By Richie Murray
Kokomo, Indiana (April 26, 2024)………It’s been 686 days since we’ve last witnessed a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway.
Putting things in perspective, it’s been a mere 1092 days since we’ve last been able to enjoy a Kokomo Grand Prix feature race. It’s not like we’ve been counting the day or anything, right?
Well, we have. Withdrawals, sure. Anticipation, absolutely! We’ve all been waiting for this moment for a while, so when Mother Nature pushed this week’s schedule back a bit further, what’s another day of waiting when it comes to USAC Midget racing at Indiana’s Baddest Bullring?
The moment has finally arrived as this Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28, Kokomo Speedway welcomes the USAC National Midget season into its 69th campaign. Very nice.
Here are six storylines that we’re watching this weekend.
LOGAN LOGGING RECORDS
How’s Logan Seavey Racing doing? In his last 22 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature starts, he owns eight wins, 20 top-fives and 22 top-tens, a run which started in June of 2023.
A 23rd straight top-10 finish by Seavey on Saturday would break the series record set by Jason Leffler in 1997. Leffler rode that streak into a series title in 1997, then followed up the next year in 1998 by winning the championship again. It’s certainly a feat Seavey would like to repeat in the 2024 season.
Seavey, the defending USAC National Midget champion from Sutter, Calif., has made five previous Kokomo Grand Prix starts dating back to his Rookie season of 2018. Since then, he’s only finished outside of the top-eight once with a best result of sixth in 2019.
CANNON REMEMBERS THE DATE
It’s been 84 years. Well, not quite, but it certainly feels as if it’s been that long since Kokomo Speedway hosted a USAC National Midget event.
The date was June 11, 2022, and it’s a time and place that Cannon McIntosh certainly remembers very well. That night, after a lengthy rain delay, McIntosh set the fastest qualifying time, then powered to the front within the first nine laps, then carried on to the win after starting back in the sixth position.
This year, McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) returns to a new, but highly familiar setting. After running the full 2020 USAC season with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports where he won twice and finished fifth in the standings, McIntosh has returned to the KKM team for 2024. McIntosh’s best Kokomo Grand Prix run to date was a second in 2021.
AXSOM BACK AT HIS BREAKTHROUGH TRACK
Due to the shift in the Kokomo schedule to a Saturday/Sunday program, that opened up the schedule for Emerson Axsom to take part in the event which holds a special meaning to him and his career.
On the opening night of the KGP in 2021, Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) went undaunted as he traversed the 30-lap distance with style to collect his first career USAC National Midget feature victory.
In 2023, Axsom recorded five runner-up finishes in USAC National Midget competition and led a total of 104 laps, but a victory eluded him. It could be a substantial week for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. Mike Curb is already the winningest entrant in the history of USAC national racing with 198. Two more triumphs this week would give the record company executive and former lieutenant governor of California 200 series wins.
KTJ A KGP HISTORY MAKER
The closest finish in the history of the Kokomo Grand Prix came via Kevin Thomas Jr. during the 2019 edition of the event.
After flipping while battling for the lead in the subsequent sprint car race held just before the midget A-Main, Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) took a wild ride down as he flipped down the back straightaway. Several moments later, back behind the wheel of a midget, KTJ laid it all on the line on the final corner to score with a slide job for the win.
Thomas is the only driver to start all 10 feature events in the history of the Kokomo Grand Prix dating back to 2014. In that span, Thomas has collected five top-fives and has only finished outside the top-10 once.
SPRINTING INTO MIDGET SUCCESS?
Between Justin Grant, Kyle Cummins and Logan Seavey, the trio possesses four Kokomo Speedway sprint car track championships, 15 career USAC National Sprint Car victories at Kokomo and a combined six USAC national driving titles. However, none of them have captured a USAC National Midget main event at Kokomo. Yet.
Grant (Ione, Calif.) is tied for the all-time lead in USAC National Sprint Car wins at Kokomo with nine. The 2017-19-21 Kokomo champ’s best Kokomo Grand Prix result to date came in a razor-thin margin second place run in 2019 to Kevin Thomas Jr.
Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) has scored five USAC Sprint Car wins over the years at Kokomo as well as the 2022 track title. He delivered a best Kokomo Grand Prix run of 10th back in 2021.
Seavey, meanwhile, grabbed his first and only career Kokomo USAC Sprint Car victory, to date, in 2019. Seavey’s Abacus Racing team is now eying its first Kokomo win together this weekend.
