Jones ( pictured), a five-time USAC sprint car champion who is now USAC’s competition director, is one of the calmest, most positive people on the planet (and he was that way when he raced), but in this case he wasn’t optimistic. They scraped off that top layer of muck and shoved it all to the inside of the track.” They had a couple little skid steer tractors and Petry drove out to Greenfield and got two more. “I said, ‘we’ve got to run, so he, Levi and Petry went to work. “At 7 o’clock Reece came to me and said it can’t be done,” related Miller. There were supposed to be eight qualifying races followed by E-D-C-B and A Main events, but the odds were nobody was going to turn a wheel. Yet by late Thursday afternoon two driving rainstorms had turned the quarter-mile dirt track into a quagmire. 39 like his mentor Clauson) put on a cushion clinic running up against the wall and charged from 18th to first in the Stoops-sponsored $10,000 pursuit race. Opening night was nothing short of spectacular as 15-year-old Zeb Wise (driving No.
BRYAN CLAUSON IN LOVING MEMORY PICTURES FREE
O’Connor, who owns and operates Kokomo Speedway, laid out the track, and using free equipment provided by Price’s Westside Tractor, began spreading dirt while Petry Excavating grooved it and moved it in addition to applying ample amounts of gravel around the outside of the track and installing drainage tiles inside the quarter mile. Grove, who owned Allegiant International (one of Ed Carpenter’s Ind圜ar sponsors), funded the track to the tune of about $220,000 (walls, fence, lights, grandstands) and Ind圜ar owner Harding delivered the dirt. The process of turning Turn 3 into a dirt track required 50 days and lots of Good Samaritans. “Our biggest fear was how it would race, but after Wednesday night we knew we had a home run on our hands.” But we knew we had something and we knew people would come. “We read stories that called the track a paper clip or there were too many rocks and it was too narrow. “We knew all along it should be successful,” he said. Miller, the USAC president who made the bottom line work by securing money, equipment and help from several friends, was confident USAC’s brand could be a winner. “The racing was fantastic and the crowd dealt with all that rain and stayed here all night. “I guess I was a little surprised the vibe was so good considering all the rain but it turned out to be a great show both nights,” said Boles, the IMS president who got the idea from Tony Stewart a couple years ago. The Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS in the memory of Bryan Clauson was a hit in every way – competition, attendance and all the teams, safety people, Yellow Shirts and USAC pulling together in some challenging conditions to pull off one of the coolest events in IMS history.Īfter two nights of excellent short-track dirt racing USAC style and a pair of packed houses, it’s time to reflect on what was accomplished. That was the tale of the tape from last week’s inaugural USAC midget race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Doug Boles pitched it, Mark Miles pushed it, Kevin Miller sold it, Phil Grove paid for it, Reece O’Connor designed it, Mike Harding brought in the dirt for it, Scott Petry built it, Bill Price supplied equipment for it, NOS Energy Drink and Driven2Save Lives sponsored it, Jeff Stoops invested in it, NBCSN televised it, Levi Jones helped save it and open wheel fans embraced it.
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