Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) led all drivers with three new track records set during USAC National competition in 2020. DB3 Inc. Photo
30 NEW TRACK RECORDS SET IN 2020 USAC COMPETITION
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 17, 2020)………Thirty new track records were set by 21 different drivers across USAC’s three national divisions during the 2020 season.
No driver earned more of them in the past year than Tanner Thorson with three. The Minden, Nev. native set the 8-lap standard in June at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway, which just so happened to be his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car appearance.
The 2016 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ also set two new one-lap records with the Midgets, first on the opening weekend of the season at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., then once again during Eastern Midget Week at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.
Thorson and C.J. Leary were the lone drivers to snare new track records in multiple divisions during the year. Leary established the one-lap standard during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying in the inaugural USAC Silver Crown run at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway in August. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) then snagged another record, for three laps, during the semifinal of the B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill during Sprint Car Smackdown IX in August at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
The breakdown of new track records by division went 21 for the Midgets, 7 for Sprint Cars and 2 for Silver Crown. Of the 30 track records, 27 of them were former records that were broken while three were newly established during first-time appearances for Silver Crown at Selinsgrove, plus the 10-lap Midget mark by Kevin Thomas Jr. at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. and the 1-lap time at Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kan. turned in by Cannon McIntosh.
A handful of the new records set this year overtook the standard that had been imprinted into the history books a long period of time, spanning multiple decades.
Aaron Pierce’s time of 6:36.928 during the qualifying race for the Hoosier Hundred set a brand new 12-lap USAC Silver Crown track record at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, eclipsing the former mark of 6:42.010, which had been held by Gene Lee Gibson since Sept. 10, 1988.
Robert Ballou set two brand new track records for sprint cars without a wing at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway during July’s Corn Belt Nationals. His 10-lap performance in the third heat race of 3:09.379 lowered the previous record set by Richard Griffin in a 1991 CRA event by more than 10 seconds. Ballou’s 16-lap time during the semi-feature of 5:25.068 broke the former record at Knoxville set by Eddie Leavitt in 1978 by a whopping 18 seconds.
Jonathan Beason’s time of 2:03.059 in heat race one of the November Classic at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway defeated the former 10-lap Midget track record that had been held by Shane Scully since 1997.
The “King of the Midgets,” Mel Kenyon, had hung onto the one-lap Midget record at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway since 1985. That event 35 years ago had been the last time series had visited the 3/8-mile dirt track prior to 2020. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, with the evolution and advancements made in the three-and-a-half decades since, that record was substantially lowered to 14.813 sec. by Kyle Larson during time trials for the Indiana Midget Week opener in June.
NEW USAC NATIONAL TRACK RECORD HOLDERS IN 2020:
3-Tanner Thorson (2 Midget & 1 Sprint)
2-C.J. Leary (1 Silver Crown & 1 Sprint)
