A LABOR OF LOVE: USAC MIDGET LABOR DAY WEEKEND HISTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sweet Springs, Missouri (September 3, 2020)………There’s nothing quite a little work on Labor Day weekend. Well, maybe. But, for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, this holiday weekend has been one in which the series has put in work throughout 47 of the series’ 64-year history.
This weekend presents the first such Labor Day weekend battle for the series in five years, however, with a doubleheader weekend with two complete racing programs at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex on both Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5.
That last such Labor Day weekend occurred in 2015. Ironically, it occurred on the same exact dates as this weekend’s events, Sept. 4-5, and was won by a driver who will be competing at Sweet Springs in 2016 USAC National Midget champ, Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.), and also featured a final night race that was 40 laps in length.
While Thorson owns two Labor Day weekend victories with the series, both coming on consecutive nights on that 2015 event at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill.
Mel Kenyon owns the most USAC National Midget feature wins with 111, so perhaps it’s not a shock that he possesses the most Labor Day weekend triumphs with eight between 1962-1985.
In fact, the three winningest drivers in USAC National Midget history reside on the top two lines of the Labor Day weekend win list. Four of Rich Vogler’s 95 wins came on this weekend while four of Bob Wente’s 78 did as well.
The full list is displayed below, featuring 80 races and 52 different race winners.
Pits open for this Friday and Saturday’s races at Sweet Springs, Mo. each night at 3pm ET with grandstands opening at 4pm, the drivers meeting set for 6pm and hot laps at 6:30pm. Tickets are $20 for adults with pit passes $35 apiece. Two-night tickets are now on sale at www.usactickets.com. Order early and you’ll receive a free USAC Midget T-shirt. Outlaw Micros are also on the event card both nights.
You can watch both nights of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing from Sweet Springs, Mo. live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3frPoW6.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND USAC NATIONAL MIDGET FEATURE WINS:
(1956-2019)
8-Mel Kenyon
4-Kevin Olson, Rich Vogler & Bob Wente
3-Tom Bigelow
2-Chuck Arnold, Tony Bettenhausen, Jimmy Caruthers, Kevin Doty, Jay Drake, Tony Elliott, Tracy Hines, Johnny Parsons, Bob Tattersall & Tanner Thorson
1-Tommy Astone, Donnie Beechler, Merle Bettenhausen, Don Branson, Hank Butcher, Tyce Carlson, Dana Carter, Pancho Carter, Danny Caruthers, Jerry Coons Jr., Bobby East, Rex Easton, Burt Foland, Gene Gennetten, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Grim, Gene Hartley, Jack Hewitt, Rick Hood, Don Horvath, Jimmy Knight, Brad Kuhn, Billy Mehner, Jan Opperman, Johnnie Parsons, Porky Rachwitz, Stevie Reeves, Chuck Rodee, Ken Schrader, Les Scott, Tony Stewart, Sleepy Tripp, Jack Turner, Billy Vukovich, Rodger Ward, Cole Whitt & Josh Wise