BIGGEST USAC WESTERN TOUR EVER!

#19A Chase Randall, #71 Kaylee Bryson & #97 Brenham Crouch battle for position. (Josh James Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 9, 2021)………USAC’s NOS Energy Drink National Midgets are headed west for the series’ most expansive west coast trip ever.

A run of nine events in a 16-day span is set to begin this Friday and Saturday night, November 12-13, at Arizona Speedway for the 54th Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford. Then, it’s off to the Golden State of California for the final flourish of seven races to finish out the 40-race schedule.

Interestingly enough, the most recent time the USAC National Midget schedule reached a total of 40 events throughout the year prior to 2021 came in 1988, which is the highwater mark for end-of-season western voyages by the series.

That time, 33 years ago, featured seven venues, including two that are on this year’s schedule – Bakersfield, California and Ventura, California – won by USAC’s winningest driver, Rich Vogler, and PJ Jones, respectively. USAC Western States Midgets’ all-time winner Sleepy Tripp scored at Raven Raceway in Tucson, Arizona while Vogler was victorious once more at Hanford, California Dave Strickland Junior meanwhile took the finale at El Centro, California

Two defunct California venues – Fremont’s Baylands Raceway Park and Gardena’s Ascot Park – were on that ’88 western tour with Kevin Olson the winner while Chuck Gurney took the third-from-last Turkey Night Grand Prix held at Ascot, which is now held on the beach at Ventura.

Ventura is where the 2021 journey ends, but there’s so much sandwiched between Arizona and Bakersfield in a short time frame. After Arizona, the trail leads straight to California for the final seven, starting at Bakersfield Speedway’s November Classic on November 16, then three-in-a-row at Placerville Speedway for the Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 on November 18-19-20, twice at Merced Speedway on November 23-24, then the finale at Ventura Raceway on November 27 for the 80th running of the ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix.

Just five years ago, the western tour consisted of just one race. Now, there’s nearly a full, standalone schedule of events that’s truly large in the historical sense.

All roads leading west to the warmer climes in order to extend the racing season another month is a yearly tradition for USAC dating to the beginning, in 1956 and Edgar Elder’s triumph at Gardena Stadium for the Turkey Night Grand Prix.

Tradition is history and history is tradition. Now, today’s racing heroes of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets are prepared to make history on the track.

The quest begins this weekend at Arizona Speedway on Friday with pits opening at 1:30pm Mountain time, grandstands at 3pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 5:10pm. On Saturday, pits open at 1:30pm Mountain time, grandstands at 3pm, autograph session from 4-4:35pm drivers meeting at 4:45pm and cars on track at 5:10pm.

An open practice for Sprintcars and Midgets will take place on Thursday night, November 11 from 6:30-9:30pm Mountain. Pits open at noon with a racer and pit crew appreciation BBQ in the pit area featuring free food and drinks set for 5-6pm.

2016

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2021 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET STAT LEADERS

Driver Point Leader: Chris Windom

Owner Point Leader: CB Industries #89

Leading Rookie Driver in Points: Chase Randall (11^th)

Most Feature Wins: 7-Tanner Thorson

Laps Led: 153-Chris Windom

Top-Fives: 23-Chris Windom

Top-Tens: 29-Buddy Kofoid

Fast Qualifying Times: 5-Tanner Thorson

Heat Race Wins: 9-Justin Grant

Feature Starts: 31-Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh, Thomas Meseraull, Daison Pursley, Logan Seavey, Tanner Thorson & Chris Windom

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

POS.     PTS.      DRIVER, HOMETOWN

1            1996     Chris Windom, Canton, Ill.

2            1983     Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, Calif.

3            1840     Emerson Axsom, Franklin, Ind.

4            1834     Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Okla.

5            1814     Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nev.

6            1796     Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.

7            1725     Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.

8            1627     Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, Calif.

9            1597     Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Ala.

10          1409     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            1996     CB Industries, Mooresville, N.C. (#89)

2            1983     Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67)

3            1840     Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#15)

4            1834     Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71K)

5            1796     RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#2J)

6            1725     Tom Malloy, El Monte, Calif. (#25)

7            1659     Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19T)

8            1627     RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#7x)

9            1597     Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#5)

10          1409     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            1242     Chase Randall, Waco, Texas

2            938       Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, Texas

3            882       Bryant Wiedeman, Colby, Kan.

4            681       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            388       Chance Crum, Snohomish, Wash.

10          313       Brian Carber, Pipersville, Pa.

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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)

6-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 & Sep 25 at Eldora 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)

4-Thomas Meseraull (Feb 8 at Bubba Raceway Park, Jun 3 at Paragon Speedway, Sep 10 at Huset’s Speedway & Oct 9 at Tri-State 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-Tyler Courtney (Sept 24 at Eldora Speedway)

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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