TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Watching the Tony Hulman Classic at the Terre Haute Action Track as a youngster was special for Levi Jones.
Some of the biggest names in sprint-car racing claimed the Winchester rifle and other prizes awarded for winning the traditional USAC National Sprint Car Series race.
Jones won his second Hulman Classic Thursday night, holding off a hard-charging Brad Kuhn. Had it not been for an early race spin, a broken left-front shock and a bent exhaust header, Kuhn might have been celebrating in victory lane.
“We had enough,” Jones said. “You can’t make mistakes. I proved that last night at Anderson. We made the fewest amount (of mistakes) and won the race tonight. That is all that matters.”
Kuhn got behind early when he bicycled his car while challenging for the lead. Then, another car ran up over one of his rear tires and forced his Scott Benic crew to make a change in the pits.
But restarting in the rear allowed Kuhn to find a line which worked better. Many drivers were driving next to the inside guard rail, but holes working out in that groove caused many cars to jump up on their right-side wheels. Kuhn went to the top.
“Nobody else was up there,” said Kuhn. “It was clear and I was just able to rail it.”
Though he would have preferred to stay in the lead, Kuhn was happy his misfortune came early in the race. The bad luck of others late in the race allowed Kuhn time to climb back through the field.
“We caught a few good breaks there at the end just to get up to Levi,” said Kuhn. “I beat this car up and killed the left-front shock, and that didn’t help us. The motor laid down, and that didn’t help us. It would have been nice to have finished on eight cylinders and really have a go at it.”
Jones first won the Hulman Classic in 2005, but was disappointed when a Winchester 30-30 rifle was not among the prizes.
“I was really upset in ’05 when they didn’t have one,” said Jones. “I have been to Don Smith’s before and I drove for Bill Biddle out of Terre Haute. You see pictures of all those guys with 30-30s and I win it and they don’t have one. All I got was a cheesy trophy.
“I got the 30-30. That is worth a million dollars to me.”
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 19.979; 2. Jon Stanbrough, Fox 53, 20.033; 3. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 20.044; 4. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 20.092; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 20.128; 6. Brad Kuhn, 2B Racing 2b, 20.130; 7. Dave Darland, Pace 44, 20.178; 8. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 20.194; 9. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 20.333; 10. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 20.373; 11. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 20.442; 12. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 20.442; 13. Kyle Wissmiller, Price 0, 20.457; 14. Scotty Weir, Edison 10e, 20.503; 15. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 20.531; 16. Jeff Bland, Jr., Bland 21s, 20.564; 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, Walker/Guiducci 11d, 20.598; 18. Brady Short, Short 36, 20.599; 19. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 20.605; 20. Bill Rose, Rose 6, 20.606; 21. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Walker/Guiducci 11, 20.611; 22. Blake Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick 10f, 20.631; 23. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 20.670; 24. Kenny Biro, Biro 22, 20.692; 25. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 20.713; 26. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h, 20.724; 27. Dustin Morgan, M & M 93, 20.754; 28. Mat Neely, Reid 2, 20.842; 29. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 20.930; 30. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 20.973; 31. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 21.048; 32. Neil Shepherd, Shepherd 4n, 21.055; 33. Matt Goodnight, Goodnight 39, 21.134; 34. Shawn Krockenberger, Krockenberger 21k, 21.731; 35. Lee Stark, Stark 16, 22.072; 36. Daren Krockenberger, Krockenberger 42k, 22.109.
First Heat (8 laps): Coons, Hines, Stenhouse, Sweet, Schuerenberg, Cottle, Wissmiller, Spencer, Goodnight.
Second Heat (8 laps): Hagen, Gardner, Stanbrough, Short, Windom, Weir, Kuhn, Fitzpatrick, S. Krockenberger.
Third Heat (8 laps): Jones, Bacon, Ballou, Darland, Clayton, Mellenberndt, Boat, Stark, Morgan.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Whitt, Shepherd, Hockett, Meseraull, Biro, Rose, Neely,  D. Krockenberger, Bland.
Semi (12 laps): Kuhn, Cottle, Bland, Boat, Schuerenberg, Clayton, Weir, Windom, Rose, Mellenbendt, Biro, Neely, Wissmiller, Fitzpatrick, Stark, S. Krockenberger, Spencer, D. Krockenberger, Goodnight.
Feature (30 laps): Jones, Kuhn, Hagen, Clayton, Whitt, Meseraull, Cottle, Boat, Coons, Darland, Stanbrough, Bacon, Hines, Schuerenberg, Stenhouse, Sweet, Shepherd, Hockett, Short, Bland, Ballou, Gardner.