ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Coming off a career season, 19-year old Briggs Danner will be seeking his first TQ Midget Indoor Auto Racing Series win in front of hometown fans inside the PPL Center Arena.
The Lehigh Valley, Pa., native will be one of the pre-race favorites for the Ironton Global sponsored events on Jan. 7-8.
Danner enjoyed an outstanding 2021 season. The teenager won a SpeedSTR championship at the nearby Kutztown Action Track and picked up nine wins on the USAC East Coast Sprint circuit. He ended the season with his first TQ feature win in late November outdoors at Wall Stadium.
At Wall’s prestigious Turkey Derby, Danner drove a No. 48 owned by Matt Janisch of Nazareth, Pa. For the two-day event in Allentown and the two series races that follow he will drive a similar No. 48. Janisch will be competing against Danner and his own car behind the wheel of Roger Mahan’s No. 2 TQ Midget.
The Indoor Series will be restarting after the last four events dating to March 2020 were cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“I missed running indoors last year,” Danner said. “It’s something I have always enjoyed doing. I think it keeps you sharp, makes you a better race car driver.”
After Allentown’s the series moves to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Jan. 28-29 and the New York State Fairgrounds Exposition Center in Syracuse, N.Y., on March 11-12.
To achieve his goal of hometown victory, Danner will to have to outrun the likes of Andy Jankowiak, defending Indoor Auto Racing Series champion, and Ryan Flores, the defending winner of the Indoor Series event at the PPL Center in January 2020.
The TQ entry list is filled with other Greater Lehigh Valley, Pa., area drivers.
Earl Paules, who races modifieds weekly at Mahoning Valley Speedway, has filed his entry. Mike Bednar, who drove a second TQ owned by Paulus in 2020, will be driving Mike Murray’s highly regarded No. 12 TQ midget this year.
Kyle Lick returns to the PPL Center driving a car owned by his father. Lick was injured this summer in a crash at Big Diamond Speedway in a USAC East Coast Wingless Sprint race and was sidelined for a month before returning late in the year.
Big Diamond modified race winner and track champion Tim Buckwalter will be a contender back behind the wheel of the Pippard No. 74.
Tyler Lindsay, a micro sprint dirt-track specialist at Shellhammers Speedway, will compete driving a family-owned car.
TQ Midget race cars will headline all the programs with high-speed excitement competing on speedways set up on the concrete floors of three arenas. Slingshots and Champ Karts will complete the tripleheader programs.
The Allentown schedule calls for doors opening at 6 p.m., with racing getting underway at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, doors open and Fan Fest begins at 5 p.m. with racing starting at 7 p.m. sharp.
For online tickets, visit www.pplcenter.com.