USAC Sprint Cars at Salem - high school kid wins

[DC Fan]

A few weeks ago, Jacob Wilson was finishing his classes at Crawfordsville (Indiana) High School. On Aug. 3, the 17-year-old finished in front of a field full of champions and feature winners - including Brad Sweet, who had won the Belleville Midget Nationals the night before - to win the Joe James-Pat O'Connor Memorial sprint car feature.

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[hotrod100]

Great shots. #3 looks painful!:eek: It's weird seeing them on asphalt since I'm so used to watching them run on dirt. One question though, do these guys get upside down as often on asphalt as they do on dirt?

[DC Fan]

Great shots. #3 looks painful!:eek: It's weird seeing them on asphalt since I'm so used to watching them run on dirt. One question though, do these guys get upside down as often on asphalt as they do on dirt?

Pavement sprint cars don't flip as often as dirt cars because the weight distribution is different. Pavement sprint cars are built lower, with more weight on the left-hand side. Dirt sprint cars have more right-side weight - at least the non-winged cars. Winged sprinters get so much force from the wings that they can lean hard on the left front.

Out of the four wrecks at Salem, no one got upside down. By comparison, there were two airborne wrecks at the King's Royal show at Eldora, a dirt track.