CANCELLED - Saturday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway was canceled following an incident involving Harrison, Ohio’s Justin Owen after his car made contact with the outside wall and flipped multiple times in turn three.
Owen, a competitor in the sprint car ranks for more than a decade, succumbed to injuries sustained during the incident. The 2022 sprint car track champion at Lawrenceburg Speedway was 26 years old.
Owen’s death is the first in USAC National Sprint Car racing since Don Townsend in a 2005 practice crash at Ohio’s Mansfield Motorsports Park. Owen’s incident was the first fatal accident with the USAC National Sprint Car division on dirt since Jeff Thickstun at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1984.
Twenty-nine cars were entered for the event with Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) posting the fastest lap during Dirt Draft Hot Laps with a time of 13.792 seconds around the 3/8-mile dirt oval. Owen was second quickest in the field.
Four drivers posted an official qualifying time during the event with Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) the fastest at 13.821 followed by Owen at 14.110, Zach Lamb (Aurora, Ind.) at 14.616 and Keith Sheffer II (Jerome, Mich.) at 15.146.
DRIVERS ENTERED:
Emerson Axsom, #47BC
Brady Bacon, #69
Robert Ballou, #12
Ryan Barr, #21B
Nick Bilbee, #17
Nate Carle, #14C
Sterling Cling, #34
Kyle Cummins, #3R
Geoff Ensign, #17G
Carson Garrett, #15
Justin Grant, #4
Zach Lamb, #73
CJ Leary, #15X
Brandon Mattox, #28
Jason McDougal, #5M
Thomas Meseraull, #2E
Joss Moffatt, #37
Mitchel Moles, #19AZ
Devan Myers, #75
Justin Owen, #4J
Daison Pursley, #5P
Jadon Rogers, #5
Keith Sheffer II, #86
Logan Seavey, #2B
Chase Stockon, #5S
Jake Swanson, #21AZ
Kevin Thomas Jr., #17GP
Matt Westfall, #33M
Tayte Williamson, #20
