By Richie Murray
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 12, 2024)………For the past 47 seasons, Tom Bigelow’s 14-win campaign in 1977 has shined as the beacon when it comes to single season success on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship tour.
Following Saturday night’s 17th running of the Fall Nationals at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway, Bigelow now has company in the form of Logan Seavey as both now stand shoulder-to-shoulder for the winningest single season in series history.
The fifth-place starting Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) took over the top spot by lap two, then routed the field for the remaining 29 circuits at the 3/8-mile dirt oval to cash in a $20,000 payday and his 14th win of the series season in his Abacus Racing/Mesilla Valley Transportation – Mountain Mechanical Contractors/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
Surprisingly, despite the record-setting season turned in by Seavey, Saturday night’s score was his first USAC National Sprint Car feature triumph in two-and-a-half months. His last one came during the USAC Indiana Sprint Week round at Circle City Raceway on July 31.
Oddly enough, during Bigelow’s 1977 season, his 14th and final victory of the year came on July 16. He then went the remaining 20 starts without a win before ultimately finishing as the runner-up in the title race to champion Sheldon Kinser. Seavey was determined not to let it come to a déjà vu moment nearly a half-century later after going winless in his 11 most recent series starts in 2024. In doing so, Seavey extended his championship point lead to a resounding 84 markers with just two events remaining.
Seavey’s 24th career USAC National Sprint Car feature win moved him into sole possession of 27th place on the all-time list, just ahead of past series champions C.J. Leary and Roger McCluskey. It was Seavey’s second USAC National Sprint Car win at Lawrenceburg in 2024 after also claiming July’s Indiana Sprint Week round. Overall, it was his third career USAC National Sprint Car score at The Burg, but it’s his first Fall Nationals triumph, making the monumental 14th win that much sweeter, and a load off his back.
“Once (the record) became talked about, it’s kind of been in the back of my head, but I’ve tried not to think about it,” Seavey acknowledged. “I just really like to win these races and I try to do my best to win them. It sure makes it a lot sweeter with that $20 grand here.”
Seavey reeled off his first 13 series wins of 2024 in a 30-race span between February and July. Since that point, he’s still been a front-runner, just not all the way up front. In that 11-race winless span, Seavey still managed seven top-five finishes, 10 top-ten results and an average finish of sixth. Here and there, it may have been just one move or one moment that proved to be the deciding factor one way or another.
“We got to 13 (wins) really fast, then it’s been like 10 or 12 races since we’ve won, and it feels like it’s been a lifetime,” Seavey admitted. “But that’s just sprint car racing. These USAC guys are tough and my guys have been doing a great job. I feel like I’ve put myself in position at times and run a few bad races as well. Sometime you get on a run like that where everything’s just going magnificent and everything’s falling into our laps. Then we have 10 races where our cars are still fast, but if I don’t make the right moves or whatever it may be, it just shows how hard these races are to win. That’s not due to a lack of effort from these guys.”
Despite the “happily ever after” ending for Seavey, early on, this was the race that literally couldn’t get started. On the initial green flag start, Daison Pursley (6th) and C.J. Leary (7th) clipped wheels on the back straightaway, sending Leary flipping nose-to-tail several times. Meanwhile, while attempting to avoid the flipping Leary, Saban Bibent (16th) grinded to a halt alongside the outside wall and flipped over. Both drivers managed to walk away but did so with a pair of heavily damaged racecars.
With the field re-racked for a second attempt to restart the race, as the field rounded turn two, Kayla Roell (19th) spun to a stop to bring out the caution. The third try to complete a lap proved to not be a charm as Friday night’s Greg Staab Memorial winner Briggs Danner biked, hopped, then barrel rolled into the outside wall as he led the field into turn one. He too walked away from his suddenly crumpled machine, but his bid for a major payday and a Lawrenceburg weekend sweep was gone in a heap.
The fourth try did indeed prove to be the charm, but more so for Seavey than anyone else. He hustled his way past Kyle Cummins for second on the opening lap as he cut down from the top of the banking to drive underneath the 2022 Fall Nationals victor. By lap two, Seavey had tracked down race leader Mitchel Moles, and by the time the two hit turn three on the second lap, Seavey dove under Moles and slid up to the cushion to clear the competition once and for all.
Seavey had already begun to weave his way through lapped traffic by lap eight as he constructed a lead of nearly two seconds over Moles and the rest of the field. Fast Qualifier Daison Pursley advanced to third on lap 14 after repeatedly trying every which way to make his move for the spot on Cummins stick.
Meanwhile, Seavey was having absolutely no trouble up front as he continued to build upon his advantage gradually while Moles had his full attention tuned to fending off Pursley for the runner-up spot for the last several laps. That was all to the advantage of Seavey who was married to the high side and in control of his own destiny.
“I guess you could say I live and die by the top,” Seavey remarked. “It killed me last night but it sure paid off tonight. It was so rough getting into one all weekend. I got in above it for five to 10 laps and made a bunch of speed. It got really ledgy once I got to traffic, and I wasn’t trusting it as much. For the last 10 or so laps, I felt really slow. But I knew that if I could keep putting lapped cars away, every lap or two, we’d be in good shape.”
As a matter of fact, Seavey was in tip-top shape as he put the race on ice, passing under the checkered flag 1.616 seconds ahead of the field for a quite lucrative night. Mitchel Moles finished a distant second with Daison Pursley third, Kyle Cummins fourth and Chase Stockon rounding out the top-five.
