TOLEDO, Ohio — It’s last call as the USAC Silver Crown trail comes to the end of the road on Saturday afternoon.
The place is Toledo Speedway. The race is the 13th running of the Hemelgarn Racing / Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic as the champ cars make their curtain call for the year on the half-mile, high-banked paved oval in the upper northwest part of Ohio.
A fierce Rookie of the Year battle is at play this weekend, as are intriguing debuts, and several drivers aiming to finish their season on a high note.
The event remembers Toledo’s racing hero, 1973 USAC National Sprint Car champion Rollie Beale, who also later became a highly respected USAC official and served as the chief steward for both the Silver Crown and National Sprint Car series for many years.
LEARY LOCKED IN
C.J. Leary enters the Toledo finale playing with house money. He’s already clinched the USAC Silver Crown championship, the first of his career. Amazingly, he’s the first Indiana born USAC Silver Crown driving champion since Tracy Hines 26 years ago in 2000.
Two of Leary’s three USAC Silver Crown wins in 2026 have occurred on the asphalt, at WWT Raceway and Iowa Speedway. Furthermore, he’s currently on a string of an all-time record 15 consecutive top-five finishes with the series dating back to mid-July 2025.
Of course, he’d like to put the cherry on top to complete a perfect season of top-fives. But he wants more than that. In his career at Toledo, he’s finished second twice in 2023 and 2024 and was fifth one year ago.
CALLING GRANT
Justin Grant enters Toledo as the defending winner of the Rollie Beale Classic at Toledo, leading all 100 laps from his outside front row starting position in April 2025 en route to the series championship.
However, this year, despite several strong runs, he’s been absent from USAC Silver Crown victory lane. He has six top-five finishes and has been in contention to win many of them. However, victory has eluded him.
He owns the current longest streak of years with at least one Silver Crown victory with five dating back to 2021. Toledo marks his final opportunity of 2026 to extend that run.
Toledo also presents a special opportunity for Grant and his Hemelgarn Racing team. Hemelgarn, a Toledo businessman who owns the Super Fitness health club, is a longtime sponsor of the Rollie Beale Classic and was instrumental in bringing open wheel racing back to Toledo Speedway during the 2000s.
REINBOLD VS. HINTON
Hayden Reinbold and Chelby Hinton are separated by just six points in the battle for USAC Silver Crown Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year honors. Both drivers will be making their Toledo debut.
Gilbert, Arizona’s Reinbold will make his first pavement start of any kind in his career in the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports No. 19. The ride is a borrowed car from the Team AZ Racing / Petty-Rossi / Curb-Agajanian stable. Reinbold won the season opener back in May at the Kansas State Fairgrounds.
Louisiana’s Hinton will hit the Toledo pavement for the first time in his career aboard the Breidinger Motorsports No. 80. In his five USAC Silver Crown starts this season, Hinton has yet to finish outside the top-10. His best run to date was a sixth at Du Quoin in September.
DOUBLE DUTY
Along with USAC Silver Crown action, the 500 Sprint Car Tour will also be on hand for its event at Toledo in an open wheel doubleheader.
At least three drivers are planning to pull double-duty by competing in both divisions this Saturday: Tyler Roahrig, Dakoda Armstrong and Nathan Byrd.
Roahrig finished second in last year’s Toledo USAC Silver Crown race while Armstrong took third. Byrd was a sixth-place Toledo finisher in 2021.
On top of everything else, Byrd will be traveling back and forth between Toledo Speedway and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America where he is competing in the SCCA Runoffs in the Formula Atlantic division.
TOLEDO DEBUTS
Eight of the 18 drivers in Saturday’s field will be making their Toledo USAC Silver Crown debuts.
Among that group are top Rookie of the Year contenders Hayden Reinbold and Chelby Hinton, plus two-time 2026 series winner Briggs Danner as well as USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner Kale Drake, who’ll be making his pavement champ car debut.
Chase Cabre will make his first Toledo champ car run as will Robert Tyler. Additionally, two more drivers will be making their first USAC Silver Crown appearance of any kind this Saturday: northeast Supermodified and NEMA Midget star Chase Locke and East Coast winged sprint car racer Jared Kreider.
They’ll be facing off with series veterans such as Kyle Hamilton who returns to Toledo for the first time since a sixth place USAC Silver Crown finish in 2019. Kaylee Bryson made her USAC Silver Crown debut at Toledo in 2022 and finished sixth in 2023. Mario Clouser, who ranks fourth in the standings, also finished sixth at Toledo in 2024. Fifth in points in Gregg Cory who finished 13th in 2024. Dave Berkheimer, sixth in points, took a 17th place Toledo result in 2025.
CROWN FINALES
Saturday will mark the fourth time the USAC Silver Crown season finale has been held at Toledo Speedway. Jerry Coons Jr. won the first in 2010, while Kody Swanson won the Toledo finale in both 2011 and 2021.
Swanson owns the most USAC Silver Crown finale victories with five. Just one driver in this Saturday’s field has won a finale. That’s C.J. Leary who earned the last win of the 2018 season at Eldora.
Speaking of Leary, he’s looking to become the 11th driver to win both the season finale and the USAC Silver Crown championship during the same season. That list includes: Al Unser (1973), Bobby Olivero (1979), Gary Bettenhausen (1980), Jack Hewitt (1986), Steve Butler (1992), Jimmy Sills (1996), J.J. Yeley (2002 & 2003), Bobby East (2012), Kody Swanson (2014, 2015, 2021 & 2024), and Chris Windom (2016).
Aaron Pierce won the 2006 season finale as a driver at Kansas Speedway. He’ll try to get it done with his team on Saturday at Toledo with Chase Cabre in the seat.
Brian Tyler also achieved the same feat in the 2000 finale at Memphis Motorsports Park. His son, Robert Tyler, will be competing on Saturday with his father turning the wrenches.
