WHEATLAND, MO. (July 29, 2023) – Ryan Middaugh’s outstanding season continued Saturday night as he grabbed another Lucas Oil Speedway Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature victory.

The Fulton driver earned his fifth Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series win of the season as he held off Austen Becerra for the $1,000 headliner on Mickey Fleehart Fan Appreciation Night at the Races Presented by Thunderburst Media.

Other feature winners were Chase Galvin (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber Late Models), JC Morton (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Tom Charles in the special guest class Show-Me Vintage Racers.

Action got underway about an hour late after a heavy thunderstorm rolled through about 5:30 p.m.

Middaugh led all 25 laps of the feature as he started from the pole. Along with leading the points at Lucas Oil Speedway, he’s also on top at his hometown Callaway Speedway’s title chase and paces USRA Modified national points. Middaugh has 13 feature wins in 2023.

“We’ve finally had some luck on our side,” Middaugh said of his season. “Past years, just little things. Engine problems and stuff … had been biting us. I’m just getting a better feel for this place it seems like. This place is tough. The competition is tough.

“The car was good and the track was super fast after the rain. The redraw definitely played in my favor after a tore some stuff up in the heat race.”

Middaugh wasted no time sprinting from his pole-starting spot to open a half-straightaway led by lap three. That’s when the event’s first caution flew to wipe away Middaugh’s 2.3-second lead over eighth-starter Austen Becerra with Tracy Wolf third.

When action resumed, Middaugh needed only five laps to re-establish a 2.2-second lead over Becerra. By lap 15, Middaugh was going through lapped traffic and maintaining his margin as Jeff Cutshaw moved into third, but five-seconds behind Becerra.

Middaugh was cruising along with a 2.3-second lead with three laps to go when a caution put some drama into the outcome. But Middaugh took away much of the mystery with a clean restart and he held off a final-lap charge to beat Becerra by .390 seconds or about two car lengths.

“I wanted that caution to get out of lapped traffic, but then I didn’t because one mistake and that Becerra, he’s really fast and he’s good,” Middaugh said. “I knew he was gonna be chomping at the bit there to throw a slider into one. I had to make sure I didn’t go over the cushion or anything.”

Cutshaw, the Lucas Oil Speedway track champion from 2014-17, finished third with Kerry Davis fourth and Jason Pursley fifth.

Galvan earns USRA Stock Cars victory: Chase Galvan of Kansas City, Kan., held off William Garner and Waylon Dimmitt for his first feature victory of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature.

In his first visit to Lucas Oil Speedway, Galvan prevailed by three car lengths to deny Garner a second straight win, with Dimmitt third and season points leader Mason Beck coming home in fourth.

“The last time we were out (at Lakeside Speedway) we rolled it over on its door,” Galvan said of his race car. “So coming back and picking up a win at a track you’ve never been to is pretty cool.”

Front-row starters Garner and Galvan traded the lead on the first two laps, with Galvan forging his way in front to complete lap two. Those two stayed 1-2 the rest of the way with Beck and Dimmitt close behind in a four-car breakaway at the front.

Dimmitt edged into third on lap 12 as Galvan continued to lead Garner by a half-second. As the battle for second continued, Galvan was able to gradually build his led to nearly a second by lap 16 and he held on from there in the caution-free 20-lapper.

Wells scores eighth Late Models win: Justin Wells earned his eighth Hermitage Lumber Late Model feature win of the season, but what looked to be a comfortable drive wound up with some last-lap excitement.

Wells nearly got tangled up with some lapped cars on the final circuit and Jace Parmley briefly passed him for the lead on the backstretch. But Wells, of Aurora, was able to drive around Parmley in the final turn to pick up the win.

“I got pretty comfortable,” Wells said. “I’ll have to go back and look at lap times, but I guess I was slowing down pretty good. My guys were giving me signals and I quit watching them because I kind of thought there might be some sheet metal swapped.

“They got together down here and I saw the blue car (Parmley). Jace Parmley, I talked about him the first of the year, that kid has a bright future. He does a good job. He was on way less equipment tonight due to shocks and springs. He drove the wheels off it.”

Wells set a blistering pace from the outset, blasting away from his front-row starting position to lead by 3.1 seconds over Parmley midway through the 20-lap feature.

