3 NIGHTS OF USAC SPRINTCAR BLISS
2018 Smackdown winner Justin Grant (#4) and 2020 Kokomo Speedway track champ Brady Bacon (#69) race for position at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
3 NIGHTS OF USAC SPRINT CAR BLISS: SMACKDOWN X AT KOKOMO AUG. 26-27-28
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 25, 2021)………One night at Kokomo Speedway with the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship is enticing, enthralling and spectacular.
Once you multiple that by three, and add nearly 50 cars to the mix, you’ve got Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprintcar Smackdown X. The anticipation grows with each night, reaching a fever pitch for the finale with each feature starting driver strutting out to their theme song and the sound of the filled-to-the-gills grandstands.
Then, it’s time to strap in, tighten the belts, pull the visor down and go 40 laps for $15,000-to-win and $1,500-to-start. There’s nothing quite like it, and we’re ready to experience it once again this week, August 26-27-28.
The feature events during the first two nights of Smackdown on Thursday and Friday are 30 laps in length, and will pay points toward determining Saturday’s lineups over a 40-lap distance which pays $15,000 to win and even $1,500 just to get a start in the decider.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) captured the Smackdown finale victory in 2018, which stood as the 2017 and 2019 track champion’s lone USAC National Sprintcar feature win at Kokomo until this past July when he won a rain-shortened Indiana Sprint Week round. The reigning USAC Silver Crown Champion also scored the King of the Hill title in 2018.
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) took Smackdown top honors on the final night of the 2016 edition. The 2016 Kokomo track champion has collected a total of three USAC National Sprintcar wins at the quarter-mile dirt oval, once in 2013 and twice during Smackdown in 2016.
Seven drivers in this year’s Smackdown field have won a prelim feature but are still shooting for that coveted win on the final night.
Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) earned his first career USAC National Sprintcar feature triumph at Kokomo in 2016 during Indiana Sprint Week, then punched in two more in 2020 by becoming the first driver in Smackdown history to sweep both prelims. He has finished as the runner-up in each of the two past Smackdown finales in 2019 and 2020.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) won not only his first Kokomo feature, but also earned his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprintcar victory to boot on the second prelim night of Smackdown in 2019. The 2018 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Champion took 5th on the final night of Smackdown a night later for his best result in the event thus far.
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) has won three USAC National Sprintcar races at Kokomo. Meseraull reigned victorious during the 2019 Smackdown opener after winning the Indiana Sprint Week round there in the two prior years of 2017 and 2018. However, his best final night Smackdown result thus far is an 8th during the most recent edition in 2020.
CJ Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) is a past Kokomo track champion in 2015 and has three career USAC National Sprint wins at the track, including the first of his career back in 2016 during a Smackdown prelim and once again during a prelim in 2017 in addition to an Indiana Sprint Week round in 2020. The 2019 USAC National Sprintcar champ has finished inside the top-ten in each of his last six Smackdown final night starts, including 3rd in each of the last three in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) won the second night prelim of Smackdown in 2015. The 2020 Indiana Sprint Week cCampion was the runner-up on the final night of Smackdown that same weekend in 2015 and was 3rd in 2013.
Robert Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) captured the 2015 Smackdown opener during his USAC National Sprintcar championship season. His best Smackdown final night finish came in 2014 when he collected a 2nd.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), a three-time USAC National Sprintcar winner at Kokomo, scored two of those during Smackdown prelim nights in 2012 and 2015. The 2010 and 2018 Kokomo track champ has earned Smackdown final night bests of 3rd in 2016 and 4th in both 2013 and 2015.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) has been all around the top-five in his Smackdown career, finishing inside the top-five four times on the final night of the event in his career. He earned a best of 4th in 2014 and 2020, and a pair of 5ths in both 2012 and 2018. However, the three-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprintcar champ in 2014, 2016 & 2020 has won three career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget events at Kokomo, including the first of his career as a 16-year-old all the way back in 2006. Bacon, the 2020 Kokomo track champ, is the only three-time champion of Smackdown’s King of the Hill in 2014-15-20.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget standouts Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) and Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) have each won midget races at Kokomo in their careers. Thorson, the leading AMSOIL National Sprintcar Rookie, and Axsom, will make their Smackdown debuts.
