FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

USCS presented by K&N Filters Awards Banquet honors National Champ Hagar and top drivers

Atlanta, GA - January 27, 2014 - Just over one hundred attendees watched as Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas was honored as the 2013 United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters National Champion on Saturday at the 17th annual USCS Champions Awards Banquet in Memphis, Tennessee. The twenty-two year old past USCS Rookie of the Year (2006) made ten visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane as the series feature win leader for 2013. Additionally Hagar’s 2013 USCS statistics show twenty-four top five and twenty-eight top ten finishes in the series thirty A-Main events. Hagar also claimed the title in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series. He bested ten-time series National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee in both the National and Southern Thunder regional series point’s battles. Both titles are Hagar’s first United Sprint Car Series Championships. Hagar additionally finished in the runner-up spot in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series final standings just four points behind 2012 National Champion Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas and just four points away from a complete sweep of all three series. His first year crew chief, Bill Croswait, was honored as United Sprint Car Series Crew Chief of the Year.

Ten-time series National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee who finished 53 points back of Hagar in the runner-up spot for the National crown, also collected runner-up honors for his effort on the Southern Thunder regional series and followed Champion Tim Crawley and Hagar in the third place in the USCS Mid South regional series standings. Gray’s team-mate and the 2010 USCS Rookie of the Year, Morgan Turpen from Oakland, Tennessee who was the only female sprint car competitor near the top of the USCS standings, collected third place honors in the National title chase. Turpen, who grabbed her career fourth USCS feature win during the season, finished third in the Southern Thunder region and fifth in the Mid South Thunder regional series. She completed her fourth successful season in the USCS while never finishing worse than fourth in the series final National standings.

The 2012 USCS National sprint car Champion Tim Crawley collected fourth place honors for his efforts in the final National standings. He made six visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane to accept feature winner honors during 2013. Crawley was honored for his third USCS Mid South Thunder Tour regional series title (2008, 2012 and 2013). Ageless veteran sprint car racer Ray Bugg from Iuka, Mississippi rounded out the top five in the series National point standings. Bugg’s top ten finishes and near perfect attendance was good enough to be recognized at the annual banquet for his best series finish ever. He also finished in sixth place in the final standings in both the Mid South and Southern Thunder regional series.

Two-time 2013 USCS feature winner Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee who was the 2008 USCS Rookie of the Year, lead the next group of drivers in sixth place. Nicholson also finished in fourth place in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series. The 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi followed Nicholson to the stage with a seventh place finish in the National standings. Willingham also collected awards for a seventh place finish in the USCS Mid South regional series and an eighth place finish in the final Southern Thunder region standings.

Three-time 2013 USCS feature winner Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who was the 2010 USCS Southern Thunder regional series Rookie of the Year was recognized for an eighth place finish in the final USCS National sprint car standings. Riggins won on April 12th at Carolina Speedway and visited the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane twice on back-to-back nights in October when the eighteen year-old driver swept the first ever USCS vs. URC North vs. South Shootout weekend at Carolina Speedway and at Cherokee Speedway.

Rookie driver Curt Terrell from Bartlett, Tennessee, who contested his first full season in winged sprint cars, was honored for a ninth place finish in the final 2013 USCS National point standings. He additionally finished in the eighth position in the 2013 USCS Mid South Thunder standings. Terrell was recognized for his achievements as the USCS National Rookie of the Year. His Father, Tommy Terrell received recognition as Rookie Crew Chief of the Year.

Thirteen year-old Taylor Tidmore from Hernando, Mississippi followed Terrell in tenth place in the National standings. Tidmore moved up to the USCS’ winged 360 sprint car division after a successful 2012 season in the www.rockauto.com USCS 600 Sprint Car Series. Tidmore additionally performed well enough in his Rookie season to finish in ninth place in the USCS Mid South Thunder region and was additionally awarded the USCS Mid South Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters “Rookie of the Year” at the USCS Championship Awards Banquet. Todd Tidmore was also recognized as USCS Mid South Thunder Rookie Crew Chief of the Year.  

