Bill Gardner Sprintacular USAC/MSCS Doubleheader July 3-4 in Putnamville

Putnamville, Indiana (June 29, 2020)……… Back-to-back nights of full USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing programs are on the horizon for a can’t miss Independence Day weekend doubleheader, this Friday and Saturday night, July 3-4, as part of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.

Both events at the 5/16-mile dirt oval will be co-sanctioned by the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the Midwest Sprint Car Series.

The Friday, July 3 event will be a full-points event for MSCS and will award 50 appearance points to all competing licensed USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car drivers and teams toward the series championship standings.  This event will utilize the MSCS format.

The Saturday, July 4 event at Lincoln Park will be a full points race for both the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and the MSCS Sprints.  USAC’s format of single car qualifying, with the top-four transferring from each heat race and top-six from the semi-feature to seed the feature starting lineup, will be used.

Previous Bill Gardner Sprintacular winners include, 2015: Jerry Coons Jr. (USAC) & Robert Ballou (MSCS), 2016: Robert Ballou (USAC) & Thomas Meseraull (MSCS), 2017: Kevin Thomas Jr. (MSCS), 2018: Tyler Courtney (USAC) & Justin Grant (MSCS) and 2019: Kyle Cummins (MSCS).

Thirty-five previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car events have been held at Lincoln Park Speedway since Sheldon Kinser’s victory there in 1981.  Dave Darland leads all drivers with six career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victories at Lincoln Park.

Darland, of Lincoln, Ind., was the 1990 and 1991 Lincoln Park Sprint Car track champion and owns USAC feature wins there in 1997-1998-1999-2005-2012-2018.  In the USAC portion of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular, the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer has finished inside the top-8 in all three events run thus far: 8th (2015), 5th (2016) and a charge from 20th to 7th in 2018.

Carson Short (Marion, Ill.) has twice been a fast qualifier with USAC at the Bill Gardner Sprintacular, in both 2015 and 2018.  In both instances, the recent Tri-State Speedway World of Outlaws winner and one-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner, captured the semi-feature victory.

Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) made his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car debut at the 2018 Bill Gardner Sprintacular where he was spectacular, driving from his 22nd starting position to a 3rd place finish.  Twice a winner in USAC National Sprint Car competition in his career, McDougal is set to debut in a Goacher Racing machine this week.

Speaking of impressive debuts, Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) was tabbed as a sub in the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports No. 19AZ while Logan Seavey is on the mend following a crash during the third round of Indiana Midget Week at Lincoln Park a couple weeks ago.  Thorson finished 2nd at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway last Friday in his first series start, the best debut performance in the series since McDougal, and the first time since Tanner Swanson at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway in 2008 that a driver finished in the top-two in his first USAC Sprint start.  Thorson was a 7th place finisher during the Indiana Midget Week race at LPS a couple weeks back.

Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) won the MSCS portion of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular in 2016.  The 10-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner captured a heat race win on the USAC side of things in 2018 en route to a 6th place finish in the feature later that night.  He was a 10th place finisher in the recent Indiana Midget Week feature at Lincoln Park on June 19.

The last occasion a Bill Gardner Sprintacular feature was held, Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) was the winner with MSCS.  The last time the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars competed at Lincoln Park last July during Indiana Sprint Week, Kyle Cummins was your winner.  Cummins was 2nd in the USAC night of the inaugural Bill Gardner Sprintacular in 2015.

It’s been a mere two weeks since USAC competed at Lincoln Park with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets during Indiana Midget Week.  Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) was the individual who effectively ended Kyle Larson’s incredible eight-race winning streak at the time by leading the final 18 laps to score the victory.  At the Bill Gardner Sprintacular in 2018, the 2016 Silver Crown and 2017 USAC National Sprint champ had his best run in the event, a 4th place finish.

Two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) has been a USAC Sprint Car winner at Lincoln Park in his career, taking the Indiana Sprint Week round in 2015 while also finishing 3rd in the USAC round of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular in 2016.

C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) finished 3rd in his most recent USAC visit to Lincoln Park last July of 2019 after starting from the outside of the front row.  The defending USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion recorded his 25th career fast qualifying time with the series last week at Plymouth, moving him past Gary Bettenhausen, Justin Grant and J.J. Yeley for 15th on the all-time series list.

Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) recently made his 300th consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint feature start last Friday at Plymouth, extending his all-time record to once untouchable numbers after taking ownership of the record in late 2019.  Stockon won his heat race at the Bill Gardner Sprintacular feature in 2015 where he also finished 3rd in the feature.  The “Ironman” followed that performance up with a 6th place result in the 2016 event.

Brandon Mattox is one of 10 drivers with the series to start all six USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car events thus far in 2020.  The Terre Haute, Ind. native had one of his better runs of the 2019 season at the USAC portion of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular, finishing 8th after starting 12th.

For the Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway, on Friday, adult general admission tickets are $25 while children age 10 and under are free.  Pit admission is $30.  The pits open at 3pm ET with the front gate opening at 4:30pm and hot laps at 6:30pm.  Modifieds, Super Stocks and Bombers are also racing in the event.

