USAC SPRINTS HIT THE BURG, APRIL 12

Shawn Westerfeld in the Fischesser-Owen Racing #4J. (Indy Racing Images Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Lawrenceburg, Indiana (April 8, 2025)………This one’s 4JO.

The United States Auto Club (USAC) AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship and Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway race on in the memory of the 2022 track champion this Saturday night, April 12, with the second annual running of the Justin Owen Memorial.

We race with the thoughts of Justin on our minds and we race on at a place that was a like a second home to him, where he made himself a fan favorite and where we created a lasting legacy that continues on inside the heart and soul of racers, crew members, track workers and fans alike this weekend.

Two Time Spring Winner Jr

For the longest time, Lawrenceburg’s Spring USAC National Sprintcar event had the distinction of producing a different winner each year between 2006 and 2023: Jon Stanbrough (2006), Levi Jones (2007), Josh Wise (2009), Jerry Coons Jr. (2010), Kevin Thomas Jr. (2013), Justin Grant (2014), Logan Jarrett (2015), Dave Darland (2016), Chris Windom (2017) and Brady Bacon (2021).

But in 2024, Kevin Thomas Junior put an end to that streak by becoming the first two-time Spring Lawrenceburg victor after also scoring in 2013.

At this time a year ago, it was the Cullman, Alabama driver’s first win after joining Rock Steady Racing. Now, after a bit of an inauspicious start with a best finish of eighth through the first six rounds of the 2025 season, Thomas looks to break through at the same place of his breakthrough nearly 365 days ago.

Seven Up!

Dave Darland holds the all-time record of USAC National Sprintcar wins at Lawrenceburg with seven between 1998 and 2016.

Two drivers in this Saturday’s field have an opportunity to equal Darland’s longstanding record. Justin Grant and Kevin Thomas Junior currently possess six victories apiece.

Grant won his very first USAC feature victory at Lawrenceburg in 2012, and since then, has reeled off additional wins in 2014, 2018, 2019 and twice in 2023. Thomas, meanwhile, has added six, starting with two in 2013, plus one each in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024.

Danner’s at Home at The Burg

Briggs Danner very well could’ve won all three of his USAC National Sprintcar starts at Lawrenceburg in 2024.

In July’s Indiana Sprint Week round, the Allentown, Pennsylvania racer led a total of nine laps and was running in the number one spot with 12 laps to go under caution when an engine issue sent him to the sideline.

In October’s Greg Staab Memorial, Danner led the final two laps after misfortune befell Mitchel Moles in a similar manner, leading to Danner’s victory. The following night, Danner started on the outside of the front row of the feature and carried the lead into turn one where he endured a vicious flip that ended his weekend early.

Danner is making his first run at a USAC National Sprintcar title in 2025, and another big win at The Burg could really jumpstart their quest as the season gets into full swing.

The Hoffman Car Races On

The familiar colors and number of the Hoffman Auto Racing / Dynamics Inc. team will return throughout the 2025 season in a different form as a sponsor of Nick Bilbee’s racing operation.

Bilbee was contacted during the offseason by Tom Hoffman, and he expressed interest in putting a deal together with Bilbee to keep the Hoffman family #69 on track after Brady Bacon’s departure at the end of the 2024 campaign.

The Hoffman team is synonymous with success in USAC National Sprintcar racing, amassing 140 feature wins and 13 entrant championships over the years. Dave Darland, Jon Stanbrough, Jerry Coons Junior and Bacon have collected a total eight Lawrenceburg USAC Sprint Car wins between 1998-2021.

Bilbee (Indianapolis, Indiana) considers Lawrenceburg his home track, having tallied four Sprintcar championships at the venue in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. In the 2024 Spring USAC race at The Burg, he finished a solid 10th in the feature.

Moles Looking to Avenge

Mitchel Moles is due for some good fortune when it comes to Lawrenceburg Speedway after several close encounters one year ago.

In July’s Indiana Sprint Week round, Moles was set to take off from the outside of the front row. However, while the field was on its pace laps and getting ready to go green, Moles pulled off to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area due to a broken mag box. Relegated to the tail of the field for the start, Moles made a nice recovery by working himself all the way up to a seventh place finish.