Additional USCS Mid South Thunder Tour regional series awards:
The 2010 USCS Mid South Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jerod Roller also from Hernando, Mississippi rounded out the USCS Mid South 2013 regional series point standings in tenth place behind Taylor Tidmore.

Additional USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series awards:
Eighteen year-old Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who won three 2013 main events in the Southern Thunder regional series, finished in fourth place in the USCS Southern Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters regional series standings. Lance Moss from Cherryville, North Carolina rounded out the top five in the regional series standings. Terry Witherspoon from Jacksonville, Florida finished in ninth place in the Southern Thunder regional series standings just ahead of Joe Larkin from Suwannee, Georgia who also earned a spot in the regional series final point standings.

One hundred and twenty-eight different drivers competed in the thirty 17th anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters events. Thirteen different drivers won 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour main events. Those included Derek Hagar, who led the series victory column with ten wins. Hagar was followed by Tim Crawley with six feature wins. Eric Riggins, Jr. was next with three wins. Anthony Nicholson made two visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane at Toccoa Speedway on September 1 and again at Tennessee National Raceway on September 14th.

Nine other drivers collected one feature win during the 2013 season. Those included: Robbie Stillwagon from Burlington, New Jersey at Toccoa Speedway on April 13th. Dalton Davis from Millington, Tennessee collected his career-first USCS win at 411 Speedway on May 3rd. The 2011 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jordan “The Jet” Mallett got his career second USCS win at Riverside Int. Speedway on June 29th. Brian Gingras from Lakeland, Florida won the road to Atlanta qualifier on the paved Watermelon Capital Speedway on July 20th.  Top ranked pavement sprint racer, JoJo Helberg from California won the 50-lap USCS Sprint Car Shootout on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s paved ¼ mile on August 30th. On the following night, Morgan Turpen bested Hagar and Company at Cleveland Speedway for her one win of the 2013 season. On November 3rd, Benton, Arkansas’ Cody Gardner won the first half of the USCS Flip Flop 50 at Riverside Int. Speedway. Marshall Skinner from Marion, Arkansas collected the victory in the second fully inverted 25-lap main event to close the season. 

The seventeenth anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters kicked off on Friday, March 8th at Magnolia Motor Speedway and concluded at Riverside Int. Speedway on Sunday, November 3rd. For complete and archived results from these events please visit the series Official website at www.uscsracing.com .

The United Sprint Car Series thanks the 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour supporting sponsors including: K&N Filters, Hoosier Racing Tire, and USCS victory lane sponsor www.RockAuto.com plus Bulldog Rear Ends/DMI, DSR Fuel Systems, Engler Machine and Tool, JE Pistons, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, KSE Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson Racing Products, Something Inked and Wilwood Engineering.

The 2014 (18th Anniversary) USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour kicks off at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi on Friday, February 28th and Saturday, March 1st. A full schedule of 2014 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint car events is available online at www.uscsracing.com . For series rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office at 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097.

Final 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National point standings (30 events)

