Without a doubt, the first couple weeks each July are by far my favorite time of each year.

The reason being, the Fourth of July has long been my favorite holiday and I think the reason for that is knowing that the annual running of Indiana Sprint Week for the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series isn’t far behind.

The atmosphere surrounding a sprint week event is unlike any other event. Over the years, it’s been my good fortune to attend different genres of auto racing, but sprint week is at the top of my list. The people make the event one of a kind.

The Gas City I-69 Speedway on Friday kicked off this year’s seven-races-in-nine-days event with none other than Lincoln’s Dave Darland walking away with his 15th career ISW feature win.

Darland, who has captured three sprint week titles in his storied career (1998, 2001 and 2007), led all 30 laps, but was under heavy pressure throughout from Chris Windom and Robert Ballou.

When the checkered fell, Bryan Clauson trailed the trio to the finish line for fourth while Shane Cottle was the driver on the move, finishing fifth after starting inside the seventh row. Quick-qualifier Jerry Coons Jr. was sixth, Chad Boespflug seventh, Coleman Gullick eighth, Daron Clayton ninth and Tracy Hines 10th.

The following night the stars and cars made their way west to converge on the Kokomo Speedway with Hunter Schuerenberg catching and passing Windom down the stretch to earn the win. Windom again was second and Clauson third. Justin Grant and Mike Spencer completed the top five. Darland was ninth and Cottle 13th.

The Lawrenceburg Speedway was the site of the most recent contest with Ballou riding the rim and leading from green to checkered en route to the 30-lap win.

Once again it was Windom coming home second and Coons third. Grant and Bobby East rounded out the top five. Cottle was ninth and Darland 11th.

So, with three of the seven races in the books heading into tonight’s showdown at the Terre Haute Action Track, Windom holds a 20-point (194-174) cushion over Clauson in the battle for the sprint week title. Neither of the two young chargers has ever claimed a sprint week title. As a matter of fact, of the drivers in the top five in points, only Darland has ever hoisted the championship trophy at the end of the grueling week. He currently sits fifth, 50 points back.

As noted in this column last week, Windom and his Baldwin Brothers Racing No. 5 could well be a team to keep an eye on and they have not disappointed. Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the misfortune of defending series champion Jon Stanbrough.

The Avon standout, considered by most to be right in the thick of things, has struggled with nothing but bad luck since rolling into Gas City. There he finished 18th after getting caught up with Kevin Thomas Jr., then at Kokomo a night later he was 24th when Boespflug got crossed up, collecting Stanbrough. It appeared that misfortune was going to plague him at Lawrenceburg as well, but despite some adversity, he managed an 11th-place showing.

Windom noted Sunday that he would take second-place runs all week if that meant a sprint week title. He added that he was pleased with his team’s chemistry.

“It’s hard to put a finger on it,” he said. “But [members of the Baldwin team] just seem to know what the other wants. It seems like every night out we know that we have a car that is capable of winning. It’s not a lot different than what I had a year ago [driving for Jeff Walker].”

Although he is in the catbird seat right now, the complexion of sprint week can change on a dime. In the big picture, the national championship, Windom has closed to within 31 points of defending series champion Levi Jones (639-608). Beginning the week, Stanbrough sat in second in points, 71 back of Jones, so these next four races could go a long way to determining this year’s champion.

O’Connor, Sargeant to groom T.H.A.T.

After the July 3 Silver Crown event at the Terre Haute Action Track ended, literally, in a cloud of dust after just one lap, there were many fans and drivers alike calling for USAC to take away tonight’s race at the track.

Instead, series officials did a smart thing in recruiting Bob Sargeant and Reese O’Connor to prepare the track for the race. The Sargeant-O’Connor-family duo last year staged three good racing surfaces for the facility and tonight should be no exception.

“We are excited to help out,” said Reese O’Connor. “They [USAC] got in touch with Bob and us to see if we could put together a good race track for them. From what I have heard, things didn’t work out too well the last race there so we’ll do the best we can.”

It would be a safe bet that tonight’s track will rival the surface that the competitors raced on at Kokomo Sunday. According to those who have been at all the races thus far, fans and drivers alike, Kokomo had the best racing surface with multiple grooves to give drivers a chance and fans a great show.

• Brett Bowman is the Tribune’s lead auto racing columnist. He may be reached by email at brettbowman29@aol.com or through the sports department.