Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget win in
 

8/2/22 12:20 AM LARSON UNDENIED, DELIVERS FIRST IRP USAC MIDGET WIN IN 11 YEARS

More...

http://usacracing.com/media/k2/items...8bbc6c21_S.jpg

LARSON UNDENIED, DELIVERS FIRST IRP USAC MIDGET WIN IN 11 YEARS

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (August 1, 2022)………Quite simply, you can’t keep Kyle Larson down.

That’s been evident throughout his entire racing career, and also was on full display during his first pavement midget start in nearly a decade during Monday’s USAC Midget Special Event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Larson was penalized following the first two attempts to begin the 30-lap feature when race officials deemed that he was a tad too quick on the trigger and jumped the start.

Prior to the third attempt, Larson’s punishment was a one row penalty, which moved him from the inside of the second row to the inside of the third row.* That try was also aborted due to a turn three spin by 13th running Blake Brannon.

The fourth try proved to be the charm for the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, Calif. as he raced his way from fifth to third on the first scored lap.

In short order, Larson chased down second-running Kody Swanson for second off the bottom of turn four at the end of lap two, then scurried under leader Todd Bertrand at the exit of the second turn on lap three to grab the lead, a position he never relinquished in his Jerome Rodela/Rodela Fabrication – Trench Shoring Company/Gerhardt/Ed Pink Toyota.

Larson’s first pavement midget appearance in nine years proved fruitful as he earned his second career IRP midget victory, winning for the first time in 11 years, nearly to the day, back in 2011.

The drive was a dream, and the car was a dream to drive as the Californian wheelman and the Californian car owner teamed up for the first time, and the result was a dream match.

“This is such a beautiful racecar,” Larson praised.* “It’s kind of a dream to get to be able to run it.* I’ve always seen this car, and everything that Jerome works on is just beautiful.* We were really fast, and I hope to get to do it again someday.”

Once gaining the lead, Larson pulled away to a substantial half-straightaway advantage in just the first five laps, which translated to a full two second lead and did it all while racing his own race.

“I went back to fifth and I knew my car was really good from the start,” Larson explained.* “I just wanted to get to the lead and set my own pace.* Every time we hit the track today, I got looser and looser.* Jerome made a lot of adjustments to tighten me up and I felt really good to fire off.* I actually got tight there towards the end, and for the last half, I was really tight.”

However, once Santos cleared Bertrand for the second position on lap six, the May IRP midget winner began making major headway in his full-on pursuit of Larson.

What blossomed into a 1.9 second lead for Larson was aggressively chopped as Santos knocked a tenth off Larson’s lead each time around the .686-mile paved oval in the ensuing laps – to 1.8 seconds on lap eight, to 1.7 on lap nine, to 1.6 on lap 10 and to 1.5 by lap 11.

Just as soon as Santos worked his way into play as a challenger to Larson, it all came to an abrupt end as he dropped off the pace dramatically before pulling into the infield on lap 17.* From there, Larson expanded his lead to an increasingly insurmountable 5.561 seconds, never to be headed again.

In the end, Larson pulverized the field by a 6.521 second margin with Kyle O’Gara second and Nick Hamilton third.* Hard charger Cole Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.) finished fourth after starting in the 14th position.* Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) rounded out the top-five.

“I ran hard the whole time,” Larson said.* “I had no idea where second was behind me.* I saw that Kyle (O’Gara) got to second and I didn’t know if he was running me down or what.* I just tried to run hard the whole time but also wanted to conserve our right front tire and get the win.”

While Larson captured the $5,000 top prize, Kyle O’Gara (Beech Grove, Ind.) backed up his June IRP midget victory with another consistent run and a fine runner-up performance in his SFHR Development/Chick-Fil-A – Speedway Indoor Karting – Business Art Designs/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.

Meanwhile, Nick Hamilton (Danville, Ind.) skillfully turned in his best career performance at IRP with a third-place result after starting 11th in his Kenny & Reva Irwin/Kenny Irwin Jr. Foundation – Curtis Motor Sales/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.

