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Remember this?
A scary incident during the closing laps of the feature event of last weekend’s USAC “Sprint Car Smackdown” at Kokomo Speedway has led to officials of The United States Auto Club (USAC) handing down penalties to one of the series most successful drivers.
The incident that led to the penalties started when Levi Jones made contact with Jon Stanbrough at the end of the front-stretch. The contact sent Stanbrough nearly head-on into the pit entrance gate at the start of turn one. Stanbrough’s car flipped violently back into oncoming racers where it was struck by Robert Ballou which caused his sprint car to flip as well and have the throttle stick wide open. Chad Boespflug was also collected in the huge incident.
Luckily, all drivers exited their cars with only Ballou leaving in an ambulance to receive treatment at a local hospital. After the incident Stanbrough walked down the front-stretch to have a little talk with Jones about what happened. After the race series officials spoke with both Jones and Stanbrough about the incident.
Officials also collected accounts of the incident from attending officials, eyewitness accounts, and track officials. The information collected led USAC officials to penalize Jones for on-track contact deemed to be avoidable and producing a dangerous situation for fellow competitors under section 10.28 of the competition rules. As a result, Jones will be placed under probation for the balance of the National Sprint Car season, with the understanding that further infractions could lead to more severe punishment. Also, Jones and his team will be docked 25 championship points going into the next series’ event at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois this Friday, August 31st.
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