The 2021 racing season at Toledo Speedway comes to a close Sunday afternoon, October 10, when the USAC Silver Crown series takes to the high-banked half-mile in the Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic. The 100-lap feature event will also serve as the Silver Crown season finale.

The high-powered open wheel Silver Crown cars compete on a wide range of tracks across the country, from short dirt ovals like Eldora Speedway to the wide-open and fast mile dirt tracks at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. Paved short tracks also have gained a foothold, and Toledo Speedway has been a regular part of the tour’s schedule since 2010.

The Rollie Beale Classic is run in memory of the 1973 USAC National Sprint Car champion, Rollie Beale, a Toledo native who went on to be the series director once he stepped out of the driver’s seat. Beale, a 32-time USAC winner and inductee into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, died in 2014 at the age of 84.

Kody Swanson holds a slim one-point lead over Logan Seavey in the battle for the Silver Crown championship, with Seavey lopping 15 points off Swanson’s lead with a victory last Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. Sylvania native Austin Nemire, grandson of long-time USAC competitor Jerry Nemire, currently sits eighth.

Swanson, already a five-time series champion, will be looking for his record-extending 34th Silver Crown victory. He won at Toledo in 2011, 2015, 2018, and in 2019, the last time the Silver Crown cars raced in the Glass City. Swanson has scored three wins so far in 2021, with victories on the pavement at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis in May and August, and one on the dirt at Springfield in August.

Seavey is looking for his first series victory on pavement. The former USAC National Midget champion scored his first series victory earlier in the season at Selinsgrove Speedway in Pennsylvania. Seavey is also a former ARCA Menards Series winner, taking the win at Du Quoin in 2019.

Tyler Roahrig, a former late model winner at Toledo Speedway, will team up with legendary crew chief and car builder Bob East, who also has tasted success at Toledo. Roahrig won the Glass City 200 at Toledo Speedway in 2016 and 2018 and will be making his second Silver Crown series start, having finished second behind Swanson in his debut at Lucas Oil in July. East, who guided a young Jeff Gordon to success in the USAC National Midget Series on ESPN’s “Thursday Night Thunder” guided his son Bobby East to victory in the USAC national sprint car division at Toledo in 2004, 2009, and 2011.

Defending series champion Justin Grant has also filed an entry, piloting the No. 91 SuperFitness car for Toledo-area resident and 1996 Indianapolis 500-winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn. Grant won earlier in the season at Winchester Speedway and is currently third in the series standings.

Other former Toledo winners entered include 2017 winner Bobby Santos III, former USAC Sprint Car winner Eric Gordon, and 2019 non-wing sprint car winner Aaron Pierce. Former Toledo Speedway track record holder Brian Tyler is also entered, as is Taylor Ferns who became the first female to win a sprint car feature event at Berlin Raceway with her victory at the suburban Grand Rapids, Michigan oval last weekend.

Toledo Speedway’s R&M Recycling Late Model Sportsman and The Vault Factory Stock divisions will also be in action for their season championship events, and there will be a vintage racecar display at the track as well.

Spectator gates open at 11:15 am ET, with hot laps set at 11:30. Racing will begin at 2 pm ET. Tickets are available at ToledoSpeedway.com, and complete event information for the USAC Silver Crown series can be found at USACRacing.com. The USAC portion of the event will be streamed live on FloRacing.