BELOIT, Kan. – The Chad McDaniel Memorial returns to Solomon Valley Raceway on Wednesday, July 14, for the 10th edition of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget event that honors the life and memory of the Kansas racer who perished during a 2009 USAC Midget event in Knoxville, Iowa.
The race will mark the lone appearance in the state of Kansas for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets in 2021 and the 80th overall in series history, which made its debut in the Sunflower State in 1957.
The $4,000-to-win, 30-lap feature resumes a north central Kansas tradition after a three-year hiatus. The first nine runnings of the Chad McDaniel Memorial were held annually between 2010 and 2018 on the quarter-mile dirt oval at Solomon Valley, and has been sanctioned by USAC since 2013.
Past winners of the event include Brad Kuhn (2010), Scott Hatton (2012), Christopher Bell (2013 & 2017), Bryan Clauson (2014 & 2016) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (2015 & 2018). The 2011 race was rained out just prior to the start of the feature event.
Solomon Valley marks the second event of the Mid-America Midget Week tour, which brings the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship to the heartland, covering four races over a span of five nights in three different states in the Great Plains.
The Mid-America Midget Week tour begins with Tuesday Night Thunder at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Okla. on July 13, followed the next night by Kansas’ Solomon Valley Raceway on Wednesday, July 15, then concludes with three consecutive nights at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Neb. for the Midwest Midget Championship, leading off with a practice night on Thursday, July 15 before concluding with full racing events on Friday, July 16 and Saturday, July 17.