USAC Midgets In the House: Shamrock Classic Race Preview

Du Quoin, Illinois (March 10, 2022)………Don’t you remember when you were a kid and your mom told you to take off your shoes, so you don’t leave a track of dirt indoors?

Well, none of those requests apply this Friday and Saturday night, March 11-12, at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin where the USAC Midgets arrive on the purpose-built, 1/6-mile indoor dirt track for the sixth running of the Shamrock Classic presented by Dooling Machine Products.

Forty-two cars and drivers are entered for the two-night USAC Midget program, consisting of two complete programs with feature events concluding each night of action, a $2,000-to-win 40-lapper on Friday night, and the biggie, a $10,000-to-win 50-lap finale on Saturday night. Both races are special events, meaning zero points will be awarded toward the national championship.

It’s quite a turnover of talent throughout the field with just 17 of the 42 drivers in the lineup previously making a Shamrock Classic feature start in their career. Two past winners of the event lead the charge, that being Justin Grant in 2017 and Cannon McIntosh in 2019.

Grant (Ione, Calif.) won the event five years ago, his first aboard a midget in USAC competition. The current USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship point leader, and winner of the first two events in Ocala, Fla., has also posted an additional two more 5th place results at the Shamrock Classic in both 2018 and 2019.

McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) has started on the pole in each of the last two editions of the Shamrock Classic in both 2019 and 2020. The 2021 event did not take place due to COVID-19 restrictions. Like Grant, though, McIntosh picked up his first midget win under the USAC banner during the 2019 Shamrock Classic, after catching fire during a hot laps mishap, then returned in a borrowed fire suit from crew member Grady Chandler to score the win.

Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) led the most laps (28) and scored a runner-up finish in the inaugural Shamrock Classic in 2016, his only previous start in the event. Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) finished right behind Cottle in that 2016 race, winding up third in what remains his lone previous Shamrock Classic start as well. However, he is a former winner in USAC Midget competition at the Southern Illinois Center, picking up the Junior Knepper 55 victory in 2018.

USAC career Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) finished a best of 3rd in the 2017 race. Four-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) is the only driver to make feature starts in all five previous runnings of the Shamrock Classic, finishing a career-best 4th in both 2016 and 2017. Two-time POWRi champ Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) also notched a best of 4th in 2019 and was 10th in the first race back in 2016.

Past Shamrock Classic top-10 finishers revisiting the event this weekend are New Berlin, Illinois’ Jake Neuman (8th in 2017) and Decatur, Illinois’ Terry Babb (9th in 2018). Travis Berryhill (American Canyon, Calif.) took 9th in his first and only Shamrock Classic run in 2016 while Daniel Robinson (Ewing, Ill.) collected a 10th place result in the 2018 contest. However, Robinson was the victor of a USAC Regional Midget Special Event at the Southern Illinois Center in September of 2021.

Returning to Shamrock lineup in 2022 is Arlington, Texas’ Anton Hernandez, an 11th place finisher in his only past start in 2016, along with Vincennes, Indiana’s Kendall Ruble (12th in 2020), McLeansboro, Illinois’ Matt Veatch (16th in 2019), Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Chris Andrews (18th in 2017), Cheyenne, Wyoming’s Mark Chisholm (19th in 2017) and Millersville, Missouri’s Joe B. Miller (22nd in 2017), who has been victorious in a Shamrock Classic feature before, that coming with the Micro Sprints in 2019, and was also the runner-up finisher with the USAC Regional Midgets last September.

A whole slew of Shamrock Classic Rookies are on board for their first run in the event, 25 of them in fact, including hot shoes, champs, veterans and young lions. Among those at the forefront are a pair of USAC National Midget feature winners in Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) and Ryan Timms (Oklahoma City, Okla.), the youngest winner in USAC National Midget history. Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), the two time and defending USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget titlist, is entered as well.

