BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY HOSTS 31ST USAC SPRINT RACE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
This Friday night, the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship takes on the red clay of the Bloomington Speedway in southern Indiana for the 31st time in a history between the track and the series that dates back more than three decades.
The very first USAC Sprint Car event at Bloomington came on September 11, 1982 when USAC’s “Thunder & Lightning” division visited what was then known as Mitchell’s Motor Speedway. In that event, Ron Shuman took home fast qualifying honors in his Jack French-wrenched number 66, but it was Rich Vogler in the William Powers & William King-owned number 51 taking the victory in the 30-lap feature.
Over the last 34 years of competition, a number of competitors have scored their first career USAC Sprint Car wins on the Bloomington bullring, including Larry Martin, Bob Kinser, Brad Fox, Cory Kruseman, A.J. Anderson, Brady Short and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Twenty-four different drivers have scored a feature triumph at least once at Bloomington Speedway, but only four of them have repeated. Kevin Briscoe, Dave Darland and Tony Elliott have each won twice at the track while Noblesville, Indiana’s Bryan Clauson, who leads all drivers in the series with four feature wins at the track and currently holds a three-race USAC Sprint Car feature winning streak at the quarter-mile, hopes to continue his run of success in this Friday night’s event.
On the owner side, Tony Stewart Racing is the all-time winningest team, picking up three USAC Sprint Car feature wins at Bloomington: one with J.J. Yeley during “Indiana Sprint Week” in 2003 and twice with Bryan Clauson in ’13 and ’14.
Spectator gates open for this Friday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at Bloomington Speedway at 5:30pm with the drivers’ meeting set to take place at 5:30pm and hot laps at 6:40pm.
ALL-TIME BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR FEATURE WINNERS
9/11/1982: Rich Vogler (William King & William Powers #51)
9/10/1983: Larry Martin (Jerry Shields #56s)
7/27/1984: Sheldon Kinser (Ben Leyba #3)
6/28/1985: Rick Hood (Damon Fortune #39)
8/23/1985: Bob Kinser (Larry Bayless #17B)
5/2/1986: Jack Hewitt (Bob Hampshire #63)
7/26/1996: Kevin Thomas (Guy Applebee #3)
7/25/1997: Brad Fox (Brad Fox #53)
7/24/1998: Tony Elliott (Vance/Walker Racing #2)
7/23/1999: Cory Kruseman (Dave Ellis #21K)
8/27/1999: Tony Elliott (Jeff Walker Racing #1)
7/21/2000: Jay Drake (Keith Kunz #67)
7/27/2001: A.J. Anderson (Monte Edison #10)
7/26/2002: Kevin Briscoe (Briscoe Homes #5)
7/25/2003: J.J. Yeley (Tony Stewart Racing #20)
7/23/2004: Kevin Briscoe (Dick Briscoe #5)
7/15/2005: Tracy Hines (Dynamics, Inc. #69)
7/14/2006: Brady Short (Don Short #36)
7/20/2007: Dave Darland (Pace Brothers Racing #44)
7/18/2008: Jerry Coons, Jr. (Dynamics, Inc.#69)
7/17/2009: Bryan Clauson (Corey Tucker #7)
7/16/2010: Jon Stanbrough (Fox Racing #53)
5/20/2011: Chris Windom (Baldwin Bros. #5x)
7/15/2011: Hunter Schuerenberg (Hank Byram #35)
5/18/2012: Bobby East (Scott Benic #2B)
7/20/2012: Kevin Thomas Jr. (Black Jack Racing #9K)
5/17/2013: Dave Darland (Phillips Motorsports #71p)
7/19/2013: Bryan Clauson (Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian #20)
7/18/2014: Bryan Clauson (Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian #20)
4/17/2015: Bryan Clauson (Bryan Clauson Racing #7)
ALL-TIME BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR FEATURE WINS
1. (4) Bryan Clauson
2. (2) Kevin Briscoe, Dave Darland & Tony Elliott
5. (1) A.J. Anderson, Jerry Coons, Jr., Jay Drake, Bobby East, Brad Fox, Jack Hewitt, Tracy Hines, Rick Hood, Bob Kinser, Sheldon Kinser, Cory Kruseman, Larry Martin, Hunter Schuerenberg, Brady Short, Jon Stanbrough, Kevin Thomas, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Rich Vogler, Chris Windom & J.J. Yeley