Kyle Larson Inches Closer to Surpassing Forgotten Sprint Midget Champion With Massive Turkey GP Win, $10,000 Payout & 1963 Indy 500 Memorabilia

It is pretty clear by now that Kyle Larson was born to race cars. Weeks after brushing off the 2023 Cup Series season with nimble expertise, the #5 driver of Hendrick Motorsports got back into the dirt tracks that he so loves to race.

Winning his first off-season race at the Placerville Speedway last week, he raced in the final event of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, the Turkey Night Grand Prix, and won again here on Saturday. Only this time, he got a unique new award and edged closer to dethroning a forgotten racing champion.

Kyle Larson continues his offseason win streak at the Turkey GP

31-year-old Kyle Larson had 26 wins in the USAC Midget Championship before the weekend. Adding one more to his overall tally on Saturday night, he also secured his fourth Turkey Night Grand Prix victory. He has also finished runner-up on four prior occasions. Needless to say, he has the race quite figured out. Heading to Ventura Raceway, the racing destination, Larson had joined a vast entry list of 53 drivers.

At night’s end, he left them all in the dust to take home a paycheck of $10,000. In addition to the bank balance addition, he was also given a quarter-size replica of the car that Parnelli Jones drove to the victory lane in the 1963 Indianapolis 500. Notably, this trophy was handmade by the raceway’s promoter Jim Naylor. Larson’s previous win in the championship, at California’s Placerville Speedway, had ended his nearly two-year dry run at dirt tracks. And he smelled blood once again as he propelled himself to victory for the second time in as many weekends.

As another result of his continued dirt-tracking brilliance, Larson took another step closer to matching an impressive Turkey Night GP record set by Hall of Famer, Ron Shuman.

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Kyle Larson edges closer to matching massive dirt-tracking record

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An Arizona native, 71-year-old Ron Shuman was a racer to be reckoned with back in his day. The sprint car driver won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in eight different years from 1979 to 1993. He also captured the flag in the biggest World of Outlaws race, the Knoxville Nationals in 1989. Shuman joined an elite list of racers in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2003 for his contributions to the sport.

Racing’s ode to him comes in the form of the “Ron Shuman Classic”, a race held annually in Kansas City at the Lakeside Speedway. Though Kyle Larson is not quite there yet in Turkey Night GP numbers, he is now second behind the record of Shuman. Talking about the same, he said after the race, as reported by speedsport.com, “I am happy to get another Turkey night win. We are second on the all-time win list now, which is cool. Hopefully, we can catch up someday and maybe be leading this thing.”

Along with the $25,500 that Larson received for his Placerville win, his 2023 off-season has earned him $35,500 so far. He looks a good bet to pocket a few more thousand dollars before he vies for the Cup Series championship once again.

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