Gold Crown Midget Nationals Next up at Tri-City
by Dick Jordan
INDIANAPOLIS — The USAC Mopar National Midget Series heads for Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. this week for the richest Midget race of the year, the “Gold Crown Midget Nationals,” and Tracy Hines continues to lead the standings in search of USAC’s career “Triple Crown.”
Hines owns championships in USAC’s Silver Crown and National Sprint Car series but would like to add the Midgets to become the fifth driver in history to own career titles in all three National series. The others are Tony Stewart, Pancho Carter, Dave Darland and J.J. Yeley.
Jerry Coons Jr., who won the last two USAC National Midget crowns, also is seeking a career “Triple Crown” as he currently leads USAC’s K & N Silver Crown points and the USAC National Sprint car standings. Coons will be among Hines’ challengers in this week’s events at Tri-City Speedway. Preliminaries are slated Thursday and Friday, with a 25-lap feature each night on the 3/8-mile dirt oval. Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win finale is 40 laps.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1. Tracy Hines 1,113
2. Cole Whitt 1,047
3. Brad Sweet 982
4. Bobby East 947
5. Brady Bacon 936
6. Levi Jones 935
7. Darren Hagen 875
8. Jerry Coons Jr. 749
9. Dave Darland 717
10. Brad Kuhn 688