2-Robert Ballou (2 Sprint)
2-Logan Seavey (2 Midget)
2-Cannon McIntosh (2 Midget)
2-Sam Johnson (2 Midget)
2-Kyle Larson (2 Midget)
2-Tyler Courtney (2 Midget)
1-Aaron Pierce (1 Silver Crown)
1-Jadon Rogers (1 Sprint)
1-Dave Darland (1 Sprint)
1-Chase Stockon (1 Sprint)
1-Daison Pursley (1 Midget)
1-Jonathan Beason (1 Midget)
1-Zeb Wise (1 Midget)
1-Rico Abreu (1 Midget)
1-Thomas Meseraull (1 Midget)
1-Kevin Thomas Jr. (1 Midget)
1-Ace McCarthy (1 Midget)
1-Justin Grant (1 Midget)
1-Kyle Cummins (1 Midget)
USAC SILVER CROWN TRACK RECORDS SET IN 2020:
Indiana State Fairgrounds - 1-Mile Dirt Oval - Indianapolis, Indiana
12 Laps 8/23/2020 Aaron Pierce 6:36.928 108.836 mph
Selinsgrove Speedway – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
1 Lap 8/9/2020 C.J. Leary 21.676 83.041 mph
USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR TRACK RECORDS SET IN 2020:
Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 - 1/3 Mile Dirt Oval - Pevely, Missouri
10 Laps 6/7/2020 Jadon Rogers 2:29.867 79.991 mph
12 Laps 6/7/2020 Dave Darland 2:40.932 89.389 mph
Knoxville Raceway - 1/2 Mile Dirt Oval - Knoxville, Iowa
10 Laps 7/11/2020 Robert Ballou 3:09.379 95.048 mph
12 Laps 7/10/2020 Chase Stockon 4:26.089 81.176 mph
16 Laps 7/11/2020 Robert Ballou 5:25.068 88.597 mph
Kokomo Speedway - 1/4 Mile Dirt Oval - Kokomo, Indiana
3 Laps 8/29/2020 C.J. Leary 40.950 65.934 mph
Plymouth Speedway - 3/8 Mile Dirt Oval - Plymouth, Indiana
8 Laps 6/26/2020 Tanner Thorson 1:53.920 94.803 mph
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET TRACK RECORDS SET IN 2020:
Action Track USA – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Kutztown, Pennsylvania
1 Lap 8/5/2020 Tanner Thorson 11.146 64.597 mph
10 Laps 8/5/2020 Daison Pursley 1:58.010 61.012 mph
Arizona Speedway – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – San Tan Valley, Arizona
1 Lap 11/13/2020 Logan Seavey 15.137 79.197 mph
12 Laps 11/14/2020 Logan Seavey 3:13.982 74.160 mph
Bakersfield Speedway - 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval - Bakersfield, California
10 Laps 11/17/2020 Jonathan Beason 2:03.059 97.417 mph
Bubba Raceway Park - 3/8-Mile Dirt D-Shaped Track - Ocala, Florida
1 Lap 2/8/2020 Tanner Thorson 13.724 98.368 mph
8 Laps 2/8/2020 Zeb Wise 1:52.636 95.884 mph
Caney Valley Speedway - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Caney, Kansas
1 Lap 7/19/2020 Cannon McIntosh 13.285 67.746 mph
Gas City I-69 Speedway - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Gas City, Indiana
12 Laps 6/17/2020 Rico Abreu 2:43.872 65.905 mph
Jefferson County Speedway - 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval - Fairbury, Nebraska
12 Laps 7/17/2020 Sam Johnson 2:24.855 59.646 mph
Merced Speedway - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Merced, California
1 Lap 11/21/2020 Kyle Larson 11.838 76.026 mph
10 Laps 11/21/2020 Thomas Meseraull 2:06.569 71.108 mph
Paragon Speedway - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Paragon, Indiana
1 Lap 6/16/2020 Kyle Larson 14.813 91.136 mph
Port City Raceway - 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Tulsa, Oklahoma
1 Lap 5/23/2020 Cannon McIntosh 9.398 47.883 mph
10 Laps 5/22/2020 Kevin Thomas Jr. 1:38.966 45.470 mph
Red Dirt Raceway - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Meeker, Oklahoma
1 Lap 7/21/2020 Tyler Courtney 13.108 68.660 mph
8 Laps 7/21/2020 Sam Johnson 1:49.580 65.705 mph
Southern Illinois Center - 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval - Du Quoin, Illinois
10 Laps 3/7/2020 Ace McCarthy 1:49.218 54.936 mph
Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval - Sweet Springs, Missouri
1 Lap 9/4/2020 Tyler Courtney 11.863 50.577 mph
10 Laps 9/4/2020 Justin Grant 2:03.358 48.639 mph
Wayne County Speedway - 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval - Wayne City, Illinois
10 Laps 10/9/2020 Kyle Cummins 1:51.378 40.403 mph