In October, he led the first 29 laps of the 30-lap feature, and just as he was within reach of the chequered flag, the caution flag was displayed due to an incident elsewhere on the track. Under caution, Moles was forced to pull off track again. This time, as his engine’s RPMs suddenly rose, Moles wore out his brakes just trying to keep his car whoa’d down under yellow, thus handing over the victory once more.

The following night during October’s $20,000-to-win Fall Nationals, Moles led the opening lap and ran second. He’s sure to be a contender again this weekend, and as long as lady luck is riding along with him, it could be a long-awaited big night for Moles at The Burg.

JO Bonuses

Saturday’s second annual Justin Owen Memorial is a special one, honoring the life and memory of the driver who passed away in a qualifying crash during the April 2023 USAC event at Lawrenceburg.

The 26-year-old Owen was the 2022 Sprintcar Track Champion at Lawrenceburg, scoring two feature wins en route to the title at the 3/8-mile dirt oval in southeastern Indiana where he’d long been a regular competitor for the past several seasons. Among his greatest achievements were a victory in the season-closing Dick Gaines Memorial at Lawrenceburg in 2022. With USAC, Owen made two feature starts, both at Lawrenceburg in 2019 and 2021.

For Saturday, $6,000 has been added to the purse courtesy of friends, family, sponsors, donations and t-shirt sales. Among the rewards are a $1204 bonus which will be awarded to the feature hard charger. Additionally, $604 is up for grabs to the first non-transfer in the semi-feature.

Furthermore, a $404 bonus will be awarded to the driver with the second fastest hot lap time, and $404 more will go to the second fastest qualifier. Plus, $264 more will go to fourth place in the feature while $26 extra will be awarded to the fourth place finisher in each heat race.

RACE DETAILS

No less than eight past USAC National Sprintcar winners at Lawrenceburg are expected to be on hand for Saturday’s event which culminates with a $7,400-to-win 30-lap feature. Past Lawrenceburg USAC National Sprintcar victors in the field include Justin Grant (6), Kevin Thomas Junior (6), Logan Seavey (3), CJ Leary (2), Robert Ballou (1), Kyle Cummins (1), Briggs Danner (1) and Chase Stockon (1).

This Saturday, April 13, features the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship, plus the Impact Sports Pure Stocks and the Lawrence Motorsports Trailer Sales Hornets.

The event will start one hour earlier than normal with the pits opening at 2pm Eastern, front gates opening at 4pm and hot laps at 5pm with qualifying and racing to follow.

Grandstand admission for ages 13 and up is $25 while kids age 7-12 are $8 and children age 6 & under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece.

If you’re unable to make it to the track, you may also watch this Saturday’s Lawrenceburg event LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/usac.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-449, 2-Daison Pursley-449, 3-Justin Grant-425, 4-Brady Bacon-366, 5-Mitchel Moles-344, 6-C.J. Leary-325, 7-Logan Seavey-324, 8-Jake Swanson-313, 9-Briggs Danner-309, 10-Robert Ballou-295.

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCARS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY:

1 Lap – 7/9/2008 – Levi Jones – 12.926 – 104.441 mph

8 Laps – 9/28/2013 – Tracy Hines – 1:51.91 – 96.506 mph

10 Laps – 7/10/2008 – Cole Whitt – 2:18.19 – 97.692 mph

12 Laps – 10/1/2016 – Stevie Sussex – 2:51.39 – 94.521 mph

30 Laps – 10/1/2016 – Josh Hodges – 7:21.09 – 91.818 mph

USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY:

7-Dave Darland

6-Justin Grant & Kevin Thomas Jr.

5-Jon Stanbrough

4-Jack Hewitt

3-Brady Bacon, Kevin Briscoe, Bryan Clauson, Rick Hood & Logan Seavey

2-Tony Elliott, Levi Jones, C.J. Leary, Danny Milburn & Brian Tyler

1-Robert Ballou, Jeff Bland Jr., Mark Cassella, Jerry Coons Jr., Tyler Courtney, Kyle Cummins, Briggs Danner, Kevin Doty, Jay Drake, Dickie Gaines, Damion Gardner, Josh Hodges, Logan Jarrett, Thomas Meseraull, Rodney Ritter Jr., Brady Short, Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas, Chris Windom, Josh Wise & J.J. Yeley

USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINNERS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY:

1983: Danny Milburn (9/18)

