EASTER WEEKEND USAC SPRINT HISTORY

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Chillicothe, Ohio (April 15, 2021)………Hey peeps.  Over the years, the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars have competed 21 times on Easter Weekend.  That rings true once again for the 22nd time this weekend when the series visits Ohio’s Atomic Speedway on Saturday night, April 16.

Since 1960, just three drivers have won multiple times on Easter weekend with the series, including A.J. Foyt at the Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds in 1960 and 1964; Tom Bigelow at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in 1969 and 1977; as well as Gary Bettenhausen at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in 1974 and at Ohio’s New Bremen Speedway in 1976.

Eastern weekend has produced five first-time USAC National Sprint Car feature winners: Stan Bowman (Eldora 1962), Bigelow (Eldora 1969), Paul Pitzer (Reading 1979), Frankie Kerr (Eldora 1994) and Logan Jarrett (Lawrenceburg 2015).  For Bowman, Pitzer and Jarrett, it stands as their only career USAC victories.  In fact, Bowman’s 1962 score was the first ever USAC event held at Eldora.

In 2017, the lone year that Easter weekend featured multiple USAC National Sprint Car races at different tracks, won by Chad Boespflug at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway and by Chris Windom at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.

The most recent Easter weekend event held by the series came just one year ago, in 2021, as Brady Bacon dominated at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway, which made Dynamics, Inc. the first team to win three USAC Sprint Car features with three different drivers on Easter weekend, following Jerry Coons Jr. at Eldora in 2009; Boespflug at Bloomington in 2017; and Bacon at Lawrenceburg in 2021.

Ten different venues have hosted Easter weekend USAC National Sprint Car shows.  Eldora has held events on 10 occasions, Reading (Pa.) Fairgrounds three times, twice at Lawrenceburg, and once each for Cincinnati, Ohio’s Tri-County Speedway, Terre Haute, New Bremen, Beaver Dam (Wis.) Raceway, Bloomington and Tri-State.

On Saturday at Atomic, the pits open at 2pm ET with the grandstands opening at 3pm and cars on track at 5pm.  Adult general admission is $30.  Senior general admission is $25.  Military general admission is $25.  Adult pit passes are $35 for members and $40 for non-members.  Kids age 6-10 pit passes are $20.

Full coverage of Saturday’s event at Atomic Speedway can be watched LIVE on www.FloRacing.com at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.

EASTER WEEKEND USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS:

DATE / LOCATION / TRACK / DRIVER / TEAM / DISTANCE

4/17/1960: Reading, PA - Reading Fairgrounds - A.J. Foyt - A.J. Watson #2 - 30 L

4/22/1962: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Stan Bowman - Harold Beck #11 - 30 L

3/29/1964: Reading, PA - Reading Fairgrounds - A.J. Foyt - A.J. Foyt #2 - 30 L

4/18/1965: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Jud Larson - A.J. Watson #2 - 30 L

4/6/1969: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Tom Bigelow - Carl Gehlhausen #84 - 30 L

4/2/1972: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Rollie Beale - Ron Kilman #3 - 40 L

4/22/1973: Cincinnati, OH - Tri-County Speedway - Bruce Walkup - Don Siebert #60 - 40 L

4/14/1974: Terre Haute, IN - Terre Haute Action Track - Gary Bettenhausen - Willie Davis #24 - 40 L

4/18/1976: New Bremen, OH - New Bremen Speedway - Gary Bettenhausen - Willie Davis #24 - 40 L

4/10/1977: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Tom Bigelow - Sherman Armstrong #43 - 40 L

4/14/1979: Reading, PA - Reading Fairgrounds - Paul Pitzer - Bob Weikert #46 - 40 L

4/6/1980: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Rich Vogler - Don Siebert #2 - 40 L

4/2/1994: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Frankie Kerr - Stan Shoff #23s - 30 L

3/29/1997: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Kevin Huntley - Dennis Stone #3s - 30 L

4/11/1998: Beaver Dam, WI - Beaver Dam Raceway - Tony Elliott – Vance-Walker Racing #2 - 30 L

4/11/2009: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Jerry Coons Jr. - Dynamics, Inc. #69 - 30 L

4/19/2014: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - Dave Darland - Phillips Motorsports #71p - 30 L

4/4/2015: Lawrenceburg, IN - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Logan Jarrett - Jarrett Motorsports #29 - 30 L

4/14/2017: Bloomington, IN - Bloomington Speedway - Chad Boespflug - Dynamics, Inc. #69 - 30 L

4/15/2017: Haubstadt, IN - Tri-State Speedway - Chris Windom - Baldwin Brothers Racing #5 - 30 L

4/3/2021: Lawrenceburg, IN - Lawrenceburg Speedway – Brady Bacon – Dynamics, Inc. #69 - 30 L