[Jerry Shaw]

...make the USAC Midget schedule again, without having at least one race at Paragon Speedway! Preferably more than one. I've been going to this track my entire life. Every year, with the exception of the four years I was gone to do my military service. One thing I hadn't ever seen though, was a midget race there. I've always thought that this configuration would be conducive to great midget racing, though. Last night exceeded my expectations, though. By a lot! The highlight of this place has always been watching the drivers drag race down the long straightaways and play the game of chicken with one another, entering the tight turns at each end. I found out last night that this game of chance and skill plays out even better with the midget division, than it does with the sprints.

From the very beginning, when they took the green in the first hot lap session, Kyle Larson was visibly faster than all the other cars. He didn't look at all like he had never raced there before. He was screaming around this joint like he had learned to race there. He would go out early and lay down a track record lap, showing that the hot lap session was no fluke. Equally impressive were the late session qualifying runs by Tanner Carrick and Tanner Thorson. Because, with this many cars, the track had slowed down a bit. Some normally reliably fast drivers were putting in times that landed them in the middle of the timing chart. Carrick rolled out and uncorked the 4th fastest time and shortly thereafter, Thorson hit the track and grabbed the coveted 6th fastest time. And, in the backdrop of all this, was the fact that when the cars were entering turn three, many of them would do a hop. Quite a few of them would briefly have all 4 wheels off the ground. Not the place on the track where you want this to happen. Carrick and Thorson were among that group. But, they just blasted through it, like it was nothing. With the view that all of us had, that were sitting in the turn 4 end of the grandstand, each of these hops upon entry would just make the heart slightly skip a beat, every time it happened.

The heats would serve notice to what we would be in for, as the program went from qualifying to race time. Ones of note were the first one, where Larson would easily charge from 6th to 2nd, but was then fought off for the win by Justin Grant. And, then in the third heat, the crowd roared when Thomas Meseraull went around the outside of Chris Windom, to take what at that time would be the fourth and final transfer spot. And would end up finishing third. And then in one of the sprint heats, when you saw AJ Hopkins starting in the last row, you knew we were probably going to get another reminder of why Hopkins has so many fans and to why most of us spend so much of our summers eating dust and getting our eardrums blown out. And he promptly drove right through the field and won by almost a half a lap.

And then the C and B-Main section of the event could be summed up in two words. Logan and Seavy. Due to mechanical issues, he didn't get to record a qualifying time, so he started on the back of the C-Main and rifled through that field to win that one. He then started on the tail of the B-Main and passed all the way up to the fourth position, to easily transfer into the feature.

In the feature Gio Scelzi jumped out to the early lead and held the point for the first third of the race. He would then be caught and come under serious pressure by Tanner Thorson. Thorson would then seize the lead with a daring, perfectly executed slider in turn two. By this time though, Larson was visibly gaining momentum and it was obvious to all, that in a few laps he would overtake Scelzi and the race's fight to the finish would be established. Larson was, once again, the fastest car on the track and reeled the leader in, as the laps wound down. He was breathing down his neck as the flagman gave the five-to-go signal. Therew were a series of aggressive Larson moves for the lead. The final two were just riveting. And they both happened exiting trun two. In the first, Kyle made a slider for the lead, that was countered by Tanner. Tanner's counter had them bang wheels exiting the turn and he would hold him off that time and both cars were unharmed. On the second and final one, Kyle made another slider in the same turn, returned the wheel bang and this time would get the lead and them drive away. And under the radar. And while all this craziness was playing out, our C and B-Main hero, Logan Seavy was earning the Hard Charger Award, by driving though another lineup, from the tail to claim eighth place. And also, for a guy who only races midgets once in a blue moon, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was just tough as nails, all night long. His battle with Carrick, especially, was a great one. And he fought off challenges for his position, all feature long.

So, to reiterate, when they make future USAC Midget schedules, if any of them don't have this old track on it, then somebody did the race fans wrong.

And great job by Joe and his track crew. The track took some rubber by the time the sprint feature was happening. But, before then, their splashing the surface with water and quick reworks kept this place pretty racy, all night long. Not an easy task when you have 40+ cars, in two different track shredding divisions.

[jim goerge]

Jerry I couldn"t agree with you more. I"ve seen a race or two in my lifetime, and I would say this was one of the top five , no problem. I was amazed by the speed the midgets were carrying into the turns, And like you said I found myself holding my breath when they entered turn three, the car would do that little hop and I don"t think any of them lifted it was hammer down the whole time. Very good racing the whole night . Thanks to the Spikers for bringing midgets to Paragon and thanks USAC for doing it. I loved it

[davidm]

Jerry now that's a nice write up! Always enjoy these very much!