NEW YEAR, NEW ME
The first event of the season is always a thrilling time to get a firsthand account of all the new teams, driver combinations and color schemes. This season has its fair share from all three of those columns.
Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) is returning for his first full USAC season since 2014 for RAMCO Speed Group with whom he won at the Belleville (Kan.) Short Track in 2023. Kevin Thomas Jr. is the wheelman at the controls of the Mounce-Stout Motorsports ride with which he made nine USAC starts with a year ago. Two-time USAC National Midget winner Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) has moved over to the CB Industries team for a full year of USAC duty.
4 Kings Racing is the newest team on the scene and will provide two full-time USAC entries for second year USAC national driver Jake Andreotti (Castro Valley, Calif.) and Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), one of the founders of the team who is chasing USAC Midget points for the first time in his career which spans more than a quarter-century.
Kyle Jones (Kennedale, Texas) and Joyner Motorsports have teamed up for their first full-out USAC effort in 2024. Daniel Whitley (Ferndale, Calif.) will drive the Griffiths Motorsport No. 75 at Kokomo after spending last season with Abacus Racing.
USAC Rookie contenders Zach Wigal (CB Industries), plus Ashton Torgerson (Glendale, Ariz.) and Kale Drake (Collinsville, Okla.) from the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports who also find themselves in new territory.
On the flip side, in a continuation of last year, several more are returning to the teams they have familiarized themselves with in year’s past, including full-timers Justin Grant (RMS Racing), Jacob Denney (Tom Malloy), Ryan Timms (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports) and Gavin Miller (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports), plus Kokomo competitors Kyle Cummins (Glenn Styres Racing), Adam Taylor (Adam Taylor Motorsports), Ethan Mitchell (Bundy Built Motorsports), Justin Dickerson (Mick Dickerson) and Kenney Johnson (Jeff Johnson).
RACE DETAILS
The Kokomo Grand Prix will feature the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship and Kokomo Sprint Cars on each night at the 1/4-mile dirt oval. On both nights, the pits will open at 3pm Eastern with the grandstands opening at 3pm. The drivers meeting is set for 5:30pm with cars hitting the track at 6pm followed by hot laps, qualifying and racing.
Adult general admission tickets for each night of the Kokomo Grand Prix are $30 with kids age 12 and under free. Pit passes are $35 apiece each night.
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TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGETS AT KOKOMO SPEEDWAY:
1 Lap – 4/5/2019 – Dillon Welch – 12.665 – 71.062 mph
8 Laps – 6/20/2010 – Steve Buckwalter – 1:51.62 – 64.505 mph
10 Laps – 4/5/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 2:10.06 – 69.199 mph
12 Laps – 4/13/2018 – Holly Shelton – 2:46.01 – 65.056 mph
KOKOMO GRAND PRIX WINNERS:
2014: Rico Abreu (4/11) & Rico Abreu (4/12)
2015: Darren Hagen (4/11)
2016: Rained Out
2017: Brady Bacon (4/8) & Brady Bacon (4/9)
2018: Tyler Courtney (4/13)
2019: Tyler Courtney (4/5) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (4/6)
2020: Not Held
2021: Emerson Axsom (4/30) & Chris Windom (5/1)
2022: Rained Out
2023: Rained Out
KOKOMO GRAND PRIX WINS:
2-Rico Abreu, Brady Bacon & Tyler Courtney
1-Emerson Axsom, Darren Hagen, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Chris Windom
KOKOMO USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:
7-Rich Vogler
6-Mel Kenyon
3-Rico Abreu, Brady Bacon, Bryan Clauson, Jimmy Davies, Bob Wente & Chris Windom
2-Chuck Arnold, Tyler Courtney, Bobby Grim, Page Jones, Mike McGreevy, Ken Schrader, Bob Tattersall & Kevin Thomas Jr.
