SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Tonight begins practice and heat races for the Driven2SaveLives BC39 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dirt track.
The event is special in the hearts of USAC dirt racers, and drivers of other disciplines who were impacted by the life of Bryan Clauson. Clauson was killed in August 2016 at a midget race at the Belleville Nationals. He was an organ donor and saved five lives.
“Bryan was a huge person in my career and my family,” said Tyler Courtney, a USAC sprint car driver from Indianapolis. “Obviously, he affected five people’s lives with what he did.”
The event is just as much of a prestigious event in the dirt racing world as it is a campaign for people to sign up to become organ donors.
With the prestige of the event well known in the racing community, several NASCAR and IndyCar drivers will be taking part in the racing. Among the notable drivers include Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Chase Briscoe from NASCAR. Conor Daly from IndyCar will also be suiting up.
“Well, I assume Kyle Larson is going to win,” Daly jokingly said. “I assume everyone else is competing for second. I goal is to just not look like a fool.”
Larson comes from a dirt racing background and won the World of Outlaws championship during his one-year hiatus from NASCAR Cup Series racing in 2020.
“I know Kyle more than the rest of those guys,” Courtney said. “Racing with those guys is always fun because you kind of get to see where you stand on that type of level. Other guys just do it for fun, but it’s always great to race against guys like that.”
Practice and heat races start tonight along with a fun main event which is a pursuit feature race. More heat races follow on Thursday with the main event capping off the festivities at 9:30 p.m.