Three CB Industries cars are entered, all of whom are making their first Shamrock appearances. Current USAC National Midget leading Rookie of the Year candidate, Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.), finished 5th in last winter’s Jason Leffler Memorial USAC Midget Special Event at the Southern Illinois Center. He’s joined on the team by event and series Rookies Jace Park (Overland Park, Kan.) and Dominic Gorden (Clovis, Calif.).

A two-time USAC Regional Midget event winner in 2021, Chance Crum (Snohomish, Wash.), finished 3rd last winter in the Leffler Memorial while Bryan Stanfill (Bakersfield, Calif) finished 8th last September at Du Quoin’s indoor dirt oval. Stanfill, like Coons, has won USAC sanctioned feature events in four different decades.

They are among a number of Shamrock first-time feature starting hopefuls who own previous midget racing experience at the Southern Illinois Center. Also on the list are Greenfield, Indiana’s Rylan Gray (4th), Springfield, Illinois’ Brayton Lynch (10th), Athens, Illinois’ Will Armitage (11th) and Collinsville, Illinois’ Sean Robbins (12th), who all competed in last September’s Regional feature. Meanwhile, Cambridge, Wisconsin’s Zach Boden finished 18th in December’s Leffler Memorial.

Decorated three-time Badger Midget champion Chase McDermand (Springfield, Ill.) is set for his first Shamrock Classic run as are TQ Midget standout Matt Lux (Manilla, Ind.) and R.J. Corson (Markham, Ill.), son of the 2005 Fort Wayne, Ind. USAC indoor midget winner Rich Corson.

Chris Baue (Indianapolis, Ind.) is back in the midget ranks for the Shamrock along with the racing Camfields – Dalton, Dave and Devin – from Decatur, Ill. as is Missouri’s Cam Horton (High Ridge, Mo.) and Brad Wyatt (Kearney, Mo.), plus Austin Shores (Atoka, Ill.), Logan Anderson (Vincennes, Ind.) and Thomas Harris (Havana, Ill.).

This weekend will mark the 173rd and 174th indoor events in USAC Midget history. USAC’s first ever sanctioned event occurred on January 8, 1956, at Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, won by Gene Hartley. Rich Vogler owns the most USAC indoor midget wins with 10.

Additionally, these races are the 18th and 19th indoor midget races held on dirt, the first being at the Houston Astrodome on March 8, 1969, and won by Gary Bettenhausen. Bettenhausen, Tripp and Christopher Bell are the only driver to win two career USAC indoor midget races.

The makeup of the field consists of 15 home-state drivers from Illinois, six each from California and Indiana, five from Oklahoma, three from Missouri, and one apiece from Arizona, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Friday’s program will consist of heat races lined up by a draw with points being the name of the game based on finishing position and passing points. Those points will line up the subsequent two semi-features and the 40-lap feature, which pays $2,000-to-win.

On Saturday, it’s another complete racing program. However, the points will carry over from Friday to set the lineups for the qualifying races. Points will be tabulated once more and those will determine the lineups for the C-Main, Semi-Feature and the feature, which culminates with a $10,000 payday for the victor of the 50-lap feature.

Micro Sprints will be on the event card for both nights.

On Friday, March 11, the building opens at Noon Central time with the stands opening at 4pm, drivers meeting at 5pm, with cars on track at 5:30.

On Saturday, March 12, the building opens at 8am Central time with the stands opening at 11am. The micro sprint drivers meeting will take place Noon, with micros on track for hot laps and heat races at 12:30. The midget drivers meeting starts at 3pm, followed by hot laps and racing at 4pm. Tickets and pit passes will also be available at the door both days.

FloRacing will have live coverage for both nights of the Shamrock Classic at https://bit.ly/39tpwbp.

