STOCKON CLIMBING UP THE RANKS IN QUALIFYING PROWESS
Speedway, Indiana (June 17, 2019)………Chase Stockon’s qualifying prowess throughout his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career knows no bounds.
This past week during Eastern Storm, the Fort Branch, Ind. driver earned a pair of Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying times in the first two events at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa. and the following night at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J., which established a new USAC track record on the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
Stockon began the week with 24 career fast qualifying times with the series, which was tied with series champs Gary Bettenhausen and J.J. Yeley for 15th all-time. Stockon surpassed those two with his 25th quick time at Grandview, then surged into a tie with another past series champ, Jay Drake, at Bridgeport, to move into a tie for 13th all-time.
Next in line for Stockon on the list is number 27, where Dave Steele and Kevin Thomas, Jr. occupy the 11th spot on the list. Of Stockon’s 26 career fast qualifying times, none yet have come at Putnamville, Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway, host of this Saturday’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event on June 22.
C.J. Leary, meanwhile, earned his 17th career fast qualifying time last Saturday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, moving him past Rollie Beale, Jack Hewitt and Doug Kalitta to move to 24th on the all-time list where he now equals none-other-than Don Branson and A.J. Foyt.
Thomas has two career fast qualifying times at Lincoln Park, in 2014 and 2017, while Leary’s first career fast time came at Lincoln Park during the 2014 season.
Of active drivers, Dave Darland leads all with 60, second all-time behind Tom Bigelow’s 65. Brady Bacon has 32, which ranks eighth. Darland has two fast times at Lincoln Park, in 1997 and 2004. Bacon has gone to top of the time trials charts twice, in 2014 and in the most recent series race at LPS last July.
Saturday at Lincoln Park, pits open at 3pm (Eastern), front gates open at 4:30pm, drivers meeting at 5:15pm and cars on track at 6pm with qualifying and racing immediately following. Modifieds, Super Stocks and Bombers are also in action. Adult general admission tickets are $25 and kids 10 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 apiece.
Watch the Lincoln Park race live and on-demand at http://www.FloRacing.com/. Listen live on the USAC app. Follow along with live updates on https://www.facebook.com/usacracing/ and https://twitter.com/USACNation, plus live timing and scoring on the Race Monitor app.
ALL-TIME USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR FAST QUALIFYING TIMES (Top-14)
1. (65) Tom Bigelow
2. (60) Dave Darland & Tracy Hines
4. (39) Levi Jones
5. (37) Larry Dickson
6. (36) Bryan Clauson
7. (35) Rich Vogler
8. (32) Brady Bacon
9. (31) Sheldon Kinser
10. (30) Pancho Carter
11. (27) Dave Steele & Kevin Thomas, Jr.
13. (26) Jay Drake & Chase Stockon
**Active Drivers in Bold