social distancing, proper sanitizing, and follow local regulations regarding the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
Since May 24, 1986, 154 USAC Western States Midget events have been held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Sleepy Tripp claimed the inaugural victory and leads all drivers with eighteen Ventura wins. Point leader Michael Faccinto topped the May 21st event and Chase Johnson claimed the August 27th race. At press time, Johnny Cofer set the 1-lap qualifying record of 11.675 on November 18, 1995 and a complete series Ventura win list is at the bottom of this release.
Heading to Ventura, Michael Faccinto (Hanford, California) has a 103-point lead over the competition. Driving the Graunstadt Enterprises #14J T&T Trucking / Gary Silva Ranches Spike, Faccinto ran second to Chase Johnson at Ventura’s August 27th event. To date, the 2018 Champion has posted three feature wins, three Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Awards, six heat race victories, nine top-10 finishes, and 86 feature laps led to his credit. Currently tied with former champions Tommy White and Jay Drake for thirteenth on the series win list with twelve victories, Michael will be looking to continue his championship bid with a win at Ventura.
Fresh off his first USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car win at Bakersfield, Brody Fuson (Bakersfield, California) ranks second in the USAC Western Midget point chase. Piloting Rusty Carlile’s #51 RacePa Motorsports/ W.E. Spike, Fuson scored third at Ventura on August 27th. At press time, the young driver has two feature wins, one Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Award, two heat race victories, nine top-10 finishes, and 56 feature laps led in the campaign. Brody has four career series wins and will have his sights on adding a Ventura triumph to his resume.
Ben Worth (Coalinga, California) sits third in the championship point chase. Racing Dean “Kiwi” Alexander’s #5K Walker Air Filtration / WFX Spike, Worth finished placed seventh at the last Ventura appearance. To date, the 2019 Rookie of the Year has two heat race victories and five top-10 finishes to his credit. With two career wins, Ben will be looking for his first victory of the campaign this Saturday night.
Travis Buckley (Auckland, New Zealand) ranks fourth in the chase for the championship. Driving the family owned #7NZ Buckley Systems / Esslinger Engineering Spike, Buckley charged from thirteenth to sixth in the August 27th feature. At press time, the leading rookie contender has one heat race victory, one Rod End Supply Hard Charger Award, nine top-10 finishes, and 18 feature laps led on the year. Travis will have his sights on his first career win this Saturday at Ventura Raceway.
Rookie contender A.J. Bender (San Diego, California) is fifth in the point standings. Racing the LKK Racing #1X Josh Ford Motorsports / Rod End Supply Triple X, Bender placed fifth at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. To date, the USAC/CRA and CLS driver has posted three heat race victories, one Rod End Supply Hard Charger Award, and six top-10 finishes on the season. Last year’s Turkey Night Grand Prix Sprint Car Winner will be looking for the first USAC Midget victory of his career.
While Travis Buckley leads the chase for rookie of the year honors over A.J. Bender, Caden Sarale (Stockton, California), Thomas Esberg (Kelseyville, California), Anthony Esberg (Kelseyville, California) are also in contention.
Among the other drivers expected to be in action are defending champion Blake Bower, Jake Andreotti, C.J. Sarna, Michael Snider, Danika Jo Parker, Randi Pankratz, Robby Josett, Jake Hodges, “The Panda” Terry Nichols, Matt Mitchell, Racin Silva, Zach Telford, Sage Bordenave, Steve Hix, Shannon McQueen, Troy Rutherford, Mike Leach Jr., Jim Vanzant, and more.
Ventura Raceway is located on the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 West Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, California. General Admission Adult tickets are $22, General Admission Senior (60 and older), Active Military (ID Required), and Student tickets (with ID) are $18. Kids tickets (12 and under) are FREE. For more event information, visit the track’s website at venturaraceway.com or call 805.648.RACE.
Tickets are still available for the October 15th “Championship Night Banquet” at The Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park. Starting approximately 30 minutes after the final checkered flag of the “George Snider Classic,” the event is the year-end celebration for the USAC Western States Midgets and the USAC West Coast Sprint Cars. Tickets are $40 until September 30th and will be $50 after that date. The event will have awards, dinner (chicken or tri-tip), beverages, and music. To purchase tickets and RSVP, contact Stephanie Odom at the races or email her at odom.stephanie@me.com.
The October 1st race that had been previously listed as TBA and later scheduled at Ventura Raceway HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Please update your schedules.
The USAC Western States Midget Series thanks Ammonia Refrigeration Service Incorporated, AMSOIL, Competition Suspension Incorporated, Elk Grove Ford, Extreme Mufflers, FloRacing, High Tech Performance, Hoosier Racing Tire, Hot Head Competition Engine Heaters, Jordan Hanni Well Drilling, Rod End Supply, Saldana Racing Products, Tear-Off Heaven Fotos, T&T Trucking, Vahlco Wheels, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Wireless 101, and Woodland Auto Display for their support. If you or your company would like to become part of the series, email PR Director Lance Jennings at lwjennings@earthlink.net.
For more information on the USAC Western States Midget Series, visit the United States Auto Club (USAC) website at usacracing.com and the social media for USAC Racing. You can also find exclusive content on the USAC Western States Midget Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
FloRacing.com has live, flag-to-flag coverage of the USAC Western States Midget Series. You can catch the action by subscribing to FloRacing on a monthly or yearly basis to view their huge catalog of live and on-demand auto racing and sporting events.
