SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The first of this weekend’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship rounds is a visit to Bloomington Speedway on Friday, May 1, for the 19th running of the Larry Rice Classic.
The following night, Haubstadt’s Tri-State Speedway will host the 13th running of the Spring Showdown on Saturday, May 2.
HOME-CUMMINS
Kyle Cummins won both the Larry Rice Classic and the Spring Showdown on the same weekend one year ago, becoming the first driver in USAC National Sprint Car history to win at Bloomington and Tri-State on consecutive evenings.
Those victories helped propelled the Princeton, Indiana native to the USAC National Sprint Car driving championship in 2025, and entering this weekend, he resides right at the top of the standings once again.
He’s won twice at Bloomington in his USAC career, and seven more times at Tri-State with USAC, and was victorious in his most recent USAC National Sprint Car start on April 12 at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track, part of his ongoing streak of seven consecutive top-five finishes with the series.
Cummins gives no indication of slowing down any time soon, winning last Sunday’s non-sanctioned Kokomo Speedway sprint car feature by a hefty margin.
LIKE A FOX
C.J. Leary’s past two USAC National Sprint Car starts have resulted in two of his best runs of the 2026 season, finishing 5th at both Lawrenceburg and Terre Haute. And he accomplished it at the wheel of the Fox Brothers/Brayden Fox Racing No. 53.
It’s the same team which won the Bloomington Speedway track championship with Brad Fox in 1997 and again in 2024 with Brad’s son, Brayden Fox, as the driver. Brad also won a USAC Indiana Sprint Week feature at Bloomington in 1997.
Leary reigned victorious in the 2023 Larry Rice Classic at Bloomington, and has come close to scoring a win at Tri-State’s Spring Showdown, finishing second and coming within four laps of winning in 2018. Leary also owns Bloomington’s USAC National Sprint Car track record of 10.685 seconds.
BREAD & BUTTER
Kevin Thomas Jr. possesses a whopping 13 USAC National Sprint Car feature victories between Bloomington and Tri-State. He’s the all-time leading winner at Tri-State with nine, and has gathered four more at Bloomington in his career.
He’s also one of just four drivers to win both the Larry Rice Classic and Spring Showdown in his career, along with Brady Bacon, Chris Windom and Kyle Cummins.
His trio of Spring Showdown wins ranks number one all-time, grabbing the top prize in the event in 2013-2018-2024. He also added a Larry Rice Classic to his tally in 2021.
In 2026, however, KTJ remains on the hunt for his first USAC win of the season.
MILLER DEBUT
Bloomington’s Larry Rice Classic also presents the first opportunity of the year to see the Team Arizona/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 21AZ in USAC competition.
It was announced earlier in the season that the team set forth a part-time USAC National Sprint Car schedule with drivers Gavin Miller and Jacob Denney sharing driving duties.
Miller will be first up as he gets the call to make his first USAC National Sprint Car appearance at a track that is near and dear to his career. The Allentown, Pennsylvania native has won two career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget features at Bloomington.
Just last week, Miller made an impressive sprint car debut for the team at Kokomo, finishing fourth and fifth in his first sprint car races versus a stout field that contained many USAC regulars.
FAST TIMIN’ MOLES
Mitchel Moles was the quickest qualifier for both the Larry Rice Classic and the Spring Showdown one year ago in 2025.
The Raisin City, California racer has been the fastest qualifier in each of his past four tries at the Haubstadt, Indiana track dating back to 2024. Last year, he tied the all-time mark with 15 USAC National Sprint Car fast qualifying times during the season, equaling Kevin Thomas Jr.’s mark from 2018.
But now, Moles is more than ready to break through to victory lane. He’s finished as the runner-up in two of his past three series starts this month at Red Hill and Terre Haute.
HISTORY
The Larry Rice Classic began as a USAC National Midget event in 1993 and 1994 at Bloomington Speedway. The event transformed into an unsanctioned sprint car event for 1995 and 1996 before going under the USAC National Sprint Car banner in 1998, where it has remained since, albeit off and on for a number of years.
The event honors the legacy, the life and the memory of Rice, the three-time USAC national driving champion (1973 Midget and 1977 & 1981 Silver Crown) who later became a much-loved color commentator for ESPN’s Thunder Series of USAC races on national television. Rice passed away in 2009 at the age of 63.
Four past Larry Rice Classic winners will be in this Friday’s field at Bloomington: Kevin Thomas Jr. (2021), C.J. Leary (2023), Logan Seavey (2024) and Kyle Cummins (2025).
Ralph Potter (1993-1994) is the only multi-time winning Larry Rice Classic car owner. Three more teams have an opportunity to repeat their feat this Friday: 2B Racing (2012), Abacus Racing (2024) and Petty Performance Racing (2025).
SPRING SHOWDOWN
The Spring Showdown began in 2012, and has affirmed its position as one of the early season staples of the USAC National Sprint Car schedule since.
Four past Spring Showdown champions are excepted to compete in this weekend’s 13th running, including three-time winner Kevin Thomas Jr., two-time victor Kyle Cummins, plus one-time winners Justin Grant and Chase Stockon.