1984: Rick Hood (6/9) & Danny Milburn (9/16)

1985: Rick Hood (6/8)

1986: Rick Hood (6/7)

1988: Jack Hewitt (6/4)

1989: Rodney Ritter Jr. (7/1)

1992: Kevin Thomas (8/8)

1993: Jack Hewitt (7/10)

1994: Jon Stanbrough (6/18)

1995: Jack Hewitt (7/1)

1996: Mark Cassella (8/31)

1997: Brian Tyler (7/19) & Brian Tyler (8/30)

1998: Kevin Doty (5/30), Dave Darland (7/18) & Dave Darland (8/29)

1999: Kevin Briscoe (6/5), Jack Hewitt (7/22) & Tony Elliott (8/28)

2000: Kevin Briscoe (7/22) & Tony Elliott (8/26)

2001: Dave Darland (7/26)

2002: Kevin Briscoe (7/25)

2003: J.J. Yeley (5/31), Jay Drake (6/1) & Jon Stanbrough (7/24)

2004: Jon Stanbrough (7/22)

2005: Dickie Gaines (7/21)

2006: Jon Stanbrough (4/22)

2007: Levi Jones (4/21), Jon Stanbrough (7/11) & Dave Darland (7/12)

2008: Jeff Bland Jr. (7/9) & Brady Short (7/10)

2009: Josh Wise (4/18), Dave Darland (7/10), Jerry Coons Jr. (8/22 Special Event) & Damion Gardner (10/2)

2010: Jerry Coons Jr. (4/17) & Dave Darland (7/9)

2011: Robert Ballou (7/10), Levi Jones (10/1)

2012: Justin Grant (7/15) & Chase Stockon (9/29)

2013: Kevin Thomas Jr. (4/6), Kevin Thomas Jr. (7/14) & Bryan Clauson (9/28)

2014: Justin Grant (4/5) & Bryan Clauson (9/27)

2015: Logan Jarrett (4/4), Brady Bacon (7/12) & Thomas Meseraull (10/3)

2016: Dave Darland (4/2), Bryan Clauson (7/10) & Josh Hodges (10/1)

2017: Chris Windom (4/1), C.J. Leary (7/9) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (9/30)

2018: Tyler Courtney (7/22) & Justin Grant (9/29)

2019: Justin Grant (7/21) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (10/5)

2020: C.J. Leary (7/26) & Brady Bacon (10/3)

2021: Brady Bacon (4/3), Logan Seavey (7/25) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (10/2)

2022: Kyle Cummins (10/1)

2023: Justin Grant (7/24) & Justin Grantn (10/7)

2024: Kevin Thomas Jr. (4/13) & Logan Seavey (7/30), Briggs Danner (10/11) & Logan Seavey (10/12)

PAST APRIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR FEATURE RESULTS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY:

APRIL 2006 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Jon Stanbrough, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Jay Drake, 5. Mat Neely, 6. Josh Wise, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Dickie Gaines, 9. Levi Jones, 10. Matt Westfall, 11. Derek O’Dell, 12. Jason Knoke, 13. Brady Short, 14. John Wolfe, 15. Daron Clayton, 16. Bryan Clauson, 17. Cory Kruseman, 18. Justin Marvel, 19. Brandon Petty, 20. Ted Hines, 21. Dave Darland, 22. Jerry Coons Jr. NT

APRIL 2007 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Levi Jones, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Kevin Swindell, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Josh Wise, 6. Brett Burdette, 7. Jesse Hockett, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Shane Hollingsworth, 10. Jon Stanbrough, 11. Darren Hagen, 12. Shane Cottle, 13. Tracy Hines, 14. Daron Clayton, 15. Chris Windom, 16. Damion Gardner, 17. Mat Neely, 18. Jimmy Light, 19. Brady Short, 20. Chad Boespflug, 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 22. Dustin Morgan, 23. Matt Westfall. NT

APRIL 2009 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Josh Wise, 2. Levi Jones, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. Chad Boat, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Jesse Hockett, 8. Cole Whitt, 9. Brady Short, 10. Jon Stanbrough, 11. Brett Burdette, 12. Tracy Hines, 13. Chad Boespflug, 14. Chris Windom, 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 16. Robert Ballou, 17. Jonathan Hendrick, 18. Jimmy Light, 19. Bryan Clauson, 20. Nic Faas, 21. Jeff Bland Jr., 22. Shane Cottle, 23. Hunter Schuerenberg. NT

