KOKOMO, Ind. The 70th season of USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition gets underway April 25-26 at Kokomo Speedway.

What better way to kick it off than with the Kokomo Grand Prix, featuring two nights of full programs featuring the midgets alongside Kokomo Speedways sprint car division.

The anticipation brings new combinations for the season, new hopes, renewed dreams and a slew of up and comers looking to mix it up with veterans all vying for the ultimate accomplishment of a championship.

QUICK AT KOKOMO

Three past Kokomo Speedway USAC National Midget winners are expected in this weekends Grand Prix lineup. Among them, Kevin Thomas Jr. is the lone past Kokomo Grand Prix winner in the field, scoring a last lap thriller back in 2019. In fact, hes a two-time Kokomo USAC Midget winner, also taking the Indiana Midget Week round in 2018.

Cannon McIntosh punctuated the Indiana Midget Week Kokomo round with a victory in 2022 while fellow Okie Daison Pursley performed likewise, making a late-race charge to score the win in the series most recent round at Kokomo in 2024 en route to the series championship.

CBI RELOADS

Pursley will return to the CB Industries team for this weekends Kokomo Grand Prix in his familiar no. 86 with which he captured seven USAC National Midget wins and the championship a year ago.

While Pursley doesnt currently plan to compete for a repeat USAC title at press time, the CBI no. 86 will contest the entire 2025 schedule with a rotating cast of drivers.

Joining CBI for a full-time USAC championship run in 2025 is Justin Grant, an 11-time USAC National Sprint Car winner at Kokomo who is still on the hunt for his first USAC Midget win at the track. Upstart Drake Edwards, the 2024 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year will go full-time nationally in a third CBI entry.

VETERAN LADEN

Another perennial USAC National Midget championship contender, Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, will have a veteran, winning lineup in its full-time arsenal for 2025. All of which are pursuing a first USAC National Midget driving title.

Cannon McIntosh is a previous USAC Midget winner at Kokomo in 2022. The nine-time series winner finished a career best runner-up in the standings a year ago. Meanwhile, three-time series winner Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio) captured a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget victory at Kokomo back in 2020 as he moves from Tom Malloys team to the KKM squad.

One-time USAC winners Gavin Miller and Kale Drake seek to have a breakout season in the upcoming campaign

Its also worth noting that the first of Keith Kunzs record 150 USAC National Midget victories as an entrant came at Kokomo with driver Page Jones during the 1992 season.

RETURN OF J-MAC

Jason McDougals most recent USAC National Midget start came three seasons ago during the 2022 Turkey Night Grand Prix at southern Californias Ventura Raceway.

But with Thomas Meseraull unavailable to drive the Engler Machine No. 7x this weekend, McDougal has been tabbed for the ride at the Kokomo Grand Prix.

McDougal is a two-time USAC National Midget feature winner, having scored both back in 2019 at Nebraskas Jefferson County Speedway and Indianas Tri-State Speedway. His best Kokomo performance to date came during the 2019 Grand Prix where he finished second to Tyler Courtney.

NEW COONS

A new Coons will step in as a full-time USAC National Midget driver in 2025 for Dooling Autosports/Curb-Agajanian.

The son of USAC career Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. has a quality pedigree of his own, having won three points-paying USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget features between 2023-2024, plus a special event score.

Jerry owns seven career Kokomo Grand Prix starts between 2014-2019, finishing a best of fifth in 2017. Now Cale will aim to become the first son of a former Kokomo Grand Prix starter to also make a start himself in the event.

Cale will be at the wheel of the famed black No. 63, which has twice won at Kokomo, first in 2014 with driver Bryan Clauson then again in 2018 with Kevin Thomas Jr.

SEASON OPENER

The Kokomo Grand Prix marks the start of the 70th season of USAC National Midget competition. This is the third occasion in which Kokomo will open the season, having previously done so in 2014 and 2015, with Rico Abreu and Darren Hagen winning, respectively.

Overall, Steve Lotshaw, Tony Stewart and Rich Vogler share the record for the most USAC National Midget season opening wins with three apiece. Justin Grant can equal that record this Friday after previously scoring in 2017 at the Southern Illinois Center and in 2022 at Floridas Ocala Speedway.

Cannon McIntosh (2024 at Belleville) and Logan Seavey (2018 at the Southern Illinois Center) have won season openers.

In nine instances, the season opening winner has gone on to win the USAC National Midget title later that same year: Mel Kenyon (1968), Rich Vogler (1978), Steve Lotshaw (1979), Jason Leffler (1999), Bryan Clauson (2011), Rico Abreu (2014), Logan Seavey (2018), Tyler Courtney (2019) and Buddy Kofoid (2021).