TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Iconic race cars and an iconic American dirt track are the setting for the final dirt race of the USAC Silver Crown National Championship season this Sunday at the Terre Haute Action Track for the 20th running of the Sumar Classic.
Twenty-nine competitors, ranging from the wise and experienced veterans to the brash and bold upstarts encompass the field who are vying for the glory of becoming a champ car winner at the hallowed grounds of Terre Haute.
The Sumar Classic began in 1995, and the anticipation for this Sunday’s event is at a fever pitch for the 100-lap, 50-miler named after the wives of Terre Haute businessmen and Sumar Special car owners Chapman Root and Don Smith (Sue and Mary).
THREE-PEAT FOR GRANT?
Justin Grant’s two-race winning streak at the Sumar Classic spans across multiple generations! Well, not quite, but it sure seems like it.
Grant’s first Sumar Classic triumph came in 2018 and his second arrived in 2022. In that six-year span, only those two races have been run due to a series of rainouts and COVID-outs.
Both of Grant’s Sumar Classic wins came in dramatic fashion. He endured a duel with Kody Swanson before leading the final 17 laps to prevail in 2018. In 2022, he defeated Jerry Coons Jr. on a restart with four laps remaining to score once more.
No driver has won the Sumar Classic three times in a row, let alone three times overall. Grant, who has already won twice on the dirt with the series this year, takes his shot this Sunday.
PAST SUMAR WINNERS
Three past Sumar Classic winners are among the bunch in this Sunday’s field with Justin Grant, C.J. Leary and Kody Swanson in the lineup. They’re among the group of 14 different race winners in the past 16 runnings of the event dating back to 1999.
Grant broke the string of consecutive different Sumar Classic champions by becoming the first repeat winner in the history of the event in 2022. He’s now one of three two-time Sumar winners alongside Donnie Beechler (1995 & 1997) and Tony Elliott (1998 & 2002) and will now attempt to become the first three-time victor. Grant, the 2020 Silver Crown champion, has made five career starts in the event, winning his first one in 2018.
C.J. Leary made the winning move to capture his first career Silver Crown victory during the 2016 Sumar Classic and has finished inside the top 10 in all five of his Sumar Classic starts with a pair of runners-up in 2015 and 2017, plus a fifth in 2018. In 2022, he led the first 45 laps before a flat tire relegated him to a 10th-place result.
Point leader Kody Swanson goes for a second career Sumar Classic triumph after capturing his first dirt half-mile victory with the series back in 2014. The seven-time series champion has finished inside the top-10 in all eight of his Sumar starts, taking seventh in 2022 after starting from the pole position following previous top-flight runs of second in 2018 and a pair of thirds in 2016-2017.
FIRST-TIMER STREAK
Wildly enough, every single half-mile dirt oval race during the 2024 USAC Silver Crown season has featured a first-time series winner.
Kaylee Bryson (Belleville), Daison Pursley (Port Royal), Kevin Thomas Jr. (Salt City) and Mitchel Moles (Eldora) have all scored first USAC Silver Crown wins this season, all on dirt half-miles.
Over the years, five drivers have won their first career USAC Silver Crown race during the Sumar Classic: Sunday’s grand marshal Donnie Beechler (1995), Kevin Thomas (1996), Tony Elliott (1998), Josh Wise (2005) and C.J. Leary (2016).
TRANSLATING THE SUCCESS
All of these individuals who’ve made previous starts in the Sumar Classic – Brady Bacon, Logan Seavey and Chase Stockon – have all tasted the sweetness of a Terre Haute Action Track victory in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition and remain on the prowl for a first Sumar score.
At the Sumar, Bacon has made five starts, finishing a best of third in 2022 after starting all the way back in the 16th spot. Stockon’s most recent, and only, Sumar start came in 2015, finishing 11th. Meanwhile, USAC Silver Crown racing’s championship runner-up in 2021-22, Seavey, made a successful Sumar Classic debut run in 2022, finishing fourth.
All three have been strong in USAC Silver Crown competition this year, but Sunday’s Terre Haute race presents their final opportunity to win one in 2024.
THE ROOKIE RACE
The majority of this weekend’s field belongs to Sumar Classic first-timers. Among them are Silver Crown rookies and race winners Daison Pursley and Mitchel Moles.
In fact, much of the year has belonged to seeing new faces in Silver Crown victory lane. Of the seven drivers to win a Silver Crown race in 2024, four of them are first-time winners, begging the question of ‘who could be next?’
Briggs Danner is coming off consecutive third-place finishes at Du Quoin and Eldora. Leading 2024 USAC Silver Crown Rookie Trey Osborne has finished on the podium this year and looks to contend with the likes of Pennsylvania winged sprint car regular Chase Dietz who has finished a best of second in his USAC Silver Crown career on the half-mile at Port Royal as well as the always-fast Mario Clouser.
As far as the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year race goes, Osborne leads Nathan Moore by 53 markers with two races remaining.
BATEMAN FOREVER
Sunday also presents one final hurrah for the Bateman Racing team. Forty-two years since their 1982 series debut with the series, the team will make its last USAC Silver Crown appearance.
Jerry Coons Jr., the 2008 series champion, will drive the familiar No. 55, led by Patty Bateman and crew.
Terre Haute hits close to home for Coons and Bateman. In 2022, it’s where the team came closest to victory, leading with four laps to go before being passed for the win on the final restart. Despite the heartbreak, the runner-up finish was the best in Bateman Racing history.
In three starts this season, Coons has driven the Bateman car to 6th at Belleville, a fourth at Springfield and another fourth at Du Quoin. On Sunday, they eye a first Bateman Racing Silver Crown win in their 83rd career start.