BRYSON BECOMES USAC MIDGETS’ 5TH FEMALE FAST QUALIFIER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (September 8, 2020)………Over the course of USAC history, just a select few women have made major waves in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition.
The latest to ride that wave is Kaylee Bryson of Muskogee, Okla., who, just last Saturday night, made her own headlines with her first career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time during time trials at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
By doing so, Bryson became just the fifth female to accomplish the feat in the 65-year history of the USAC National Midget division.
Sarah McCune became the first, getting quick time in an ESPN2 nationally televised event from Anderson (Ind.) Speedway in 1999. The Perrysburg, Ohio native became the first female to set fast time twice, earning the honors again in 2002 on the then-half-mile dirt oval at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. and, thus, is the only lady to earn fast time on both dirt and pavement.
Following McCune was a fellow Sarah and fellow Ohioan, from Commercial Point, Sarah Fisher. She rocketed around the high-banked half-mile paved oval of Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in 14.686 seconds during the Sammy Sessions Memorial late in the 1999 campaign.
Westfield, Indiana’s Stephanie Mockler set quick time during the mid-summer USAC National Midget event on the pavement of Ohio’s Mansfield Motorsports Park in July of 2007.
Eleven years and four days later, Holly Shelton of Sacramento, Calif. set quick time and a new track record at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kans. It’s just one of four track records Shelton possesses with the series. She also owns the 10-lap record at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind., plus the 12-lap records at both Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway and Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown, Pa.
Back in July, Bryson made a major impression when she earned a personal best 3rd place finish with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets at Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kansas.
In now 13 career starts aboard the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/JBL Audio – Mobil 1 – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, Bryson has recorded four top-ten finishes, a 10th at both Gas City and Sweet Springs, a 7th at Lawrenceburg during Indiana Midget Week, then led the opening lap and finished 3rd at Caney Valley, which had some historical significance with the series.
Bryson became just the fourth female driver to record a top-five finish in a dirt USAC National Midget feature event that night. She joined the late Jeri Rice, Sarah McCune and Holly Shelton as the only ones to accomplish the feat.
Tucson, Arizona’s Rice recorded a 5th place finish at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway on Aug. 2, 1988 and Sarah McCune was a 5th place finisher at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois on June 4, 2003. Shelton raced to a pair of 3rd place results in 2017 at both Lawrenceburg Speedway during Indiana Midget Week on June 10 and at the Chad McDaniel Memorial at Solomon Valley Speedway in Kansas on August 2.
Other top-fives earned by ladies throughout the history of USAC National Midget racing that occurred on pavement include Zionsville’s Bev Griffis, who finished 3rd at Winchester on April 7, 1991, and Westfield, Indiana’s Stephanie Mockler - the only other female driver besides McCune and Shelton to score multiple top-fives in USAC National Midget competition – who took a 3rd at Indianapolis Raceway Park on May 27, 2006 and a 5th at Toledo (OH) Speedway on July 6, 2007. Taylor Ferns from Shelby Township, Michigan, took 5th at Fountain, Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Raceway on June 29, 2013
No female has ever won a USAC National Midget, National Sprint Car or Silver Crown feature. The best ever finish for a woman in a USAC National event was a 2nd, earned by McCune at a midget race at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway on Sept. 19, 1999.
Bryson resumes action when, for the first time ever in series history, back-to-back nights of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car and USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget doubleheaders greet the dirt tracks of the Hoosier state for the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives “Double Double” on Friday, Sept. 25, at Gas City I-69 Speedway and on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Kokomo Speedway.
Each night of racing at the “Double Double” will feature a pair of $5,000-to-win events for both the sprint cars and midgets. The upcoming “Double Double” marks unprecedented territory as never before have the two series teamed up for doubleheaders on consecutive days on multiple dirt tracks in the state of Indiana.
Tickets for the 2020 Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives “Double-Double” will be available at www.usactickets.com. Times and more details on these events will become available soon on USAC’s social media outlets and on the series’ official website at www.usacracing.com.
FEMALE FAST QUALIFIERS OF USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACING:
6/30/1999: Sarah McCune at Anderson Speedway – Anderson, Ind.
10/24/1999: Sarah Fisher at Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Ind.
8/24/2002: Sarah McCune at Tri-City Speedway – Granite City, Ill.
7/7/2007: Stephanie Mockler at Mansfield Motorsports Park – Mansfield, Ohio
7/11/2018: Holly Shelton at Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, Kans.
9/5/2020: Kaylee Bryson at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Mo.