16-year-old Clauson triumphs at Wincehster
Winchester, IN - April 24, 2006
By: USAC
It only took Bryan Clauson 16 years, 10 months and eight days to reach Victory Lane at Winchester Speedway.
Not bad, considering that’s his age.
On Sunday, Clauson became the youngest driver ever to win a race in USAC National Sprint Car Series, leading green-to-checkered in one of the most thrilling races in the track’s history, the 2006 edition of the “Rich Vogler Classic.”
To add to it, Clauson’s victory came in his initial Winchester start. Clauson is also the youngest driver ever to win a USAC National Midget Car Series race, accomplishing the feat last year.
Clauson drove the No. 67 Keith Kunz Motorsports Bullet/Dodge, making him the fourth different winner in four races this season.
It helped that Clauson started on the pole, but to his credit, he held off some of the series’ best, including defending series champion Levi Jones and pavement specialist Dave Steele.
Clauson jumped into the lead at the start and graciously held the point as the battles ensued behind him. Jones kept close – just under a half second – while Steele spent time battling with Hagen, who was ahead, and Tracy Hines, who was behind. And Clauson seemed to have no trouble either when the yellow flag came out, which occurred only three times. The most serious came on Lap 15, when Aaron Pierce hit the outside Turn 2 wall. He was not seriously injured.
That incident, however, may have been saving grace for Clauson. On that same lap, Jones had inched ahead at the start/finish line and was establishing a mark of his own before the caution came out. On Lap 14, the two nearly touched when battling on the backstretch and in Turns 3 and 4.
The repositioning of the first two cars gave Clauson the lead back, and turned the tables on Jones, who never got another opportunity to challenge again.
Instead, Hagen jumped ahead on the restart, diving down low in Turn 1 and taking the spot outright coming out of Turn 4. Three laps later, the final yellow flag flew for Jay Drake, who slowed on the backstretch.
Hagen, whose outfit is operated out of the same Keith Kunz Motorsports shop, made sure he might have the chance to win at Winchester, which would have come in only his second start at the track.
He sought the low side a couple of times – the last coming on Lap 24 – before slipping back as Clauson shut the door. However, to Hagen’s credit, he was able to hold off Steele for the runner-up position.
Even on the last lap, though, it was hard to tell who would finish where. While no one made an attempt on Clauson for the point, the Top 9 cars raced nose-to-tail and side-by-side to the checkered flag. They were all separated by only 1.756 seconds after completing the 30 laps.
Tracy Hines and Jones completed the Top 5 finishers.
Clauson drove to the sea of photographers and – in calm, and maybe stunned fashion – shook his first in the air and complimented his Keith Kunz crew.
Drake set the afternoon’s quick time – 14.210 seconds – while Pierce, Marc Jessup and Jerry Coons Jr. won 10-lap heats.
Sixth-place finisher Josh Wise, who was among the gaggle of cars fighting for a Top 5 position at the end, quietly emerged as the series’ point leader. He leads Tony Stewart Racing teammate Jones by one point heading into Friday’s race at the Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway, the opening event of the two-race “Border Wars.”
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 23, 2006 – Winchester, Indiana – Winchester Speedway – “Rich Vogler Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jay Drake, 62, BWB-14.210; 2. Tracy Hines, 69, Dynamics-14.214; 3. Darren Hagen, 71, Hagen-14.301; 4. Dave Steele, 11, Walker/Guiducci-14.365; 5. Levi Jones, 21, Stewart-14.394; 6. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz-14.402; 7. Josh Wise, 20, Stewart-14.447; 8. Eric Gordon, 51, Bowman-14.499; 9. Bud Kaeding, 2B, 2B Racing-14.672; 10. Marc Jessup, 14J, Jessup-14.681; 11. Aaron Pierce, 26p, Pierce-14.834; 12. Brady Short, 36, Short-14.855; 13. Brian Gerster, 27, Davis/Gerster-14.898; 14. Mat Neely, 6, Neely-14.923; 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 50m, Ram-14.957; 16. Bobby Santos III, 98s, Santos-15.328; 17. Troy DeCaire, 0, Steele-15.362; 18. Lee Boss, 8B, Boss-15.619; 19. Rex Norris III, 63, Norris-16.121; 20. Scotty Weir, 22w, Weir-16.278; 21. Shawn Norris, 04, Norris-22.156; 22. Dave Darland, 11D, Walker/Guiducci-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jessup, 2. Steele, 3. Santos, 4. Wise, 5. Gerster, 6. Drake, 7. Norris, 8. Darland. 2:31.91
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Pierce, 2. Hines, 3. Jones, 4. Neely, 5. DeCaire, 6. Weir, 7. Gordon. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Kaeding, 3. Boss, 4. Hagen, 5. Short, 6. Clauson, 7. Norris. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Darren Hagen, 3. Dave Steele, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Levi Jones, 6. Josh Wise, 7. Eric Gordon, 8. Bud Kaeding, 9. Marc Jessup, 10. Jay Drake, 11. Bobby Santos III, 12. Brady Short, 13. Mat Neely, 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 15. Scotty Weir, 16. Rex Norris III, 17. Lee Boss, 18. Troy DeCaire, 19. Dave Darland, 20. Brian Gerster, 21, Aaron Pierce. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Clauson.
NEW NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Wise-186; 2-Jones-185; 3-Drake-175; 4-Kaeding-169; 5-Hines-161; 6-Clauson-159; 7-Darland-157; 8-Neely-144; 9-Steele-127; 10-Coons-124.
NEXT NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: April 28 – Gas City (IN) I-69 Speedway
