USAC SPRINTS’ JAMES DEAN CLASSIC

Thursday night’s James Dean Classic at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway on September 22 delivers the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship in a doubleheader with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship. (Jack Reitz Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Gas City, Indiana (September 20, 2022)………Series point leader Justin Grant knows victory all too well at the James Dean Classic, experiencing it during the most recent edition of the event in late 2020 at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway.

Now, this Thursday night, September 22, he has even more on his plate as he carries a slimmed down 63-point lead as he pursues his first USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship crown, and another win would help cement his case while also placing him as the 26th driver to reach 50 career USAC National feature wins.

The 49-time winner across all three of USAC’s national divisions chimes in regularly as a frontrunner at the James Dean Classic. He’s also been third in 2019 and eighth in 2018.

Grant is one of two past “James Dean” winners in the field along with Kevin Thomas Junior (Cullman, Alabama) who scored the inaugural win in 2018 and was fourth in 2019. KTJ has won two of the past four USAC National Sprint Car features this season.

Shane Cottle (Kansas, Illinois) has won four career USAC National Sprintcar features at Gas City dating to 2006. He won for the second occasion in 2008, again in 2019 and once more this past July during Indiana Sprint Week. Cottle has also added two track championships along the way in 2004 and 2009. At the 2020 James Dean Classic, Cottle charged from 15th to finish 5th.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, California) has won two of the past four USAC National Sprintcar features at Gas City, but he finished 21st in his only James Dean appearance in 2020. The 2018 USAC National Midget champ captured Indiana Sprint Week feature wins at Gas City in both 2020 and 2021.

Four-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprintcar champ Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) won with USAC at Gas City in 2015 and has been a top-10 finisher at the James Dean Classic two years running – seventh in 2019 and second in 2020. The 10-lap track record holder set quick time during qualifying at the 2020 event.

Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Indiana) can count himself as a winner at Gas City, taking the opening round of Indiana Sprint Week in 2015. Along with Chris Windom, he’s the only driver to finish inside the top-five of all three James Dean Classics with a third in 2020 and a fifth in both 2018 and 2019.

CJ Leary (Greenfield, Indiana) became a Gas City winner during Indiana Sprint Week in 2017. The 2019 series champion scored a best of second at the first James Dean Classic in 2018, then was sixth in 2019, the same year in which he also recorded fast time during qualifying.

Gas City track champions Scotty Weir, Thomas Meseraull and Max Adams have all had their share of successes at Gas City. Marion, Indiana’s Weir, the 2013 and 2021 titlist, captured his only career USAC National Sprintcar win at the track in 2016. He was a best of 11th at the James Dean Classic in 2019.

One-lap track record holder Meseraull (San Jose, California), the track champ in 2010 and 2019, took 21st at the 2019 “James Dean.” The Gas City king in 2020 was Max Adams (Loomis, California), a 10th place James Dean Classic finisher in 2019.

USAC National Sprintcar winners Robert Ballou, Jason McDougal and Matt Westfall return to the fold at Gas City. The 2015 USAC champion, Ballou (Rocklin, California), went 18th to eighth at the JDC in 2020. Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) tallied an eighth in the 2019 Dean Classic and was fifth during Indiana Sprint Week in July 2021. Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) garnered 12th place results in back-to-back James Dean’s in 2018 and 2019.

Back in the James Dean Classic lineup this Thursday are Princeton, Indiana’s Kyle Cummins (seventh in 2018) and a sixth place finisher this past July, plus Worthington, Indiana’s Jadon Rogers (7th in 2020), Terre Haute, Indiana’s Brandon Mattox (11th in 2020) and Arlington, Texas’ Anton Hernandez (22nd in 2020).

Notable James Dean Classic USAC Sprintcar debuts will be turned in by the leading Rookie in USAC National Sprintcar points, Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Indiana), who earned a tenth during July’s visit and was a fifth place finisher with the Midgets during the JDC in 2020.

Fellow impressive USAC National Sprintcar Rookie Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, California) set quickest time and finished third during his debut Sprintcar run at Gas City this past July. Meanwhile, Jake Swanson (Anaheim, California) finished ninth in July.

