Ninety-three previous USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget events have been held inside the city limits of Indianapolis, Indiana, but a first will occur on June 9 for round five of the 17^th annual edition of Indiana Midget Week at Circle City Raceway, the newly-refurbished quarter-mile dirt oval located on the southeast side of Indy.

The inaugural John Andretti Memorial “Double” benefitting Race 4 Riley at Circle City Raceway is one of two first-time Indiana Midget Week events on this year’s schedule.

The most recent IMW showdown occurred at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, which made its debut on the IMW slate last Sunday and was won by a first-time USAC National Midget feature winner in Princeton, Indiana’s Kyle Cummins.

Six different tracks in Indianapolis have hosted USAC National Midget events: the original paved 16^th Street Speedway between 1956-58; the dirt 16^th Street Speedway between 1997-99; the Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt mile between 1972-87; the paved indoor Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum between 1974-79; the paved Speedrome from 1958-2005; and, most recently, The Dirt Track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 2018-present.

Sleepy Tripp possesses the most USAC National Midget victories within Indianapolis, scoring 11 triumphs in a six-year span between 1975 and 1980.

Expected to compete on Wednesday at Circle for a winner’s share of $4,333 are a number of familiar faces who’ve won USAC National Midget features at other venues’ first times hosting the series over the years.

Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) won the debut at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway’s dirt oval in 2015 as well as the inaugural run at Arizona Speedway in 2019.  Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.), likewise, has won on two occasions at first-time USAC Midget venues, both in 2016, at Riverside International Speedway in Arkansas and at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) won the inaugural BC39 at The Dirt Track at IMS in 2018 while Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) took the first ever stop at Susquehanna Speedway (now BAPS) in Pennsylvania.  Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) captured the first Sweet Springs, Mo. feature in 2018 while Meseraull, sight unseen, took care of business in the first race at California’s Merced Speedway in 2020.

With everyone basically on equal footing and no data to foretell who has shown the traits, the chops and the track record, so to speak, to run up front at Circle City, the common denominator among drivers who win races and compete for championships is the ability to adapt to changing conditions on the fly and thrive at tracks of various sizes, shape and banking.

The frontrunners of Indiana Midget Week are among that crop, including point leader Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), a 13-point leader over Friday’s Bloomington winner Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.).  Seavey, third in points, was victorious at Lawrenceburg on Saturday.

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) and Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) round out the top-five for the time being in IMW’s latest standings with four races remaining this week to decide the titlist at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis on Wednesday, June 9; Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville on Thursday, June 10; Gas City I-69 Speedway on Friday, June 11; and the finale at Kokomo Speedway on Saturday, June 12.

Wednesday’s Indiana Midget Week round at Circle City will feature the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship & the Midwest Sprint Car Series.

You can save $5 with purchase of advance tickets at www.TracPass.com.  Tickets and pit passes will also be sold at the gate where adult general admission tickets are $30 while kids aged 12 and under are free.  Pit passes are $35.

Pits open at 3pm EDT with grandstands opening at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:30pm and hot laps at 6pm

Circle City Raceway is located at 7300 East Troy Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46239.

2021 INDIANA MIDGET WEEK SCHEDULE:

Jun 3: Paragon Speedway – Paragon, IN

                WINNER: Thomas Meseraull (RMS Racing #7x)

Jun 4: Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, IN

                WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)

Jun 5: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, IN

                WINNER: Logan Seavey (Tom Malloy #25)

Jun 6: Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, IN

                WINNER: Kyle Cummins (Glenn Styres #3G)

Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, IN

Jun 10: Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, IN

Jun 11: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, IN

Jun 12: Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, IN

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-706, 2-Chris Windom-699, 3-Justin Grant-657, 4-Thomas Meseraull-612, 5-Tanner Thorson-599, 6-Emerson Axsom-567, 7-Daison Pursley-558, 8-Logan Seavey-552, 9-Cannon McIntosh-533, 10-Jason McDougal-489.

INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-283, 2-Buddy Kofoid-270, 3-Logan Seavey-256, 4-Justin Grant-247, 5-Daison Pursley-243, 6-Thomas Meseraull-220, 7-Cannon McIntosh-218, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-202, 9-Emerson Axsom-189, 10-Jason McDougal-185.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-71, 2-Tanner Thorson-63, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-44, 5-Chris Windom-43, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-37, 8-Buddy Kofoid-33, 9-Brian Carber-30, 10-Kyle Cummins-26.

INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-27, 2-Emerson Axsom-24, 3-Brian Carber-24, 4-Justin Grant-17, 5-Kaylee Bryson-17, 6-Chris Windom-16, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-16, 8-Jason McDougal-16, 9-Tanner Thorson-16, 10-Hayden Williams-16.

INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY:

None

INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINNERS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY:

None

CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:

None

CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:

None

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY:

None

ALL-TIME INDIANAPOLIS USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS: (1956-2020)

11-Sleepy Tripp

7-Rich Vogler

4-Chuck Rodee & Shorty Templeman

3-Donnie Beechler

2-Teddy Beach, Gary Bettenhausen, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Gene Force, Gene Hartley, Mel Kenyon, Steve Knepper, Steve Lotshaw, Jeff Nuckles, Ricky Shelton, Johnnie Tolan, Jerry Weeks, Bob Wente,

1-George Amick, Brady Bacon, Billy Boat, Tony Bonadies, Gary Byers, Steve Cannon, Dana Carter, Lonnie Caruthers, Jerry Coons, Jr., Jimmy Davies, Rex Easton, Russ Gamester, Brian Gerster, Bobby Grim, John Heydenreich, Eddie Johnson, Jason Leffler, Mack McClellan, Andy Michner, Ken Nichols, Kevin Olson, Barry Reed, Bruce Robey, Ken Schrader, Ron Smoker, Cliff Spalding, Tom Steiner, Tony Stewart, Len Sutton, Bob Tattersall, Jack Turner, Billy Wease, Mauri Wilson & Zeb Wise