A HOME GAME FOR LINCOLN PARK’S REGULARS THIS WEEKEND
By: Pat Sullivan – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (June 27, 2023)………When the stars of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship arrive for the 9th Annual Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway this Friday-Saturday, June 30-July 1, they face a unique challenge.
Sprint cars are a regular feature at the Putnamville, Indiana oval all summer long and recognized legends can be found on the list of former track champions. Many of the USAC frontrunners in 2023 have already taken laps at this familiar oval. However, waiting for drivers like Emerson Axsom, Jake Swanson, Justin Grant, C.J. Leary and Brady Bacon are a host of talented racers who know this track inside and out. For this group, this is a home game.
Tye Mihocko moved to Indiana from Arizona to pursue his racing dreams. Today, he works at DRC Chassis as a welder, and on weekends, he can be found vying for victories at several Indiana bullrings. In 2022, he teamed with owner Jamie Paul to capture the Lincoln Park championship. Yes, he has plenty of experience at Putnamville, but he knows he faces a mighty challenge this weekend.
“For the most part, I try to look at it as the same as any other night,” he says, “But you have to turn it up with the USAC guys because they are just on kill every lap they make.”
Interestingly, he admits that he begins preparing for a date with USAC well in advance.
“I try to get in that mindset of just racing an extra 10 percent harder all throughout the week” he admits, “That isn’t to make a negative comment about racing at the local level. Not at all.”
With the MSCS format in play on Friday, he is on familiar turf.
“I have run the exact same format all year except two races with USAC,” he reports, “That format is good for me because, unfortunately, I tend to not qualify well. Sometimes I land on the front row of a heat race and that allows me to start in a decent spot in the feature.”
Rest assured, Tye would like to master the art of single car qualifying and works hard at it. Yet, when things don’t go as planned, he says, “You try your best to shake it off and go on to the heat race and try to fix it.”
Mihocko has enjoyed a strong year on the local scene marked by three wins at Lincoln Park. Here is a chance to shine.
“I never really think about exposure,” he says, “My focus has been on doing the best I can on that specific night and let what happens, happen.”
He would love a chance to race regularly with USAC but says his main plan is to just keep his head down and keep working. One reason he spends little time fussing about the future is his sense that he has “a pretty good deal going right now.”
Does he have an edge over his USAC peers this weekend? If so, he reasons it is slight.
“I feel if there is an advantage, it’s because I feel normal showing up there. It is where I have been for the last year or so. It feels standard as opposed to going to run a USAC show at a place like Lawrenceburg where it would be a new format, new guys and a new racetrack. So, instead of changing all three of those variables, I am only changing two.”
Like Mihocko, Jadon Rogers has put three wins on his resume at Lincoln Park. In his case, the 2020 USAC Rookie of the Year clearly feels he has something to prove.
“I feel every race I have been in after I split from the Baldwin ride has been a big deal,” he admits, “because I am trying to show people that I am good enough to race with USAC. So, being back on that stage and back on camera, I really want to have a couple of good nights and remind people that I am here.”
Since climbing back in a car owned by Jeremy Ottinger, it feels like Rogers has regained his stride. He says he had not lost confidence in his own ability and feels his performance has improved as his comfort level increased. His father, who is an airplane mechanic by trade, helps prepare the car, and Rogers adds, “We are making sure everything is right. We have new stuff, and we take care of the car. I am confident in the piece we are taking to the racetrack.”
Jadon isn’t one bit shy about his overall goal.
“I feel like I have a really good shot to win,” then adds, “we nearly won a USAC race here last year and we have been running really well.”
However, he doesn’t think his experience at Lincoln Park gives him a leg up on the field.
“I feel like you can turn as many laps as you want as a local racer,” he says, “but the level of experience and talent changes drastically whenever it comes to a USAC race.”
Brayden Fox, who spends the week working at Competition Suspension, Inc., has a great racing pedigree. His late grandfather, Galen Fox, is enshrined in the USAC and National Sprint Car Halls of Fame for his wizardry with a wrench. His father, Brad, was a Lincoln Park Speedway track champion and notched two USAC National wins in his career.
Brayden has entered the world of sprint car racing methodically. Under the watchful eye of his father and Uncle Steve Fox, Brayden nailed down the first two wins of his sprint car career at Bloomington Speedway this summer. Thus, he enters the weekend on a bit of a roll.
As for the wins, he can only say, “they felt like a long time coming.” Nonetheless, what veteran observers have noticed is an increased aggressiveness in this young driver. He credits this jump in intensity to team member Robert Brown.
“He has been helping me a lot,” Brayden says, “not just with car set up but also my driving.” Getting a bit more specific, Fox adds, “We are focusing on keeping the momentum up and trying to drive like the USAC guys. Like, if we are at Putnamville and it is slick, those guys aren’t just going to go slow on the bottom. They will run it hard through the middle and keep the momentum up.”
This is the bar that Fox is trying to reach. With some experience under his belt, Brayden has a better feeling for what to expect when USAC comes to town.
“It may have been at Lincoln Park last year,” he says, “but I felt good. I won my heat race and started pretty far up. Then the feature started, and it felt like everyone was going 10 times faster and harder than a local race. It almost didn’t feel like the same track.”
This year, he heads into the weekend very much in the groove. How he has managed to turn up the wick is even difficult for him to put into words.
“It hasn’t even been something I have done on purpose,” he says with a laugh, “It is just that everything feels good right now.”
Even with the recent success and new approach he appropriately calibrates his expectations.
“I don’t think there is any added pressure,” he says, “but I do want to race well. At local races, I know I should be a top-three car. That means, if you run fifth or sixth, you don’t feel great. But if it is a USAC race, if I can qualify, get through the heat race and run competitively in the feature, that is the goal.”
Fox is well-aware that he is still on the learning curve. Yet, he took an important first step in the progression.
“I have only been running non-wing sprint cars for a couple of years,” he says, “So I just wanted to focus on winning races. I didn’t care that much if I ran with USAC. I wanted to win first and get that out of the way and go from there. We all talked and maybe next year we might go with USAC to race in Wisconsin. That would be a place that isn’t too far away and there wouldn’t be a ton of cars. I would like to start there and work my way up.”
Mihocko, Rogers and Fox all have enjoyed a good season in local circles. This weekend, they are on familiar turf determined to make a mark. They may not be on the top of everyone’s Dirt Draft list, but on the other hand, they just might surprise a lot of people.
RACE DETAILS:
The 9th annual IndianaOpenWheel.com Bill Gardner Sprintacular awaits this weekend, Friday-Saturday, June 30-July 1 at Putnamville, Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway.
On Friday, the program consists of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series, plus 305 RaceSaver Sprint Cars and Modifieds.
Saturday’s event features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series, plus the Midwest Mini Sprint Association, Super Stocks and Bombers.
The MSCS format will be utilized throughout Friday’s $5,000-to-win 30-lap feature while USAC’s format will be used during Saturday’s program, which culminates with a $10,000-to-win 40-lap main event.
Pits open at 1pm Eastern with the front gates opening at 4:45pm and hot laps at 6pm with qualifying and racing immediately following.
General admission tickets are $30, kids 10 and under are free. Pit passes are $40 with kids 10 and under free.