USAC Leaders Gardner, Clauson Prepare for Toledo's July 2 Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Night
USAC Leaders Gardner, Clauson Prepare for Toledo's July 2 Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Night
(TOLEDO, Ohio - June 26, 2010) - Current United States Auto Club points leaders Damion Gardner and Bryan Clauson will lead the list of entries as Toledo Speedway prepares for its annual open-wheel doubleheader featuring both the AMSOIL National Sprint Car and Mopar Midget Series. Local businessman Ron Hemelgarn, through Hemelgarn Racing and Super Fitness, will sponsor the USAC show Friday, July 2. Both divisions will compete without wings, per USAC rules.
Gardner, a resident of Concord, Calif., has emerged as the Sprint Car points leader heading into a busy stretch in the 2010 schedule for USAC. Levi Jones of Olney, Ill., Clauson of Noblesville, Ind., Jerry Coons Jr. of Tucson, Ariz., and Chris Windom of Canton, Ill. are the top five drivers in points.
On the Midget side of the event, Clauson is ahead of veteran Tracy Hines (New Castle, Ind.), Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, Calif.), Brad Kuhn (Avon, Ind.), and Bobby East (Brownsburg, Ind.) as the National tour moves to the half-mile, paved Glass City oval for the July 2 contest.
East won a hard-fought, exciting battle in last year's Toledo USAC Sprint feature, while Bobby Santos III claimed the Midget portion of the event. Both winners are also expected to be in competition at the track next Friday.
Cole Whitt holds the USAC Sprint Car single-lap mark, clocking in at 14.761 seconds in last year's event. Sweet has the Midget lap record at 14.983 seconds, also set last July. Those records could be in jeopardy, as Toledo's smooth, lightning-fast asphalt surface has yielded several new marks already in the 2010 season.
Toledo has hosted USAC events on and off since the mid 1970s. Tom Sneva, Pancho Carter, Gary Bettenhausen, George Snider, and others blazed the path through tracks such as Toledo on their way to the Indy Cars and the Indianapolis 500. In recent years, the likes of Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, J.J. Yeley, and others cut their teeth in the USAC ranks, moving on to national notoriety with NASCAR and the IRL.
The Friday, July 2 show will kick off the Independence Day holiday weekend. The front gates will open at 4 p.m., with practice at that time. Time trials are set for 5:30 and racing begins at 7:30 p.m. Several restored historic race cars are expected to be on display in the spectator concourse during the show, and the track will host a Racer's Reunion for USAC stars of the past.
Race fans can save $5 per ticket by purchasing advance tickets prior to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 1. General admission and reserved seating is available in advance for this event by calling the track at (419) 727-1100. VISA and Mastercard are accepted for phone orders.
Toledo Speedway's high-banked, half-mile paved oval is located on Benore Road at the I-75/Alexis Road exit on the Michigan-Ohio border. For updated information, visit the Speedway's website at http://www.toledospeedway.com/.