CLOUSER TO CHASE FULL USAC SPRINT TRAIL IN 2021
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (November 12, 2020)………Driver Mario Clouser will join Eberhardt-Zirzow Racing to contest the full USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule during the 2021 season.
Clouser, of Auburn, Ill., is a veteran of 30 career starts with the series. This past season, Clouser made 12 feature starts with a best finish of 6th in September at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.
Eberhardt-Zirzow Racing has won four USAC National Sprint Car feature points-paying events, all of which came with driver Chad Boespflug during 2016. In 2020, EZR campaigned Dave Darland on the USAC trail, and in past years, have teamed up with the likes of Tyler Courtney and Kyle Cummins.
Clouser planned to compete on the full USAC tour this year under his own Clouser Motorsports banner, but a slew of bad luck and engine issues plagued the team, erasing a large chunk of their summer racing plans. With more resources at hand, 2021 appears to have an even brighter outlook with the combination of Clouser with EZR.
“I planned on running the whole USAC deal this past year, but we had motor issues and weren’t able to make it to all the races,” Clouser recalled. “EZR has a great stable of proven equipment to be able to run the whole season. If we would have problems, it wouldn’t be as detrimental to us.”
Team co-owners Fred Zirzow and Chuck Eberhardt are thrilled to be able work with Clouser, who will be chasing the entirety of the USAC slate for the first time in his career in a car that will retain Clouser’s familiar No. 6.
“Chuck and I at EZR racing are excited for this new adventure with Mario,” Zirzow exclaimed. “We want to help the guy who just needs that little extra bit of help, which, in the past, we were able to do and have success with Courtney, Boespflug and Cummins, and are looking to do the same with Mario.”
Clouser hit a bit of a stride in 2020 behind the wheel of a sprint car, winning three times in just nine POWRi WAR appearances and finishing 3rd in the standings. Clouser has also made 56 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts in his career, and over the past few years, has steadily elevated his game in sprint cars on dirt. It’s all part of the process that Clouser anticipates will have prepared to turn it up another notch in 2021.
“Last year, I feel like I made big gains with the car,” Clouser stated. “We had Jake Argo as the crew chief in 2019 and that allowed me to focus more on driving and we also had a good car every time we were out there. I learned a lot as far as the driving side goes, but I also now have a better idea of what the car should feel like to go fast. I’m getting a ton more comfortable in the car, so I’m really looking forward to the next season.”
For Clouser, it’s all about continuously gaining more seat time. Over the past few years, a limited schedule that has seen him competing sporadically in shows that fit within his racing budget, will blossom into a full slate of activity for 2021 against the top talent of USAC night-in, night-out. Clouser welcomes the challenge.
“I’m just really looking forward to racing a bunch,” Clouser foresees. “In the past, we had to pick and choose where we could run. If it didn’t make a ton of sense to go somewhere, we just didn’t do it. We didn’t have the ability to run 40 or 50 times. I’m looking forward to being able to do that this summer. Obviously, those guys who stay in the car all the time are comfortable and that makes a big difference in how you do on race days.”
Clouser and EZR’s first bout of competition will be the 12th edition of Winter Dirt Games, which marks the beginning of the 2021 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., beginning with practice night on Wednesday, February 10, followed by three consecutive nights of complete racing programs on Thursday, February 11, Friday, February 12, and the finale on Saturday, February 13, which pays $10,000-to-win.
