USAC Indiana Midget and Sprint Week dates announced for 2020

The Indiana Midget Week enters its 15th year in 2020 with a new look with the addition of Paragon Speedway as the opener to the star studded six straight nights of USAC racing June 2-7.

On Tuesday, June 2, the tricky quarter mile of Paragon, located just a little less than an hour southwest of Indianapolis, will make its debut on the Indiana Midget Week schedule by hosting its first USAC race since 1985 and its first USAC-sanctioned race of any kind since 1998.

Paragon Speedway has hosted USAC Midgets only three times in its existence, a 1977 event won by Johnny Parsons, a 1978 victory by Mel Kenyon and the 1985 race, which served as the only career USAC National win for John Andretti.

Following the opener at Paragon, on Wednesday, June 3, the series travels northbound to the quarter-mile Gas City I-69 Speedway, whose origins with the IMW series date to the inaugural year in 2005. Next, on Thursday, June 4, the 5/16 Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville is back on the IMW docket for the 11th straight year.

The quarter-mile red clay of Bloomington Speedway provides the surface as IMW enters the weekend on Friday, June 5. The three-eighths of a mile Lawrenceburg Speedway, which hosted the very first IMW event in 2005, serves as the penultimate race of the mini-series on Saturday, June 6. The 2020 IMW finale at Kokomo Speedway comes to the quarter mile venue on Sunday, June 7, which first hosted USAC Midget racing in USAC’s inaugural season of 1956.

Indiana Midget Week debuted in 2005, and throughout the past decade and a half, has developed into one of the ultimate racing destination weeks of the year. It’s a racer’s delight with each night providing a salivating offering of both USAC and local sprint car racing where several drivers will pull double duty in each type of car throughout the week for six consecutive nights.

“Indiana Midget Week is annually one of the most thrilling weeks of the USAC season,” USAC National Series Director Levi Jones said. “USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing right now is the most intense and unpredictable it’s ever been as proven by nine different winners in nine races during Indiana Midget Week over the past two seasons. Witnessing that over six nights in 2020 will be something you won’t want to miss.”

Logan Seavey is the reigning IMW champion after capturing the 2019 title. Bryan Clauson owns the most IMW career feature victories with nine. Additional past champions of IMW include Shane Cottle (2005-06), Jerry Coons, Jr. (2007), Tracy Hines (2008-10), Clauson (2009-11-16), Brad Kuhn (2010), Darren Hagen (2012), Christopher Bell (2013), Rico Abreu (2014-15), Shane Golobic (2017) and Spencer Bayston (2018).

2020 Indiana Sprint Week schedule released

The 33rd annual Indiana Sprint Week schedule will feature seven races in a nine-night span between July 24 and August 1 at seven familiar Hoosier-state venues on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car trail.

The 2020 ISW schedule includes seven distinct tracks with a rich history and unique characteristics each their own, ranging from quarter-miles to three-eighths to half-miles, with degrees of banking both flat and high throughout the mini-series, offering a unique challenge to both driver and machine throughout a rigorous week of racing.

“Indiana Sprint Week has been an annual cornerstone of USAC’s summer schedule for the past quarter century and we look forward to continue building upon its great legacy as we enter the decade of the 2020s,” Jones said.

For the eighth time overall, and first time since 2016, Gas City I-69 Speedway will host the ISW opener on Friday, July 24. The quarter mile has previously hosted the ISW opener in 2002 and each year between 2011-16. From there, the series travels due west the following day, Saturday, July 25, to the quarter-mile Kokomo Speedway, whose ISW origins date to the inaugural year of 1988. The first weekend concludes Sunday, July 26. in the southeastern part of the state at the high-banked, 3/8-mile of Lawrenceburg Speedway.

After a two-day hiatus, the series returns for a final four-day stretch beginning at the famed half-mile Terre Haute Action Track on Wednesday, July 29. Then, it’s off to the world’s fastest 5/16-mile, Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville on Thursday, July 30. Working southbound and down, the quarter-mile red clay of Bloomington Speedway hosts ISW for the 33rd consecutive year on Friday, July 31 and concludes with the ISW finale Saturday, August 1 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, the first time ISW will have reached into the month of August since 1993.

Indiana Sprint Week debuted in 1988, but first became USAC-sanctioned in 1996. Since then, the event has grown from a single weekend to seven races over a week-and-a-half span and has become one of the marquee events, and most sought after tickets, on the USAC schedule that draws massive crowds and welcomes travelers from around the world, both driver and fan alike.

The USAC National Sprint Car division’s winningest driver, Dave Darland, owns the most Indiana Sprint Week victories with 20. Levi Jones and Kevin Thomas have the most ISW titles with four. Newly crowned 2019 USAC Sprint Car champion C.J. Leary captured the most recent Indiana Sprint Week title this past summer.

Larson sweeps California events

NASCAR’s Kyle Larson won the Hangtown 100 on November 20 the Placerville Speedway in Placerville, California. The 1/4-mile dirt oval saw Larson lay claim as the winner of the richest event in USAC NOS Energy Drink National and Western States Midget history, earning $20,000 for the 100-lap feature victory and an extra $12,000 bonus as the overall points champion of the inaugural event for a whopping $32,000 in total earnings for the evening.

The win at Placerville was Larson’s 17th career USAC National Midget win moved into a tie for 37th all-time with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley, but this was the first in his own racecar after winning 15 of his previous 16 for the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian team between 2011 June of 2019.

On November 29 at the Ventura Raceway in Ventura, California Larson won the Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC Midget event for a third time, joining Ron Shuman (8), Billy Boat (3) and Christopher Bell (3) as one of the Mt. Rushmore figures to win the event on at least three occasions following previous victories in 2012 and 2016.

“I’ve always run well at the Turkey Night Grand Prix,” Larson admitted. “To get another one feels great. I had to work hard for that one, everybody did, just to get to the checkered flag. It was extremely rough, but fun too because it was challenging, and the ruts changed all throughout the race.”

The race was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night but was pushed back to Friday because of heavy rains.

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