Tyler Thomas Heads To Angell Park For 33rd Pepsi Nationals

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (July 1, 2014)—Tyler Thomas of Collinsville, Okla., will race in one of the most competitive events in Midget competition in the United States this season Saturday and Sunday, the 33^rd Pepsi Nationals at Angell Park Speedway.

“The best of the best will be there,” Thomas said.

The two-day show will be tri-sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series, Honda USAC National Midgets and Badger Midget Auto Racing Association. Thomas runs primarily in the POWRi series and is second in the championship, trailing Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill., 2,140-2,070.

Thomas finished fourth on May 24 and third on May 25 at Angell Park in a POWRi/Badger co-sanctioned event.

“We ran really good in May,” Thomas said. “We were pretty quick. With all of its history and tradition, Angell Park is probably the coolest track to go. It is one of the top three Midget tracks in my book. There’s drivers with a lot of experience there and we need to figure it out better to race with them.”

The 18-year-old Thomas has won features in POWRi and the Late Model Pro Series at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway, in his second race in a stock car and on pavement, this season. He has five Late Model Pro events remaining, three which conflict with POWRi two-show weekends.

“It’s cool to have all these good runs in POWRi, but we’ve got those Late Model races coming up that will force us to miss two-day shows,” Thomas said. “Our mind set this season is go to for wins and not worry about points. We’re trying to get as much seat time as possible, to get as much experience as we can possibly get this season. It would be great to win the Pepsi Nationals.”

Thomas finished fifth last Saturday in the POWRi feature at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.

“We lined up sixth for the heat race and got tangled up with another car in turn one on the first lap,” Thomas said. “We restarted at the tail, went to the bottom and drove up to third. The leaders started racing each other and we move up to finish second. It lined us up third in the feature and we got to second on the second lap.

“Darren Hagen (winner) drove off from us and we had a 19-lap green flag run. We got together with a lapped car and it bent our right-front shock. Our handling went away and we were just hanging on. It could have been a lot worse.”

For more information, go to www.tylerthomasmotorsports.com.