Legends raced in the Thursday Night Madness program at Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri on Thursday, July 20, with Sean Johnson taking the checkered flag first. Story and results below, as posted by the track (Legends portion extracted for posting on LN). Photo credit: GS Stanek Racing Photography
Sean Johnson of Kindred, N.D., grabbed the lead on lap 14 and never gave it back, taking the INEX Legends feature during a special Thursday Night Madness program at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Johnson, who started sixth in the 31-car field, picked up $500 for the victory, including $200 from “Racing for a Cause” organizer Warren Ropp.
Other feature winners were Tanner Kade (POWRi Midwest Mods) and Mason Beck (POWRi Pure Stocks).
A total of 74 checked into the pits in the three divisions, including 31 Legends.
The night didn’t begin in ideal fashion for Johnson. He spun at the start of his heat race and had to restart in the back of the eight-car field, but was able to rally for the victory and earn a feature starting spot up front.
“I drove it into turn one a little too hard and ended up pointing backwards, the wrong way,” Johnson said. “I thought my night could be done, but we went out for hot laps to begin the night and I told my brother we have a really good piece here.
“I drove it back through the field and won the heat. That took me by surprise. It’s a lot of fun when you pass that many cars.”
Justin Comer beat Jordan Miklas in the battle of front-row starters to the lead on the opening lap. Milklas was supplanted for second on lap four by Johnson, who began his chase of Comer. Those two were separated by only a quarter-second by lap seven, as Comer continued to set the pace.
But Johnson was right on the back side of Comer’s car at lap 11 and he edged past Comer and into the lead for the first time on lap 14. A caution flag flew the next time around, but Johnson held on from there once action resumed and went on to beat seventh-starting Michael Weber by .602 seconds.
Johnson, who made a 10-hour haul to make the event, said the track changed considerably from the heat to the feature.
“There was a lot of water, actually standing in the corners, in the heat and we couldn’t run down there,” Johnson said. “But the other classes burned that off and we had a really good track on the bottom. It started taking rubber pretty fast with as many legends as we had for the feature.”
Comer finished third with Tommy Quenzer fourth and Miklas in fifth.
“Justin Comer is the class of the field down here in Missouri,” Johnson said. “Then you have the guys from Iowa that run good everywhere they go. To hold them off is pretty good.”
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 20, 2023)
Thursday Night Madness
INEX Legends
A Feature – 1. 58-Sean Johnson[6]; 2. 8W-Michael Weber[7]; 3. 38-Justin Comer[1]; 4. 49-Tommie Quenzer[4]; 5. 44J-Jordan Miklas[2]; 6. 64-Griffin McGrath[5]; 7. 99-Tyler Garretson[25]; 8. 34-Braxton Rupp[17]; 9. 57X-Rodney Baird[19]; 10. 07-Jay Reynolds[27]; 11. 10H-Steven Harshbarger Jr[10]; 12. 94-Bryce Barnhardt[23]; 13. 20H-Steve Harshbarger[15]; 14. 82L-Chris Luttrull[28]; 15. 31-Mike Gilbert[29]; 16. 01-Chance Gilbert[8]; 17. 53-Keith Meyer[11]; 18. 88-Colin Bowen[12]; 19. 67-Eric Tracy[14]; 20. 55-Kenny Foster[3]; 21. 81-Joe Phillips[24]; 22. 12M-Darren Murphy[20]; 23. 70-Brad Sims[31]; 24. 7-James Hartman[16]; 25. 4-Bruce Beechler[30]; 26. 75-Lonnie Muhlbauer[13]; 27. 57-Phil Burkybile Jr[9]; 28. 24-Shayla Waddell[26]; 29. 44-Matthew Bowen[18]; 30. (DNF) 48-Austin Azeez[22]; 31. (DNF) 65-Brian Boucher[21]
Heat 1 – 1. 49-Tommie Quenzer[1]; 2. 44J-Jordan Miklas[7]; 3. 10H-Steven Harshbarger Jr[3]; 4. 20H-Steve Harshbarger[5]; 5. 57X-Rodney Baird[4]; 6. 48-Austin Azeez[6]; 7. 94-Bryce Barnhardt[2]; 8. (DNS) 70-Brad Sims
Heat 2 – 1. 64-Griffin McGrath[1]; 2. 8W-Michael Weber[4]; 3. 53-Keith Meyer[3]; 4. 57-Phil Burkybile Jr[7]; 5. 34-Braxton Rupp[8]; 6. 65-Brian Boucher[2]; 7. 81-Joe Phillips[6]; 8. 99-Tyler Garretson[5]
Heat 3 – 1. 58-Sean Johnson[1]; 2. 01-Chance Gilbert[4]; 3. 88-Colin Bowen[3]; 4. 67-Eric Tracy[6]; 5. 44-Matthew Bowen[2]; 6. 12M-Darren Murphy[8]; 7. (DNF) 31-Mike Gilbert[5]; 8. (DNF) 4-Bruce Beechler[7]
Heat 4 – 1. 38-Justin Comer[7]; 2. 55-Kenny Foster[6]; 3. 75-Lonnie Muhlbauer[3]; 4. 7-James Hartman[5]; 5. (DNF) 24-Shayla Waddell[2]; 6. (DNF) 07-Jay Reynolds[1]; 7. (DNF) 82L-Chris Luttrull[4]
