Heading into the arduous seven races in eight days event commonly known is Indiana Sprint Week for the USAC National Sprint Car Series, Lincoln’s Dave Darland needed a single win to tie Cory Kruseman for the most ISW wins in the 22-year history of the event.

Winning just one ISW event is quite the accomplishment for any driver, anything more than that is just icing on the cake. Kruseman had captured 12 A-mains in ISW competition while Darland was sitting in second with 11 wins prior to Sprint Week. On the opening night of the eight-day event, Darland tied Kruseman with his hard-fought tussle over Bryan Clauson in the opening round at Lawrenceburg Speedway.

Then, exactly a week later, at the Kamp Motor Speedway, Darland etched his name into the record book with a photo-finish win over Cole Whitt in the fifth round of the mini-series. Despite claiming a pair of wins, Darland still came up a bit short in capturing his fourth ISW title, a feat that would have tied him with Kevin Thomas for the most overall in series history.

So, though the gray hair is showing and the young kid who broke in 25 years ago behind the wheel of his dad’s No. 36D is now a grandfather, Darland still remains the epitome of consistency year after year. It’s been a pleasure to watch a living legend perform his craft for all these years.

The time is coming when, like all the great ones, Darland will pass the torch to the next generation of drivers who are already in the ranks. Only he knows exactly when that time will be — could it be in two years or maybe another 10 years? Steve Kinser is in his 50’s and still as competitive as anyone on any given night although the wins are fewer and far between than they were 10 years ago.

Two things for certain are that when Darland does step aside it will be a very sad day for traditional sprint car racing as there has never been, nor probably will ever be, a more popular driver. He’s respected and looked up to by both his peers and fans alike. And the other thing for sure, he will undoubtedly find himself in the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. There are a select few drivers already in the HoF who can match his accomplishments.

So Dave, thanks for all the years of excitement you’ve given us, and from a selfish standpoint, here’s to hopefully many more to come before you decide to step aside.

Sprint Week title to Jones

The 2009 version of the Indiana Sprint Week came down to the last lap of the last race as Levi Jones held off Bryan Clauson Saturday night at the Tri-States Speedway in Haubstadt to win the title by just two points, 414-412. It was Jones’ third ISW title, tying him with Darland for second all-time.

Heading into the final night, both drivers were deadlocked with 347 points after Clauson’s win at Bloomington on Friday night with Jones chasing him to the checkered flag.

As noted earlier, Darland captured Thursday’s leg at Kamp while Brad Sweet won Wednesday’s event at Terre Haute. Kokomo drivers Shane Cottle and Josh Spencer competed in most of the eight-day show, however Cottle was beset by motor problems at Kamp that ended his week prematurely.

Spencer was 21st at Kamp, them made the tow to Bloomington but failed to make the feature event as nearly 50 cars were on hand.

USAC Midgets

A busy week was even busier as a handful of the Sprint Week competitors also run for the USAC Mopar National Midget Series points and that series was competing Tuesday night at the Twin Cities Raceway Park in North Vernon.

Bobby East picked up the win, taking the lead from Tracy Hines in the final six laps. Clauson was second, Sweet third, Kody Swanson fourth and Dakoda Armstrong fifth. Cole Whitt, a five-time sprint car winner at Kokomo this season, was 10th.

The series returns to action Thursday night at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis as part of the Speed Fest leading up to Sunday’s Brickyard 400.

Miami County Results

Always-tough Todd Kirkman held off Kris Knox to capture the Wing Class feature event Saturday night at the Miami County Speedway in Mini-Sprint action.

Sam Kimmel, Jason Ormsby and Bob Bourff rounded out the top five. Kokomo’s Halen Shafer was sixth, Conner Donelson ninth and Logan Jarrett 18th after flipping his No. 29J.

Dax Kendall was the winner in the Restrictor Class main event. Tyler Gunn, Braiden Black, Kolt Kinsler and Cole Angle rounded out the top five.

In the non-wing feature, Zeke Lewis held on to top Jordan Lambert and Andrew Peters for the win. Stuart Hanft was fourth and Ryan Leek fifth. Parker Price-Miller took the checkered flag over Kaleb Kinsler in the Junior Division feature. Hallie Feaquay, Kayeleb Bolton and Deaven Bolton rounded out the top five.

The track will be back in action Saturday night.

• Brett Bowman may be reached at brettbowman29@aol.com or through the sports department.