USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET SEASON OPENS MARCH 30 WITH CALDERWOOD MEMORIAL AT KERN CO.
By: Steven Blakesley
Bakersfield, California (March 25, 2024)………The Dirt Track at Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif. opens the 2024 USAC Western States Midget season this Saturday night, March 30, at the Dave Calderwood Memorial.
Bakersfield-area racers are ready to do battle for the checkered flags. Brody Fuson, the 2023 USAC Western States Midget champion, is a nine-time winner on the Midget trail and a three-time USAC 360 winner. The 19-year-old’s lone Kern win came in 2022 during the George Snider Classic.
Seventeen-year-old Cade Lewis of Bakersfield, son of baseball star Colby Lewis, owns two career USAC Western States Midget wins, including one at Kern. He finished as the runner-up to Fuson in the 2023 standings.
Kern County’s George Snider Classic USAC West Coast 360 sprint car winner from 2023, Chase Johnson of Penngrove, Calif., enters Kern County with a target on his back and will compete for the win in both the midgets and the Ultimate Sprint Car Series presented by Inland Rigging.
Johnson will be teamed with Hollister, California’s Ryan Bernal in another double-duty effort. Bernal is a winner of 35 USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car features, 10 USAC CRA races and four triumphs in the USAC Western Midgets.
Johnson and Bernal are part of at least half a dozen drivers who will compete for the Jimmy Sills Double Duty Bonus. Sills owed much of his career success to racing for car owner Dave Calderwood across USAC’s divisions. The Calderwood family and Sills will reward the highest combined finishing double-duty driver with a $1,000 bonus.
Saturday’s date is one of three for the USAC Western States Midgets in 2024 at Kern County. The series will also return to action on May 4 and October 5.
The Ultimate Sprint Car Series (USCS) will make its highly anticipated debut with a large field of non-wing 360 and 410 Sprint Cars from across the southwest, while the Kevin Harvick name graces the dirt track for the first time.
Race winners and champions will converge at Kern with former USAC/CRA champ Brody Roa, USAC West Coast 360 champ Ryan Timmons, the nation’s winningest non-wing driver in 2023, Ricky Lewis, and many more in action with the USCS Sprint Cars. Chris Ennis is an additional Bakersfield pilot who will challenge for the USCS Sprint Car win.
Tickets are on sale now at: https://tickets.thefoat.com/kernraceway//tickets/id-3Ly-k4RVx4sj/. Adult tickets are $25 while kids 6-12 are just $10. Kids five and under are free. Hot laps are scheduled for approximately 4:45pm Pacific time followed by time trials for both divisions. Opening ceremonies will beging at approximately 6:30pm. The night concludes with 30-lap features for both the Mighty Midgets and Sprint Cars.
The Western Racing Association will bring its racing museum to the track as well for exciting exhibitions of days gone by.
For more information, visit www.KernRaceway.com. Tickets are available online at the track website or on www.TheFOAT.com.