Joining in the fray are a group of Smackdown veterans eying their first Kokomo USAC National Sprintcar wins, including Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.), the four-time track champ in 2004-05-07-11, who has won with the series this year at Putnamville, Indiana and possesses Smackdown final night finishes of 2nd in 2013 and 7th place results in both 2012 and 2014.
Chasing his first Kokomo USAC National Sprintcar win is Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.), the four-time track champ in 2004-05-07-11 and possesses a best Smackdown final night finish of 2nd in 2013. Scotty Weir (Marion, Ind.), like Cottle, is a USAC National Sprint Car feature winner, but is looking for that breakthrough at Kokomo, where he captured track titles in 2008 and 2012.
Smackdown returnees include USAC National Sprintcar feature winners Jason McDougal and Brent Beauchamp. McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was the top Rookie in 2018, finishing 4th, while Beauchamp (Fairland, Ind.) was 18th back in 2016. They join Loomis, California’s Max Adams (14th in 2019) and Marion, Indiana’s Tyler Hewitt (15th in 2017), who holds Kokomo’s 8-lap track record of 1:49.60 set in 2013.
Mario Clouser (Auburn, Ill.) was 17th at Smackdown on the final night in 2017; 2020 USAC National Most Improved Driver Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Ind.) was 17th in 2020; 2020 USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.) was 18th in 2020; 2019 USAC/CRA Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Eddie Tafoya Jr. (Chino Hills, Calif.) was 19th in 2020; 2017 USAC West Coast Sprintcar champ Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.) was 21st in 2020.
All trying to make their first Smackdown feature lineup are Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), who is a one-time USAC National Sprintcar feature winner and also won the BOSS portion of 2019 Smackdown and won again on the local level in 2020. He’s joined by a group of invaders from both coasts: 2013 & 2015 USAC West Coast Sprintcar champion Danny Faria Jr. (Tipton, Calif.), three-time USAC East Coast Sprintcar titleholder Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pa.) and current USAC East Coast point leader Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pa.).
First-time Smackdown hopefuls aiming to start their initial Smackdown feature this week are 2017 USAC National Sprintcar Rookie of the Year Stevie Sussex (Mesa, Ariz.) and multi-time USAC western series winner Chase Johnson (Penngrove, Calif.), as well as Anthony D’Alessio (Apollo Beach, Fla.), Brandon Long (Wichita Falls, Texas), Tye Mihocko (Phoenix, Ariz.), Braydon Cromwell (Lone Jack, Mo.), Alex Banales (Lafayette, Ind.), Zack Pretorius (Yorktown, Ind.), Koby Barksdale (Norman, Okla.), Sterling Cling (Tempe, Ariz.), Parker Frederickson (Kokomo, Ind.), Matt Goodnight (Winchester, Ind.), Brayden Clark (Tipton, Ind.), David Hair (Indianapolis, Ind.), Cole Bodine (Rossville, Ind.), Steve Irwin (Fenton, Mich.), Ted Kirkpatrick (Waterloo, Ill.), Max Guilford (Auckland, NZ) and Jack James (Harlan, Ind.).
Sixty-eight previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprintcar events have been held at Kokomo Speedway since 1981. Twenty-seven of the 68 events have been contested during Sprintcar Smackdown, which debuted in 2012. Past final night winners of Sprintcar Smackdown include Bryan Clauson (2012), Dave Darland (2013-14-15), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2016), Tyler Courtney (2017-19-20) and Justin Grant (2018).
