TRENTON, N.J. — In what he described as being his last race behind the wheel of a Slingshot, Cody Bleau rode off into the sunset in the best way possible by dominating Thursday’s Slingshot feature as part of the opening night of the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals inside CURE Insurance Arena.
The victory, worth $500, was the Rensselaer, N.Y., driver’s first with the Indoor Auto Racing Championship. It was the first time in eight years Slingshots have gotten to sling mud around the arena floor.
“It feels good for me but more importantly, it’s great for the team because there are so many people involved in this,” the 34-year-old. “Don’t get me wrong, these guys are going to be pushing me to get back into the car. Maybe I’ll run a Slingshot during the outdoor season, but I don’t know. I have a lot of hobbies outside of driving that will keep me going. But whether I’m driving or not, I’m still going to come down and hang out with everybody. The friendships matter to me.”
While the stat sheet will show Bleau lead all 25 laps from the pole, the drive to victory lane was far from a cakewalk as he had to battle a rough race track, knife through lapped traffic and keep a hungry pack of drivers behind on the restart
“My biggest concern was not letting somebody pass me on the outside,” Bleau said. “So, the smoothest I drove the car into the corner, the better I felt. Traffic was tough, but having raced this series for five or six years now, I kind of knew who you need to be careful around. But everyone stayed up a groove for the most part, so I’m glad everything worked out.”
As he worked traffic, James Benz was hounding the rear bumper of the No. 173 and even gave him a shot in the back bumper going into turn three. But Bleau got some relief with three laps to go, when the final caution of the night came out.
When green replaced yellow, Bleau could just see the trophy dangling in front of his eyes and he blasted away into the New Jersey night for the emotional score. Benz, Alex Rainsmith, Brett Bieber and Cody Kohler completed the top five.
Bieber was crowned the 2026 Indoor Auto Racing champion.
“These races are special because a lot of eyes are on them,” Bieber said. “I didn’t really come here expecting to win the championship, but we had a unique set of circumstances that allowed for it to be possible and we completed all the laps tonight. I won the Action Track U.S.A. championship without winning a feature, so it’s nice to know we got something out of it at the end of the night. We were consistent at all of the races this year, so I know my sponsors and my parents were happy.”
The first Jr. Sprint feature in the history of the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals didn’t disappoint as seven-year-old Stetson Stroup, of Owensboro, Ky., made a daring move down the inside of Aiden Buckwalter with six laps to go and fending off a charge from Buckwalter that saw his car get out of shape to win the 20-lap main event.
The event was highlighted by an epic duel between Preston Trautschold and Buckwalter that resulted in the pair trading the position multiple times in turns three and four during the opening few laps.
However, the battle ended on lap 11 when the duo, who were side-by-side down the frontstretch, attempted to dispatch a slower car. The tight corners racing resulted in Buckwalter’s left front catching Trautschold’s right rear, sending him upside down.
