Lonnie Wheatley, BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (April 15, 2022) – In the early stages of the 2022 racing season, it’s “The Demon” Damion Gardner out to the lead in the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings.
The Concord, CA, racer burst out the gates quickly with four consecutive wins to open the USAC/CRA season on the West Coast along with a runner-up finish and another top-five to hold the early edge by 12 points over Emerson Axsom, who took two of three rounds of USAC action at Ocala in February.
With Gardner and Axsom leading the way, C.J. Leary is just another point back in third after picking off his third win of the season in last weekend’s Xtreme Outlaw action at Lake Ozark Speedway. Shane Cockrum propelled himself to fourth after a Lincoln Park win on Sunday with Arizona’s Charles Davis, Jr., rounding out the current top five.
Justin Grant, who picked up the other win at Ocala, along with Chase Stockon, Robert Ballou, Matt Mitchell and Jake Swanson fill out the current top ten.
After topping the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings over each of the past two years, Brady Bacon currently sits 16th going into this weekend’s USAC opener in the Midwest at Ohio’s Atomic Speedway.
The Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings are a part of the Open Wheel Power Rankings that also includes STIDA Winged 410 Sprint Cars, Rod End Supply Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Midgets. Title sponsorship of the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings is available, contact lonniewheatley@gmail.com for information.
Separated into Non-Wing 410 and Non-Wing 360 Power Rankings through 2018, those were consolidated into a single Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Ranking for 2019 and beyond with all Non-Wing 410 and injected Non-Wing 360 events included in the Rankings.
A look at the current top 40 in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings is as follows:
| Rank | Name | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damion Gardner | 4 | 108 |
| 2 | Emerson Axsom | 2 | 96 |
| 3 | C.J. Leary | 3 | 95 |
| 4 | Shane Cockrum | 1 | 88 |
| 5 | Charles Davis, Jr. | 0 | 80 |
| 6 | Justin Grant | 1 | 75 |
| 7 | Chase Stockon | 0 | 71 |
| 8 | Robert Ballou | 0 | 68 |
| 9 | Matt Mitchell | 0 | 65 |
| 10 | Jake Swanson | 0 | 65 |
| 11 | Carson Short | 0 | 64 |
| 12 | Thomas Meseraull | 1 | 55 |
| 13 | Buddy Kofoid | 0 | 55 |
| 14 | Austin Williams | 0 | 52 |
| 15 | Jason McDougal | 0 | 51 |
| 16 | Brady Bacon | 0 | 44 |
| 17 | Tanner Thorson | 0 | 41 |
| 18 | Brody Roa | 0 | 38 |
| 19 | Kyle Cummins | 0 | 38 |
| 20 | Shane Cottle | 0 | 37 |
| 21 | Tommy Malcolm | 0 | 36 |
| 22 | Logan Seavey | 0 | 34 |
| 23 | Chase Johnson | 1 | 33 |
| 24 | Mario Clouser | 0 | 30 |
| 25 | Ricky Lewis | 1 | 29 |
| 26 | Austin Liggett | 1 | 29 |
| 27 | Matt Westfall | 0 | 29 |
| 28 | R.J. Johnson | 4 | 28 |
| 29 | Eddie Tafoya, Jr. | 0 | 28 |
| 30 | Cody Williams | 0 | 26 |
| 31 | Justin Zimmerman | 1 | 24 |
| 32 | Alex Bright | 0 | 24 |
| 33 | Logan Williams | 0 | 23 |
| 34 | Ryan Bernal | 1 | 20 |
| 35 | Kory Schudy | 0 | 18 |
| 36 | Kyle Shipley | 0 | 18 |
| 37 | Brody Fuson | 0 | 16 |
| 38 | Wesley Smith | 0 | 16 |
| 39 | Briggs Danner | 1 | 15 |
| 40 | Geoff Ensign | 0 | 15 |
Features Completed: 26 (284 in 2021, 153 in 2020, 243 in 2019, 197 in 2018, 225 in 2017, 206 in 2016, 218 in 2015, 224 in 2014, 235 in 2013)
Number of Different Winners: 17 (93 in 2021, 61 in 2020, 91 in 2019, 71 in 2018, 76 in 2017, 72 in 2016, 75 in 2015, 85 in 2014, 92 in 2013)
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 87 (294 in 2021, 203 in 2020, 267 in 2019, 204 in 2018, 226 in 2017, 231 in 2016, 268 in 2015, 293 in 2013, 336 in 2013)
Note: Prior to 2019, Non-Wing Power Rankings were broken into 410-ci and 360-ci categories instead of combined into one overall ranking.
