USSA honors 2023 competitors
By Ken de la Bastide
SPEEDWAY – The 2023 racing season for the Kenyon Midget Series will be remembered as one where tough competition was the normal, not the exception. In the 12 races contested this year there were six different winners and three drivers scored feature wins for the first time in their careers.
Kyle Ford followed up his 2022 Rookie of the Year campaign by winning four feature races during the 2023 season. His first career win came when the series visited Berlin Raceway for the first time. Ford earned the championship closing out the season with a victory at Anderson Speedway to take home the $1,000 award from Leading Lights.
Defending champion Dameron Taylor earned $600 for finishing in the runner-up position and Tanner Tecco came home third in points earning $400.
“There's always new faces,” Taylor said of the growing interest among competitors in the series. “But the series is focused on being family orientated.”
Colton Bettis won the Don and Mel Kenyon Classic at Anderson Speedway and Tanner Tecco joined the list of first-time winners with a victory at Circle City Speedway.
During the past season there were nine drivers that recorded a KRJ Race Products heat race victory including four by Ryan Huggler; eight drivers earned the Advanced Suspensions Hard Charger award and seven different drivers took home the K&K Marketing Fast Qualifier award.
Brad Hayes noted that competitors won $23,450 during the year which was an increase of 20% over the previous year.
Hayes announced that the 2024 champion will receive $2,000 to go toward a ride in a sprint car and said 2023 champion Ford recently tested a sprint car at Anderson Speedway.
He said 3K Racing is in the process of constructing two new chassis for next season.
The 2024 season is again expected to include 12 races with a first ever visit to Salem Speedway on September 7, three races at Anderson Speedway and two at Berlin Raceway. There is currently one race scheduled at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
The Kenyon Midget Series will be running on conjunction with the 500 Sprint Car Tour seven times in 2024 which will bring national livestream coverage.
Hayes said four races are being planned at dirt ovals in 2024, but those dates have not been confirmed.
Ford not only won the series championship he picked up the $150 K&K Marketing Top Gun award for season points during qualifying.
Evan Hammond won the Redline Ace Rookie of the Year honors by three points over Cash Wyke which brought a $1,000 prize for design work from, Redline Ace.
“This is pretty cool,” Hammond said of the rookie honors.
John Hammond won the ECORSA Mechanic of the Year honors for his work with Evan Hammond during the season.
The newly created Team Effort Award went to the Tecco racing family of Tanner and Taylor who never missed a race in two years. Hayes estimated the team traveled 12,400 miles over the two years.
Series photographer Aaron Skillman received the Nell Award for dedication to the series.