LAKESIDE ANNUALLY BRINGS OUT THE BEST OF THE BEST WHEN USAC SPRINTS PAY VISIT

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and Lakeside Speedway have only met up on 17 occasions over the years, but each time it seems the best of the best in sprint car racing find their way to victory lane at Kansas City, Kansas oval.

Coming into Saturday night’s event at Lakeside, 13 of the 17 past winners are either USAC champions, National Sprint Car Hall of Famers (NSCHOF) or, in some cases, both.

Don Branson, a 1994 NSCHOF inductee, kicked it off with a Lakeside victory in 1963.  By that point, the Rantoul, Illinois driver had already established himself as one of the greats with a USAC Midwest Sprint Car title from 1959 already affixed to his resume.  A year following his Lakeside win, Branson captured the National Sprint Car championship and is one of five to achieve honors as a member of the NSCHOF to go along with a USAC National title and a USAC Sprint Car feature win at Lakeside, including Greg Weld, Robbie Stanley and Tony Elliott.

USAC National Champions make up the next group of Lakeside winners.  Kenny Irwin, Jr. and Dave Steele never became National Sprint Car titlists.  Irwin earned the 1996 National Midget title while Steele was the king of Silver Crown in 2004 and 2005.  However, the two were standouts in the sprint car ranks throughout their careers, primarily on the pavement.  Lakeside fit them to a T during the 1990s when the track’s surface was converted to asphalt and those two took advantage by winning in consecutive years: Irwin in 1995 and Steele in 1996.

Two-time USAC Sprint champ Brian Tyler (1996-97) was the final winner on the Lakeside pavement in 1998.  USAC Triple Crown champ J.J. Yeley snared a win following the return to dirt in 2001.  Robert Ballou, the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car champ, is the only driver to have scored multiple USAC Sprint wins at Lakeside, tallying consecutive triumphs in 2015 and 2016.

Jud Larson, a NSCHOF inductee in 1992, took Lakeside in 1965.  “Outlaw” sprint drivers who made the bulk of their hall of fame careers mainly with the wing – Doug Wolfgang and Smokey Snellbaker – made a rare stop with USAC to win Lakeside in 1978 and 1981, respectively.

Highly successful standout drivers in their own right, 5-time Indy 500 starter/5-time USAC Midget winner Arnie Knepper (1966 Lakeside winner) and six-time Indy 500 starter Carl Williams (1968) won on the old Lakeside Speedway half-mile.  Five-time USAC Sprint winner Jim Mahoney (1991) and the most recent winner in 2016, six-time USAC Sprint victor Thomas Meseraull (6 USAC Sprint wins) each have risen to the top at the “new” Lakeside Speedway that opened in 1989.

Pits open for Saturday night’s race at 4:30pm.  Front gates open at 5 with cars set to be on-track at 6:45.  Adult General Admission tickets are just $20.  Children age 12 and under are FREE!  Seniors over the age of 65 as well as military and students with proper ID are $15.  Pit passes are $30.

ALL-TIME USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS AT LAKESIDE SPEEDWAY:

9/1/1963: Don Branson

7/23/1965: Jud Larson

7/15/1966: Arnie Knepper

7/7/1967: Greg Weld

7/5/1968: Carl Williams

7/8/1978: Doug Wolfgang

6/5/1981: Smokey Snellbaker

9/13/1991: Jim Mahoney

6/5/1992: Robbie Stanley

9/15/1995: Kenny Irwin, Jr.

4/12/1996: Dave Steele

4/24/1998: Brian Tyler

7/6/2001: Tony Elliott

7/7/2001: J.J. Yeley

4/26/2015: Robert Ballou

6/25/2016: Robert Ballou

6/26/2016: Thomas Meseraull