Pos.     Car#          Driver                                       Points
1          9Jr              Derek Hagar                             4415
2          10               Terry Gray                                4362
3          10M           Morgan Turpen                        3583
4          88               Tim Crawley                            3415
5          25               Ray Bugg                                  3186
6          16               Anthony Nicholson                  3067
7          28               Jeff Willingham                       2609
8          47               Eric Riggins, Jr.                       2457
9          27               Curt Terrell                              2384
10        13T            Taylor Timor                            2319
11        12               Dalton Davis                            1544
12        3H              Brandon Hanks                         1538
13        23               Lance Moss                              1488
14        5                 Jerod Roller                              1468
15        26               Marshall Skinner                     1408
16        C4              Casey Rowland                        1198
17        43               Terry Witherspoon                   1186
18        44               Ronny Howard                         1154
19        4m              Michael Miller                         1090
20        33               Joe Larkin                                1014
21        83               Bob Auld                                  1011
22        8Z              Zack Pringle                             993
23        31               Justin Webb                             944
24        39               Brad Bowden                            942
25        13               Todd Fayard                             917
26        3                 AG Raines                                889
27        13               Tristan Tidmore                       885
28        1A              Lee Moore                                880
29        12M           Greg Merritt                             806
30        51               Lee Sowell                               753
31        11               Jake Roach                               700
32        1G              Cody Gardner                           642
33        38               Tony Agin                                610
34        5s               Tyler Smith                              560
35        92               Matt Kurtz                                536
36        89               Robbie Stillwaggon                 528
37        96D            Nick DeFeo                              514
38        67               Jake McLain                             496
39        51               Jay Dunham                             492
Tie       07               Johnny Bridges                        492
41        58               Wade Oliver                             446
42        14               Jordon Mallett                          417
43        46               Kyle Amerson                          412
44        01               Shane Morgan                          376
45        7D              Don Goodwin                           364
46        10 P            Jim Perriconne                         362
47        42               Henry Gustavus                        352
48        33               Mark Huddleston                     324
49        6c               Brandon McLain                      322
50        31G            Johnny Gardner                        306
51        25               JJ Grasso                                  302
Tie       29               Josh Weller                              302
53        1                 Brian Gingras                           298
54        36               Billy Pouch, Jr.                        294
55        22               Troy Betts                                282
56        3                 Garrett Green                           272
57        X                Daniel Mazy                             266
Tie       22               Shawn Murray                          266
59        99               Tanner Witherspoon                262
60        20               Joey Moughan                          260
61        46               Jim Blenkarn                            258
Tie       303             Joe B Miller                             258
Tie       28               Keith Prutzman                        258
64        34               Darren Orth                              252
Tie       22               Dustin Barks                            252
66        40h             Chad Jones                               250
Tie       1                 Eddie Gallagher                       250
68        17J             Jonathan Swanson                    248
69        7                 Ed Aikins                                 246
70        119             Chandler Leiby                        244
71        7 D             Dylan DeJournett                     242
72        26               Howard Moore                         236
73        33               Scott Lutz                                 234
74        8X              Chris Williams                         230
Tie       4                 Tommy Snellgrove                  230
76        59               Johnny Petrozelle                     228
77        74Jr            JR Berry                                   224
78        117             David Swanson                        220
79        40               Raymond Stull                         216
80        56               Randy West                              210
81        14               Marty Echols                            208
Tie       99               Ray Stevison                            208
83        44c             Brandel Greer                           200
Tie       2                 Brandon Kilpatrick                  200
Tie       61               Cody Howard                           200
Tie       22               Kevin Kilpatrick                      200
Tie       32k             Robert Richardson                   200
88        7                 Jojo Helberg                             150
89        05               Brad Loyet                               148
90        94               Jeff Swindell                            146
91        40.1            Troy DeCaire                           142
92        3A              AJ Maddox                               140
93        12x             Joey Montgomery                    136
94        12t              Joe Young                                134
95        3                 Brad Greer                                132
Tie       38               Dave Baumgartner                   132
97        2                 Alex Pettas                               130
Tie       11               Chris Hladik                             130
Tie       8                 Kurt Taylor                              130
Tie       100             Tom Paterson                           130
101      11               Don Blaney                              128
Tie       17               Mike Pack                                128
103      0                 Andy McElhannon                   126
Tie       5                 Dave Thorman                         126
Tie       17               Francis Crowder                       126
Tie       5                 Randy Dilling                           126
Tie       0                 T.J. Hughes                              126
Tie       82T            Tyler Godwin                           126
109      4T              Jason Troutman                        124
110      0                 Bubba Harrisson                      122
111      606             Carl Finder                               120
112      4Q              Jason Day                                 118
Tie       21               Matt Hope                                118
Tie       1B              Nic Jenkins                               118
115      21               Aubrey Black                           116
Tie       55               Donny Howard                         116
Tie       36               Lane Wittington                       116
118      66               Geoff Dodge                             110
119      1x               Blake Jenkins                           100
Tie       44c             Brett McDaniel                        100
Tie       44c             Bubba Jones                             100
Tie       12               Darren Hasty                            100
Tie       11               George Blaney                         100
Tie       57               Jay New                                    100
Tie       9                 Kevin Petty                              100
Tie       77               Mike Leraas                             100
Tie       38               Rick Pringle                             100
Tie       11p             Skylar Pippin                           100