Danny Smith didn’t wait long this year to extend his win streak to 45 consecutive seasons in a sprint car. In fact, the Hall of Famer was victorious in his first race out of the box in 2019, with the USCS at Hendry County Speedway in Florida on January 25.

Smith started on the pole and led all 25 laps, despite having a broken shock and an ill-handling car for a large part of the race. Davey Franek from New Jersey finished second, while three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart rounded out the podium.

The win had added meaning for Smith as he dedicated it to his father-in-law, who had major surgery earlier that day.

Blaney is back with the All Stars

Dale Blaney, the six-time champion with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions, will return to full-time competition with the series in 2019, driving for Sam McGhee Motorsports, based out of Indiana.

McGhee, who is still a teenager, began his team in 2017 and competed on the USAC National Sprint Car trail, finishing second in points that year with Justin Grant. That same season, McGhee’s team was named the “Team of the Year” by the North American Sprint Car Poll, which is administered by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.

“It’s going to be fun,” said Blaney. “There are some new tracks on the schedule that I’ve never been to, but just to get back to running with the All Stars, who I’ve run with for years and years and years, is something I’m looking forward to. It’s going to be a whole different group of guys than the ones I raced against the last time I was running for a championship – guys that I haven’t raced night-in and night-out – but it’s going to be a neat experience, I really think. Hopefully the old guy can still win a few of them.”

The team will skip the non-points events coming up in Florida in February and will focus their energy on the regular season opener for the All Stars at the state-of-the-art Virginia Motor Speedway on April 11.

Diverse schedule for Kemenah

Chad Kemenah, the six-time Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions title winner, has a new ride for 2019. The veteran driver will run a ‘True Outlaw’ schedule for Shannon and Cheri Wheatley, who own the Redlined Racing Team. 

The team will start the year with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on the West Coast in February. They will also run with the All Stars during the season, as well as making trips to Central Pennsylvania and also the famed Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to drive for Shannon and Cheri Wheatley,” said Kemenah. “They are great people that have been around sprint car racing for a long time and understand what it takes to run a competitive team that can win races anywhere in the country. I am very excited for the World of Outlaws races in Las Vegas and California, Shannon Wheatley helped me out when I was driving my white No. 63 car and we clicked instantly, and I had my best ever West Coast Swing with the World of Outlaws so I am very thankful for this opportunity in 2019 and I am going to go out there and try to win as many races as I can for them.”

Kemenah will also team up with his father-in-law, Hall of Famer Bob Hampshire and Clark Lamme to run select dirt races on the USAC Silver Crown Series schedule. 

Kemenah will open the season in Florida this week at Bubba Raceway Park, driving for Liz Matus. Kemenah will also race at Volusia Speedway Park with the All Stars and World of Outlaws for that team, based out of Western Pennsylvania.

Starks to call Knoxville home

Trey Starks, who has spent the last number of seasons racing in Central Pennsylvania for car owners Scott Gobrecht and Jeff McCall, will call Knoxville Raceway home this season. The team will be renting a shop in Knoxville and will have Jeff Woodruff turning the wrenches as crew chief.

“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Starks said. “It will be some new guys to race against and that should diversify us as a team and me as a driver better. It will get us better prepared for the Knoxville Nationals, too, so that’s another bonus. We’ve had some good runs in Pennsylvania and we want to do something different so we’re going to give this a go. This also allows me to be home more working on the business I have.”

Starks will also compete in a majority of the 410-sprint car races at the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota this year. The team looks to race between 45 and 55 times this season, which is down a bit, from the traditional 70 or so races they ran the last few years.

Gee to hit All Stars trail

Skylar Gee continues his progression in the sprint car ranks and will compete full-time with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions this season. The third-generation driver from Leduc, Alberta, Canada, competed with the ASCS National Tour last season, finishing seventh in points.

Gee was victorious in ASCS competition in 2018, during the Grizzly Nationals at Gallatin Speedway in Montana. He picked up 15 top-10 finishes over the course of the season, with six of those being top-five performances.

“We are super excited to run with the All Stars," said Gee. “I personally like the format, and we are looking forward to traveling to all the different tracks. We had a bit of a slow start to 2018. We kept working hard and picked up a bunch of speed throughout the season, eventually picking up a win in July. We finished off the season with numerous top-fives, but look to take our experiences in 2018 and have a better 2019.”

Gee will open his 2019 season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Silver Dollar Speedway in California in March.

Ford engine hits the dyno

The Ford Performance 410-sprint car engine that Shaver Specialties and Tony Stewart Racing have been developing for the last couple of years, recently took a major step forward as it was placed on a Dyno (Dynamometer) for testing. Team owner, Tony Stewart, Tweeted a photo and wrote that he was a “proud father.” 

Donny Schatz, the 10-time and defending World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion, Tweeted, “It’s been a long time coming, but this is (music) to our ears. Pretty cool to see all the hard work put into the new Ford Performance Sprint Car engine coming together.”

Ford Performance has been a partner of Tony Stewart Racing for the last couple of seasons.