C.J. Leary is set to pull double, full-season duty for Team AZ Racing on multiple USAC trails throughout 2025.
(Josh James Artwork Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 19, 2024)………C.J. Leary is set to pull double, full-season duty for Team AZ Racing on multiple USAC trails throughout 2025.
Leary (Greenfield, Ind.), the 2019 USAC National Sprint Car champion, will compete on the 50-race USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship docket with Team AZ in partnership with Curb-Agajanian. Furthermore, Leary will take on the 13-race USAC Silver Crown slate with Team AZ in association with Jerry Petty of Avanti Windows & Doors.
“It just makes sense having everything under one roof,” Leary stated. “When (car owner) Mike (Burkhart) originally called me, he just wanted to do the Silver Crown thing, and I was calling him to want to do the sprint car. I think we found a way to make both work, but he was worried about being good at both and not taking away from either program. It’s a lot of work doing both series with one group of guys. I think it’s really good to get that chemistry once they figure out what I like.”
Toward the end of the 2024 campaign, Leary had an opportunity to make his first two USAC CRA Sprint Car starts for Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian Racing during the Western World Championships at Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway, finishing fourth and third across the two nights.
“Getting our feet wet was super beneficial to get those trial runs out of the way before we roll into Florida where it’s a national points race,” Leary explained. “I don’t feel like we’d have any time to learn each other (in Florida). In Arizona, it was low pressure, and I’ve been friends with the 21AZ guys for four or five years, but we’ve never raced together. There’s a little bit of a learning curve there, and I think it went really smoothly those two nights out there.”
The process of it was discovering what works and what doesn’t work between the driver’s seat and the wrenches, all while figuring out how to work together, communicate and become a team.
“We learned that I don’t like the same things Daison likes,” Leary revealed. “But we have the same engine builder I’ve been using and the same cars. It should be an easy jell coming together. The big thing is having a full circle and surrounding myself with good people is really important. We’ve got good guys working on the cars and good guys sponsoring the car, so hopefully, it’s going to be a powerhouse team.”
Team AZ Racing, meanwhile, has captured six career USAC National Sprint Car wins, four with Jake Swanson between 2021-2023, and two more in 2024 with Daison Pursley at the wheel. Pursley’s late-race heroics also provided Team AZ its first ever Silver Crown victory in June of 2024 at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway.
Leary is one of the sport’s premier drivers, amassing 23 career USAC National Sprint Car feature wins and 55 fast qualifying times. With the Silver Crown series, Leary has compiled three career wins and seven pole positions. Now Leary is ready get rolling into it, back to championship form.
“When we start racing, I think it’s going to be really good,” Leary foretold. “I’ve driven for some good guys, but I haven’t had a full team where we have a tire guy and a crew chief besides myself and where I don’t drive the truck and trailer. Now I get to focus a little bit more on driving. That’s going to be super helpful to me, where I can take some of the weight off my shoulders and just drive.”
The quest for a USAC National Sprint Car championship begins in February 2025 with six consecutive events in Florida during Winter Dirt Games. Both Leary and Team AZ have enjoyed victory in recent years during the Sunshine State tour. Leary won in both 2019 and 2024 at Ocala Speedway while Team AZ scored at Volusia Speedway Park with Jake Swanson in 2023.
The 2025 USAC Silver Crown season begins at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track for the 21st running of the Sumar Classic. Leary’s first career USAC national victory of any kind came during the 2016 edition of the Sumar.
Leary will be behind the wheel of the Curb Records/Apache Transport OakCraft Elegant Cabinetry No. 21AZ Sprint Car powered by 1 Way Technologies between the frame rails of a DRC Chassis on both dirt, as well as the first ever DRC pavement chassis.
The Avanti Windows & Doors, Apache Transport, OakCraft Elegant Cabinetry No. 21 Silver Crown car driven by Leary will feature Stanton Racing Engines power under the hood of their DRC Chassis.
