COONS IS USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR TOP ROOKIE FOR 2026
Cale Coons (left) and father Jerry Coons Jr. (right). (Rich Forman Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (October 29, 2026)………A chip off the old block.
Cale Coons has earned honors as the 2026 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year with a superb season in which he became a first time series feature winner.
The 17-year-old son of USAC career Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. became the first son of a past USAC National Sprint Car champion to become a Rookie of the Year with the series.
The Greencastle, Indiana native won once, took 11th in the overall standings, led a total of 32 laps, finished inside the top five on four occasions, grabbed 23 top tens, and led all drivers with 16 heat race victories at the wheel of the Dooling Autosports-Curb-Agajanian/Curb Records – Kalitta Charters/DRC/Stanton Chevy No. 63, a team that featured three generations of the Coons family at the track on race days.
“It’s very special to get to travel the country with my dad and my grandpa,” Coons said. “It was definitely a lot of learning for all of us. (Dad) hasn’t really crew chiefed a sprint car before. He’s driven and he’s obviously worked on them and stuff, but he’s been a racecar driver all his life, so it was different for him.”
After getting his feet wet, so to speak, with eight starts on the USAC National Sprint Car trail in 2025, Coons set off toward a full series run in 2026 and was regularly a finisher in the top half of the field. It was his initial start in 2025 at Lincoln Park Speedway’s Sprintacular where Coons turned heads with a sixth place run, while also adding five local Indiana triumphs at Lincoln Park (3), Circle City (1), and Kokomo (1) that led to him being named Non-Wing Sprint Car Rookie of the Year by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame poll for 2025.
“Going into last year, we didn’t really expect to run any USAC shows,” Coons explained. “We were kind of just going to get our feet wet in local stuff. Then, we finally convinced my dad to go to the Lincoln Park Sprintacular and we ran sixth. So, that kind of opened our options and eyes to going to different races and we did a few more and had some great runs.”
Throughout the spring and summer of ’26, Coons was strong, adding three Rod End Supply Hard Charger awards to his performance chart: 18th to 10th at Terre Haute in May, 15th to 5th at Red Hill in June, and 18th to 8th at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, displaying his talent and progress in learning the ropes of full-time USAC national competition.
“Probably one of the biggest learning curves was learning everyone’s driving style and what you’re going against,” Coons remarked.
After a particularly rough stretch throughout Indiana Sprint Week, Coons and crew regrouped and came out swinging at Kokomo’s Sprint Car Smackdown, finishing third on the opening night before their biggest night arrived 24 hours later.
“You’ll have those bad nights, but then you’ll also have those top fives, and obviously, that win at Smackdown later in the year definitely makes it easier to come back and reminds you that you can still be in contention every night.”
After leading the first 13 laps of the event, veteran Thomas Meseraull drove by him for the lead. When many sprint car Rookies might fold, Coons, instead, decided to go on the attack and slid Meseraull back to retake the lead just one lap later. Ultimately, Coons led 29 of 30 laps en route to victory and a night he’ll always cherish.
“That weekend was just two years after my first ever time in a sprint car,” Coons recalled. “Within two years to get my first sprint car win and compete like we are competing at the national level is really cool. That night was just special. Kokomo is just so iconic.”
With it, Coons became the first USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year to win a feature in the same year as his Rookie season since Emerson Axsom in 2022. And he didn’t just start up front and run away with it. He had to snatch it from the jaws of defeat.
“Before the race, my dad said, ‘just don’t get in a slider battle, and don’t slow yourself down. Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ But I wanted to be out front. I knew that if I could be out front by the time we got to lapped traffic, it would be extremely hard to pass because it kind of got crummy through the middle and so slick that it was hard to start sliding guys. Luckily, I was able to get back by him. We kind of tapped back bumper to front bumper, which helped me get boosted through the corner and get away from him again.”
Together, Cale and Jerry, a 17-time series winner in his own right, became just the 10th father/son duo to win a USAC National Sprint Car main event as a driver, joining Jim & James McElreath, Bob & Steve Kinser, Todd & Gene Lee Gibson, Parnelli & Page Jones, Bill & Billy Puterbaugh, Bubby & Tony Jones, Bob & Bobby East, Brad & Justin Marvel, and Sammy & Kevin Swindell.
Coons also snagged two other podium finishes with a third at Kokomo on Smackdown opening night as well as a runner-up result in the Bomb City 40 at Route 66 Motor Speedway in Amarillo, Texas.
But for Coons, to not only race against the guys he grew up watching his father compete against is a neat opportunity, but to beat them is even more surreal.
“I’ve watched all these guys growing up my whole life,” Coons reflected. “So, it was kind of weird to get to race against them. I’ve looked up to the all these guys since I was little.”
Coons was one of the 10 drivers to compete in all 48 USAC National Sprint Car events in 2026, only missing the transfer spot into the feature twice. One of those occurred during the Bloomington round of Indiana Sprint Week where he opted to take a provisional. Starting 25th in the field, he charged up to a 7th place finish. The +18 was the biggest advancement of the year by any driver in the series for 2026.