ALL-TIME SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN WINNERS:
2012: Bryan Clauson (8/23), Chris Windom (8/24) & Bryan Clauson (8/25)
2013: Bryan Clauson (8/22), Dave Darland (8/23) & Dave Darland (8/24)
2014: Jon Stanbrough (8/22), Dave Darland (8/23) & Dave Darland (8/24)
2015: Robert Ballou (8/27), Chase Stockon (8/28) & Dave Darland (8/29)
2016: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8/25), C.J. Leary (8/26) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (8/27)
2017: C.J. Leary (8/24), Tyler Courtney (8/25) & Tyler Courtney (8/26)
2018: Tyler Courtney (8/23), Tyler Thomas (8/24) & Justin Grant (9/27)
2019: Thomas Meseraull (8/22), Logan Seavey (8/23) & Tyler Courtney (8/24)
2020: Kyle Cummins (8/27), Kyle Cummins (8/28) & Tyler Courtney (8/29)
KOKOMO SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR TOTAL WINS:
9-Dave Darland
8-Tony Elliott
6-Tyler Courtney
4-Bryan Clauson
3-C.J. Leary, Chris Windom, Jack Hewitt, Jon Stanbrough, Kevin Thomas Jr. Kyle Cummins & Thomas Meseraull
2-Justin Grant
1-Brad Marvel, Bud Kaeding, Chad Boat, Chase Stockon, Cory Kruseman, Dean Shirley, Hunter Schuerenberg, J.J. Yeley, Jay Drake, Kelly Kinser, Kevin Thomas, Levi Jones, Logan Seavey, Rich Vogler, Robert Ballou, Russ Gamester, Tom Bigelow & Tyler Thomas
KOKOMO SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINNERS:
1981: Tom Bigelow (7/22)
1982: Rich Vogler (7/21)
1983: Dean Shirley (7/20)
1984: Jack Hewitt (7/11)
1985: Jack Hewitt (8/4)
1989: Jack Hewitt (6/25)
1990: Russ Gamester (6/24)
1991: Kelly Kinser (6/23) & Tony Elliott (8/25)
1992: Tony Elliott (6/28)
1993: Dave Darland (6/27)
1995: Tony Elliott (7/5)
1996: Tony Elliott (6/30) & Brad Marvel (7/28)
1997: Kevin Thomas (6/15) & J.J. Yeley (7/20)
1998: Tony Elliott (7/19) & Tony Elliott (8/9)
1999: Cory Kruseman (7/25) & Tony Elliott (8/8)
2000: Jay Drake (7/23)
2001: Tony Elliott (7/29)
2003: Bud Kaeding (7/23)
2006: Jon Stanbrough (7/16)
2007: Jon Stanbrough (7/15)
2008: Dave Darland (7/13)
2009: Chad Boat (7/12)
2010: Bryan Clauson (4/18) & Levi Jones (7/11)
2011: Hunter Schuerenberg (7/9)
2012: Dave Darland (7/16), Bryan Clauson (8/23), Chris Windom (8/24) & Bryan Clauson (8/25)
2013: Kevin Thomas Jr. (7/13), Bryan Clauson (8/22), Dave Darland (8/23) & Dave Darland (8/24)
2014: Dave Darland (7/12), Jon Stanbrough (8/22), Dave Darland (8/23) & Dave Darland (8/24)
2015: Chris Windom (8/26), Robert Ballou (8/27), Chase Stockon (8/28) & Dave Darland (8/29)
2016: Kyle Cummins (7/9), Kevin Thomas Jr. (8/25), C.J. Leary (8/26) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (8/27)
2017: Thomas Meseraull (7/8), C.J. Leary (8/24), Tyler Courtney (8/25) & Tyler Courtney (8/26)
2018: Thomas Meseraull (7/24), Tyler Courtney (8/23), Tyler Thomas (8/24) & Justin Grant (9/27)
2019: Chris Windom (7/20), Thomas Meseraull (8/22), Logan Seavey (8/23) & Tyler Courtney (8/24)
2020: C.J. Leary (7/25), Kyle Cummins (8/27), Kyle Cummins (8/28), Tyler Courtney (8/29) & Tyler Courtney (9/26)
2021: Justin Grant (7/24)
NO PRESSURE ON ZMARZLIK AFTER LATVIAN GP WIN