Evan Shatto, shown earlier this year being interviewed by All-Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets announcer Kim Stewart, was named the series’ rookie-of-the-year for the 2023 season.
Evan Shatto of Columbus has been named the All-Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets “Rookie-of-the-Year” for the 2023 racing season at the organization’s awards banquet held in early December.
Shatto, who also finished fourth in the overall points, outdistanced Conner Bolding, Logan Rabourn, Josh Petry and Jeremy Merrick for the honor.
Joey Paxson of Connersville won the point championship in 2023 over Johnny Goff, Connor Wolf, Shatto and Bolding.
The rest of the top ten in the final points standings were Logan Prickett, Adam Bolyard, Ashlea Albertson, Landon Browning and Nelson Stewart.
The drivers who comprised positions 11-20 in the final points were Matthew Hedrick, Logan Rabourn, Hunter Rabourn, Mark Baxter, Robbie Roland, Josh Chastain, Cole Murray, Stephen Davis, Josh Petry and Ryan Morrow.
Kunz driver top USAC rookie
Pennsylvania has long been a hotbed for some of the finest open wheel dirt track racers in the United States of America.
Gavin Miller of Allentown is among the new breed who struck a chord on the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship trail in 2023.
His efforts earned him Max Papis Innovations Bob Stroud USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year honors for his efforts in the seat of the Eibach Springs – TRD/LynK/Speedway Toyota for the famed Columbus-based Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team.
In doing so, the 16-year-old Miller became just the third Keystone State native to receive the USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year reward in memory of Stroud, the longtime supervisor for the division. John Andretti (Bethlehem) in 1983 and Andrew Layser (Collegeville) in 2019 are the only previous Pennsylvanians to achieve the feat.
Miller accumulated 56 feature laps led, five top-fives and 14 top-tens in 26 feature starts while finishing eighth in series points. But assuredly, the highlight of the year came in June during USAC Indiana Midget Week at Bloomington Speedway where he raced to his first career series victory in what was just his 10th career series start.
Chili Bowl entries top 300
Entries for the 2024 Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink keep pouring in ahead of the 38th running of the event, which takes place January 8-13 at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As of December 13, a full month before the main event, the entry list has surpassed the 300-mark once again.
Currently, the entry list for this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals sits at 320 entrants. Amazingly, out of 320 drivers only two previous winners are among them.
Those two previous winners are defending champion Logan Seavey, who will once again be piloting an entry for Swindell SpeedLab and Bertrand Motorsports, and five-time Chili Bowl champion Sammy Swindell.
The most recent update to the entry list on December 13 saw the addition of 22 more drivers, including Nick Hoffman, Chance Morton, Kade Morton, Kyle Steffens, Taylor Reimer, Mike Bitner, Jason McDougal, Tyler Courtney, David Gravel, Michael Pickens, Ryan Timms, Brent Crews, Emerson Axsom, Jade Avedisian, Mariah Ede, Kale Drake, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, Daniel Whitley, Gavin Miller, Tom Harris and Tanner Carrick.
The breakdown of the entry list is quite interesting as well. Currently there are 31 of the 50 states represented with Oklahoma leading the way. The Sooner State currently boasts a strong 46 entrants.
Including the United States, there are six countries currently represented on the entry list. New Zealand has two representatives in the form of Brad Mosen and Michael Pickens, both of whom call Auckland home. Glenn Styres of Ohsweken, Ontario, is the lone Canadian to file an entry so far. Tom Harris returns to the Chili Bowl as the representative of the United Kingdom. John Murdie is the only Australian to have filed an entry currently, and Wout Hoffmans will be making his Chili Bowl debut from Boxmeer in The Netherlands.
Out of the 320 entries filed so far, 57 of them have previously started the Saturday night A-Main, while 69 of them will be making their very first Chili Bowl attempts this year.
Race fans can watch the Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink live on FloRacing once again with a FloRacing subscription. For the second year in a row, FloRacing will broadcast every lap of the Chili Bowl live, including Saturday’s main event.
No Way-Out 40 at Paragon in ‘24
A long running, mainstay event in the Indiana Sprint Car scene is set to kick off the 2024 season at one of the state’s most historic venues this coming March as Paragon Speedway will host the 16th Annual ‘No Way-Out 40’ on March 16th.
“The staff at Paragon Speedway have welcomed us with open arms and we are excited to take the ‘No Way-Out 40’ back for its third consecutive year,” said Dirt2Media’s Ryan Bowling.
The 2024 edition of the ‘No Way-Out 40’ will pay $10,000 to-win and $500 to-start for 410 Sprint Cars. Modifieds will serve as the support class and will pay $1,000 to-win and $150 to-start.
Nic Fass won the inaugural ‘No Way-Out 40’ in 2009 and other winners include Jesse Hockett, Dave Darland, Thomas Meseraull, Christopher Bell, Bryan Clauson, Robert Ballou, Chad Boespflug, Kyle Cummins, Kevin Thomas, Jr., C.J. Leary and Logan Seavey.
Originally run at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon the ‘No Way-Out 40’ moved to Brownstown Speedway in 2013 where it was run through 2021 before moving to Paragon Speedway in 2022.
General Admission for the single-day marquee event will be $35.00 for Adults with kids 12 & under being $5.00. Adult Pit Passes will be $45.00 with kids 12 & under being $10.00.
Spectator gates are set to open at 2 p.m. and hot laps will push-off at 4:30 PM. Pit Gates open at 1 p.m. with drivers meeting taking place at 4 p.m.
James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Republic. Send comments to [email protected]
