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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Terry Gray claims his 12th USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters sprint car National Championship in 2019

Atlanta, GA – November 25, 2019 – Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee will wear the crown for the 12th time as the United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters Outlaw Thunder Tour National Champion during the series’ 23rd and 2019 racing season. The veteran sprint car driver collected the National title plus two United Sprint Car Series regional series titles. In a year that saw a record 21 drivers win United Sprint Car Series main events, Gray made two visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane as the series FireAde 2000 feature winner and had 23 top-five finishes plus a total of 33 top-ten finishes and a record of perfect attendance during the forty-six events to accumulate the most Championship points.

Gray clinched the title during the two-day USCS Fall Brawl on November 9th and 10th at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama where he finished in the runner-up spot in a field of 31 entries in the 25-lap Saturday night preliminary main event. During Sunday night’s Season-Finale he garnered a tenth-place finish to close out the season with the Championship tucked away. He also will be recognized as the team owner of the car #10m driven by Morgan Turpen from Cordova, Tennessee to the 2019 USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series Championship.

Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina finished in the runner-up spot behind the veteran road warrior (Gray) in the final USCS National standings. Bridges also had perfect attendance during the series 46 events and had two victories on the season as well at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, South Carolina on April 6th and at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee on April 26th. Bridges, who hopes to do it all again in 2020, had a runner-up finish in the season’s final contest at Talladega Short Track on Sunday, November 10th to finish on a high note. During the long 46 event road to the end of the 2019 season that started at Hendry County Motorsports Park on Jeanery 25th, Bridges, who had one of only a handful of Ford powered sprint cars to ever compete in the series had 14 top five tallies and finished 27 times in the top ten of the final finishing order at many tracks he had never seen before.

In addition to his runner-up standing in the USCS National point standings, Johnny Bridges garnered a second-place finish in both the USCS Southern Thunder and USCS Deep South regional series standings as well as finishing in third place in the tough USCS Mid-South regional series standings. It was Bridges first conquest of the entire USCS National Championship schedule since his 1998 Rookie season when he garnered the USCS Rookie of the Year honors.

Florida sprint car veteran racer, “Captain” Tony Agin from Fort Myers, Florida finished in the third position in the final USCS National point standings. Agin didn’t make a trip to the www.RockAuto.com USCS Victory Lane as the main event winner in 2019, but, picked up wins in heat races and several USCS Hoosier Speed Dash events to let it be known he was there and ready to contend for the win. Agin finished in third place in two of the USCS regional sprint car series, the USCS Southern Thunder Tour and USCS Deep South Thunder regional series. He also garnered a fifth place standing in the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series.

The 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi battled Agin all season long for the third position in the final standings but fell short by 22 points in the end to finish in fourth-place in the final USCS National point standings. Willingham also garnered a fourth-place finish in the final standings in each of the USCS three regional series standings.

Two-time USCS National Champion, Morgan Turpen from Cordova, Tennessee finished in the fifth position in the USCS National point standings although competing on a limited basis that prevented her from competing for the National title. Turpen had three wins on the season in USCS competition and competed in every USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series event to claim the 2019 crown in the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series. She had 17 top-five and 26 top-ten finishes in the National events she competed in. She additionally finished in the top ten of both the USCS Southern Thunder (7th place) and the USCS Deep South (8th place) regional series although not competing in all of those events.

Midwest legend and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 2015 inductee Danny Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio finished in the sixth-position in the USCS National point standings. Smith who did not compete in every event still entered enough events to garner two trips to the www.rockauto.com USCS Victory lane. Smith had 12 top-five and 24 top-ten finishes along the way in USCS competition. Both wins came at Hendry County Motorsport Park in Clewiston, Florida, one during the USCS season opener on January 25th and one on November 2nd in the Finals of the USCS Southern Most Sprint Car Nationals

Mark Smith from Sunbury, Pennsylvania competed in half of the USCS National events, but that was good enough with the performances he had to finish in seventh place in the final standings. Mark Smith won 11-times in 2019 USCS competition to lead all winners. He had 11 wins, 19 top-five and 20 top-ten finishes in USCS events. Quite a dominating set of performances.

Shelby Brown from Marks, Mississippi finished in the eighth position in the final USCS National point standings. Additionally, she finished tenth in the competitive USCS Mid-South regional series standings. This effort was good enough for her to garner the 2019 USCS National Rookie of the Year Award as the highest finishing Rookie driver in the USCS National point standings. It was only Brown’s second year to compete in any kind of racing vehicle. Her only other experience was to compete in the 305-winged sprint car division at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas during the 2018 season, where she was that divisions Rookie of the Year as well

Ninth place in the USCS National standings goes to Dale Howard from Byhalia, Mississippi who primarily competed in the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series. Dale Howard had 11 top-five and 18 top-ten finishes to his totals. Although not being able to match his two wins in the series in 2018, Dale Howard was a force to be reckoned with almost every night. Bad luck played into a handful of his efforts and 6 of his 11 top-five finishes were podium finishes.

The 2017 USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series Rookie of the Year and 15-year-old young-gun, Chase Howard from Nesbit, Mississippi, who is a third-generation sprint car driver, finished in tenth place in the USCS National point standings. His standing improved to a respectable sixth-place finish in the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional standings.

One hundred and forty-one different drivers from at least 15 states and 2 foreign countries competed in the 46 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters events during the series 23rd and 2019 racing season.

Founder and President, Pete Walton said ‘We are very proud to announce Terry Gray is again our United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters National Champion. Gray has worked hard and is very professional in his approach to his goals and he and Morgan Turpen been very successful as a team this season. Both of those drivers have the work ethic that it takes to create Champions and they are an example of what hard work and dedication and determination can accomplish. As a team always represent our series in a way that always makes us proud, Congratulations to Terry Gray Racing!”

The complete season schedule and winners for the 2019 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters and related USCS Deep South Thunder, USCS Mid-South Thunde and USCS Southern Thunder regional series can be found at www.uscsracing.com For rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office 770-865-6097.