September 10 — Taylor Ferns made history twice last weekend in the 500 Sprint Car Tour event at Salem Speedway.
Ferns led all 50 laps around the high-turning oval to become the first woman to win a 500 Sprint Car Tour event.
She is also the first woman to win the Joe James/Pat O’Conner Memorial race in the 65th running of the event which returned to Salem Speedway for the first time since 2020.
The event is the second-oldest non-winged asphalt sprint car race in the country, behind only the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway.
Ferns has been competing in the 500 Sprint Car since its inception in 2022.
With two races remaining, Kody Swanson leads the standings by 26 points over Bobby Santos III and 29 points over Billy Wease.
The next race is the Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson Speedway on October 5, and the season ends at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on October 19.
Indianapolis driver Dameron Taylor continued his winning streak in the Kenyon Midget Series on the quarter-mile oval at Salem Speedway with his fifth victory in the last six races and fourth straight win.
Taylor has missed one race during the season and is currently third in the points standings behind Ryan Huggler and Evan Hammond.
The series will resume action on September 21 at the Paragon dirt oval and conclude with a race on September 28 at the Indianapolis Speedrome and October 5 at Anderson Speedway.
Taylor is a three-time champion and has recorded 33 competition victories during his career.
It was announced Tuesday that Kyle Larson will return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next May for another attempt at the Indianapolis 500.
OTHER RACING NEWS
The IndyCar season concludes this weekend at Nashville Super Speedway.
Alex Palou is chasing a second championship and leads in points ahead of Will Power and Scott McLaughlin.
Joey Logano advanced to the second round of the NASCAR playoffs with a win at Atlanta.
Larson and Chase Briscoe were involved in crashes in Atlanta, and Briscoe is now last among the playoff drivers.
The series takes place on the Watkins Glen road course.
There are three weekends remaining before the 2024 season ends at Anderson Speedway.
This coming weekend, the CRA Street Stocks and Sportsman Late Models will be in action with the penultimate race of the season.
The Vores Compact Touring series will be in action with a 100-lap race.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide or call 765-640-4863.