0 CAM HORTON/High Ridge, MO (Zero Moto)

00 RYAN TIMMS/Oklahoma City, OK (Grady Chandler Racing)

06 RYLAN GRAY/Greenfield, IN (Gray Racing)

08 CANNON McINTOSH/Bixby, OK (Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports)

1H BRAD WYATT/Kearney, MO (Rick Horn)

1K BRAYTON LYNCH/Springfield, IL (Rusty Kunz Racing)

2J JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (RMS Racing)

2MD JERRY COONS JR./Tucson, AZ (Marc Dailey Racing)

3G KYLE CUMMINS/Princeton, IN (Glenn Styres Racing)

3N JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman)

5 MATT LUX/Manilla, IN (Kaden Wells Racing)

7x THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (RMS Racing)

8G AUSTIN SHORES/Atoka, OK (Shores Racing)

10c DALTON CAMFIELD/Decatur, IL (Camfield Racing)

11L LOGAN ANDERSON/Vincennes, IN (Martin Motorsports)

11m KENDALL RUBLE/Vincennes, IN (Martin Motorsports)

15 R.J. CORSON/Markham, IL (Corson Racing)

16c DAVE CAMFIELD/Decatur, IL (Camfield Racing)

17c DEVIN CAMFIELD/Decatur, IL (Camfield Racing)

21H BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (TKH Motorsports)

26 CHANCE CRUM/Snohomish, WA (Rudeen Racing)

36 CHRIS BAUE/Indianapolis, IN (Baue Racing)

40 CHASE McDERMAND/Springfield, IL (Mounce-Stout Motorsports)

51 ZACH BODEN/Cambridge, WI (Dohner Racing)

51B JOE B. MILLER/Millersville, MO (Chris Lewis)

51R THOMAS HARRIS/Havana, IL (Johnson Farms Racing)

53 SEAN ROBBINS/Collinsville, IL (Robbins Racing)

56 MATT VEATCH/McLeansboro, IL (McCreery Motorsports/Fifty6x Racing)

56x MARK CHISHOLM/Cheyenne, WY (Fifty6x Racing)

57 DANIEL ROBINSON/Ewing, IL (RAB Racing)

57A WILL ARMITAGE/Athens, IL (RAB Racing)

61m JACOB DENNEY/Galloway, OH (Mounce-Stout Motorsports)

75AU BRYAN STANFILL/Bakersfield, CA (Griffiths Motorsport)

77s TRAVIS BERRYHILL/American Canyon, CA (Tyler Sturgeon Racing)

81 ANTON HERNANDEZ/Arlington, TX (Gray Racing)

83 DOMINIC GORDEN/Clovis, CA (CB Industries)

86 SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Danny Stamper)

87 JACE PARK/Overland Park, KS (CB Industries)

88 TERRY BABB/Decatur, IL (Terry Babb Racing)

89 MITCHEL MOLES/Raisin City, CA (CB Industries)

91 ZACH DAUM/Pocahontas, IL (Harris Racing)

95 CHRIS ANDREWS/Tulsa, OK (Jim & Theresa Miller)

2016: Shane Golobic (3/19)

2017: Justin Grant (3/18)

2018: Logan Seavey (3/10)

2019: Cannon McIntosh (3/9)

2020: Tanner Thorson (3/6)

2015: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12/19)

2016: Shane Golobic (3/19) & Tyler Courtney (12/17)

2017: Justin Grant (3/18) & Christopher Bell (12/16)

2018: Logan Seavey (3/10) & Thomas Meseraull (12/15)

2019: Cannon McIntosh (3/9)

2020: Tanner Thorson (3/6)

2021: Daniel Robinson (9/1) & Christopher Bell (12/18)

1969: Gary Bettenhausen (3/8 at the Houston Astrodome | Houston, TX)

1969: Lee Kunzman (3/9 at the Houston Astrodome | Houston, TX)

1970: A.J. Foyt (3/14 at the Houston Astrodome | Houston, TX)

1972: Gary Bettenhausen (3/11 at the Houston Astrodome | Houston, TX)

