Locked & Loaded: Oval Nats Pre-Registration List Includes 4 Past Winners

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Perris, California (November 1, 2021) ……… Four former Oval Nationals winners are on the pre-registration list for this week’s 25^e race of the Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by All Coast Construction on November 4-6 at Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California.

Thirty-six cars are entered for the event which features Perris headliners like Damion Gardner, three-time Oval Nationals winner, Concord, Calif. Native, eight-time AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car champion and current leader of the points, who is looking to become the first four-time winner of the Oval Nationals in the $ 10,000 final up for grabs this Saturday night.

CJ Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) Enters as the reigning Oval Nationals winner, taking first prize in 2019. The 2020 event did not take place due to COVID-19 restrictions. Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) Claimed back-to-back victories at the Oval Nationals in 2017-18. Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) Became the youngest winner of the Oval Nationals at the age of 19 in 2010.

Preliminary winners looking to break through for a monumental first score in this weekend’s Oval Nationals final include USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National championship leader and three-time champion Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.). Bacon swept the two preliminary nights in 2019, just like Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) Did in 2018. Brody Roa (Garden Grove, Calif.) Notched his only career victory at USAC National in a preliminary round at the 2017 event.

In the USAC CRA competition this season, Gardner added three PAS wins, Roa scoring two, while Austin Williams (Yorba Linda, Calif.) And Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Ariz.) Added one. Austin is the son of 1997 Oval Nationals winner Rip Williams.

Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nevada) will make his oval national championship debut, winner of the 2015 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship of the Turkish Grand Prix in Perris, who has won the USAC national sprints five times this year.

Another 2021 USAC National Sprint Car winner Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), Who like Thorson is a former USAC National Midget Champion. Seavey is one of two drivers to win in all three USAC national divisions this year with Grant.

This week, five-time USAC National Sprint Car winner Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) Will make his first Oval Nationals appearance in 13 years. 2017 USAC National Sprint Car rookie Stevie Sussex (Laveen, Arizona) returns to the Oval Nationals lineup.

Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.), RJ Johnson (Laveen, Arizona) and Matt Mitchell (Costa Mesa, Calif.) Are all former USAC CRA winners in Perris looking to reach the USAC national victory lane. for the first time in their career this weekend.

The Oval National Championships begin with practice from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday evening, November 3. Three consecutive full nights of racing, with each evening offering qualifying, playoffs, semi-films and main events, begin in Perris on Thursday, November 4th. , then returns the following night, Friday November 5, with the grand finale taking place on Saturday evening November 6.

The drivers meeting takes place at 4:30 p.m. PT on each race night with cars expected to be on track by 5:30 p.m.

The three nights of racing will be broadcast LIVE on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3frPoW6.

PRE-REGISTERED OVAL NATIONAL PILOTS:

1 Damion Gardner / Concord, Calif. (Mark Alexander)

2 Chase Johnson / Penngrove, Calif. (Jack Yeley)

4 Justin Grant / Ione, California (TOPP Motorsports)

4G Chris Gansen / Verdemont Heights, California (Gansen Motorsports)

4x Jacob Hodges / Camarillo, Calif. (Jacob Hodges)

5 Logan Seavey / Sutter, CA (Baldwin-Fox Racing)

5A Alex Banales / West Lafayette, IN (Baldwin-Fox Racing)

5x Tommy Malcolm / Corona, CA (Dino Napier)

9K Kevin Thomas Jr./Cullman, AL (KT Motorsports)

11o Ikaika O’Brien / Aiea, HI (Ikaika O’Brien)

12 Stevie Sussex / Laveen, AZ (Robbie & Gaye Allen)

13 Dennis Gile / Phoenix, AZ (Gene Gile Racing)

17v Danny Faria Jr./Tipton, CA (Hollywood Motorsports)

19 Chris Windom / Canton, Illinois (Hayward Motorsports)

19AZ Tanner Thorson / Minden, NV (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports)

21 AJ Bender / Ramona, Calif. (Rich Bender)

21AZ Jake Swanson / Anaheim, Calif. (AZ Racing team)

25 Chris Muraoka / Waianae, HI (Sure Can LLC)

37 Matt Mitchell / Costa Mesa, Calif. (JW Mitchell Motorsports)

38 Tye Mihocko / Phoenix, AZ (Glenn Crossno)

39E Kyle Edwards / Fountain Valley, CA (Gordon Edwards)

44 Cody Williams / Norco, Calif. (Cody Williams)

47 Charles Davis Jr./Buckeye, AZ (Davis Race Team)

51 RJ Johnson / Laveen, AZ (Ricky Johnson)

51T Eddie Tafoya Jr./Chino Hills, Calif. (Eddie Tafoya Sr.)

52v Trent Williams / Hesperia, CA (Ron and Brandi Williams)

69 Brady Bacon / Broken Arrow, OK (Dynamics, Inc.)

72 Austin Grabowski / Riverside, CA (Austin Grabowski)

73 Max Adams / Loomis, Calif. (Josh Ford Motorsports)

74 Shane Sexton / Warner Springs, CA (Stan Sexton)

74x Shane Cottle / Kansas, Illinois (Hodges Motorsports)

77m CJ Leary / Greenfield, IN (Michael Motorsports)

91R Brody Roa / Garden Grove, CA (BR Performance)

92 Austin Williams / Corona, CA (Tom and Laurie Sertich)

92m to be determined (Tom & Laurie Sertich)

98 Verne Sweeney / Lomita, Calif. (Ken Tracy)