Chuck Gurney Jr. (Livermore, Calif.) set the night’s quickest time in qualifying.* His most recent fast qualifying performance at IRP came when he timed in as the best overall during the 2010 Night Before the 500.

*


USAC MIDGET NON-POINTS SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 1, 2022 – Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Track – Monday Night Racing

QUALIFYING: (Two laps combined) 1. Chuck Gurney Jr., 51, 3 Stooges-42.357; 2. Alex Bowman, 55, Bowman-42.490; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, 3 Stooges/Kunz-42.639; 4. Jake Trainor, 29, 3 Stooges-42.749; 5. Kody Swanson, 44, Bertrand-42.769; 6. Bobby Santos, 98, 3 Stooges-42.771; 7. Tanner Swanson, 26, Pierce-42.781; 8. Kyle Larson, 25, Rodela-42.869; 9. Todd Bertrand, 47, Bertrand-43.086; 10. Kyle O'Gara, 67K, SFHR-43.367; 11. Nick Hamilton, 7K, Irwin-43.517; 12. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Western Speed-44.483; 13. Blake Brannon, 40, Western Speed-44.620; 14. Cole Carter, 7, Bertrand-44.672; 15. Dakoda Armstrong, 7A, C & A-44.805; 16. Kevin Studley, 57K, Studley-45.112; 17. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-45.306; 18. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-45.825; 19. Brandon Maurer, 14, Maurer-57.286; 20. Nathan Byrd, 47D, Bertrand-NT.

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (3), 2. Kyle O’Gara (1), 3. Nick Hamilton (11), 4. Cole Carter (14), 5. Kody Swanson (6), 6. Tanner Swanson (4), 7. Dakoda Armstrong (15), 8. Todd Bertrand (2), 9. Jake Trainor (7), 10. Maria Cofer (17), 11. Cody Gerhardt (12), 12. Blake Brannon (13), 13. Kevin Studley (16), 14. Bobby Santos (5), 15. Buddy Kofoid (8), 16. Alex Bowman (9), 17. Chuck Gurney Jr. (10), 18. Brandon Maurer (19), 19. Toni Breidinger (18).

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Todd Bertrand, Laps 3-30 Kyle Larson.

NEXT USAC MIDGET SPECIAL EVENT: October 22, 2022 – Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Track – Howard Companies Championship Saturday

*

*

He was DQ the race given to Kyle O’Gara

For?

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

I heard RR was out too far plus they refused to have engine pumped... Can anyone else elaborate?

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Technically speaking Larson keeps the win, but does not keep the earnings. If O'Gara won and failed post race inspection I bet he'd lose everything including the win.

The right rear was out to far have not herd they refused a pump on cubic inches maybe so

Hmmmmm. Surely not !!Who would ever think that kind of stuff would go on in USAC?????? 🤥

Wasn't a USAC officiated race. Special event. USAC rig not on the grounds. USAC race director was at IMS. Only USAC officials Tom in Flagstand and Richie behind the computer

I didn’t think that USAC would allow those shenanigans. They stick to the rules !!

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Unfortunately they call it a Usac special event. Their website has VL pic with comment about him winning Usac midget special event. You can try to persuade people into believing Usac wasn’t involved but that’s not the truth. If it had nothing to do with Usac then why was there a flag man and PR guy. Can’t have it both ways. Larson cheated and that’s the story. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again at IMS, but then again who knows. Maybe they can find 4 companies to check the car after the fact and give him the win back.

They cheated and were DQ’d. What’s the problem? I mean it’s basically an exhibition as pretty much all pavement racing is these days.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Ah, good to hear from someone in the know.

It wasn't a USAC officiated race. It was under the USAC banner as a special event for insurance and promotional purposes only.

USAC was not involved on the officiating side of Monday night's midget event nor did it officiate any of the sprint car or midget special events at IRP over the past couple of seasons. USAC has officiated only the Silver Crown IRP races.

