New Toledo venue mostly an unknown

By Ken de la Bastide

When the Kenyon Midget Series makes it's first appearance at Toledo Speedway, all teams will be looking at the same challenges. With no prior experience on the short-track at the half-mile Toledo Speedway, teams are looking to use the set-up used as Salem Speedway and the Indianapolis Speedrome.

Ayrton Houk comes into the weekend as the point leader with two wins and a runner-up finish in the first three races of 2026. “I've watched some video on YouTube,” Houk said of the Toledo oval. “We are looking to determine the banking. I think everyone is in the same boat,” he said. “We're going to use the same set-up as Salem and adjust to the banking.”

Isaac Johnson is second in the point standings and scored podium finishes at the Speedrome and Lincoln Park. “I don't know a lot about Toledo, I've never been there,” he said. “I was supposed to run an ARCA race on the big track, but that didn't work out.” Johnson said he found a video of a Street Stock race on the quarter-mile short-track. “Everyone is in the same position,” he said. “Our flat track set-up is pretty good. We won at the Speedrome a year ago and could have won there this year.”

Johnson said he expects Houk to be strong again in the Toledo race.“There is a lot of races still to go,” he said. “We've had a pretty solid start to the season.”

Kyle Sheard, third in points, said he knows nothing about the Toledo track. “We're going to start with the Salem set-up,” he said of the Jeff Hill racing team. “We're 100% prepared for Toledo.” Sheard said the team has gotten off to a strong start, except for a steering box problem at Lincoln Park. “The next two races will give us a chance to close the gap to Aryton (Houk),” he said.

Four-time champion Dameron Taylor raced a non-wing sprint car at Toledo once and was involved in a front-straight incident. “I don't remember a whole lot about the place after my crash there, so I am pretty uncertain on what to expect,” he said. “We are going to go with a similar set-up to the other smaller tracks we have ran like the Speedrome, Salem and the Sportsdome.”

Taylor was installing a new engine for the Toledo race. “This year has been a big off year for us,” he said as he currently sits seventh in the points and no podium finishes in three races.