[admin]

10/18/22 1:11 PM 3-TIME WINNER, THE DEMON, ENTERS OVAL NATIONALS

https://www.usacracing.com/news/spri...oval-nationals



3-TIME WINNER, THE DEMON, ENTERS OVAL NATIONALS

By: Scott Daloisio

Perris, California (October 18, 2022)………Three-time Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals winner Damion Gardner is amongst the latest entries for the 26th running of the event which will take place on November 3-4-5 at southern California’s Perris Auto Speedway.

Gardner, the nine-time USAC CRA Sprint Car Series champ from Concord, California and current series point leader, will pilot the Alexander Racing No. 1 in the season-ending races for both the USAC AMSOIL National and USAC CRA Sprint Cars as he seeks to become the first four-time “Ovals” winner after previously reigning triumphant in 2009-11-16.

The driver affectionately known to his fans as “The Demon” is closing in on his 10th USAC CRA title and leads the series with six main event wins in 2022.* The most recent of his victories, which came at the September 17th Glenn Howard Memorial at The PAS, was his 108th triumph.* That broke a tie with National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Dean Thompson for the all-time lead in victories in CRA-SCRA-USAC CRA competition.

In addition to Gardner, two other USAC/CRA Series regulars have also submitted their entries for the prestigious race. Tommy “Thunder” Malcolm of Corona, California and San Diego’s A.J. Bender will be on hand for the three-night event during the first week of November.

Both Malcolm and Bender grew up in their teen years racing at the famous Riverside County half-mile clay oval. Malcolm began competing and winning at the track in the PASSCAR Street Stocks before venturing off to race Late Models and Modifieds.* Bender was a regular and a multi-time winner at The PAS in the California Lightning Sprint Car Series.

An entry was also received from Peoria, Arizona native Tye Mihocko.* The driver known as “The Bull” recently sewed up the 2022 season championship at Indiana’s Putnamville Speedway.* Mihocko is no stranger to The PAS victory circle having visited there after a win in the track’s Young Gun Sprint Car Series several years ago.**

The early entry deadline for the Oval Nationals is this Friday, October 21st.* Entries postmarked by that date are $100.00.* Entries postmarked after the 21st or at the gate are $250.00.* The entry blank is available at the following link http://www.perrisautospeedway.com/2022/22ovalentry.pdf.

As always, the Thursday and Friday night portions of the Oval Nationals will be the preliminaries.* The winner on each preliminary night will take home $5,000.00 and the races will pay $500.00 to start.* On Saturday, the 40-lap main event will pay $20,000.00 to win and $1000.00 to start. *

All three nights of the Oval Nationals will be complete nights of racing with qualifying, heat races, preliminaries mains, and an A main event.* The top six cars from the first two nights will be seeded straight into Saturday’s main event and will contest a “Super Six Dash” to determine their starting positions in the first three rows.

In addition to being the season-ender for the USAC/CRA and National Sprint Car Series, Saturday will also feature the “Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster” finale.* Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon currently leads Ion, California’s Justin Grant by 19-points.** Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary is third and is followed by Chase Stockon and Suter, California’s Logan Seavey.* Saturday’s race will wrap up the 10-race series that honors Jones, who was a two-time CRA champion driver.* He was also one of the key people involved in the design, construction, and management of Perris Auto Speedway.*

Advance tickets for the Oval Nationals are available now online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7 or by calling 1-800-595-4849.

*

OVAL NATIONALS WINNERS:

1996 – Jimmy Sills

1997 – Rip Williams

1998 – Rodney Argo

1999 – Rickie Gaunt

2000 – Tony Jones

2001 – Bud Kaeding

2002 – Bud Kaeding

2003 – Cory Kruseman

2004 – Cory Kruseman

2005 – Dave Darland

2006 – Dave Darland

2007 – Bud Kaeding

2008 – Jesse Hockett

2009 – Damion Gardner

2010 – Chris Windom

2011 – Damion Gardner

2012 – Mike Spencer

2013 – Dave Darland

2014 – Robert Ballou

2015 – Bryan Clauson

2016 – Damion Gardner

2017 – Kevin Thomas Jr.

2018 – Kevin Thomas Jr.

2019 – C.J. Leary

2020 – No Race

2021 – Kevin Thomas Jr.

*