JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — A who’s who of the sprint car racing world made an appearance at Wednesday night’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway before the largest crowd in the history of the quarter-mile fairgrounds facility.
Thanks to High Limit Racing raining out its event at 81 Speedway in Kansas, 56 cars signed in for competition. The event proved that both racers and fans enjoy bullring competition and midweek racing.
• David Gravel, who picked up his fourth World of Outlaws victory of the season and the 92nd of his career, doesn’t typically enjoy the bullrings on the circuit and was already looking ahead to the bigger tracks on the schedule.
Still, the series point leader was proud of his Big Game Motorsports team’s effort at Jacksonville.
“It makes me feel damn good because this isn’t really my cup of tea,” he said in victory lane. “But it got really wide and you could use every inch of this track and it was really a lot of fun tonight, but I am ready for Eldora, Williams Grove and Lincoln.”
• Speaking of Eldora Speedway, the high-banked Ohio half-mile is next up for the national touring stars as the World of Outlaws will share the billing for two nights of racing Friday and Saturday with the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series.
• The top stars of both national touring series, including Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet, David Gravel and Donny Schatz were on hand with the World of Outlaws regulars joined by seven High Limit racers and plethora of regional racers from the Midwest and Plains states.
• A pair of NASCAR Cup Series drivers were in the field, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe each piloting their own race cars. Neither made the 24-car main event.
• Four-time USAC sprint car champion Brady Bacon, a World of Outlaws winner at Tri-State Speedway earlier this season, was the fast qualifier at Jacksonville, but drove over the cushion in the first turn and flipped during the third heat, putting him behind the eightball for the rest of the night.
• Logan Seavey, who won a pair of USAC national titles last season, made his debut driving Landon Simon’s No. 24 winged sprint car and finished 12th in the B Main.
• World of Outlaws Late Model Series point leader Brandon Sheppard made his World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series debut at Jacksonville, driving a car fielded by regional racer Jake Neuman.
Sheppard qualified 18th in the first group and finished sixth in the C Main.
• Californian Cole Macedo, younger brother of World of Outlaws driver Carson Macedo, is splitting his time among the California-based Tarlton Motorsports machine and Kevin Newton’s No. 16t. Macedo (ninth) was the only driver who is not a regular on the World of Outlaws or High Limit Tour to finish in the top 10 Wednesday night.