The Left Turn
By: Ron Burt
28 USAC Midwest D2 Thunder Midgets showed up at Montpelier Speedway IN for the season opener. Congrats to Matt Lux, taking the feature win and ending the night in victory lane. At the start of the feature Matt drove from 7th to 1st. The lead did slip away for several laps until Matt gained it back just before the halfway mark. Lux held the lead through a late final lap caution and secured victory after the restart. Behind your winner was Kole Kirkman, Gunnar Lucius, Drew Rader and Bryce Massingill. Other winners at Montpelier Speedway Saturday, UMP Modifieds Dillon Nusbaum, Super Stocks Tony Anderson and Compacts Brian Isley. The USAC Midwest D2 Thunder Midgets will have a non-points race on May 2nd at Eldora Speedway.
Congratulations to race promoter Larry Boos. He was just named race director at the Mansfield Speedway. Larry runs the annual Rumble in Fort Wayne during the Christmas holidays. Over $5,000,000.00 has been invested in the former NASCAR track at Mansfield. It’s now a half mile dirt oval, featuring new lighting, grandstands, 1 million dollar jumbotron and many updated changes. The track will run special races throughout the summer, motocross, nights of destruction and concerts. Mansfield Speedway is about 90 minutes straight east of Delphos on US 30.
Thursday, April 23rd, racing great Larry Moore passed away in a Dayton nursing facility after an extended illness. Moore was one of the best to strap into a Dirt Late Model among many other types of race cars during his long career. The Hall of Fame Driver was the first three-time winner of Eldora’s World 100 in 1979, 1981 and 1985. He started the prestigious race 12 times and finished 6 times on the podium. Moore won the Dirt Track World Championship in 1987 at Pennsboro Speedway in W. Va. He’s still one of the sports winningest drivers and his career went into the 1990’s with many track and series championships. Larry Moore was 83.
Saturday, April 25th history was made at the Bullring in Kokomo Indiana. Justin Grant tied a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Record. He’s now in an elite class of drivers. Just four drivers, Steve Lotshaw, Rich Vogler, Tony Stewart and now Justin Grant, have won 3 season openers in the series history. When it came time for the feature Saturday night, Zach Wigal former USAC D2 Thunder Midget Champion had the pole and Justin Grant last year’s Kokomo Grand Prix winner was in P4. On lap 13 Wigal was leading but got caught up in lapped traffic and Grant used the high side of the track to pass and never looked back. On the 30th and final lap Grant had a half track lead over Wigal. At the end the only battle on the track was for the final spot on the podium. That went to Jacob Denney, He started the feature 19th and fought 30 laps to move into 3rd. The race had only two leaders, Wigal 1-12 and Grant 13-30. The night’s fastest qualifier was Kevin Thomas Jr.,13.074.
The Midgets returned to Kokomo Speedway again Sunday, April 26th. Jacob Denney won the USAC Midget Feature, followed by his teammate Gavin Miller, Kevin Thomas Jr., Justin Grant and Jakeb Boxell;
The 350 Outlaw Supermodified Series announced Dick Meyers and Ram Engineering will be one of their sponsors in 2026. He’s been a loyal supporter of the series, car owners and race teams.
The Great Lakes Super Sprints were set to open the 2026 Season Series on Friday, April 24th at Michigan’s I-96 Speedway and unfortunately it was canceled because of the threat of bad weather. The race teams all stayed up north to compete the following night at Crystal Motor Speedway. Mother nature cooperated on Saturday for the lightning fast 360 Sprints. Fast time and a new track record was set by Zane Devault 11.930. There was no stopping him in the feature. He ended up in Victory Lane followed by 2nd Dustin Daggett 3rd Van Gurley Jr., 4th Max Stambaugh and 5th Korbin Gurley. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron Out!
