Beech Grove native Kyle O’Gara poses with checkered flag and winner’s trophy after capturing a 50-lap 500 Sprint Car Tour race Saturday in Ohio to remain in series championship contention.
(DAVID SISK PHOTO)
(DAVID SISK PHOTO)
By Al Stilley
Editor
Southsider Kyle O’Gara did exactly what the talented open wheel competitor needed to do Saturday night by winning a 500 Sprint Car Tour race in Ohio.
Driving the familiar No. 67 Speedway Indoor Karting non-wing sprint car, O’Gara started on the front row and led from start to finish for his much-needed second win of the season worth $4,000.
O’Gara went into the race at Lorain Raceway Park in third place and trailing by 66 points in the championship chase. He emerged still in third place but 50 points behind leader and fast qualifier Tyler Roahrig.
He finished in front of runner-up Billy Wease who challenged O’Gara after the halfway point (25 laps), third-place Tyler Roahrig, and fourth-place Kody Swanson – all open wheel pavement veterans.
“I saw his (Wease) nose once in traffic when we were on top two-wide,” O’Gara told the series publicist. “I knew the pressure was on at that point. We did our best to get settled in after we cleared traffic.”
O’Gara continued, “There was a yellow that came out. It made us focus on that restart and nailing it. This place is super hard to drive and easy to over drive. I focused on hitting my marks all night and we ended up decent.”
The two races that will determine the 2023 championship are locally Oct. 7 at Anderson Speedway for the Tony Elliott Classic and Oct. 14 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Brownsburg.
O’Gara’s strategy?
“Race for the checkered; that’s all I can do,” the Roncalli High School product said Sunday after returning to his home on the Southside. “It’s a tight chase, for sure.”
O’Gara has enjoyed an outstanding campaign in only the second year of the series developed by promoters at Anderson Speedway. O’Gara won his second consecutive Glen Neibel Memorial race in April at Anderson Speedway, He has two wins, two runner-up finishes and a trio of top-three finishes this season.
His season helps validate a move from a few dirt track races several years ago to all-pavement competition with the United States Auto Club midget, sprint, and Silver Crown series and the highly competitive 500 Sprint Car Tour.
“We had been running only five or six dirt track races each year and the midget series was getting so expensive because of the engine cost,” O’Gara explained. “It was a good move when we decided to race on pavement tracks only.”
O’Gara had a rare day off Sunday from his managerial duties at an ever-expanding Whiteland Raceway Park. The fleet of open wheel racecars is prepared and maintained at Speedway Indoor Karting. The two facilities are owned and operated by O’Gara’s older brother Andy O’Gara and wife Sarah Fisher.