As for his team, Coons feels quite fortunate to have such a strong team of supporters in his corner who’ve been his teammates in achieving Rookie of the Year honors for 2026.
“Mike Curb has treated us very well,” Coons began. “Joe Dooling has treated me better than I could ever wish for. He’s given me every opportunity that I’ve wanted since I was a little kid. So, I just can’t thank him enough. Doug Kalitta and Kalitta Charters has also played a huge part in this. I just can’t thank those guys enough for letting me come out every week and run the national tour.”
2026 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year Points
Pos. Pts. Driver, Hometown
1 2233 Cale Coons, Greencastle, Indiana
2 1084 Gavin Miller, Allentown, Pennsylvania
3 564 Troy Carey, Tullamore, New South Wales
4 527 David Gasper, Goleta, California
5 412 Jacob Denney, Galloway, Ohio
6 256 Chelby Hinton, Dubberly, Louisiana
7 222 Steven Snyder Jr., Rising Sun, Maryland
8 218 Jakeb Boxell, Zanesville, Indiana
9 201 Colin Parker, Martinsville, Indiana
10 174 Austin Nigh, Greenfield, Indiana
11 145 Ryan Harrison, Rothwell, Northamptonshire
12 86 Adam Taylor, Wheatfield, Indiana
13 77 Austin Cory, Morristown, Indiana
14 65 Jason Cherry, Blandon, Pennsylvania
15 64 Bryce Andrews, Kenosha, Wisconsin
16 59 Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, Oklahoma
17 54 Austin Hawkins, Sumner, Illinois
18 44 Justin Zimmerman, Athens, Texas
19 30 Landon Butler, Bushnell, Florida
20 20 Hilton Rowett, Bordertown, South Australia
21 10 Collin Ambrose, Owensboro, Kentucky
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR ROOKIES OF THE YEAR:
1971: Darl Harrison, Tiffin, Ohio
1972: Billy Cassella, Weirton, West Virginia
1973: Rich Leavell, Elwood, Indiana
1974: Lee Osborne, Lebanon, Pennsylvania
1975: Marvin Carman, Union City, Michigan
1976: Roger Rager, Mound, Minnesota
1977: Eddie Leavitt, Kearney, Missouri
1978: Tim Richmond, Ashland, Ohio
1979: Jerry Carman, Burlington, Michigan
1980: Frank Riddle, Tampa, Florida
1981: Steve Long, Indianapolis, Indiana (co)
1981: Johnny Coogan, Alexandria, Indiana (co)
1982: Danny Milburn, Indianapolis, Indiana
1983: Dean Shirley, Middletown, Illinois
1984: Jerry Russell, Springfield, Illinois
1985: Terry Shepherd, Warsaw, Indiana
1986: Kenny Jacobs, Holmesville, Ohio
1987: Rick Ungar, Garrettsville, Ohio
1988: Dean Jacobs, Fredericksburg, Ohio
1989: Eric Gordon, Greenfield, Indiana
1990: Rick Howerton, Indianapolis, Indiana
1991: Tony Stewart, Columbus, Indiana
1992: Gary Cameron II, Tulsa, Oklahoma
1993: Kenny Irwin Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana
1994: Bobby Smith, Martinsville, Indiana
1995: Mark Cassella, Weirton, West Virginia
1996: Gus Wasson, Bloomdale, Ohio
1997: J.J. Yeley, Phoenix, Arizona
1998: Tracy Hines, New Castle, Indiana
1999: Ryan Newman, South Bend, Indiana
2000: Bud Kaeding, Campbell, California
2001: Ed Carpenter, Indianapolis, Indiana
2002: Boston Reid, Logansport, Indiana
2003: Michael Lewis, Noblesville, Indiana (co)
2003: Mat Neely, Robinson, Illinois (co)
2004: Josh Ford, Camarillo, California (co)
2004: Josh Wise, Riverside, California (co)
2005: Darren Hagen, Riverside, California
2006: Scotty Weir, Marion, Indiana
2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Olive Branch, Mississippi
2008: Chad Boat, Phoenix, Arizona
2009: Henry Clarke, Villa Park, California
2010: Justin Grant, Ione, California
2011: Coleman Gulick, Binghamton, New York
2012: C.J. Leary, Greenfield, Indiana
2013: Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, Indiana
2014: Jarett Andretti, Mooresville, North Carolina
2015: Aaron Farney, Brookston, Indiana
2016: Isaac Chapple, Willow Branch, Indiana
2017: Stevie Sussex, Tempe, Arizona
2018: Timmy Buckwalter, Douglassville, Pennsylvania (co)
2018: Logan Seavey, Sutter, California (co)
2019: Dustin Clark, Washington, Indiana
2020: Jadon Rogers, Worthington, Indiana
2021: Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nevada
2022: Emerson Axsom, Franklin, Indiana
2023: Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Oklahoma
2024: Hunter Maddox, Bedford, Indiana
2025: Gunnar Setser, Columbus, Indiana
2026: Cale Coons, Greencastle, Indiana