1988: Sleepy Tripp (3/12 at the Livestock Events Center | Reno, NV)

1990: Sleepy Tripp (2/10 at the Livestock Events Center | Reno, NV)

2015: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12/19 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2016: Shane Golobic (3/19 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2016: Tyler Courtney (12/17 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2017: Justin Grant (3/18 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2017: Christopher Bell (12/16 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2018: Logan Seavey (3/10 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2018: Thomas Meseraull (12/15 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2019: Cannon McIntosh (3/9 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2020: Tanner Thorson (3/6 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2021: Daniel Robinson (9/1 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2021: Christopher Bell (12/18 at the Southern Illinois Center | Du Quoin, IL)

2-Gary Bettenhausen, Christopher Bell & Sleepy Tripp

1-Tyler Courtney, A.J. Foyt, Shane Golobic, Justin Grant, Lee Kunzman, Cannon McIntosh, Thomas Meseraull, Daniel Robinson, Logan Seavey, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Tanner Thorson

2016 FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Shane Golobic, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tony Roney, 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. David Budres, 9. Travis Berryhill, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Anton Hernandez, 12. Terry Babb, 13. Chad Boat, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Holly Shelton, 16. Gage Walker, 17. Justin Peck, 18. Daniel Robinson, 19. Michelle Decker, 20. Dereck King, 21. Andrew Felker, 22. Bryan Clauson. NT

2017 FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Brent Beauchamp, 6. Tony Roney, 7. Josh Most, 8. Jake Neuman, 9. Billy Wease, 10. Christopher Bell, 11. Colten Cottle, 12. Spencer Bayston, 13. Gage Walker, 14. Tanner Carrick, 15. Daniel Adler, 16. Korey Weyant, 17. Chad Boat, 18. Chris Andrews, 19. Mark Chisholm, 20. Justin Peck, 21. Tanner Thorson, 22. Joe B. Miller. NT

2018 FEATURE: (50 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. Brent Beauchamp (2), 3. Zeb Wise (9), 4. Ryan Robinson (4), 5. Justin Grant (21), 6. Dave Darland (3), 7. Chad Boat (14), 8. Gage Walker (8), 9. Terry Babb (18), 10. Daniel Robinson (15), 11. Tanner Carrick (10), 12. Jake Neuman (16), 13. Matt Moore (5), 14. Brady Bacon (17), 15. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (11), 16. Spencer Bayston (20), 17. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 18. Tony Roney (13), 19. Tyler Thomas (22), 20. Tyler Nelson (6), 21. Josh Hawkins (19), 22. C.J. Leary (12). NT

2019 FEATURE: (50 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (1), 2. Chad Boat (15), 3. Zeb Wise (4), 4. Zach Daum (6), 5. Justin Grant (13), 6. Logan Seavey (2), 7. Tyler Courtney (21), 8. Andrew Layser (3), 9. Chris Windom (18), 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 11. Holley Hollan (8), 12. Jesse Colwell (7), 13. Tanner Carrick (14), 14. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (9), 15. Dave Darland (12), 16. Matt Veatch (10), 17. Kyle O’Gara (17), 18. Brady Bacon (16), 19. Colten Cottle (22), 20. Tyler Thomas (19), 21. Daniel Robinson (5). NT

2020 FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (15), 2. Tyler Thomas (10), 3. Chris Windom (5), 4. Robert Dalby (7), 5. Kyle Simon (13), 6. Cole Bodine (8), 7. Buddy Kofoid (2), 8. Tanner Carrick (21), 9. Daison Pursley (17), 10. Trey Robb (16), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 12. Kendall Ruble (20), 13. Ace McCarthy (9), 14. Justin Grant (11), 15. Cannon McIntosh (1), 16. Jake Neuman (6), 17. Brady Bacon (4), 18. Sam Johnson (12), 19. Robert Bell (18), 20. Tyler Courtney (3), 21. Trey Gropp (14). NT

2021: No Race