HOLY TOLEDO! USAC SILVER CROWN TAKES ON THE ROLLIE BEALE CLASSIC AUGUST 6
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Toledo, Ohio (July 14, 2022)………It’s back under the lights for the USAC Silver Crown National Championship at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway on Saturday night, August 6.
The Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic 100 fueled by Marco's Pizza honors the legendary Toledo native and 1973 USAC Sprint Car champion driver and marks the ninth appearance by the series at Toledo since 2010.
The last time the champ cars have been under the lights at Toledo’s half-mile paved oval came back in 2015 with USAC Silver Crown racing’s most prolific driver, six-time champion Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif., celebrating in victory lane.
Swanson enters the event as defending race winner, and has won each of the last three, among his grand total of five USAC Silver Crown race victories at Toledo in 2011-15-18-19-21.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) will be among the contenders to capture the 100-lap victory after he previously scored the Rollie Beale Classic win at Toledo in 2017. He’s also already been in Silver Crown victory this season with a dazzling performance in May of this year at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Series point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has emerged as a frontrunner to reckon with on the pavement. The highly-decorated dirt racer and past USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion won in his last time on the asphalt with the series in June at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway. He’ll be making his first Toledo appearance since 2019.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) will be aiming to make gains toward a Silver Crown championship run with a solid Toledo finish. He’s already been in victory lane on the dirt with the series this season at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway.
Seavey is a past USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Champion from the 2018 season and, at Toledo, he’ll be competing alongside 2020 Silver Crown titlist Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.), whose car is owned by Toledo-area native and 1996 Indianapolis 500 winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn.
Local racer Austin Nemire (Sylvania, Ohio) will make the short trek to Toledo where he’s made four previous Toledo Silver Crown starts, all of which have resulted in top-eight finishes.
Brian Tyler (Parma, Mich.) is among the plethora of champions in the lineup slated to make a run at Toledo. The 1996 and 1997 USAC National Sprint Car champ was a third-place finisher in his most recent Toledo outing with the Silver Crown series in 2021.
National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Eric Gordon (Greenfield, Ind.) is a veteran racer who possesses past Toledo success as a USAC Sprint Car feature winner.
Taylor Ferns (Shelby Township, Mich.) will look to best her history-making record in USAC Silver Crown competition when she finished third in May at IRP, which stands as the best finish by a woman in Silver Crown history.
The USAC Silver Crown National Championship will joined by racing from both the Late Model Sportsman and Factory Stocks, while Vintage Race Cars will also be on display.
Gates open at 4:30pm Eastern with racing beginning at 7pm.
Tickets are $25, kids 6-12 are $5, while ages 5 and under are free. Add $1 per ticket for online ticket purchases at http://www.toledospeedway.com/.