Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial Set for 66th Running
Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial Set for 66th Running
For the second consecutive season, the 500 Sprint Car Tour will head to Salem Speedway for the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial presented by the Hoosier Lottery & Earl’s of Indy. The event will be the 66th running of the historic sprint car race. History was made in 2024 as Taylor Ferns became the first female to ever win the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial event.
The 2025 500 Sprint Car season has kicked off with a bang, as a different driver has won each of the first three events. If you include the non points earning Little 500, a different driver has won all four 500 Sprint Car Tour sanctioned events in 2025. Now enter the great equalizer, the high banks of Salem Speedway. The daunting task of completing four corners of racing at Salem Speedway can either lead to experience taking over, or see a new face enter the fold as anything can truly happen.
Dakoda Armstrong, Bobby Santos III, and Kody Swanson have all gone to victory lane this season and will look to win their second event of 2025 at Salem Speedway. Jake Trainor, after winning his second Little 500 in May, will make his first start since that victory as he teams up with Bob East & Terry Klatt to compete for a win in another historic sprint car event. Trainor competes in the USAC Silver Crown series with East & Klatt. Armstrong has yet to break through on the big tracks, with all of his 500 Sprint Car Tour victories coming at the quarter mile of Anderson Speedway. Santos III and Swanson have both gone to victory lane at big tracks this season with Santos claiming victory at Toledo Speedway (Half Mile) and Swanson winning the battle of attrition that was Winchester Speedway (Half Mile). Swanson finished second in last year’s event at Salem Speedway and currently drives for Nick Bohanon, the owner of Salem Speedway.
Taylor Ferns returns to the sight of her first pavement sprint car win as she enters the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial as the only female racer to ever win the event. An emotional victory for Ferns made for one of the most memorable victory lane moments, or moments in general, of the entire 2024 season. Ferns had a strong showing last time out as she finished in second place and led some laps at Winchester Speedway. Emotions will definitely be high going into Salem this Saturday for Ferns and her family, but the mission will still be the same.
Other notable entries include Donnie Adams Jr, Landon Butler, Jackson Macenko, Nathan Byrd, Kyle O’Gara, Brady Allum, Chase Locke, and CJ Leary.
The 66th Running of the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial is set for Saturday, July 12th at Salem Speedway. The 500 Sprint Car Tour will be joined by the USSA Kenyon Midget Series and Legends. Both the divisions will be competing on the ¼ mile course located on the infield of Salem Speedway. Pit gates will open at 12:00pm with hot laps beginning at 3:15pm. Qualifying will begin at 6:00pm and racing is set to begin at 7:00pm. Reserved seating tickets for the event are $30, general admission for adults is $25 and kids 6-12 are $5. Get your tickets online today by clicking HERE. All of the night’s racing action will be streamed live on DIRTVision. For those not currently subscribed to DIRTVision, you can choose your subscription package by clicking HERE.
