Brownstown ready for Indiana Icebreaker tonight

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Brownstown Speedway will kick off its 70th year of racing with the 25th Annual Indiana Icebreaker tonight. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event will pay $15,000 to win. Also competing on opening night will be the open wheel modifieds and pure stocks. There will be a complete show for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with hot laps, time trials, heat races B-mains and the 50-lap feature race.

Brandon Sheppard, the two-time and defending Indiana Icebreaker winner and current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship points leader, is expected to be on hand, along with Devin Moran, the current No. 1 1 dirt late model driver in the country. Others expected are defending series champion Tim McCreadie, last year’s Jackson 100 winner Jimmy Owens, along with Tyler Erb, Ricky Thornton Jr., Spencer Hughes, Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., Dennis Erb Jr., Ashton Winger, Ross Robinson, Shane Clanton, Bobby Pierce, Josh Rice, Garrett Alberson, Daulton Wilson and Kyle Bronson.

Devin Gilpin of Columbus, the reigning Brownstown late model track champion, will lead the local contingent of racers, including Zak Blackwood, Chad Stapleton, Skyller Lewis, Britan Godsey, Kent Robinson, Brayton Laster, Kody Marsee, Keegan Cox, Shelby Miles, Scott James and Steve Casebolt.

There will be earlier starting times for Saturday at Brownstown, with main and pit gates opening at noon. Hot laps are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. For more information, go to brownstownspeedway.com.

Paragon opener set for Sunday

Paragon Speedway, under new ownership for 2022, has moved its season opener to Sunday. The No Way Out 40 for non-winged sprint cars will highlight the afternoon, with a top prize of $14,000 to win.

Also competing will be super stocks and hornets. Gates will open at 1 p.m., with hot laps at 4 p.m.

Salem opener set for April 2

Salem Speedway has a tentative schedule released, though it may add events. The season opener was set to be the MR Heating &Cooling Roval 100 Enduro for Crown Vics on March 12, but the cold weather and snow forced it to be postponed until April 10.

The season opener will be April 2 with the Spring Fling, headlined by a 100-lap feature for Great American Stocks, along with Modifieds, Crown Vics and the Pro FWD Series. A new series making a couple of runs at Salem this season will be the 602 Super Series cars, Super Limiteds and Modifieds.

The Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial will be June 11, the National Compact Touring Series will race on June 18 and Sept. 17, the ARCA/CRA Super Series and the JEGS/CRA All-Star Tour is set for an April 24 appearance, the 33rd annual Firecracker 200 for Lucas Oil Great American Stocks is slated for July 2 and the ARCA Menard’s Series will come in for the Fall Classic 200 on October 1.

Terre Haute track update

Terre Haute Action Track has new co-promoters in Scott Ronk and Bernie Stuebgen, who will lead Indiana’s lone half-mile dirt track starting with the 2022 racing season. Ronk and Stuebgen have both been event promoters, car owners and business owners over the past several years. Kokomo’s Ronk owns Chalk Stix and Schroeder Torsion Bars, while Stuebgen owns Indy Race Parts, all names familiar in dirt track racing circles.

“John Fitzpatrick from the Wabash Valley Fair Association reached out to me and told me they were wanting to go in a different direction, and he asked if we would be interested,” Stuebgen said in a USAC press release. “I reached out to Scott, and he said, ‘Yeah, we’re doing it.’”

Among the improvements slated to be implemented in time for the start of this season is a tiered guardrail set up on each end of the famed racetrack, similar to the outer retaining guardrail currently seen at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway and Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex.

“There are a lot of projects that have to be done in a short amount of time,” Stuebgen admitted. “But the guardrail is obviously a very big deal. The No. 1 priority is to get rid of the concrete blocks on each end of the racetrack and put tiered guardrail in at each end of the racetrack.”

Also on tap are restroom and concession stand updates. Four USAC national events are on the docket for the 2022 season at the Terre Haute Action Track. The track kicks off the USAC Silver Crown season on May 1 with the 19th running of the Sumar Classic. Terre Haute also is one of eight tracks on the Indiana Sprint Week slate in 2022, hosting its round on July 27.

This week in racing history

From 10 years ago, Brownstown Speedway opened its 2012 racing season with Brad Neat winning the late model feature over Greg Johnson, Justin Rattliff, Jeremy Hines and Joe Janowski. Elliott Despain won the modified feature over Matt Boknecht, Richie Lex, Clint DeMoss and Daryl Herbert. Dusten Carr won the pure stock main event over Mickey Hines, Donnie Wilson, Mark Hines and Butch Bennett. Cullen Goodman was victorious in the super stock feature race over Jimmy Cummins, Tim Clark, Troy Clark and Tyler Cain. Justin Patterson took the hornet division feature over Dan Morgan, Chris Corbin, David Giedling and Alex Terrell.

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