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USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET CHAMPIONS: 1982-Jeff Heywood, 1983-Sleepy Tripp, 1984-Tommy White, 1985-Sleepy Tripp, 1986-Robby Flock, 1987-Sleepy Tripp, 1988-Sleepy Tripp, 1989-Robby Flock, 1990-Sleepy Tripp, 1991-Sleepy Tripp, 1992-Sleepy Tripp, 1993-Robby Flock, 1994-Johnny Cofer, 1995-Billy Boat, 1996-Jay Drake, 1997-Ricky Shelton, 1998-Rick Hendrix, 1999-Marc DeBeaumont, 2000-Wally Pankratz, 2001-Danny Ebberts, 2002-Robby Flock, 2003-Steve Paden, 2004-Johnny Rodriguez, 2005-Jerome Rodela, 2006-Jerome Rodela, 2007-Johnny Rodriguez, 2008-Nic Faas, 2009-Garrett Hansen, 2010-Alex Schutte, 2011-Cory Kruseman, 2012-Shannon McQueen, 2013-Ronnie Gardner, 2014- Ronnie Gardner, 2015-Ronnie Gardner, 2016-Ronnie Gardner, 2017-Ronnie Gardner, 2018-Michael Faccinto, 2019-Robert Dalby, 2020-NO AWARD, 2021-Blake Bower.
2022 USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET WINS: 3-Michael Faccinto, 2-Blake Fuson, 1-Jake Andreotti, 1-Ryan Bernal, 1-Shane Golobic, 1-Chase Johnson, 1-Mitchel Moles.
VENTURA USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET TRACK RECORD: Johnny Cofer – 11.675 (11/18/95)
VENTURA USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET WINS: 18-Sleepy Tripp, 13-Billy Boat, 8-Page Jones, 7-Garrett Hansen, 6-Ronnie Gardner, 6-Jimmy Sills, 5-Johnny Cofer, 5-Robby Flock, 5-Cory Kruseman, 4-Robert Dolacki, 4- P.J. Jones, 4-Robby Josett, 3-Jay Drake, 3-Chris Rahe, 3-Tony Stewart, 2-Tommy Astone, 2-Christopher Bell, 2-Tyler Brown, 2-Josh Ford, 2-Dennis Hart, 2-Johnathon Henry, 2-Chase Johnson, 2-Brad Kuhn, 2-Kyle Larson, 2-Frank Pedregon, 2-Jerome Rodela, 2-Chuck West, 1-Jake Andreotti, 1-Mike Appio, 1-Wayne Bennet, 1-Chad Boat, 1-Bobby Boone, 1-Mario Bringetto Jr., 1-Hank Butcher, 1-Keith Chrisco, 1-Robert Dalby, 1-Kevin Doty, 1-Tony Elliott, 1-Nic Faas, 1-Michael Faccinto, 1-Stan Fox, 1-Russ Gamester, 1-Chuck Gurney, 1-Daryl Haugh, 1-Rick Hendrix, 1-A.J. Johnson, 1-Ryan Kaplan, 1-Josh Lakatos, 1-Brad Loyet, 1-Carson Macedo, 1-Lealand McSpadden, 1-Matt Mitchell, 1-Steve Paden, 1-Rusty Rasmussen, 1-Keith Rauch, 1-Troy Rutherford, 1-Shane Scully, 1-Ron Shuman, 1-Bryan Stanfill, 1-Jake Swanson, 1-Tommy White, 1-Hayden Williams, 1-Ben Worth.
2022 USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINT STANDINGS: 1. Michael Faccinto-705, 2. Brody Fuson-602, 3. Ben Worth-585, 4. Travis Buckley ®-548, 5. A.J. Bender ®-518, 6. Blake Bower-505, 7. Jake Andreotti-439, 8. Caden Sarale ®-397, 9. C.J. Sarna-315, 10. Michael Snider-292, 11. Chase Johnson-282, 12. Austin Liggett-251, 13. Danika Jo Parker-247, 14. Thomas Esberg ®-243, 15. Randi Pankratz-243, 16. Anthony Esberg ®-236, 17. Robby Josett-204, 18. Jake Hodges-201, 19. Cade Lewis-170, 20. Terry Nichols-161, 21. Shane Golobic-159, 22. Braden Chiaramonte ®-159, 23. Dylan Bloomfield ®-133, 24. Ryan Bernal-116, 25. Matt Mitchell-104, 26. Ben Wiesz ®-101, –. Colton Raudman ®-101, 28. Racin Silva ®-99, 29. Zach Telford ®-93, 30. Daniel Whitley-92, 31. Mitchel Moles-84, 32. Sage Bordenave ®-81, 33. Dave Stoltz-77, 34. Floyd Alvis-75, 35. Steve Hix-74, 36. Shannon McQueen-68, –. Troy Rutherford-68, 38. Dawson Faria-65, 39. T.J. Smith-65, 40. Mike Leach Jr.-64, 41. Beau Lemire ®-62, 42. Jake Morgan-60, 43. Dylan Ito-55, 44. Brandon Wiley-54, 45. Cole Schroeder-47, 46. Nathan Byrd-44, 47. Cody Williams-43, 48. Nick Velasquez ®-42, 49. Kyle Beilman-40, 50. Samuel May-39, 51. Dale Curran-36, 52. Kevin Gray ®-35, 53. Tyler Edwards-32, 54. Greg Edenholm-26, 55. Steve Paden-25, 56. Dakota Albright-24, 57. Darin Snider-12.