NEW CASTLE, Ind.— May 29, 2013— Tracy Hines has raced quite a few times over the years in the St. Louis area, which has a rich open wheel racing heritage, with the majority of those starts coming at Tri-City Speedway, just over the state line in Illinois. This weekend he’ll help add another chapter to St. Louis open wheel racing history as he competes with the Honda USAC National Midget Series at Tri-City in the Hut Hundred, in addition to racing with the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series at Gateway Motorsports Park.
The weekend will open for Hines aboard the Parker Machinery/Powered by Toyota Spike at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill., on Friday, May 31, with the running of the Hut Hundred, which will be co-sanctioned by the Honda USAC National Midget Series and the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. On Saturday, June 1, the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series will return to Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., for the first time since 2005.
“Last week we had a dirt and pavement weekend and fared pretty well, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into this weekend,” said Hines. “The Hut Hundred is such a historic race and midget racing has a great following in the St. Louis area, so it should be a great event at Tri-City (Speedway). Getting back to Gateway (Motorsports Park) will be good as well and we’ll get to show the pure speed of the Silver Crown cars there.”
Hines was victorious at Tri-City Speedway last fall on the opening night of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals. That victory marked his second USAC National Midget Series win at track and his first since it was reconfigured from a half-mile to a three-eighths-mile. In the finale of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals last year, the veteran driver finished ninth. Hines has finished among the top-10 in five of his last eight midget starts at the track.
“I always ran pretty well at Tri-City (Speedway) when it was a half-mile and we’ve been able to translate that into some success on the smaller version of the track that we currently race on,” he noted. “With it being a co-sanctioned race there should be a very strong car count and as always it’s going to be important to put yourself in a good position. That is a place where you can start a little further back and made up some ground with the racing room it has.”
The Hut Hundred will serve as the season opening event for the Honda USAC National Dirt Midget Championship, after the inaugural Kokomo Grand Prix was rained out in April. On the pavement last weekend, Hines finished third at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis to earn his second top-five finish of the season, which marked his third overall top-10 run.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had an outdoor dirt midget race, and we are ready to get after it,” Hines shared. “I’ve had some good runs over the years at Tri-City (Speedway), including last fall. We feel pretty good about our pavement program and are looking forward to seeing what we have on the dirt, especially as Indiana Midget Week gets closer.”
Hines, who pilots the No. 16 Lightfoot Racing machine with the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series, has one career win at Gateway Motorsports Park, with that coming in a Silver Crown race in 2000, the year he won the series title. In addition to making five Silver Crown starts at the 1.25-mile track, the veteran has also raced at Gateway twice with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series event will mark the first oval race at the venue since 2010.
“Gateway is a very, very fast track,” shared Hines. “That’s a place where track position and qualifying will be very important. Being near the front and in clean air is a key and having raced there a handful of times in the past in a Silver Crown car should be an advantage. We had a good run on the dirt last week at the Indy Mile (Indiana State Fairgrounds), so we’ll see what we have on the pavement this week.”
Hines enters the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series event at Gateway Motorsports Park third in points, following the first race of the season last weekend at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, where he finished on the podium in third. He is just six markers out of the top spot as he chases his second USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series title.
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank: Hansen’s Welding Inc., Parker Machinery, Motor City Auto Transport, Turbines, Inc., Afco Racing Products, Daum Crop Insurance, Schoenfeld Headers, Allstar Performance, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers and Bell Racing.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.com. Follow Tracy on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TracyHinesRacin.
- Admin Account on May 29, 2013
- Article Date: 5/29/2013 by Tracy Hines Racing PR