For Immediate Release
(Lakeside, CA, March 5, 2024) Three-time lightning sprint car champion Brent Sexton turned in two top-four finishes when the SoCal Lightning Sprint Car Series opened its 2024 season last Friday and Saturday at the Imperial Valley Raceway. The 50-year-old star placed fourth in Friday night’s 20-lap main event. He bested that outcome by two spots when he came home second on Saturday. This Friday and Saturday, Sexton and his 19-year-old son Grant will be at the same track to contest two nights of open class sprint car racing during the historic California Mid-Winter Fair.
Last week Brent had planned to race his lightning sprint on Friday in the SCLS show and then head to the Ventura Raceway to compete with Grant in the inaugural Ultimate Sprint Car Series event on Saturday. However, heavy rains doused the beach-side track and forced a cancellation. So, Brent stayed at Imperial and ran the lightning sprint on the racy track located in the Southeast corner of California both nights.
Brent, who lives in Lakeside, California with Grant, and his other son Dalton, turned in impressive performances both nights last week. On Friday he qualified eighth fastest in the 21-car field with a lap of 12.508. He placed second in a stacked eight-lap heat race. In the main, he began in the fifth-place spot and moved one position forward to finish fourth.
Twenty-four hours later, the Tennessee-born star qualified sixth fastest when he stopped the clocks in a near identical 12.520. He then proceeded to win his heat race.
On Saturday night, which was very chilly and windy, Brent started the main in third. He took second on lap six and then fended off pursuers over the final 14 laps for his first podium finish of the year.
The impressive results left Sexton, a three-time lightning sprint car champion, only seven points out of first in the CLS standings. However, he is focusing on the full-size sprint car this season including the races at Imperial this Friday and Saturday.
Sexton Gatlin Racing has had a lot of success at Imperial over the past three seasons. In addition to Brent’s fourth and fifth-place finishes there last weekend, he competed there four times in a lightning sprint car last year and posted a win, a second, a third, and a fourth-place finish. USAC/CRA star AJ Bender drove a different SGR car to a lightning sprint win at Imperial on March 3, 2023. Grant drove his full-size sprint car at the track one time last season and finished fifth.
In 2022, Brent and his oldest offspring Dalton swept the POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Car Series opening main events in March. Brent grabbed another win there in October and Grant had a third in his 360 sprint car there late in the season.
March is a busy month for Sexton Gatlin Racing. Following the two races last week at Imperial, they will be back there this Friday with Brent and Grant both competing in the open comp. sprint car show. Next week, the father and son duo will be in action in the Avanti Windows and Doors USAC/CRA Series at Perris. The plan now is to close the month at the USCS inaugural race at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in Bakersfield on the 30th.
For fans who want to attend this week’s races at Imperial, wheel packing will start at 5:30 with hot laps and single-car qualifying to follow on Friday. The first race of the night will begin at 7:00. On Saturday, wheel packing will be at 4:30 and again will be followed by hot laps and single car qualifying. The first race will start at 6:30.
Sexton Gatlin Racing would like to thank the following companies for making the 2024 season possible. East County Electric Works, Keys Brothers, BR Motorsports, Maxima Oil, Automated Interiors, Sexton Fire Protection, BK Wings, Troy Dirt.
If you or your company are interested in becoming a marketing partner with Sexton Gatlin Racing in 2024, please call (619) 454-6945 or E-mail mailto:sextonfire@cox.net or mailto:sextonfire@gmail.com.
Brent Sexton 2024 Results
2/24/24 Perris Auto Speedway USAC/CRA Sprint Cars 15th A Main
3/1/24 Imperial Valley Raceway SoCal Lightning Sprints 4th A Main
3/2/24 Imperial Valley Raceway SoCal Lightning Sprints 2nd A Main
Grant Sexton 2024 Results
2/24/24 Perris Auto Speedway USAC/CRA Sprint Cars 18th A Main
This release was produced by Scott Daloisio. Contact (909) 226-7768 mailto:sdaloisiosports@gmail.com
