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| Press Release |
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| Busy National Sprint Season Sees New Venues, Winners and Champion |
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An influx of new venues and a high concentration of winners – both new and old
– highlighted a competitive 2006 season for the USAC National Sprint Car
Series.
Stretching from coast to coast, the series visited 25 tracks, and overall 20 drivers won in the 36 events, including nine first-timers. In the end, it was Josh Wise of Riverside, Calif. who came away with the title at the age of 23. Wise’s four victories indicated a series’ season high, tying him with Hoosier phenomenon Jon Stanbrough, the “Indiana Sprint Week” champion. The Californian won once each in August and September, then notched the final two races of the season in the Western World Championships at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. But Wise didn’t show his fists in Victory Lane at the beginning, despite consistent finishes throughout. Eight drivers scored victories in the first eight races of the season. Among those winners were Jerry Coons Jr. in the season opener at Eldora Speedway driving for the Dynamics Inc. team, and teenage sensation Bryan Clauson, who became the youngest series feature victor in history at 16 years, 10 months and eight days after taming the high banks of Winchester Speedway. Clauson, Shane Cottle and Justin Marvel all won their first career USAC National Sprint features in the opening eight events. Soon after, the stretch of visiting new tracks began. On what figures to be an annual Eastern affair, Darren Hagen and Marvel won USAC’s first visits to Lernerville and Canandaigua Speedways. Two weeks later, in the first visit to Concord Motorsports Park, Clauson broke the streak of different winners to start the season, tying a record set in 1994. That started a new streak: drivers winning multiple times. Hagen won at Anderson, Coons at Eldon, Mo., Darland at Lima, Ohio. Matt Westfall became the fourth driver to win his first career feature, winning at Eldora, while Brian Tyler scored his only points-paying event of the season at Richmond, Va. The Michigan native also triumphed in the non-point “Little 500” at Anderson at the end of May, snapping Eric Gordon’s five-race winning streak. The Richmond race was the first of four straight pavement races which led into “Indiana Sprint Week.” Bobby Santos III won his first two USAC Sprint features, separated by the first of two feature wins by Tracy Hines. “Indiana Sprint Week” was cut to five races due to the possibility of inclement weather. Mat Neely won the first of the five, then Brady Short showed his hand at Bloomington after winning a Modified championship there previously. But no one could stop Stanbrough in the next three races. He dominated Tri-State, Kokomo and Gas City I-69 Speedways features and was presented his first crown in the annual series. With things slowing down, Wise stepped up. He won his first race at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois, then three races later at Lucas Oil Speedway to turn 33-point lead by teammate Levi Jones after Gas City into a 19-point lead by Wise after Lucas. In between, Clauson also won a Sprint/Midget doubleheader at Salem, becoming the youngest ever to do so. However, Jones would never catch Wise after that. Hines won the “4-Crown Nationals” at Eldora, with Jones taking seventh. He then finished outside the Top 10 in the next three races – including Terre Haute at which he swept a year prior – while Wise claimed two Top 5s in the same period. The two at Terre Haute, instead, were swept by Daron Clayton in two of the best battles of the season, once with Stanbrough and the second night with Cottle. Clayton had earlier won a USAC co-sanctioned race with the Midwest Sprint Car Series at Tri-State.
Silver Crown champion Bud Kaeding kept his seven year streak of winning one feature alive in the first preliminary night at Manzanita before Wise won the final two nights of 2006. The final margin over Levi Jones, who went winless, stood at 88. Darland finished third in the points, with Hagen and Neely rounding out the Top 5. Aside from Darland, other former series champions to win features included Hines and Jay Drake, who won the inaugural event at Iowa Speedway. NASCAR Nextel Cup stars Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley also returned to competition for select events. Indiana native Scotty Weir was awarded “Rookie of the Year” honors. 2006 Season Summary – National Sprint Car Series No. of Feature Races (Pavement/Dirt): 36 (10/26) Most Feature Starts: Josh Wise, Levi Jones, Dave Darland (36) Most Feature Victories: Josh Wise, Jon Stanbrough (4) Most Laps Led: Dave Darland (182 of 1227; 15 percent) Most Laps Completed: N/A Most Fast Qualifying Times: Josh Wise, Levi Jones (5) Most Poles: N/A Most Heat Wins: Jerry Coons Jr. (8) Most Top Fives: Dave Darland (16) Most Top Tens: Levi Jones (27) Most Pavement Feature Starts: Josh Wise, Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Bobby Santos III, Dave Steele (10) Most Dirt Feature Starts: Josh Wise, Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Darren Hagen, Jerry Coons Jr. (26) Champion: Josh Wise (by 88 points) No. of Drivers Who Started a Feature: 147 No. of Drivers to Lead a Lap: 32 Best Average Finish: Josh Wise (7.58) No. of Drivers to Win a Feature: 20 (Josh Wise, Jon Stanbrough, Daron Clayton, Dave Darland, Bryan Clauson, Tracy Hines, Bobby Santos III, Darren Hagen, Jerry Coons Jr., Brady Short, Matt Westfall, Bud Kaeding, Tony Jones, Mike Spencer, Shane Cottle, Justin Marvel, Mat Neely, Brian Tyler, Jay Drake, Rob Chaney) No. of Tracks Hosting a Feature: 25 (Eldora Speedway, Anderson Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Gas City I-69 Speedway, Lernerville Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Concord Motorsports Park, Lake Ozark Speedway, Limaland Motorsports Park, Richmond International Raceway, O’Reilly Raceway Park, Columbus Motor Speedway, Toledo Speedway, Twin Cities Raceway Park, Bloomington Speedway, Tri-State Speedway, Kokomo Speedway, Tri-City Speedway, Salem Speedway, Lucas Oil Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Terre Haute Action Track, Perris Auto Speedway, Manzanita Speedway) Most Active Track (No. of Races Held): Eldora Speedway (4) Most Races Led: Josh Wise (7) - By Michael Harker |