This year’s Bloomington Speedway Sprintcar champ Geoff Ensign (Sebastopol, California) will get his first shot at the Baldwin-Fox number 5 this Thursday night. It’s the same team which won the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City in 2021 with driver Logan Seavey.

Thursday’s James Dean Classic at Gas City is a doubleheader with the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship and USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship on September 22. The event honors the memory and life of the late film star, cultural icon and budding auto racing driver who was born just 11 miles away from Gas City I-69 Speedway in Fairmount, Indiana.

Adult general admission tickets are $30. Kids 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members. Pit gates open at 3pm ET with the grandstands opening at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:45pm and hot laps at 6:30pm with qualifying and racing immediately following.

Thursday’s event from Gas City can be watched LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/3OivVbj.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1965, 2-Brady Bacon-1902, 3-C.J. Leary-1864, 4-Robert Ballou-1837, 5-Emerson Axsom-1761, 6-Logan Seavey-1652, 7-Chase Stockon-1479, 8-Matt Westfall-1422, 9-Jadon Rogers-1375, 10-Jake Swanson-1246.

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT GAS CITY I-69 SPEEDWAY:

1 Lap – 4/26/2013 – Thomas Meseraull – 11.441 – 78.665 mph

6 Laps – 7/18/2003 – Bud Kaeding – 1:18.03 – 69.204 mph

8 Laps – 7/11/2008 – A.J. Anderson – 1:41.67 – 71.266 mph

10 Laps – 7/10/2015 – Brady Bacon – 2:01.65 – 73.983 mph

12 Laps – 9/26/2019 – Chad Boespflug – 2:28.28 – 72.835 mph

30 Laps – 7/8/2011 – Dave Darland – 6:25.08 – 70.115 mph

JAMES DEAN CLASSIC USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS:

1-Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Chris Windom

JAMES DEAN CLASSIC USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS:

2018: Kevin Thomas Jr. (9/28)

2019: Chris Windom (9/26)

2020: Justin Grant (9/25)

USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINS AT GAS CITY I-69 SPEEDWAY:

(37 Races)

6-Jon Stanbrough

4-Shane Cottle

3-Tracy Hines

2-Cory Kruseman, Dave Darland, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Seavey, J.J. Yeley & Kevin Thomas Jr.

1-Brady Bacon, Bryan Clauson, Tyler Courtney, Daron Clayton, Jay Drake, Justin Grant, Levi Jones, C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon, Scotty Weir, Cole Whitt & Chris Windom

USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINNERS AT GAS CITY I-69 SPEEDWAY:

2002: Cory Kruseman (7/19)

2003: J.J. Yeley (5/30) & J.J. Yeley (7/18)

2004: Tracy Hines (4/30)

2005: Jay Drake (6/3) & Cory Kruseman (7/20)

2006: Shane Cottle & Jon Stanbrough (7/19)

2007: Jon Stanbrough (6/14), Daron Clayton (7/13) & Jon Stanbrough (7/14)

2008: Shane Cottle (4/18) & Cole Whitt (7/11)

2009: Dave Darland (4/17) & Levi Jones (7/11)

2010: Tracy Hines (4/16) & Jon Stanbrough (7/10)

2011: Hunter Schuerenberg (4/29) & Dave Darland (7/8)

2012: Hunter Schuerenberg (4/27) & Bryan Clauson (7/13)

2013: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4/26) & Jon Stanbrough (7/12)

2014: Tracy Hines (4/25) & Jon Stanbrough (7/11)

2015: Brady Bacon (5/15) & Chase Stockon (7/10)

2016: Scotty Weir (5/20) & Tyler Courtney (7/8)

2017: C.J. Leary (7/10)

2018: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (9/28)

2019: Shane Cottle (7/18) & Chris Windom (9/26)

2020: Logan Seavey (7/24) & Justin Grant (9/25)

2021: Logan Seavey (7/26)

2022: Shane Cottle (7/22)