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Shelton Equals USAC Record with 5th Place Run at Eldora

USAC National Midget driver Holly Shelton continues to impress during her rookie campaign in the series.

Just last Saturday at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, the 20-year-old Sacramento, California native recorded her first career top-five finish of the season. That accomplishment put her in exclusive company.

Shelton became just the third female driver to record a top-five finish in a dirt USAC National Midget feature event. She joins the late Jeri Rice and Sarah McCune as the only ones to accomplish the feat.

Tucson, Arizona’s Rice recorded a 5th place finish at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway on Aug. 2, 1988 and Perrysburg, Ohio’s Sarah McCune was a 5th place finisher at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois on June 4, 2003.

Shelton’s result was the best finish – pavement or dirt - for a female in a USAC National Midget feature in three years when Taylor Ferns from Shelby Township, Michigan took 5th on the pavement at Fountain, Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Raceway on June 29, 2013.

No female has ever won a USAC National Midget, National Sprint Car or Silver Crown feature. The best ever finish for a woman in a USAC National event was a 2nd, earned by McCune at a midget race at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway on Sept. 19, 1999.

Other top-fives earned by ladies throughout the history of USAC National Midget racing include Zionsville’s Bev Griffis, who finished 3rd at Winchester on April 7, 1991, and Westfield, Indiana’s Stephanie Mockler - the only other female driver besides McCune to score multiple top-fives in USAC National Midget competition – who took a 3rd at Indianapolis Raceway Park on May 27, 2006 and a 5th at Toledo (OH) Speedway on July 6, 2007.

Furthermore, Shelton currently stands 8th in the 2016 USAC National Midget points standings. Ferns, back in 2013, is the only female to finish in the top-10 of the National Midget points (9th). With only five races remaining in the season and holding a 51-point advantage over her nearest competitor, Shelton may very well add that to her rapidly growing résumé.

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