NEW CASTLE, Ind.—October 1, 2014 — Tracy Hines has been close a couple of times this year to winning on the dirt with the Honda USAC National Midget Series. He has four more chances to take his Parker Machinery/Powered by Toyota Spike to Victory Lane, with three of those coming this weekend in the Gold Crown Midget Nationals.
The sixth edition of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, is set for Thursday, October 2, Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October 4. A full racing program will take place on each of the two preliminary nights, with 25-lap main events capping each evening. The finale will see a 40-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Feature take to the three-eighths-mile.
Hines will be making his first appearance of 2014 at Tri-City Speedway this week, after the Hut Hundred, which was scheduled for early May at the track, was rained out. Last year during the Gold Crown Midget Nationals, the veteran driver finished 19th on the opening night, was third on night-two and came home 17th in the finale, which was postponed a night by rain.
“We know there will be a strong field of cars and that makes the first two nights that much more important,” said Hines. “We had a good middle night last year, but things didn’t go our way on the first night or the last night. Three solid nights are what we are after. We have less than a handful of races left and we really want to get a midget win on the dirt and see if we can move up a spot in points as well.”
In his career, Hines has two Honda USAC National Midget Series wins at Tri-City Speedway. He was victorious at the track in 2003, when it was still a half-mile, and returned to the winner’s circle in 2012 on the opening night of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals on the current three-eighths-mile configuration.
Hines finished third with the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series last weekend at Lawrenceburg Speedway in his home state of Indiana. He opened the night as the third-fastest driver of the 32 entrants at the high-banked three-eighths-mile. The native of New Castle, Indiana, finished fourth in the third heat race to transfer to the 30-lap main event. Hines both started and finished third in the main event and remains third in points with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series.
“We had a good car all night,” said Hines. “We were running an engine we had rebuilt and it seemed to run pretty strong. We timed in near the front, advanced in our heat race and were able to maintain in the feature. We have a while until the next sprint car race, so we’ll try to fine-tune on a few things and be ready for the West Coast shows.”
With the Honda USAC National Midget Series, Hines is currently third in points, just two markers out of the second spot, with four total nights of racing remaining for the series on the 2014 calendar.
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank Primary Sponsors: The Carolina Nut Company, Hansen’s Welding Inc, Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts, and MPHG Promotions Inc. Associate Sponsors for 2014 include: ProSource Professional Resources, Turbines Inc., Daum Crop Insurance, Parker Machinery, Stanton Racing Engines and Schipper Family Farms. Product Sponsors that are part of Tracy Hines Racing in 2014 include: Afco Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Autonet Mobile, Indy Race Parts, Bell Racing, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers, Hoosier Racing Tires, CSI Competition Suspension, Shadow Graphix, Driven Racing Oil, Sander Engineering, Hughs Brothers and Midwest Sheet Metal.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.