Furthermore, with his sixth place result, Brady Bacon earned a $10,000 bonus as he became the first two-time champion in the three-year history of the 10-race Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster series presented by Spire Sports + Entertainment. The inaugural Master of Going Faster champ from 2022 also netted his crew chief, Matt Hummel, $2,500 as the champion for the miniseries within the USAC National Sprint Car season.
After suffering heartbreak on the final lap of Friday’s feature at Lawrenceburg when a stuck throttle and a late caution thwarted his victory, Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) bounced back with a runner-up finish on Saturday night in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
Starting off with his second Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying time in as many nights followed by a heat race victory, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) came up just a couple spots short of a complete sweep of the event in his Team AZ-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Curb Records – Apache Transport – OakCraft Elegant Cabinetry/DRC/1-Way Chevy. But in the end, he turned in his best Fall Nationals performance to date with a third.
Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.) picked up 11 spots in the feature to earn hard charger honors. The 21st to 10th performance netted him his second consecutive Fall Nationals top-10 result following a fifth in 2023.
Chase Stockon’s mud-packed right rear tire in his heat nearly derailed his plans early on. After getting it cleaned out, the Fort Branch, Indiana racer restarted at the tail, then blazed his way into the last transfer spot on the last corner of the last lap. In the feature, he scored a fifth, his best Fall Nationals result since finishing second to Bryan Clauson in the 2013 event. That was worthy of the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 12, 2024 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Fall Nationals
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.213; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.357; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.452; 4. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.469; 5. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.537; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.582; 7. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.591; 8. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-14.663; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.715; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.781; 11. Shawn Westerfeld, 44J, Fischesser/Owen-14.791; 12. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-14.815; 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.959; 14. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-14.962; 15. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-15.029; 16. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-15.033; 17. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-15.082; 18. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-15.104; 19. Kayla Roell, 5K, KO-15.195; 20. Scotty Weir, 2x, 2B Racing-15.229; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-15.232; 22. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-15.236; 23. Stevie Sussex, 77s, Sturgeon-15.267; 24. Todd Hobson, 44, Soudrette-15.325; 25. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-15.354; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.392; 27. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-15.473; 28. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-15.505; 29. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-15.544; 30. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-15.579; 31. Chance Crum, 26, Crum-15.838; 32. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-15.842; 33. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-16.359; 34. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-16.401; 35. Brian Heitkamp, 22, Heitkamp-17.087.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Briggs Danner, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Braxton Cummings, 9. Hunter Maddox. 2:01.433
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Ryan Barr, 9. Brian Heitkamp. 2:05.501
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Shawn Westerfeld, 4. Saban Bibent, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Nick Bilbee, 7. Kyle Shipley, 8. Todd Hobson. NT
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. J.J. Hughes, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Rylan Gray, 6. Joey Amantea, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Dakota Earls. 2:09.859
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Nick Bilbee, 4. Kayla Roell, 5. Kyle Shipley, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Joey Amantea, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Dakota Earls, 11. Braxton Cummings, 12. Hunter Maddox, 13. Brian Heitkamp. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (5), 2. Mitchel Moles (3), 3. Daison Pursley (6), 4. Kyle Cummins (1), 5. Chase Stockon (4), 6. Brady Bacon (9), 7. Justin Grant (11), 8. Robert Ballou (12), 9. Rylan Gray (10), 10. Jadon Rogers (21), 11. Scotty Weir (8), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14), 13. Jake Swanson (18), 14. J.J. Hughes (17), 15. Matt Westfall (20), 16. Kayla Roell (19), 17. Carson Garrett (15), 18. Stevie Sussex (22), 19. Shawn Westerfeld (13), 20. Hayden Reinbold (23), 21. Hunter Maddox (25-P), 22. Nick Bilbee (24), 23. Briggs Danner (2), 24. C.J. Leary (7), 25. Saban Bibent (16). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Mitchel Moles, Laps 2-30 Logan Seavey.
**Kale Drake flipped during qualifying. C.J. Leary & Saban Bibent flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Briggs Danner flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2843, 2-Brady Bacon-2759, 3-Daison Pursley-2588, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2513, 5-C.J. Leary-2503, 6-Mitchel Moles-2459, 7-Robert Ballou-2430, 8-Kyle Cummins-2345, 9-Justin Grant-2325, 10-Chase Stockon-1768.
FINAL BUBBY JONES MASTER OF GOIN’ FASTER PRESENTED BY SPIRE SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-666, 2-Daison Pursley-655, 3-Logan Seavey-652, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-643, 5-Kyle Cummins-617, 6-C.J. Leary-606, 7-Mitchel Moles-599, 8-Robert Ballou-574, 9-Justin Grant-545, 10-Chase Stockon-476.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-199, 2-Logan Seavey-192, 3-Robert Ballou-149, 4-Justin Grant-142, 5-C.J. Leary-128, 6-Chase Stockon-126, 7-Kyle Cummins-124, 8-Brady Bacon-115, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-109, 10-Matt Westfall-107.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: October 25-26, 2024 – Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, Oklahoma – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Shawn Westerfeld (14.454)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley (14.213)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Scotty Weir
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jadon Rogers
Hard Charger: Jadon Rogers (21st to 10th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Chase Stockon
Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster Series Presented By Spire Sports + Entertainment Champion: Brady Bacon