TALES FROM THE STAT BOOK

Indiana’s Emerson Axsom (#15) and Oklahoma’s Daison Pursley (#71K) are among the top-five in points entering a three-race weekend. (Lee Greenawalt Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Speedway, Indiana (September 20, 2021)………Only four previous times has the top-five in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship point standings represented drivers encompassing five different American states.

That’s the case thus far with 28 races in the books and 14 remaining, as the series heads for three-straight nights of competition this week, leading off Thursday, September 23, at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway, followed by two consecutive evenings at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on Friday, September 24, and Saturday, September 25.

As it stands now, the points show five different states from the midwest to the south to the west inside the top-five with California’s Buddy Kofoid leading by a mere 10 points over Illinois’ Chris Windom with Indiana’s Emerson Axsom third (-94), Oklahoma’s Daison Pursley fourth (-144) and Tanner Thorson fifth (-148).

Despite this happening twice within the last six years, the roots of such an occurrence first came in 1962.

The geographically beneficial city of Monticello, Indiana, for midget racing purposes, was home to resident Jimmy Davies, who collected his third consecutive USAC National Midget title in 1962 over Missouri’s 1963 series champ Bob Wente; Californian National Midget Hall of Famer Tommy Copp; 1969 champ Bob Tattersall from Illinois and seven-time series titlist Mel Kenyon, originally from Davenport, Iowa.

The midwest was in force during the 1991 season with Findlay, Ohio’s Mike Streicher scoring the season title over Indiana’s Stevie Reeves with Michigan’s Doug Kalitta third; Wisconsin’s Stan Fox fourth; and Illinois’ Steve Knepper rounding out the top-five.

The 2016 season represented the influx of western-based drivers that had become prominent throughout the past couple of decades. Tanner Thorson of Nevada captured the crown by an 18-point margin over Indiana’s Spencer Bayston, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon, Arizona’s Chad Boat and California’s Carson Macedo.

Most recently, the 2020 season saw the closest margin of championship – one – which centered on the bordering state drivers of Chris Windom from Illinois and Tyler Courtney from Indiana. Nevada’s Thorson was a close third with Rookie Buddy Kofoid settling into the fourth spot with Oklahoma’s Cannon McIntosh slotting into the fifth spot.

Those power-five and a whole of others will look stake their claim to become the next series champion with a three-night romp through Indiana and Ohio this weekend.

It’s a doubleheader with the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship at Gas City on Thursday, September 23 that gets the three shows underway.

Then, it’s onto Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway for a triple shot of USAC racing Friday and Saturday night, September 24-25, for the 39^th running of the Four Crown Nationals presented by NKT.TV.

On Friday, it’s a full program for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, plus USAC Silver Crown qualifying and a full program for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprintcars. 

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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10)

POS.    PTS.     DRIVER, HOMETOWN

1            1799     Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, Calif.

2            1789     Chris Windom, Canton, Ill.

3            1705     Emerson Axsom, Franklin, Ind.

4            1655     Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Okla.

5            1651     Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nev.

6            1633     Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.

7            1520     Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.

8            1471     Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, Calif.

9            1450     Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Ala.

10          1288     Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, Okla.

® = USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Rookie of the Year Contender

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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OWNER POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10)

POS.    PTS.     ENTRANT, TEAM LOCATION

1            1799     Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67)

2            1789     CB Industries, Mooresville, N.C. (#89)

3            1705     Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#15)

4            1655     Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71K)

5            1633     RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#2J)

6            1520     Tom Malloy, El Monte, Calif. (#25)

7            1496     Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19T)

8            1471     RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#7x)

9            1450     Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#5)

10          1288     Dave Mac Motorsports, Bixby, Okla. (#08)

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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROOKIE DRIVER POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10)

POS.    PTS.     DRIVER, HOMETOWN

1            1120     Chase Randall, Waco, Texas

2            834       Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, Texas

3            743       Bryant Wiedeman, Colby, Kan.

4            603       Hayden Reinbold, Gilbert, Ariz.

5            598       Hayden Williams, Auckland, N.Z.

6            481       Trey Gropp, Lincoln, Neb.

7            469       Corey Day, Clovis, Calif.

8            422       Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, Okla.

9            313       Brian Carber, Pipersville, Pa.

10          277       Chance Crum, Snohomish, Wash.

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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STATISTICS

FEATURE WINS

7-Tanner Thorson (Apr 11 at Port City Raceway, Jun 10 at Lincoln Park Speedway, Jul 15 at Solomon Valley Raceway, Jul 16 at Jefferson County Speedway, Aug 5 at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Aug 6 at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway & Sep 5 at Angell Park Speedway)

5-Chris Windom (May 1 at Kokomo Speedway, Jun 12 at Kokomo Speedway, Aug 3 at Grandview Speedway, Sep 11 at Huset’s Speedway & Sep 12 Huset’s Speedway)

4-Buddy Kofoid (Feb 6 at Bubba Raceway Park, Apr 10 at Port City Raceway, Jun 4 at Bloomington Speedway & Jun 11 at Gas City I-69 Speedway)

3-Thomas Meseraull (Feb 8 at Bubba Raceway Park, Jun 3 at Paragon Speedway & Sep 10 at Huset’s Speedway)

2-Emerson Axsom (Apr 30 at Kokomo Speedway & Jul 17 at Jefferson County Speedway)

2-Daison Pursley (Jul 13 at Red Dirt Raceway & Aug 4 at Action Track USA)

1-Kyle Cummins (Jun 6 at Tri-State Speedway)

1-Corey Day (Jun 9 at Circle City Raceway)

1-Justin Grant (Aug 7 at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway)

1-Kyle Larson (Aug 19 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

1-Logan Seavey (Jun 5 at Lawrenceburg Speedway)

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