APRIL 2010 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Brady Short, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Damion Gardner, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. Bryan Clauson, 12. Darren Hagen, 13. Blake Fitzpatrick, 14. Shane Hmiel, 15. Tracy Hines, 16. Jonathan Hendrick, 17. Ricky Williams, 18. Brett Burdette, 19. Kyle Cummins, 20. Henry Clarke, 21. Dave Darland, 22. John Memmer. NT

APRIL 2013 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Coleman Gulick, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Landon Simon, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Dave Darland, 12. Tracy Hines, 13. Justin Grant, 14. Tyler Courtney, 15. Logan Hupp, 16. Ted Hines, 17. Nick Drake, 18. Kyle Robbins, 19. Christopher Bell, 20. Robert Ballou, 21. C.J. Leary, 22. Matt Westfall, 23. Chris Windom. NT

APRIL 2014 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 9. Bryan Clauson, 10. Logan Jarrett, 11. Robert Ballou, 12. Kody Swanson, 13. Chris Windom, 14. Travis Hery, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Shane Cockrum, 17. Parker Price-Miller, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Tracy Hines, 20. Chris Gurley, 21. Kevin Thomas Jr., 22. Thomas Meseraull. NT

APRIL 2015 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Logan Jarrett, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Kyle Cummins, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Jarett Andretti, 14. Tyler Courtney, 15. Chad Boespflug, 16. Kyle Robbins, 17. Landon Simon, 18. Daron Clayton, 19. Travis Hery, 20. Logan Hupp, 21. Bryan Clauson, 22. Chris Windom, 23. Casey Shuman, 24. Kevin Thomas Jr. NT

APRIL 2016 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Scotty Weir, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Max McGhee, 6. Dallas Hewitt, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Aaron Farney, 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 12. Brady Bacon, 13. Jarett Andretti, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Kevin Thomas Jr., 16. Landon Simon, 17. Carson Short, 18. Cole Ketcham, 19. Shawn Westerfeld, 20. Chad Boespflug, 21. Shane Cottle, 22. Jon Stanbrough, 23. Joss Moffatt. NT

APRIL 2017 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Chad Boespflug, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jon Stanbrough, 5. Landon Simon, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Shawn Westerfeld, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Jarett Andretti, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Dallas Hewitt, 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Tyler Thomas, 14. Corey Smith, 15. Isaac Chapple, 16. Jeff Bland Jr., 17. Max McGhee, 18. Kody Swanson, 19. Nick Bilbee, 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 21. Carson Short, 22. Dave Darland, 23. Chase Stockon. NT

APRIL 2021 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (6), 2. C.J. Leary (2), 3. Chris Windom (10), 4. Justin Grant (1), 5. Thomas Meseraull (9), 6. Jadon Rogers (11), 7. Paul Nienhiser (5), 8. Cole Bodine (3), 9. Robert Ballou (22), 10. Stevie Sussex (4), 11. Sterling Cling (7), 12. Nick Bilbee (14), 13. Tanner Thorson (13), 14. Jake Swanson (16), 15. Max Adams (20), 16. Dave Darland (8), 17. Scotty Weir (19), 18. Matt Westfall (12), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (17), 20. J.J. Hughes (15), 21. Kyle Cummins (18), 22. Brandon Mattox (P) (24), 23. Garrett Abrams (21), 24. Chase Stockon (P) (23). NT

APRIL 2024 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 2. Brady Bacon (9), 3. Logan Seavey (4), 4. C.J. Leary (2), 5. Jake Swanson (3), 6. Daison Pursley (6), 7. Kyle Cummins (1), 8. Chase Stockon (8), 9. Mitchel Moles (18), 10. Nick Bilbee (11), 11. Jadon Rogers (14), 12. Carson Garrett (17), 13. Matt Westfall (13), 14. Joey Amantea (19), 15. Shawn Westerfeld (15), 16. Saban Bibent (10), 17. Ryan Barr (22), 18. Kayla Roell (21), 19. Robert Ballou (12), 20. Hunter Maddox (20), 21. Garrett Abrams (16), 22. Justin Grant (5). NT