With action slowed by only one early caution, Wells got the win with the late scare making for a terrific finish as the margin – two seconds taking the white flag – was .620 seconds. Tucker Cox finished third with Larry Ferris fourth and Bryon Allison fifth.

Morton picks up third USRA B-Mod triumph: JC Morton of Springfield took over the lead on lap five and held off a late charge from Colson Kirk for his third Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature win of the season.

Dayton Pursley, who recently won his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature, beat fellow front-row starter Morton to the lead and paced the first four laps. But Morton rode the high groove out of turn four to claim the point to finish lap five.

“We had the fstart and I was on the bottom and was pretty disappointed,” Morton said. “We drew a one and the outside was preferred. We raced with him and finally got a run on him and got to his outside. But for a lap or two, we raced pretty hard.”

Morton continued to lead Pursley through lapped traffic as the race hit the mid point, with Kirk right behind. Morton’s lead was one second when the first caution, on lap 17, set up a three-lap shootout.

Morton fired off a good restart and and held on to beat Kirk by .870 seconds. Stephen Clancy rallied into third, Jon Sheets was fourth and Pursley slipped back to fifth.

Vintage Racers win goes to Charles: Tom Charles of Wolcott, Kan., made the winning pass with one lap remaining, going around race-long leader Jim Thorne, for the Show-Me Vintage Racers feature win.

It was Charles’ second SMVR victory of the season at Lucas Oil Speedway. He estimated it was somewhere around his 360th career feature victory in a variety of divisions. The car he was driving is owned by Thorne.

“I grew up in Late Models. I drove Modifieds and I’ve driven Street Stocks, all that stuff,” Charles said. “These are somewhere in between, but they are a lot of fun.”

Thorne paced the first opening laps from his fourth-starting position with Charles settling into second after a pair of early caution flags. Charles moved to the inside to challenge for the lead on lap six and the two ran side by side over the next four laps with Thorne clinging to the lead.

Brian Cox closed in on the dueling leaders to make it a three-way battle with two laps to go. Finally, Charles forged his way into the lead coming to the white flag and he held off Thorne by a car length.

Cox spun after he and Thorne made contact on the final lap and did not finish.

The Fan Appreciation Night program was run in honor of Mickey Fleehart, the president of the SMVR prior to his passing earlier this year.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 29, 2023)

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[1]; 2. 22-Austen Becerra[8]; 3. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[5]; 4. 68-Kerry Davis[7]; 5. 38C-Jason Pursley[11]; 6. 18-Chad Lyle[9]; 7. 23-Lucas Dobbs[2]; 8. 33-Jaren Martin[6]; 9. 10T-Tyler Brown[13]; 10. (DNF) 21-Greg Scheffler[12]; 11. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[3]; 12. (DNF) C3-Chad Staus[14]; 13. (DNF) 75L-Lane Whitney[4]; 14. (DNF) 24-Toby Lindell[10]

Heat 1 – 1. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[2]; 2. 75L-Lane Whitney[1]; 3. 33-Jaren Martin[4]; 4. 22-Austen Becerra[5]; 5. 18-Chad Lyle[6]; 6. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 7. 10T-Tyler Brown[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 23-Lucas Dobbs[1]; 2. 21W-Tracy Wolf[2]; 3. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[5]; 4. 68-Kerry Davis[6]; 5. 24-Toby Lindell[3]; 6. 21-Greg Scheffler[4]; 7. C3-Chad Staus[7]

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 0-Chase Galvan[2]; 2. 7-William Garner[1]; 3. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[5]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[3]; 5. 74-Rodney Schweizer[10]; 6. 34-Blake Bolton[4]; 7. 45-Bob King[7]; 8. 83-James Ellis[6]; 9. 7X-John Scott[8]; 10. 2-Zeb Keepper[11]; 11. 1DER-Maverick Wunder[12]; 12. 91-Johnny Fennewald[9]; 13. 24-Noah Long[13]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 0F-Mason Beck[3]; 2. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[2]; 3. 34-Blake Bolton[4]; 4. 7X-John Scott[1]; 5. 74-Rodney Schweizer[5]; 6. 2-Zeb Keepper[7]; 7. 1DER-Maverick Wunder[6]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 7-William Garner[2]; 2. 0-Chase Galvan[4]; 3. 83-James Ellis[3]; 4. 45-Bob King[5]; 5. 91-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 6. (DNS) 24-Noah Long

