TOLEDO’S USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST RELEASED FOR SATURDAY’S 100-LAPPER
TOLEDO’S USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST RELEASED FOR SATURDAY’S 100-LAPPER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Toledo, Ohio (August 3, 2022)………A loaded field of 24 USAC Silver Crown racers and teams will file into Ohio’s Toledo Speedway this Saturday night, August 6, for the Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic fueled by Marco’s Pizza, as the champ cars pound the pavement in the Glass City.
The field includes a pair of past Rollie Beale Classic winners and two of the best pavement racers in the entire country as they vie for another victory in the 100-lapper on the half-mile paved oval.
The last time the champ cars competed at Toledo was last fall, in October of 2021, with USAC’s most prolific driver, six-time champion Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif., celebrating in victory lane. Swanson enters the event as defending race winner, and has won each of the last three, among his grand total of five USAC Silver Crown race victories at Toledo in 2011-15-18-19-21. He’s also the Silver Crown Series’ most recent winner at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in mid-July.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) will be among the contenders to capture the 100-lap victory after he previously scored the Rollie Beale Classic win at Toledo in 2017. He’s also already been in Silver Crown victory this season with a dazzling performance in May of this year at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Series point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has emerged as a frontrunner to reckon with on the pavement. The highly-decorated dirt racer and past USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion won in his last time on the asphalt with the series in June at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway. He’ll be making his first Toledo appearance since 2019.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) will be aiming to make gains toward a Silver Crown championship run with a solid Toledo finish. He’s already been in victory lane on the dirt with the series this season at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. Seavey is a past USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Champion from the 2018 season and, at Toledo.
A mere three-points separate the top-three in the USAC Silver Crown championship fight with Swanson leading over Seavey and Leary who are each tied, three points apiece behind Swanson. Both Seavey and Leary are pursuing a first Silver Crown driving title.
Past champion Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) will attempt to earn his first victory at Toledo on Saturday. The 2020 Silver Crown titlist’s car is owned by Toledo-area native and 1996 Indianapolis 500 winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn.
Local racer Austin Nemire (Sylvania, Ohio) will make the short trek to Toledo where he’s made four previous Toledo Silver Crown starts, all of which have resulted in top-eight finishes.
Brian Tyler (Parma, Mich.) is among the plethora of champions in the lineup slated to make a run at Toledo. The 1996 and 1997 USAC National Sprint Car champ was a third-place finisher in his most recent Toledo outing with the Silver Crown series in 2021.
National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Eric Gordon (Greenfield, Ind.) is a veteran racer who possesses past Toledo success as a USAC Sprint Car feature winner.
Taylor Ferns (Shelby Township, Mich.) will look to best her history-making record in USAC Silver Crown competition when she finished third in May at IRP, which stands as the best finish by a woman in Silver Crown history.
The Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic Fueled by Marco’s Pizza will feature the USAC Silver Crown National Championship plus the ARCA Salenbien Excavating Late Model Sportsman and a 100 lap The Vault ARCA Factory Stock feature to cap off the night of action. Vintage Race Cars will also be on display.
The USAC pit gate opens/rig parking begins at 2pm Eastern on race day Saturday. The track ticket office opens and spectator gates open at 4:30pm. USAC Silver Crown practice runs from 4:30-5:15pm. USAC Silver Crown Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying begins at 5:45pm. Parade laps for the vintage cars is slated for 6:35pm. USAC Silver Crown cars and drivers will be called to front stretch at 6:50pm.
Getting closer to showtime, there will be a Beale family introduction, a brief racer reunion, the national anthems starting at 6:50 followed by driver introductions and the Rollie Beale Classic main event at 7pm.
Tickets are $25, kids 6-12 are $5, while ages 5 and under are free. Add $1 per ticket for online ticket purchases at http://www.toledospeedway.com/.