FARNEY JOINS DUTCHER MOTORSPORTS FOR REMAINDER OF 2016 USAC SPRINT SEASON
Michael Dutcher Motorsports and 2015 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Aaron Farney have joined forces to tackle the remaining nine events on the series’ 2016 calendar beginning this weekend with a pair of races: Friday, Sept. 16 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track and Saturday, Sept. 17 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.
“Aaron’s a great kid who loves the sport and wants to succeed,” Dutcher said. “He has a lot of potential; he was the 2015 National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year. We plan on getting up to speed very quickly.”
Farney, a Brookston, Ind. native, has competed full-time for the last two years in his family-owned no. 15F, but has yet to match the glimpses of success he displayed during his rookie season thus far after winning last year’s “Don Smith Classic” Indiana Sprint Week event in dominating fashion at Terre Haute.
Making 28 starts in 32 series events this season, Farney currently resides tenth in series points after scoring seven top-tens with his lone top-five result coming on the half-mile at Terre Haute in July of 2016.
Dutcher’s potent machine has found much success, racking up 12 USAC Sprint victories with drivers Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Jon Stanbrough since 2013. Yet, the team hasn’t been able to reach victory lane this season despite being consistently fast with drivers Brady Short, C.J. Leary and Thomas Meseraull. Perhaps now with Farney behind the wheel, the team will see a reversal of its fortunes.
“We’ve had a lot of success with young drivers over the years; Aaron’s an up-and-comer who isn’t afraid to go fast,” Dutcher added. “At Terre Haute last year, he got his first win and beat us pretty bad in doing so. He gets around that track really well. We’ve won there in the past as well (with Kevin Thomas, Jr.), and we’ve been really good at Haubstadt over the years, so we hope to give him a racecar that can win this weekend because we’re both very capable.”
Friday will not be Farney’s first time in the seat of Dutcher’s no. 17GP. That came back on Sept. 2 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway during the “Bryan Clauson Celebration of Life” event in which Farney qualified in the top-ten in a 47-car field and ran 13th in the feature in his debut in the Griffin’s Propane – Indiana Underground/Maxim/Fisher.
Friday night’s “Jim Hurtubise Classic” at the Terre Haute Action Track gets underway with pit gates opening at 3pm and grandstands at 4pm. Cars hit the track at 6:30pm for hot laps, ProSource Qualifying is slated for 7pm and racing is scheduled to begin at 7:30 (EST).
Saturday night’s “Haubstadt Hustler” at Tri-State Speedway has the pit gates opening at 3:30pm and grandstands at 4:30pm. ProSource Qualifying starts at 6:30pm with racing to begin at 7:30pm (CST).
RICHIE MURRAY - USAC MEDIA