Hermitage Lumber Late Models

A Feature – 1. 98-Justin Wells[1]; 2. 82-Jace Parmley[2]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]; 4. 51-Larry Ferris[9]; 5. 1A-Bryon Allison[7]; 6. 21-Johnny Fennewald[8]; 7. 99-Larry Jones[3]; 8. 81-Jimmy Dowell[11]; 9. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[6]; 10. 7J-Jake Morris[13]; 11. (DNF) 28-Jim Greenway[12]; 12. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[10]; 13. (DNF) 72-JC Morton[5]; 14. (DNF) 149-John Rowland[15]; 15. (DNS) 0X-Jason Sivils

Wasoba Seed & Trucking Heat 1 – 1. 82-Jace Parmley[5]; 2. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[2]; 3. 72-JC Morton[4]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 5. 21P-Darren Phillips[1]; 6. 81-Jimmy Dowell[8]; 7. (DNF) 0X-Jason Sivils[6]; 8. (DNF) 149-John Rowland[3]

Reed Environmental & Dirt Track Specialist Heat 2 – 1. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 2. 99-Larry Jones[1]; 3. 1A-Bryon Allison[2]; 4. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 5. 51-Larry Ferris[7]; 6. 28-Jim Greenway[5]; 7. 7J-Jake Morris[3]

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 18-JC Morton[1]; 2. 55-Colson Kirk[5]; 3. 12C-Stephen Clancy[11]; 4. 8S-Jon Sheets[7]; 5. 10P-Dayton Pursley[2]; 6. 42C-Casey Thomas[3]; 7. 83-JC Newell[6]; 8. 1B-Bobby Williams[15]; 9. 96-Cody Brill[14]; 10. 15-Ryan Edde[8]; 11. 90-Terry Schultz[13]; 12. 66X-Chris Wright[10]; 13. 11L-Logan Smith[23]; 14. 2-Quentin Taylor[18]; 15. 30-Rex Harris[16]; 16. 2X-Cole Hamilton[19]; 17. 7-Anthony Tanner[24]; 18. 55G-Luke Gideon[20]; 19. 0K-Tracy Killian[22]; 20. (DNF) 61-Sturgis Streeter[12]; 21. (DNF) 81-Austin Charles[9]; 22. (DNF) 7J-Jake Richards[4]; 23. (DNF) F1-Mitchell Franklin[21]; 24. (DNF) 24-Jerry Ellis[17]

Heat 1 – 1. 18-JC Morton[2]; 2. 10P-Dayton Pursley[7]; 3. 8S-Jon Sheets[5]; 4. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 5. 61-Sturgis Streeter[8]; 6. 2-Quentin Taylor[6]; 7. 55G-Luke Gideon[4]; 8. (DNF) 7-Anthony Tanner[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 83-JC Newell[1]; 2. 55-Colson Kirk[6]; 3. 81-Austin Charles[2]; 4. 15-Ryan Edde[8]; 5. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 6. 24-Jerry Ellis[4]; 7. F1-Mitchell Franklin[7]; 8. 0K-Tracy Killian[3]

Heat 3 – 1. 7J-Jake Richards[2]; 2. 42C-Casey Thomas[4]; 3. 66X-Chris Wright[3]; 4. 12C-Stephen Clancy[6]; 5. 90-Terry Schultz[8]; 6. 30-Rex Harris[7]; 7. 2X-Cole Hamilton[1]; 8. 11L-Logan Smith[5]

Show-Me Vintage Racers

A Feature – 1. 81-Tom Charles[5]; 2. 113-Jim Thorne[4]; 3. 8X-Dan Schmidt[16]; 4. 54-Larry Waters[3]; 5. 11-Jeremy Turner[8]; 6. 5-Eddie Neil[1]; 7. 27-Danny Lorton[12]; 8. 2B-Brian Cox[2]; 9. 9D-Bryant Moyer; 10. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[10]; 11. 71-Mike Lawless[11]; 12. 58T-Jeff Triggs[13]; 13. 42-Rob Brash[15]; 14. (DNF) 6-Damen Clevenger[6]; 15. (DNF) 1-Angela Ashworth[17]; 16. (DNF) 8-Rocky Rhodes[14]; 17. (DNF) 99-Jim Siewert[7]; 18. (DNS) 09D-Chad Eickleberry; 19. (DNS) 72-WIlliam Holohan