On Saturday at Lincoln Park, adult general admission tickets are $25 while children age 10 and under are free.  Pit admission is $35.  The pits open at 3pm ET with the front gate opening at 4:30pm and hot laps at 6pm.  The USAC Midwest Regional Midgets join the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets and Race Savers 305 Winged Sprints on the event card.

Additionally, the kickoff to Independence Day week for the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars begins Wednesday at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track.  Pits open at 3pm Eastern, grandstands at 4pm and hot laps at 6:30pm.  Adult grandstand tickets are $25 while children age 11 and under are free.  Adult infield tickets are just $15.  Pit passes for members are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.  The Scott’s Custom Colors DIRTcar Modifieds are also on agenda for the evening.

Tickets are on sale for all three of these events now, exclusively at www.usactickets.com.

All these events can be seen LIVE exclusively on FloRacing.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-444, 2-Chris Windom-407, 3-Brady Bacon-401, 4-C.J. Leary-396, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-354, 6-Chase Stockon-354, 7-Carson Short-329, 8-Dave Darland-300, 9-Logan Seavey-253, 10-Anton Hernandez-244.

2015 FEATURE RESULTS: (30 laps) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Chad Boespflug, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Casey Shuman, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Shane Cottle, 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 12. Josh Hodges, 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Cole Smith, 15. Max McGhee, 16. Carson Short, 17. Brady Bacon, 18. Chris Babcock, 19. Brandon Mattox, 20. Brent Beauchamp, 21. Landon Simon, 22. Hunter Schuerenberg, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Aaron Farney. NT

2016 FEATURE RESULTS: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chad Boespflug, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Josh Hodges, 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 9. Max McGhee, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Jerry Coons Jr., 14. Jon Stanbrough, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Cole Ketcham, 17. Casey Shuman, 18. Brent Beauchamp, 19. Shane Cockrum, 20. Aaron Farney, 21. Bret Mellenberndt, 22. Thomas Meseraull, 23. Logan Jarrett, 24. Landon Simon. NT

2018 FEATURE RESULTS: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. A.J. Hopkins (4), 3. Jason McDougal (22), 4. Chris Windom (21), 5. Jordan Kinser (1), 6. Thomas Meseraull (13), 7. Dave Darland (20), 8. Brandon Mattox (12), 9. Robert Ballou (17), 10. Josh Hodges (9), 11. Brady Bacon (6), 12. C.J. Leary (10), 13. Carson Short (7), 14. Kody Swanson (8), 15. Chase Stockon (11), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 17. Isaac Chapple (23), 18. Mario Clouser (19), 19. Justin Grant (15), 20. Tony DiMattia (3), 21. Tim Creech (14), 22. Brent Beauchamp (16), 23. Colten Cottle (18). NT

2015: Jerry Coons Jr. (USAC) & Robert Ballou (MSCS)

2016: Robert Ballou (USAC) & Thomas Meseraull (MSCS)

2017: Kevin Thomas Jr. (MSCS)

2018: Tyler Courtney (USAC) & Justin Grant (MSCS)

2019: Kyle Cummins (MSCS)

(6) Dave Darland

(5) Sheldon Kinser

(3) Robert Ballou

(2) Steve Butler, Jerry Coons Jr., Jay Drake, Cory Kruseman & Jon Stanbrough

(1) Chuck Amati, Brady Bacon, Chad Boespflug, Bryan Clauson, Tyler Courtney, Kyle Cummins, Brad Fox, Dickie Gaines, Jack Hewitt, Kelly Kinser & Brady Short

1981: Sheldon Kinser (9/16)

1983: Kelly Kinser (5/25) & Sheldon Kinser (8/24)

1984: Chuck Amati (5/23) & Sheldon Kinser (7/18)

1985: Sheldon Kinser (5/4) & Steve Butler (9/7)

1986: Steve Butler (5/17) & Sheldon Kinser (8/23)

1997: Jack Hewitt (7/27) & Dave Darland (8/23)

1998: Dave Darland (7/26) & Brad Fox (8/15)

1999: Dave Darland (7/24)

2000: Jay Drake (7/29)

2001: Jon Stanbrough (7/21)

2002: Cory Kruseman (7/20)

2003: Jay Drake (7/19)

2004: Cory Kruseman (7/17)

2005: Dave Darland (7/19)

2010: Dickie Gaines (7/24) & Jon Stanbrough (9/10)

2012: Dave Darland (7/22)

2013: Chad Boespflug (7/4) & Bryan Clauson (7/18)

2014: Jerry Coons, Jr. (7/4) & Robert Ballou (7/17)

2015: Jerry Coons, Jr. (7/4) & Brady Bacon (7/16)

2016: Robert Ballou (7/1) & Brady Short (7/14)

2017: Robert Ballou (7/16)

2018: Tyler Courtney (7/6) & Dave Darland (7/26)

2019: Kyle Cummins (7/25)

Sources: Richie Murray/USAC PR
#9K Kevin Thomas Jr. & #32 Chase Stockon
(Cameron Neveu Photo)