What an amazing weekend of racing for the sprintcar world!  First let me introduce you to sprintcars.  These dirt diggin’ machines are one of the reasons dirt racing is still around.  Sprintcars are dirt racing automobiles that usually come in different classes and varieties of engine sizes.  The three most popular levels or classes from slowest to fastest are all the same car but with a 305, 360, and 410 cubic inch motors.  There is also a class that only one series successfully runs, that is called Silver Crown.  The largest sanctioning bodies or groups for these cars are IMCA (International Motor Contest Association), ASCS (American Sprint Car Series), NSL (National Sprintcar League),  ASCoC ( All Star Circuit of Champions),  USAC ( United States Auto Club),  and WoO ( World of Outlaws).

We will focuson on USAC and ASCS.  First, let’s start off with USAC.  USAC’s non-wing sprint car feature on September 24, was a great show between two young talented drivers.  Those two drivers were Chris Windom and Justin Grant.  Grant was dominant the whole feature, but Windom was on his heels the whole time.  The whole race was exciting passing and restarts.  Windom and Grant would pass each other back and forth until Grant found a great path to drive in on the track and stole the show, by pulling off from Windom to about 3 car lengths.  There was a yellow but Grant was too fast.  Grant would go on to win the feature and $8000.00.

Later that night, in the Silver Crown A-main, teammates for the night Tyler Courtney and Chris Windom, who are also best friends that live together, started side by side on the front row.  Courtney has two wins in the sprint-car series for USAC this year, and Windom has dominated the Silver Crown series.  Windom was tied for the most wins this season with three wins.  When the green flag went off in the feature, Windom clearly was faster than everybody else pulling off by about two to three car lengths on the first straightaway.  Windom is an exceptional driver in lap traffic, and smart about certain situations.  He was also leading the points for the Silver Crown series and needed to win to secure his points championship.  Courtney would have to let Windom win.  Courtney didn’t have to let Windom win because, he was untouchable.  Courtney was battling with the best of the best of Silver Crown and he has only run a handful of races in those types of cars.  Courtney was passing back and forth with good contenders.  Kody Swanson just had to finish 3^rd or better and the championship was his if Windom didn’t win, but Swanson, the two-time consecutive Silver Crown champion, collided with a lapped car and broke.  Windom went on to lap every car except second place to win the $8000.00 feature!  Justin Grant came in second, and Tyler Courtney came in third. 

Next up, we have ASCS for the $10,000.00 prize.  The top three contenders all night long on the same night of the USAC race were Sammy Swindell, a three-time World of Outlaws champion with an additional 294 recorded career wins.  Sam Hafertepe Jr. is a great contender with 8 wins this season and has a healthy lead in the ASCS national points.  Then, the last of the three most-deadly threats of the night is Wayne Johnson who regularly runs for the ASCS and WoO series.  Johnson is always one man that you can’t count out of the mix of great drivers.  The whole night was exciting with great action from these three drivers.  Swindell started in the 1^st position and had a steady speed, but Sam Hafertepe Jr. who started 6^th was all over Swindell.  They were passing back and forth for the lead most of the race with occasional cautions causing periods to where they could regather under yellow.  Hafertepe Jr. passed Swindell for the lead about halfway through the race.  Hafertepe and Swindell continued in those positions, while Swindell was right behind Sam.  Then suddenly Swindell made a pass and collided with Hafertepe Jr.!  The collision left Hafertepe Jr. losing control and falling back to 4^th.  Wayne Johnson was in third while this happened and took the opportunity to move into the 2^nd position.  Johnson was patient and stayed behind Swindell.  Unexpectedly, Johnson shot under Swindell on the last lap for the $10,000 paycheck.

That is all of the best sprintcar action that happened on September 24.  Dirt racing does not get any better than that!