TOMMY ASTONE, 1973-74 USAC MIDGET RUNNER-UP, PASSES
Speedway, Indiana (April 16, 2020)………Tommy Astone, a 2018 National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee and seven-time USAC National Midget winner who finished runner-up in the series standings in both 1973 and 1974, passed away on April 14, 2020 at the age of 70.
First emerging as a star in BCRA Midgets during the late 1960s/early 1970s, Astone, of Fresno, California, began to hit the trail with USAC, earning National Midget series’ Rookie of the Year honors in 1972, finishing seventh in points.
The following year, 1973, proved to be Astone’s breakout year with USAC, winning three times for car owner Doug Caruthers during the season at Iowa’s 34 Raceway, Michigan’s Hartford Motor Speedway and Tennessee’s Appalachian Speedway. Astone finished second in the standings by a mere 30 points behind champion Larry Rice.
In 1974, Astone scored three more wins with the USAC National Midgets, including the most prestigious victory of his career, the Night Before the 500 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He earned subsequent triumphs during the year at the famed Angell Park Speedway in Wisconsin as well as Suntana Speedway in Utah. Once again, Astone took the runner-up spot in the final series standings, 112 points behind Mel Kenyon.
Astone won again for the final time with the USAC National Midgets in 1976 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, finishing third in the final standings, and also notched his one and only career victory with the USAC National Sprint Cars for car owner Warren Dorathy at Hamburg, New York’s Erie County Fairgrounds, one of 38 career USAC Sprint Car starts for Astone.
He also made a pair of USAC Championship Dirt Car starts in the mid-1970s, earning a best of 9th at the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds in 1975, again for car owner Doug Caruthers with whom he won all seven of his USAC National Midget races with.
Around that time, Astone made his return to the West Coast, competing with BCRA as well as becoming one of the original competitors of the USAC Western States Midget series where he tallied five victories in total, first in 1983 at Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif. for owner John Runjavac, then the final four for Terry Caves’ team during the 1988 season at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. and twice at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway.
Astone was also inducted into the Bay Cities Racing Association Hall of Fame in 2009.