SWEET SPRINGS SUNDAY SET AS FOR USAC MID-AMERICA MIDGET WEEK FINALE
Sweet Springs, Missouri (July 10, 2019)………One year ago, Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex made a thrilling debut on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget schedule with a large count of 40 plus drivers and a spectacular feature in which Logan Seavey tracked down the lead with just four laps remaining to secure the victory en route to a USAC National title.
This Sunday, July 14, the 1/6-mile dirt oval at Sweet Springs once again serves as the finale for “Mid-America Midget Week.” Though the history of USAC Midget racing at Sweet Springs is short, the series’ history in the “Show-Me State” of Missouri has an extensive track record dating to 1957. It was there that a guy by the name of A.J. Foyt won his very first career USAC National event, at Olympic Stadium in Kansas City.
Over the past six decades, 38 USAC National Midget events have been run in Missouri with hometown boy and 1963 series champ Bob Wente leading the way with three victories alongside 1965-66 champ Mick McGreevy and Henry Pens. Missouri’s Danny Frye won two while Arnie and Steve Knepper from bordering Illinois snagged a couple apiece. Champs Bob Tattersall and Rich Vogler each found their way to USAC Midget victory lane twice as well.
Prior to Seavey’s win at Sweet Springs in 2018, it had been a decade-plus since the USAC Midgets last arrived in Missouri, back in 2006 at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri. In 2019, Seavey and Coons are both top-shelf competitors in the series. In fact, it was those same two racing for the win during the final laps in Tuesday’s “Mid-America Midget Week” opener at Red Dirt Raceway in Oklahoma, with Seavey ultimately prevailing.
Sunday at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex in Sweet Springs, Missouri, the drivers meeting begins at 5pm (Central), followed by engine heat and hot laps at 5:30pm. Adult general admission tickets are $20, kids 12 and under general admission is free and pit passes are $30 apiece for members and $35 for non-members.
Leading up to the Sunday finale at Sweet Springs, Mo., the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets are in action during the meat of “Mid-America Midget Week,” Thursday, July 11, at the Concordia High Banks in Concordia, Kansas for the “Chad McDaniel Memorial,” before heading to Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway Friday-Saturday, July 12-13 for the “Midwest Midget Championship.”
ALL-TIME USAC MIDGET WINNERS IN MISSOURI (Through 2018)
1. (3) Mike McGreevy, Henry Pens & Bob Wente
4. (2) Danny Frye, Arnie Knepper, Steve Knepper, Bob Tattersall & Rich Vogler
9. (1) Steve Cannon, Bill Chennault, Jerry Coons, Jr., Tommy Copp, Jimmy Davies, Jay Drake, Rex Easton, A.J. Foyt, Steve Gennetten, Jason Leffler, Jerry McClung, Andy Michner, J.R. Miller, Richard Powell, Stevie Reeves, Logan Seavey, Dave Strickland, Joe Walter & Terry Wente