The logjam at the top of the USAC National Midget standings is sure to create added excitement at this Thursday night’s “Jason Leffler Memorial” race at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Ill., not to mention the $20,000 winner’s share of the purse, which will provide the biggest payday for a midget feature winner in the USA all year!
Co-sanctioned by POWRi, Thursday’s race is the fourth since Leffler, the three-time USAC National Midget Champion, perished in a 2013 Sprint race in New Jersey.
Track owner Doug Stringer has not only created a more competitive atmosphere for this year’s race with the new date, but has also sweetened the pot for race fans attending with their own pot of gold!
One lucky fan will have an opportunity to win $50,000! A bin with 100 envelopes will be assembled, one containing the $50,000 prize, among other prizes. If the winning driver, who selects first, does not draw the $50,000 prize, then it becomes some lucky fan’s opportunity to try to draw the lucky $50,000 envelope!
On the race track, drivers will vie for valuable points toward the USAC and POWRi championships. The top four USAC drivers are separated by just 77 points, with only Thursday’s race and the November 24 “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at Ventura, Calif. remaining on the calendar.
Spencer Bayston leads teammate Tanner Thorson by just nine points in the latest USAC standings, with Chad Boat 40 points behind the leader and Brady Bacon 77 behind.
The new race date has allowed drivers from other racing series to compete, which will see USAC graduates Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. return for another crack at winning the race as well as 2013 World of Outlaws champion Daryn Pittman and newly-crowned ARCA champion Chase Briscoe.
Each year, a portion of the proceeds from the Leffler Memorial Auction and the Leffler Memorial Race are donated to the Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Trust for Jason’s son Charlie. The 2016 Jason Leffler Memorial Auction will take place Wednesday.
Mike Curb of Nashville, Tenn. will try to become USAC’s all-time winningest National car owner Thursday. He has tied Wilke Racers/Leader Cards at the top with 136 total USAC National wins and a victory Thursday would be Curb’s first in the “Leffler Memorial.”
The Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian team includes the top two in USAC’s National points (Bayston and Thorson), plus drivers Carson Macedo (USAC’s 2016 Indiana Midget Champ), Ryan Robinson and Holly Shelton, plus NASCAR vets Larson and Abreu, who will return for this special event.
Zach Daum won the inaugural “Jason Leffler Memorial” in 2013, while Daryn Pittman won in 2014 and Bryan Clauson last year.
Pit gates open for Thursday’s “Leffler Memorial” at noon with the front gates opening at 5pm. Cars hit the track Hot laps at 6pm and racing getting underway at 7pm.