Past Top Tens in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings:
2021 – 1. Brady Bacon (8) 863, 2. Justin Grant (10) 772, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (11) 771, 4. Jake Swanson (8) 635, 5. C.J. Leary (7) 614, 6. Tanner Thorson (5) 556, 7. Chris Windom (2) 500, 8. Logan Seavey (8) 474, 9. Robert Ballou (2) 428, 10. Jadon Rogers (8) 389.
2020 – 1. Brady Bacon (11) 618, 2. Chris Windom (7) 557, 3. Justin Grant (7) 530, 4. C.J. Leary (4) 503, 5. Chase Stockon (3) 503, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3) 466, 7. Kyle Cummins (7) 383, 8. Dave Darland (1) 340, 9. Shane Cottle (3) 313, 10. Robert Ballou 312.
2019 – 1. C.J. Leary (4) 701, 2. Justin Grant (8) 697, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7) 689, 4. Tyler Courtney (9) 678, 5. Brady Bacon (8) 671, 6. Chris Windom (8) 632, 7. Thomas Meseraull (12) 492, 8. Chase Stockon (1) 486, 9. Kyle Cummins (14) 468, 10. Jason McDougal (1) 354.
2018 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (15) 917, 2. Chris Windom (9) 863, 3. Tyler Courtney (12) 785, 4. C.J. Leary (6) 664, 5. Justin Grant (10) 655, 6. Dave Darland (4) 642, 7. Brady Bacon (5) 578, 8. Robert Ballou (5) 553, 9. Chase Stockon (2) 529, 10. Thomas Meseraull (7) 384.
2017 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (18) 928, 2. Justin Grant (9) 682, 3. Chris Windom (10) 667, 4. Tyler Courtney (7) 616, 5. Robert Ballou (4) 599, 6. C.J. Leary (8) 479, 7. Brady Short (7) 465, 8. Thomas Meseraull (6) 454, 9. Chad Boespflug (2) 437, 10. Brady Bacon (3) 436.
2016 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (13) 782, 2. Brady Bacon (3) 742, 3. Chris Windom (5) 661, 4. Thomas Meseraull (8) 658, 5. Dave Darland (2) 632, 6. Chad Boespflug (6) 555, 7. Robert Ballou (4) 503, 8. Chase Stockon (3) 497, 9. Shane Cottle (4) 451, 10. C.J. Leary (3) 446.
2015 – 1. Robert Ballou (18) 959, 2. Dave Darland (6) 895, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6) 649, 4. Chase Stockon (5) 607, 5. Brady Bacon (9) 601, 6. Jon Stanbrough (2) 577, 7. Brady Short (16) 561, 8. C.J. Leary (4) 517, 9. Thomas Meseraull (9) 466, 10. Shane Cottle (5) 419.
2014 – 1. Robert Ballou (11) 822, 2. Dave Darland (11) 750, 3. Jon Stanbrough (8) 705, 4. Bryan Clauson (9) 671, 5. Justin Grant (8) 625, 6. Brady Short (12) 605, 7. Chase Stockon (4) 532, 8. Brady Bacon (4) 477, 9. Chad Boespflug (7) 438, 10. Shane Cottle (3) 410.
2013 – 1. Dave Darland (9) 631, 2. Bryan Clauson (11) 627, 3. Brady Short (10) 531, 4. Jon Stanbrough (3) 509, 5. Chase Stockon (3) 507, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10) 496, 7. Robert Ballou (5) 474, 8. Chris Windom (6) 414, 9. Chad Boespflug (6) 390, 10. Brady Bacon (2) 389.
The Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.