1-Tommy Astone, Emerson Axsom, Spencer Bayston, Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Bud Bogard, Frank Burany, Pancho Carter, Danny Caruthers, Jimmy Caruthers, Tommy Copp, Rex Easton, Tony Elliott, Billy Engelhart, Gene Force, Darren Hagen, Gene Hartley, Jack Hewitt, Tracy Hines, Brad Kuhn, Lee Kunzman, Kyle Larson, Critter Malone, Cannon McIntosh, Don Meacham, Jerry Nuckles, Forrest Parker, Michael Pickens, Ron Shuman, Graham Standring, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland, Len Sutton, Shorty Templeman, Tanner Thorson, Sleepy Tripp, Jerry Weeks & J.J. Yeley
KOKOMO USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:
1956: Forrest Parker (7/28)
1957: Len Sutton (6/23) & Rex Easton (8/17)
1958: Frank Burany (5/24)
1959: Gene Force (5/29) & Shorty Templeman (7/12)
1960: Jimmy Davies (5/29), Bod Bogard (6/25), Gene Hartley (7/24) & Bob Wente (8/13)
1961: Jimmy Davies (5/29) & Jimmy Davies (7/30)
1962: Tommy Copp (6/30) & Bob Tattersall (7/29)
1964: Bob Wente (7/11)
1965: Mel Kenyon (5/30), Bobby Grim (6/26) & Bobby Grim (7/24)
1966: Chuck Arnold (5/29) & Bob Tattersall (8/27)
1967: Mike McGreevy (5/29), Chuck Arnold (6/17) & Mike McGreevy (7/22)
1968: Bob Wente (6/30) & Don Meacham (7/21)
1969: Lee Kunzman (5/31)
1970: Dave Strickland (5/30) & Tom Bigelow (8/1)
1971: Danny Caruthers (7/16) & Jimmy Caruthers (8/7)
1972: Pancho Carter (8/26)
1973: Billy Engelhart (7/14)
1975: Sleepy Tripp (7/9)
1976: Tommy Astone (7/7)
1977: Mel Kenyon (7/13)
1978: Ron Shuman (8/23) & Jerry Weeks (8/23)
1979: Mel Kenyon (6/14) & Mel Kenyon (7/11)
1980: Rich Vogler (6/11) & Rich Vogler (7/10)
1981: Rich Vogler (6/10) & Ken Schrader (7/8)
1982: Ken Schrader (6/10) & Mel Kenyon (7/7)
1983: Rich Vogler (6/8) & Rich Vogler (7/13)
1984: Jerry Nuckles (6/6)
1985: Rich Vogler (6/29)
1987: Mel Kenyon (6/24)
1988: Mike Streicher (6/22) & Rich Vogler (8/17)
1990: Graham Standring (8/8)
1991: Jack Hewitt (8/7)
1992: Page Jones (8/19)
1993: Critter Malone (8/11)
1994: Page Jones (7/27)
1995: Tony Elliott (8/23)
2000: Tracy Hines (8/27)
2003: J.J. Yeley (6/15)
2006: Brady Bacon (8/20)
2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8/12)
2008: Bryan Clauson (8/10)
2009: Bryan Clauson (6/14)
2010: Brad Kuhn (6/20)
2011: Michael Pickens (6/12)
2012: Kyle Larson (6/17)
2013: Christopher Bell (6/16)
2014: Rico Abreu (4/11), Rico Abreu (4/12) & Bryan Clauson (6/15)
2015: Darren Hagen (4/11)
2016: Rico Abreu (6/5)
2017: Brady Bacon (4/8), Brady Bacon (4/9) & Spencer Bayston (6/11)
2018: Tyler Courtney (4/13) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (6/3)
2019: Tyler Courtney (4/5) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (4/6)
2020: Tanner Thorson (6/21) & Chris Windom (9/26)
2021: Emerson Axsom (4/30), Chris Windom (5/1) & Chris Windom (6/12)
2022: Cannon McIntosh (6/11)
PAST KOKOMO GRAND PRIX RESULTS
2014 NIGHT #1 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Bryan Clauson, 8. Zach Daum, 9. Shane Hollingsworth, 10. Tanner Thorson, 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 12. Andrew Felker, 13. Parker Price-Miller, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Tyler Courtney, 16. Davey Ray, 17. Daniel Robinson, 18. Austin Brown, 19. Darren Hagen, 20. Shane Cottle, 21. Justin Peck, 22. Taylor Ferns, 23. Spencer Bayston, 24. Seth Motsinger, 25. Alex Bright, 26. Colten Cottle. NT
2014 NIGHT #2 FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Tyler Thomas, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Zach Daum, 9. Parker Price-Miller, 10. Shane Hollingsworth, 11. Colten Cottle, 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Seth Motsinger, 14. Davey Ray, 15. Chris Windom, 16. Bryan Clauson, 17. Michael Pickens, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Alex Bright, 20. Steve Buckwalter, 21. Jake Blackhurst, 22. Dave Darland, 23. Austin Brown, 24. Caleb Armstrong, 25. Brady Bacon, 26. Spencer Bayston. NT
2015 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Davey Ray, 6. Andrew Felker, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Tyler Thomas, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Tyler Courtney, 11. Shane Hollingsworth, 12. Gage Walker, 13. Zach Daum, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. Spencer Bayston, 16. Justin Grant, 17. Jim Radney, 18. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 19. Ryan Greth, 20. Kevin Thomas Jr., 21. Alex Bright, 22. Justin Peck. NT