You most certainly can have it both ways. Are you aware that USAC is the sanctioning body for the Road to Indy series? You can read and learn how duties are dispersed. It's much the same as what has been in place at IRP USAC did not officiate last night's race. Period. They had the role outlined by Richie. But for the record the crew in place penalized Kyle for jumping the start. Appropriately.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

The flagman who flagged last night also was the flagman for the 500 sprint series at Plymouth the same night as MidgetWeek at Gas City. He is one of the best in the business, and does many different series.

And as IRP is not a weekly track they need a flagman

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

The problem is, you have a guy that was legal and finished 2nd. He may have gotten the money, but he doesn't get credited with the win. How does someone get Dq'd then still keep the win?

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Is the BC 39 a special event?.....Will cheating be tolerated here?.....Who has the final say, USAC or Boles??.....its a valid question??

Why is the owner of the 25 allowed to run his car in the BC 39 when he is a proven cheater??.....and yes, I know its not the same car.....I am well aware pavement cars are different than dirt cars.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

The BC39 is not a special event. It is a USAC points race. Feature points only, though.

The difference is the BC39 is a USAC officiated event. IRP was not.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

"We're having a special event for midgets at IRP! Everybody come or watch online through our deal with FloSports!"

"Boy, USAC botched another officiating call at the IRP midget race."

"Hey! We didn't officiate the midget race at IRP- not our fault."

:19:

A word for the wise: don't attach your name to something that you have no control over. (If that's actually the case.) Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. What if something worse than this happened? What if it was so bad it made national news? And the whole of the media reported it with the information that was available- that it was a USAC race.

Geez.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Keeping the NASCAR spirit alive from the racing bathtubs era! :D

Pablo Donoso says "Hi!".

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Is the DQ’d guy considered the winner of record yes or no. If yes then why say he is DQ’d?? I’ll bet next years promotion says come see if Larson can do it again.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

So not being in the know ( meaning employed by Usac) I’m supposed to understand that even though the Usac name is all over the promotion of it, the race wasn’t really a Usac deal?? If it’s not your deal why is your name on it?? You are benefitting from it because some top tier drivers showed up. You get notoriety from saying Nascar drivers are running our event. This is typical rope a dope stuff. We were there but we really weren’t there.

See the sprint cars along with the midgets insured by Usac. Sounds dumb but at least it’s truthful.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Bingo

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Goodness a lot of people grinding axes. The hate for USAC is well known and somewhat expected at this point. The hate for Larson is newer but there are definitely more people joining in.

I find it interesting when people say that "Larson cheated" Kyle has often admitted that he is not as mechanically inclined as some of the other drivers are. Especially with all of the the one and done rides that Kyle is in, I would bet he never puts a wrench to any of these cars, but somehow he was the one that cheated.

While there has been precedent for cheated wins to count, (Richard Petty's large motor) it definitely is not the norm. If the car is DQed, Larson should not get the win.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

*I have no beef with Kyle Larson and I definitely would not label him a cheater.

**It's just that the USAC-centered drama is increasing on the Richter Scale and deflection never helps.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

How is it just an exhibition? Just because it isn't an officially sanctioned USAC National race???

Well pup, you weren’t born at the right time. Today’s pavement racing is but a shell of what it used to be. Outside of the Little 500 where anyone can win, most other pavement racing is just a Kody Swanson benefit. Maybe a couple other’s. Anyway to others who just can’t quit grinding the axe, it wasn’t a USAC officiated show. Larson was disqualified, let it go!

Something about the Right Rear being 5/16" over at tech inspection?If true seems like quite an advantage LOL.

Here at the BC39. The 25 looks illegal from here

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Can’t do it. It’s not axe grinding. Cheating no matter how small the infraction and no matter if it’s a special event with USAC’s name on it is Actions Detrimental to the Sport. They opened that can of worms. Never forget.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

Wow! You saw that from your seat but the Flagger and PR guy didn’t?? Maybe more unofficial officials should run the circus. Now that might be axe grinding.

Re: Usac: Larson undenied, delivers first irp usac midget wi
 

F-1, NTT Indy Car (this past week Rossi did not make weight and was fined points and cash but still won) and NASCAR for years have fined, suspended , but not DQ'd competitors ( 62 years between DQ for NASCAR) But all the internet jockeys have all the insight! :8: