Jason Blonde
Jason began racing in 1993 after graduating from high school when He bought his first Sprint Car, the red #5 from Mike Shaw. Jason grew up watching his hero’s Hank Lower, Gary Fedewa, and Bill Tyler and so after graduation he took all of his money he had been saving over the years from showing 4H Livestock and graduation and bought his first sprint car That first year was quite a struggle to say the least but he was racing with the next few years were spent logging laps and learning what it takes to drive a sprint car.
1996 saw everything starting with Jason winning his first ever feature race at Butler Motor Speedway in the white #10 car owned by Bill Warner.
In 1998 Jason was running for points in the Auto Value Super Sprint dirt series. He had 4 feature wins and was running 2nd in points when an accident sidelined him for the remainder of the season, but still finished 3rd in overall points and was voted Driver of the Year!
1999 was a breakout season! Again running for points with the Auto Value Super Sprints (AVSS) in the Yellow #10. He won 9 feature wins that year at multiple tracks and also set a new track record at Butler Motor Speedway of 12.663 his home track. He was also names AVSS Dirt Champion and Driver of the Year.
At the end of 1999 he was contacted by a car owner by the name of Mike Katz who asked Jason to drive his pavement car at Auto City Speedway. Jason went on to drive for Mike Katz in the #20 sprinter for 2 years! He collected his very first feature win on pavement in Cedar Rapids, IA at Hawkeye Downs! To date it is one of Jason’s best memories in victory lane!
In 2002 Jason was a car owner again! He had kind of an up and down year with 3 feature wins and setting a new track record at Madison Speedway 15.472.
In 2003 Jason was contacted by Jim Brown to drive his red #55 sprinter. Together they won at Baer Field and Salem Speedway and set a new track record at Salem of 14.430! They finished 2nd overall in the AVSS points that year and Jason was voted driver of the year.
In 2004 Jason was approached by Marv Carman, owner of the orange #61. Jason drove for Carman in 04 and 05 and had multiple wins at multiple tracks. Jason was crowned CO-champion along with his hero Bill Tyler for the AVSS title and was voted drive of the year.
In 2006 Jason didn’t really have a permanent seat, until he was asked to drive the 42 at Owosso Speedway at the end of the season. He was honored to drive the car he had grown up watching. At the end of the night he was in victory lane!
2007 Jason was asked to wheel the #42 TnT promotions car for Owners Tony Nosel and Chris Sherwood. With long time engine builder and crew chief Butch Dowker. Jason would go on to win the AVSS championship with them in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017. He was voted Driver of the Year in 2007, 2008, and 2013. With multiple feature wins at multiple tracks over the years! His most recent win was at Berlin Raceway in 2017 running with the Must See Racing Series.
In 2010 Jason was approached by Don Wilshe owner of Biobased.us and asked to drive his #10s sprinter. He would drive for Team Biobased from 2010-2012 scoring multiple feature wins and setting track records at Salem, Anderson, and Kalamazoo Speedways.
March 19, 2011 Jason was invited to participate in the Bristol Motor Speedway Speed Trials driving the #10s Biobased car. This was a very exciting event that was taped and replayed on speed channel for all to see and enjoy. Different types of cars on the same track and see who is fastest! At the end of the day Jason had the World Record on a ½ mile track of 13.245 at 144.871 mph.
In 2012 Jason was sidelined again after a hard crash at ORP that broke his pelvis. However, he came back that same season with a very special feature win at Kalamazoo Speedway. He also had a win at Berlin Raceway driving the #99 Stickney 1brothers sprinter that year!
2018 finds Jason back in the seat of the #42 sprinter! He would like to thank his family, friend, car owners, and crews over the years. Without everyone standing behind him and giving him a chance he would not have been able to live his dream!