BRANDON, S.D. — Kerry Madsen has enjoyed a consistent streak of races with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and he showed it again Monday at Huset’s Speedway.
The veteran driver from St. Marys, New South Wales, Australia ran third in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 14 to notch his eighth consecutive top-six finish against the Outlaws.
Though Madsen has yet to win with The Greatest Show on Dirt this season, his average finish since May 14 is a stellar 3.875.
Monday night, Madsen believed he had one of the fastest cars on track, but a rubbered-down racing surface and lack of track position during the second half of the race worked against him.
“What a fun car to drive. These [Ford] engines just suit me so much,” Madsen said after the race. “We really had a fast race car tonight and I really felt it in the middle of the race. At that point, I was getting really excited, but then the track gripped up around the middle and I couldn’t get a good rhythm through lapped traffic. That was where I lost a bit of ground.
“When I saw the blue spike [Brad Sweet] roll up on me, I knew I had to cool it and bring this thing home for a podium.”
Astonishingly, though Madsen is a 15-time World of Outlaws sprint car winner, he hasn’t visited victory lane with the tour since July 7, 2018 at Wisconsin’s Cedar Lake Speedway.
Then, Madsen was racing for Big Game Motorsports — the team that David Gravel, who won Monday night’s feature at Huset’s, now drives for.
• Known as “Lady Lightning,” Tiffin, Ohio’s Paige Polyak made her 48th World of Outlaws sprint car feature Monday night at Huset’s Speedway.
Polyak qualified for the main event through her heat race, taking the fifth and final transfer spot. It marked her second straight feature appearance with the Outlaws, following a feature start at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway on Memorial Day.
She finished 22nd in Monday’s 35-lapper behind the wheel of the Woodring Motorsports No. 19.
“It’s huge, just to make an A (main) with the Outlaws,” Polyak said. “It makes things easier on us. The crew has been doing a great job getting me comfortable throughout the night; that’s the key right now.”
• One of the other notable competitors Monday night at Huset’s was 68-year-old Chuck McGillivray, driving his No. 101x familiar to South Dakota dirt-track fans.
McGillivray, a member of the Huset’s Speedway Hall of Fame, finished fifth in the eight-lap C-main.
• In an odd coincidence, which seems to happen frequently, the McCarl brothers found themselves starting nearly side by side after finishing second and third in the Last Chance Showdown.
Carson McCarl started 22nd in Monday’s 35-lapper, while brother Austin — a four-time winner in 410 sprint car competition at Huset’s Speedway this season — gridded 23rd.
Austin McCarl finished 21st, while Carson McCarl was not permitted to take the green flag after failing to obey a directive from race control during the pace laps.
• Ian Madsen dropped off the radar somewhat after departing Sam McGhee Motorsports midway through Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the All Star Circuit of Champions, but he turned up in the Outlaws’ pit area Monday.
The younger Madsen brother was behind the wheel of the No. 16 DeWall Racing sprint car. The Jackson, Minn., based team has had Brooke Tatnell — another Australian — driving its car for most of the year.
But with Tatnell stepping away from racing for the time being, due to his wife Amy undergoing surgery for breast cancer, Ian Madsen was called in as a powerhouse sub for the early-week Huset’s double.
Madsen finished seventh in the Last Chance Showdown and failed to make the feature.
• Kyle Larson’s kryptonite Monday was a less-than-stellar dash draw and, later on, the rubbered-down race track during the second half of the feature.
Larson started fifth and finished sixth in the dash, then could only make up one position in the 35-lap feature for a fifth-place result due to passing — and racing room — being at a premium.
Prior to Monday, the Elk Grove, Calif., native had won the last two times he had raced a sprint car the day after winning a NASCAR Cup Series race — accomplishing the feat with the Outlaws at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway on May 31 and with the All Stars at Wayne County Speedway on June 14.
Larson picked up his fourth Cup Series victory of the season Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.
• Monday’s race was the 46th Outlaw feature to be contested at Huset’s Speedway since the tour debuted there on April 30, 1983.
Three-time Outlaw champion Sammy Swindell won that inaugural race and is also the Outlaws’ leading winner at the Huset’s bullring with nine career victories there under WoO sanctioning.
• Did you know 10-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion Donny Schatz was once a regular at the South Dakota bullring?
Schatz, who picked up his 300th victory with the Outlaws at Dubuque (Iowa) Fairgrounds Speedway on June 18, earned 410 sprint car rookie-of-the-year honors at Huset’s during the 1995 season.
• Tuesday night’s Huset’s 50 marks the kickoff to the stretch of high-paying World of Outlaws sprint car races known as the Summer of Money.
In addition to the $30,000-to-win Huset’s main, Saturday’s AGCO Jackson Nationals finale at Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex will pay $50,000 to the victor.
Additional big-money headliners include twin $175,000-to-win Kings Royals in July at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, the $25,000-to-win Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway, the $20,000-to-win Summer Nationals at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway and the Grandaddy of Them All, the 60th Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, offering a possible $200,000 to win.