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SALEM, IN, June 29 – Racing returns to Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery on Saturday, July 4th, as the Firecracker 200 presented by the Scott County Visitors Commission continues a holiday tradition on the famed southern Indiana high banks.
The 26th annual Lucas Oil Great American Stock classic, paying $5,000 to win, also includes the Freedom 50 for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Pure Stocks and the Independence 50 for the Portland Recycling Front Wheel Drive Stocks.
“We’re looking forward to a great evening of outstanding racing action,” said track general manager Richard Deaton. “The Firecracker 200 is a mainstay on the Salem schedule and one of the most popular races of the summer.”
Two-time defending Firecracker 200 winner, Brian Bayer of Birdseye, Ind., tops the list of formidable drivers entered for the 2015 edition of the Independence Day race.
Bayer, who passed Shawn Smith for the lead with less than three laps remaining one year ago, says the key to winning the Firecracker 200 is “hard work and luck”.
“I seriously don’t think there is another small team that puts in as much effort as team 99,” said Bayer. I have a great group of friends and close family that makes this possible.”
Throw in some successful race strategy and you have a receipt for victory.
“200-laps at Salem in July is a very long and demanding race,” said Bayer, who is content to let others set the on-track pace early.
“The lap that pays the money is lap 200,” said Bayer, a two-time Lucas Oil Great American Stock track champion (2013-2009). “We feel no need to lead all the laps in the middle stages (of the race) as others do. We’re content just riding around in the top 10, letting everyone else use up their cars and tires. We then make our charge at the end.”
Bayer’s race strategy has worked to perfection the past couple of years.
“We won the past two years by passing for the lead with less than 10 laps to go,” said Bayer, who is looking to join Chuck Barnes Sr. and Brett Hudson as the only three-time winners of the race. “I believe Shawn and I put on one hell of a finish last year.”
Smith of Louisville, the defending Lucas Oil Great American Stock track champion and 16-time winner at Salem, and Hudson of Owensboro, who is also a three-time Halloween 200 winner, are expected for the 2015 edition of the Firecracker 200.
They can expect plenty of competition from the likes of Will Kimmel of Jeffersonville, Todd Kempf of Huntingburg, Ind., and Curtis Peeples of Round-O, S.C.
Kimmel, who is scheduled to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Kentucky Speedway on July 11th, captured the Circle Track Great American Racing Series (GARS) event at Salem Speedway on May 9th, while Peeples pocketed $5,000 for winning the GARS race at Illiana Speedway on June 20th.
Kempf, the winner of the 2001 Firecracker 200 and 2013 Halloween 200, currently leads the Lucas Oil Great American Stock season standings on the strength of posting back-to-back wins in the first two races of the year.
Other top drivers expected include Dan Banker of Des Moines, Iowa, Johnny Magee of Carthage, Ind., and Phil Jenkins of Greenfield, Ind. All three are former Halloween 200 winners at Salem.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Pure Stocks and Portland Recycling Front Wheel Drive Stocks are set to kick-off the racing action on July 4th with 50-lap feature events for both divisions serving as a prelude to the Firecracker 200.
Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery will once again be giving away free Hoosier Lottery prize packs to several lucky fans, age 18 and older, during the July 4th event.