USAC: Larson's Legend Continues To Grow

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USAC: Larson’s Legend Continues To Grow

Kyle Larson's the hottest thing on four wheels and already has some oldtimers saying the 19-year-old reminds them of Parnelli Jones.

Robin Miller | Posted September 22, 2011

Kyle Larson's spent a lot of time posing in victory lane this year. (John Mahoney)

Roger Penske is a very busy man who globe trots weekly to his various businesses and conglomerates so he can certainly be excused if he wasn’t familiar with the young man he was being introduced to a few weeks ago.

“I met Mr. Penske at the Motorsports Hall of Fame but I’m pretty sure he’d never heard of me,” said Kyle Larson.

Probably not, so R.P. please consider this an introduction to Larson: he’s the hottest thing on four wheels and already has some oldtimers saying the 19-year-old reminds them of Parnelli Jones.

Here’s a quick look at Larson’s ledger since June.

• June 10: Won the USAC midget feature at Bloomington (quarter-mile dirt).
• June 18: Won the pole position at Milwaukee in his debut in USAC’s Silver Crown series (one-mile pavement).
• July 28: Won the USAC midget race at Lucas Oil Raceway (five-eighths mile pavement).
• Aug. 6: Won the Belleville Nationals midget classic in his first attempt (half-mile dirt).
• Aug. 9: Won the USAC sprint race at Oskaloosa, Ia. (half-mile dirt).
• Sept. 4: Won the Ted Horn 100 for USAC Silver Crown cars at DuQuoin, Ill. (one-mile dirt).
• Sept. 9: Won the USAC/CRA sprint car main event at Chico, Calif. (half-mile dirt).
• Sept. 10: Won the World of Outlaws 58th annual Gold Cup at Chico, Calif. (half-mile dirt).
• Sept. 12: Finished second to Steve Kinser (after starting 14th) in the WOO show at Antioch, Calif. (half-mile dirt).

For scoring purposes, this kid has won with and without wings in sprint cars, on bullrings and big tracks, on a tacky surface that turned slick at DuQuoin, on pavement and on some of the “balls out” joints in this country.

“It’s been pretty good lately,” understates Larson, who will be looking to add to his spectacular season this Saturday in the USAC 4-Crown Nationals at Rossburg, Ohio.

Larson's been winning on dirt, pavement, with wings, without... (John Mahoney)

“Considering I didn’t even have a ride in anything last winter, it couldn’t have turned out much better.”

This whirlwind began at the Chili Bowl in Tulsa last January when Bryan Clauson told Larson that Keith Kunz had no driver for his midget in 2011 and to go ask for the ride.

Weaned on winged, 410 sprinters in northern California by veteran racer Brent Kaeding, the native of Elk Grove, Calif. had only driven a couple of traditional, non-wing cars before Kunz signed him up for his midget and Silver Crown cars. He hooked up with the Hoffman brothers last month to drive their sprinter and triumphed in his first start.

“I think it was easier to go from winged to non-wing sprinters because it’s all about keeping up your momentum,” said Larson. “You kind of drive all the USAC the cars the same but you’ve got to run them so much different.

“I still really don’t feel comfortable yet in the sprinter.”

Raised on the dirt, his adaption to pavement was nothing short of dazzling. Whether it was hustling that big, bulky dirt car around Milwaukee or putting a spanking on the USAC regulars at IRP, Larson looked like a 10-year-man instead of a rookie.

“I didn’t think I would like pavement because it looked boring,” he admitted. “But there is no downforce and the cars twitch around and it’s been fun. I love IRP or whatever it’s called (Lucas Oil Raceway this year).

“A lot of the dirt tracks back here get hard and slick so they’re like pavement. I like slick tracks because there seems to be more racing grooves.”

His performance in his DuQuoin debut had people raving about it for several days afterwards. “The first half of the race there was a nice cushion and we were right up against the fence and that was awesome,” said Larson, who started fourth, passed Clauson on the 23rd lap and led the rest of the way. “Then it got slick and we had to move down.”

But his mastery of Belleville, Iowa, DuQuoin and Lucas all played second fiddle to his WOO victory.

“I’ve never felt so much emotion because I literally grew up at Chico and I’ve never missed at Gold Cup, whether I was watching or driving. I almost beat Steve (Kinser) the next race and that was also pretty cool.”

The possibilities should be endless for someone of his age with so much talent. The Toyota people (he drives a Toyota in midgets and Silver Crown) took him to Chicago last weekend to meet some NASCAR truck owners. Larson currently ranks third in Silver Crown points, fifth in the midgets and fifth in the overall USAC championship (the winner gets an Indy Lights ride on ovals).

“The NASCAR guys all wanted money and I don’t have any and I guess I’d like to run Indy cars or NASCAR but I like winged sprint cars the best so I’d be happy with a career in WOO,” said Larson, who lives in Columbus, Ind. with co-car owner Pete Willoughby.

“USAC racing is great competition but it would be tough to make a living in USAC.”

So far USAC has enabled him to make a name that more and more people are beginning to recognize.

USAC RACES TIGHT

Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson hold the lead in the four major USAC standings heading into Saturday’s 30th 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway but only by the slimmest of margins.

Jones, a three-time sprint car champion, owns a 16-point advantage over charging Chris Windom in the Amsoil Series with five races remaining in 2011. And Jones also is atop the Traxxas Silver Crown standings but veteran Jerry Coons is only six points behind with two races left in the season.

Clauson, last year’s midget and overall USAC champion, leads both of those categories with no room for error. He’s three points up on former champ Darren Hagen and 18 ahead of Larson with six shows to go in the midget ranks.

Tracy Hines’ latest victory at Winchester moved him to within 17 points of Clauson for overall honors with Windom 52 in arrears.

The World of Outlaws kick off the weekend with a Friday night show and share the card with the UMP modifieds.

Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.

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Robin Miller

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