Deep IMS Ties Bind Plenty of Drivers, Team Owners, Crew Members at BC39

Everywhere you look at a racetrack conducting a USAC event, there’s someone or something that somehow connects to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

When it comes to IMS and the individuals involved either as a driver, crew member or car owner for the upcoming Driven2SaveLives BC39 Powered by NOS Energy Drink on Sept. 4-5 at The Dirt Track at IMS, there seems to be several links between them, the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard or the NTT IndyCar Series.

Starting with the drivers on the BC39 lineup, which is closing on nearly 90 entries for the second running of the event, USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Rookie Karsyn Elledge is the granddaughter of 1995 Brickyard 400 winner Dale Earnhardt and the niece of 17-time Brickyard starter Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Elledge competes in the series for Tucker/Boat Motorsports. The Boat part of the team ownership belongs to Billy Boat, who won the pole for the 1998 Indianapolis 500. Billy’s son and Elledge’s teammate, 2018 BC39 second-place finisher Chad Boat, competed in the 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at IMS, starting 22nd and finishing 27th.

Making his rookie start in the 1998 Indianapolis 500 in which Billy Boat started from the pole was J.J. Yeley, who started 13th and finished ninth in his lone Indy run. Yeley also has made eight Brickyard 400 starts and six appearances in the Indiana 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at IMS.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson joins Yeley as one of five NASCAR drivers competing this year in the BC39. Larson is a five-time Brickyard starter with a best finish of fifth in 2016, and he also finished fourth in the Indiana 250 during the same year.

That 2016 Brickyard 400 also marked Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s best performance thus far in six starts, finishing 12th. Yeley’s best Brickyard 400 start of sixth came in 2012, driving for Joe Gibbs. Christopher Bell drove Gibbs’ NASCAR Xfinity Series car to a seventh-place finish in his first IMS start last year.

Finishing just two spots behind Bell that day at IMS was Indiana native Chase Briscoe, a winner of Eldora’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway in 2018 after taking race the lead late from defending USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion Logan Seavey.

Seavey drives for Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian. Kunz and his brother and fellow team owner Rusty are the nephews of Chuck Weyant, a four-time Indianapolis 500 starter between 1955 and 1959.

Curb-Agajanian, meanwhile, has been associated with the Indianapolis 500 for more than half a century. Agajanian-owned cars won the “500” with Troy Ruttman in 1952 and Parnelli Jones in 1963. In recent years, the Curb-Agajanian team has been in Indianapolis 500 victory lane twice, with Dan Wheldon in 2011 and Alexander Rossi in 2016, both carrying the famed Agajanian family number 98.

Keith Kunz Motorsports crewman Jay Drake made two Freedom 100 starts, finishing fourth in 2004 and third in 2005. Chris Windom’s run during this year’s Freedom 100 Indy Lights race ended just three-quarters of a lap into the event after getting collected by a spinning car in front of him. Dave Darland and Russ Gamester, meanwhile, tested for Panther Racing’s IndyCar team in 2000. Justin Grant competed on the IMS road course in July.

Chase Jones and Kyle O’Gara will compete for Sarah Fisher/Hartman Racing Development in the BC39 for a team owned by nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter Fisher. The Fisher/Hartman team fielded Josef Newgarden to a ninth-place finish in the 2015 Indianapolis 500 and three wins in the NTT IndyCar Series.

One of the crewmembers on the SFHR team for the BC39 is Greg Beck, whose Beck Motorsports team fielded entries in nine different Indianapolis 500 races with Hideshi Matsuda, Robbie Buhl, Dennis Vitolo, Billy Boat, Shinji Nakano, PJ Jones, Stephan Gregoire and Alex Barron.

Clauson/Marshall Racing fielded Pippa Mann in this year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, starting 30th and finishing 16th. Mel Kenyon, owner of Trey Osborne’s No. 61 at the BC39, scored four top-five finishes in his eight Indianapolis 500 starts with brother Don Kenyon as mechanic. Spike Gehlhausen, a crew member for BC39 driver Chris Baue’s team, made five Indianapolis 500 starts as driver, finishing a best of 10th in 1979.

Sprint car driver Alex Nalon will work at the BC39 as a crewman for Justin Dickerson. Nalon’s great-grandfather Duke Nalon drove the famed Novi to the pole position at the Indianapolis 500 in 1949 and 1951. Randi Pankratz’s father and car owner, Wally Pankratz, a past USAC Western States Midget champion as a driver, attempted to qualify for a pair of CART races in late 1981 at Riverside, California, and Phoenix, suffering from mechanical trouble and an accident in practice that stifled his lone attempts in an Indy car.

Jerry Coons Jr. made one Indy Lights start at the Nashville Superspeedway, finishing ninth. Dillon Welch has announced from pit road during numerous NTT IndyCar Series broadcasts this season for NBC Sports, following in the footsteps of his father, Vince Welch, who has been a commentator for racing broadcasts, including the Indianapolis 500, for many years.

It all seems to tie in, doesn’t it? Everywhere you look, there’s a connection to the 2.5-mile oval at Indy. Most importantly, you'll find a racer in the pits and on the track who feels right at home at IMS. That’s something you can count on finding at the BC39.

Tickets for the Driven2SaveLives BC39 Powered by NOS Energy Drink are on sale at www.ims.com, along with tickets for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line on Sunday, Sept. 8 and the Indiana 250 and FGL Fest on Saturday, Sept. 7.

On-track action begins Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the quarter-mile Dirt Track at IMS. Public gates open at 3 p.m., with cars on track for hot laps at 5 p.m., followed by opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. Heat races and the Stoops Pursuit race will conclude the night’s racing action.

Public gates will open at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 for the second and final night of action. Cars will be on track for hot laps at 4:30 p.m., with qualifying races at 5:30 p.m. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 7 p.m. and followed by the main feature events, starting with multiple D-Mains and C-Mains, the semi-feature and the 39-lap main event.