Heat 1 – 1. 81-Tom Charles[6]; 2. 5-Eddie Neil[1]; 3. 54-Larry Waters[4]; 4. 113-Jim Thorne[5]; 5. 2B-Brian Cox[2]; 6. (DNF) 8X-Dan Schmidt[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 6-Damen Clevenger[1]; 2. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[6]; 3. 11-Jeremy Turner[3]; 4. 9D-Bryant Moyer[4]; 5. 99-Jim Siewert[2]; 6. 71-Mike Lawless[5]

Heat 3 – 1. 58T-Jeff Triggs[2]; 2. 8-Rocky Rhodes[3]; 3. 42-Rob Brash[4]; 4. 72-WIlliam Holohan[6]; 5. 1-Angela Ashworth[5]; 6. (DNF) 09D-Chad Eickleberry[7]; 7. (DNS) 27-Danny Lorton

KDBA Show-Me Shootout on Lake Lucas concludes Sunday: The Kentucky Drag Boat Association-sanctioned KDBA Show-Me Shootout on Lake Lucas concludes its two-day run on Sunday with 10 pro and sportsman divisions entering eliminations starting at 9 a.m.

The more information on the Kentucky Drag Boat Association, visit kydragboat.com to see results, standings, registration into and more.

KDBA Show-Me Shootout on Lake Lucas tentative Sunday schedule

8 a.m. – Spectator Gates Open

9 a.m. – Eliminations

KDBA Show-Me Shootout admission:

(Includes general admission and pit pass)

Sunday

Adults GA/Pit Pass Combo (16 and up) – $15

Seniors (62 and up)/Military GA/Pit Pass Combo (62 and up) – $12

Youth GA/Pit Pass Combo (age 6 to 15) – $5

Kids GA/Pit Pass Combo (age 5 and under) – FREE

Family Pass GA/Pit Pass includes Admission for 2 Adults and Up to 3 Kids Ages (6-15) – $35

USMTS next on the dirt: The nation’s premier Modified series visits Lucas Oil Speedway’s dirt oval next Saturday for the USMTS Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout Presented by Foley Equipment. The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods, O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars and the Hermitage Lumber Late Models will also be in action. Pit gates open at 4 p.m., with grandstands at 5, hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.

Camping World SRX advance tickets on sale: It’s just a couple of weeks until some of the world’s legendary drivers visit Lucas Oil Speedway to crown a champion in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience Series.

General admission tickets remain on sale for the Camping World SRX “Thursday Night Thunder” on Aug. 17 at Lucas Oil Speedway, the finale of the six-race series which will determine the 2023 champion. All SRX races will air live on ESPN.

Drivers announced for the Lucas Oil Speedway event include NASCAR Cup Series champions Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski and Bobby Labonte, along with NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Hailie Deegan. Also on hand will be four-time Indy 500 winer Helio Castroneves, plus reigning SRX Champion Marco Andretti and Trans-Am champion Ernie Franics Jr.

The series will pit the drivers against one another in identically prepared cars with points accumulated in each of the six events.

Tickets for the SRX event are $35 in advance and $40 at the gate (ages 16 and over). Kids (ages 6-15) will be $20 with ages 5-and-under free. Pit passes are $50 and must be purchased the day of the event.

USRA Modifieds will be the support class with an invitational format set for the non-points event.

Tentative Lucas Oil Speedway Camping World SRX schedule:

(Thursday, August 17th)

Noon – Pit gate will open for Drivers and crews only

1 p.m. – Main grandstand gates open

2:10 p.m. – Modified hot laps

2:30-4:30 p.m. – SRX practice sessions

4:30-5 p.m. – Track prep

5 p.m. – Modified heat races

5:30-6:15 p.m. – SRX drivers Q&A sessions (4 group sessions)

6:15 p.m. – Modified Feature

6:45-7:15 p.m. – Track prep and intermission break

7:15 p.m – SRX cars to grid

7:35 p.m. – SRX driver introductions

7:45 p.m. – Opening ceremonies and National Anthem

7:50 p.m. – SRX drivers to cars

8 p.m. – ESPN live

8:02 p.m. – Drivers start engines

8:12pm – SRX green flag

10 p.m. – Victory Lane set up and top 3 driver interviews for ESPN

For information on Camping World SRX Series tickets or about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

CONTACT:

Danny Lorton

Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager

Office: (417) 282-5984