DUQUOIN, Ill. – Three more USAC national champions in Logan Seavey, Tyler Courtney and Chris Windom have entered the fray for Saturday’s Factory Canopies Shamrock Classic at the Southern Illinois Center.
The car count has exploded to nearly 60 entries for the fourth annual event, which serves as the third NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series race of the season.
Seavey, the defending USAC National Midget Series champion, returns as the reigning Shamrock Classic winner after scoring the first USAC win of his career a season ago.
The Sutter, Calif., native leads a list of five from the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian stable, including Tucker Klaasmeyer, Holley Hollan, Jesse Colwell and Tanner Carrick.
Courtney, the reigning USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series champion, is also a USAC midget victor on the indoor sixth-mile dirt oval. Sunshine won the 2016 Junior Knepper 55 in DuQuoin and arrives as the point leader after winning the season’s first two races.
Courtney’s Clauson Marshall Racing counterpart, Chris Windom, aims to make his first Shamrock Classic start on Saturday. The Canton, Ill. driver has won twice on the adjacent DuQuoin State Fairgrounds mile in a Silver Crown car, triumphing in both 2016 and 2018.
Last year’s third-place finisher, Zeb Wise, and rookie-of-the-year contender Andrew Layser make up the rest of the stout CMR lineup.
Justin Grant won the Shamrock in 2017 for his first career series win and hopes to become the first driver to enter victory lane twice in USAC competition at the Southern Illinois Center, this time at the wheel of the RAMS Racing No. 4a.
Chad Boat could be a prime candidate to score his first DuQuoin victory after finishing seventh a year ago, while C.J. Leary kicked off his FMR Racing debut with a pair of top-fives in Ocala to begin the season.
Billy Wease was victorious in the 2006 Turkey Night Grand Prix, while a little bit of international flavor arrives in Michael Pickens from New Zealand, who has raced to four career USAC National Midget wins.
Pickens will pilot the RMS LLC No. 1nz, as part of the same team which won last December’s Southern Illinois Center event with Thomas Meseraull.
Also entered for the Shamrock Classic are several USAC Triple Crown title-holders, who own championships in Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series and National Midget Series competition.
Dave Darland will be a teammate to Pickens in the RMS LLC No. 36, while Jerry Coons Jr. climbs back aboard the Petry Motorsports No. 25.
Meanwhile, two-time USAC National Sprint Car Series champion Brady Bacon will wheel the Kelly Hinck-owned No. 21h.
Past USAC National Midget Series rookie of the year Kevin Thomas Jr. returns to the Petry Motorsports No. 5 after finishing as the runner-up spot in both his initial outings in February during Florida Speedweeks.
Last fall, Tyler Thomas became the first driver to win his first career USAC national sprint car and national midget races in the same season since Kyle Larson in 2011. He returns to DuQuoin in his own No. 91t.
To view the complete entry list, advance to the next page.