The Junior Knepper 55 has grown to 58 entrants for the non-points USAC Midget race at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin on Saturday night. Six of those spots belong to Clauson-Marshall Racing, which means they are fielding more than one-tenth of the field. The team includes three Californians (Giovanni Scelzi, Justin Grant, and Shane Golobic), two past winners (Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Courtney), and two teenagers, (Scelzi and Zeb Wise).

Stenhouse will attempt to make his first Midget start since the 2017 Chili Bowl. He finished 16th in last year’s A-Main. Stenhouse won the inaugural Knepper in 2015 after racing with his teammate, the late Bryan Clauson.

Last year, Courtney started on the pole and battled Justin Allgaier. He secured the top spot on lap eight. Courtney, who will race full time next year in the USAC Sprint Car series for the newly formed CMNR team, gave credit to Bryan’s father Tim Clauson for his win.

“Tim definitely knows how to make a race car go,” Courtney said. “And he’s got two of the best guys to work on them in the shop. They’ve all done a heck of a job over the last month and a half getting these cars ready to go…It’s a pretty good start to something that’s going to be special.”

Justin Grant will bring a third win at the Southern Illinois Center to the team as he is the most recent Midget winner at the track. Grant won the Shamrock Classic in March a year after fellow CMNR teammate Shane Golobic won in 2016.

Clauson will also include the team’s 2017 Development Driver Zeb Wise, who recorded his first Midget victory this summer at Montpelier (IN) Motor Speedway. Wise also had the honor of being the Don Bailes Rookie of the Race in last month’s Turkey Night Grand Prix.

“It’s always exciting getting the first win with a driver,” said Clauson immediately following Wise’s first. “Zeb has exceeded every expectation I had when we decided on him for our development program. He had knocked on the door several times already and busted it open on Saturday night.”

Clauson rounds out their team with Giovanni Scelzi, who will be making only his second ever Midget start in the Knepper. His first Midget race took place at Ventura (CA) Raceway back on May 21, 2016. In the heat for that race, Scelzi advanced from seventh to second to make the A. In the feature, he was swept into a wreck and ended with a DNF. The 360 and 410 Sprint Car driver narrowly missed winning the championship in the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series last year by one point.

“The opportunity to drive for one of the premier Midget organizations is also a big deal,” Scelzi added. "Their cars win all of the time. I know they are good pieces. Hopefully I can learn from Tim and all of the good drivers on that team."

Scelzi will not have much time to get acquainted with running a Midget in this one-night only event so all the tips and tricks he can pick up from his teammates will be important for making the show.

"It feels like a faster non-wing micro," Scelzi said. "It's slower than what I'm used to in a Sprint Car so hopefully it will be a quick transition. There will be 50 or 60 cars there this weekend, so if I can put it in the show that'd be huge."

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