HOLLY SHELTON RETURNS TO USAC MIDGET RACING WITH LIL BUNDY MOTORSPORTS IN 2023
By: Redbeard Promotions
Speedway, Indiana (May 11, 2023)………After a nearly five-year absence, Gold River, Calif. native Holly Shelton will be returning to the cockpit in USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition for an 11-race slate starting in late summer of this season.
Eying a schedule composed of select races, Shelton will team up with John and Ethan Mitchell aboard a Spike Chassis with Bundy Built Honda power under the hood. The car will feature Shelton’s No. 4, a nod to her karting days at Cycleland Speedway where she ranks among the top-ten all-time in open division feature victories.
Marketing partners riding with Shelton for her return include Coopersville Fleet Repair, E14 Cattle Company, the Erik Jones Foundation and Medical Reliable Services.
“Their performance speaks for itself,” Shelton said of the Mitchells and their Bundy Built team.
When looking to get back into the sport, Shelton pointed out that they were on her short list of teams to drive for.
“I saw how badass they were at Chili Bowl this past year,” Shelton noted. “When I ran midgets [previously], they were just getting into midgets. To see the progress they’ve made is amazing.”
In Shelton’s three full-time seasons (2016, 2017, 2018) piloting the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 67K, she earned five top-five and 23 top-ten finishes in 53 main event starts in action with the USAC National Midget series, including a captivating 2017 Indiana Midget Week performance at Lawrenceburg Speedway in which she led 26 of 30 circuits at the high-banked facility but fell to third in the final laps. In addition, Shelton tacked on ten top-fives and 29 top-tens in 56 career POWRi National Midget features, headlined by a runner-up finish after starting 17th at Valley Speedway in 2018.
Though Shelton has competed sporadically in multiple racing disciplines including winged 360ci sprint cars, micro sprints, and outlaw karts in recent years, her last midget race came at the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis at the end of the 2018 season. Her re-debut in midget action will take place just a stone’s skip across the Mississippi River, at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City Ill. on Thursday, June 1 with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets.
That event will help to prepare Shelton for a slate of high-profile National Midget events that make up much of the back half of the USAC schedule. The fall slate’s first event will be the two-day Firemen’s Nationals at the famed Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis. on Labor Day weekend, September 3 and 4. After that, Shelton and her team will enter the prestigious 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on September 22 and 23 to wrap up the Midwest portion of their planned events.
Heading home to California for seven nights of action to wrap up USAC’s 2023 season, Shelton’s first stop on the west coast comes at Bakersfield Speedway on Tuesday, November 14, as a prelude to the three-night Hangtown 100 at Placerville Speedway on November 16-17-18. Merced Speedway hosts the midgets for two weeknights on Tuesday, November 21, and Wednesday, November 22. The series heads south for their Saturday, November 25, finale to Ventura Raceway and the 81st running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix, an event where Shelton’s two main event starts resulted in 14th place finishes.
Shelton noted that she looks for this stint in midget racing to be a bit more relaxed, aiming to be competitive but emphasized the goal to “go have fun.” It was strictly business [in past seasons], so now I get to go run some races with my friends, have Erik there, and just have fun.”
HOLLY SHELTON 2023 SCHEDULE – LIL BUNDY MOTORSPORTS NO. 4
Jun 1 – Tri-City Speedway – Granite City, Illinois (Xtreme Outlaw Midgets)
Sep 3 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (USAC, Firemen’s Nationals)
Sep 4 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (USAC, Firemen’s Nationals)
Sep 22 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio (USAC, 4-Crown Nationals)
Sep 23 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio (USAC, 4-Crown Nationals)
Nov 14 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California (USAC, November Classic)
Nov 16 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California (USAC, Hangtown 100)
Nov 17 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California (USAC, Hangtown 100)
Nov 18 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California (USAC, Hangtown 100)
Nov 21 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California (USAC)
Nov 22 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California (USAC)
Nov 25 – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California (USAC, Turkey Night Grand Prix)
