A trip to the Heartland is quickly becoming a tradition for the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series. What began in 2011 as a pair of races at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas has expanded into a three-race swing in both Kansas and Nebraska. Tracy Hines has been in attendance for each of the last four trips to the Heartland and will make the journey again this year as three races are on tap this weekend, with two in Nebraska and one in Kansas.
The trio of races begins for Hines, aboard The Carolina Nut Company DRC, on Friday, April 24 at Eagle Raceway in Eagle, Neb., as Hoosier Tire & Froggy 98 presents Rumble in the Bull Ring. Action shifts to Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb., on Saturday, April 25 for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Cars brought to you by the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. The weekend concludes on Sunday, April 26 at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., with the running of the Weld Racing Spring Classic. All three nights of racing will be co-sanctioned with the Wingless Auto Racing (WAR) Series.
“Three races in three nights is what we enjoy the most,” said Hines. “That makes the long drive out there worth it. All three tracks are pretty racy and I’ve run pretty well at them all as well. For the fans out there, it’s neat because they don’t get to see us very and our style of racing very often.”
Hines has made two starts with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series at Eagle Raceway. He finished seventh in the series inaugural event at the high-banked, third-mile in 2012. Last year at Eagle Raceway, Hines finished fourth, after starting sixth.
“Eagle has a lot of banking to it,” he noted. “Coming from two smaller, banked tracks last weekend here in Indiana is probably an advantage. We seem to have a good set-up this season for the smaller tracks, which we have been working on perfecting the last couple of years.”
In the first-ever Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series event at Junction Motor Speedway in 2014, Hines found himself on the podium in third, following the A-Feature event. He lined up fifth for that 30-lapper.
“Facility-wise, Junction (Motor Speedway) is definitely one of the nicest places we go all year,” Hines said. “It seems like a pretty racy track as well. We were fast there last year and were able to advance a couple spots in the feature. This year we just need to move two more spots forward.”
Hines has three podium finishes in USAC competition at Lakeside Speedway in his career. A pair of those came with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series in 2001, when he finished second and third. The other was in a 1995 Honda USAC National Midget Series event, in which he finished second, when the track was still paved.
“There are only a few of us left that raced on the pavement at Lakeside as well as the dirt that followed,” said Hines. “It’s been a while since we’ve been there, so I imagine it has changed a little bit, and hot laps will be important to try and get dialed in. Lakeside has a ton of history and hopefully we can make a little more this weekend.”
Last weekend, Hines finished fourth with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. He followed that up with a sixth-place showing at Tri-State Speedway. Hines has five top-10 finishes in eight sprint car starts this season and is currently eighth in points heading into this weekend.
As he has done for most of his career, Hines will contest all three USAC national series in 2015.
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank Primary Sponsor: The Carolina Nut Company. Associate Sponsors for 2015 include: Elliott's Custom Trailers and Carts, Hansen’s Welding Inc, MPHG Promotions Inc., Turbines Inc., Parker Machinery and Hughs Brothers. Product Sponsors that are part of Tracy Hines Racing in 2015 include: Afco Racing Products, Hoosier Racing Tires, Indy Race Parts, Schoenfeld Headers, Shadow Graphix, Bell Racing, Earl's Performance Products, Autonet Mobile, ProSource Professional Resources, Race Bumpers, Driven Racing Oil, Sander Engineering and Kenny’s Components.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.com. Follow Tracy on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TracyHinesRacin and “Like him” on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Tracyhinesracing.
- administrator on Apr 24, 2015
- Article Date: 4/24/2015