2017 NIGHT #1 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Justin Grant, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Tyler Thomas, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Ryan Robinson, 11. Chad Boat, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Gage Walker, 14. Alex Bright, 15. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 16. Jake Neuman, 17. Tanner Carrick, 18. Brayton Lynch, 19. Tyler Nelson, 20. Shane Golobic. NT
2017 NIGHT #2 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Rico Abreu, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Shane Golobic, 9. Ryan Robinson, 10. Holly Shelton, 11. Davey Ray, 12. Jerry Coons Jr. 13. Alex Bright, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Tyler Nelson, 16. Jake Neuman, 17. Brayton Lynch, 18. Ryan Greth, 19. Chad Boat, 20. Justin Grant, 21. Chris Windom, 22. Chase Jones, 23. Tanner Carrick. NT
2018 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. Chad Boat (8), 3. Brady Bacon (7), 4. Spencer Bayston (3), 5. Justin Grant (6), 6. Zeb Wise (12), 7. Logan Seavey (2), 8. Thomas Meseraull (16), 9. Ryan Robinson (4), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 11. Holly Shelton (9), 12. Tucker Klaasmeyer (13), 13. Dave Darland (20), 14. Andrew Felker (17), 15. Jerry Coons Jr. (18), 16. Brayton Lynch (15), 17. Tanner Carrick (10), 18. Kyle Craker (14), 19. Gage Walker (23). 20. Alex Bright (21), 21. Tyler Thomas (11), 22. Chase Jones (22), 23. Kyle Schuett (19), 24. Matt Moore (24). NT
2019 NIGHT #1 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Jason McDougal (3), Chris Windom (4), 4. Zeb Wise (12), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 6. Logan Seavey (8), 7. Thomas Meseraull (2), 8. Dillon Welch (7), 9. C.J. Leary (5), 10. Tanner Carrick (16), 11. Dave Darland (21), 12. Chad Boat (10), 13. Tyler Thomas (20), 14. Jesse Colwell (11), 15. Tucker Klaasmeyer (13), 16. Andrew Layser (15), 17. Holley Hollan (14), 18. Ethan Mitchell (24), 19. Cole Bodine (22), 20. Karsyn Elledge (23), 21. Zane Hendricks (18), 22. Jerry Coons Jr. (17), 23. Justin Peck (19), 24. Tony DiMattia (9). NT
2019 NIGHT #2 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 2. Justin Grant (3), 3. Zeb Wise (6), 4. Jason McDougal (2), 5. C.J. Leary (8), 6. Chris Windom (1), 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer (12), 8. Logan Seavey (13), 9. Tyler Courtney (5), 10. Thomas Meseraull (10), 11. Jesse Colwell (15), 12. Chad Boat (7), 13. Jake Neuman (16), 14. Ace McCarthy (14), 15. Dillon Welch (11), 16. Andrew Layser (22), 17. Holley Hollan (17), 18. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 19. Zane Hendricks (19), 20. Cole Bodine (21), 21. Tanner Carrick (9), 22. Sterling Cling (24), 23. Dave Darland (18), 24. Ethan Mitchell (23). NT
2021 NIGHT #1 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (2), 2. Cannon McIntosh (3), 3. Chris Windom (1), 4. Justin Grant (9), 5. Buddy Kofoid (8), 6. Daison Pursley (4), 7. Tanner Thorson (17), 8. Ethan Mitchell (12), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 10. Thomas Meseraull (16), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (7), 12. Kyle Cummins (14), 13. Logan Seavey (10), 14. Clinton Boyles (15), 15. Hayden Reinbold (18), 16. Brandon Waelti (20), 17. Bryan Stanfill (19), 18. Chase Randall (5), 19. Brenham Crouch (6), 20. Jason McDougal (11). NT
2021 NIGHT #2 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (8), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 4. Tanner Thorson (7), 5. Emerson Axsom (6), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Logan Seavey (9), 8. Thomas Meseraull (11), 9. Brenham Crouch (16), 10. Kyle Cummins (4), 11. Cannon McIntosh (12), 12. Chase Randall (2), 13. Bryant Wiedeman (14), 14. Clinton Boyles (18), 15. Jason McDougal (15), 16. Ethan Mitchell (10), 17. Hayden Reinbold (17), 18. Brandon Waelti (20), 19. Daison Pursley (3), 20. Bryan Stanfill (19). NT