Bobby Santos had a night to remember during last year's Thursday Night Thunder Homecoming at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Santos (Franklin, Massachusetts) had won the sprint car feature earlier in the night at the paved .686-mile paved oval, then finished the evening by scoring a win in the nightcap's 40-lap Brown's Oil Champion midget feature.

It sounds awfully similar to the fashion in which Santos spent his most recent visit to IRP in May of this season. There, he followed his midget victory with a USAC Silver Crown score.

During this week's Thursday Night Thunder Homecoming, Santos and others will hold an opportunity in their hands to sweep all three features at IRP.

The open wheel racing tripleheader encompasses the 500 Sprint Car Tour, the Browns Oil Champion Midgets and a Silver Crown Shootout. The Midget and Silver Crown races are sanctioned by USAC but are considered non-points special events under the USAC banner.

Santos charged from his fourth starting position to the lead in last year's homecoming, making his way to the front with a Turn 1 pass on the third lap to secure his position at the front of the field. He now owns four midget victories at the IRP.

He and Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, California) possess 13 USAC wins apiece at IRP in their careers, tied for second all-time behind Tracy Hines at 15. With a triple sweep on Thursday, one of the two would find their way to the top of the chart.

Kody has won three midget features at IRP in his career. He was the fastest qualifier and runner-up in the 2021 Homecoming. His younger brother, Tanner Swanson (Kingsburg), has earned his fair share of success at IRP, winning seven times total, including once in a midget during the 2010 Night Before the 500. Tanner finished third in the Homecoming feature a year ago and was fifth this past May.

Cole Carter (Brownsburg, Indiana), son of four-time IRP USAC winner Pancho Carter, took sixth in the Homecoming feature last year. He turned in another top-10 performance with a ninth-place finish back in May.

Nick Hamilton (Danville, Indiana), Jake Trainor (Medway, Massachusetts) and Cody Gerhardt (Fresno, California) each completed the distance of the Homecoming feature last year inside the top 10. 

Hamilton finished seventh, Trainor was eighth and Gerhardt was ninth. Trainor came back this May and turned quite a few heads. The 17-year-old NEMA series regular finished as the runner-up to Santos.

Nathan Byrd's grandfather, Jonathan Byrd, owned the car that Rich Vogler raced to four USAC National Midget victories at IRP between 1988-1989. Now, Nathan (Goodyear, Arizona) is in the process of establishing his own footprint behind the wheel. He scored an 11th-place finish at Homecoming in 2021 and upped his performance to a 10th-place effort this past May.

Rejoining the field from last year's Homecoming lineup are Plainfield, Indiana's Kevin Studley (12th), Hillsborough, California's Toni Breidinger (13th) and Beech Grove, Indiana's Kyle O'Gara (16th in 2021 and 15th in May), the 2014 USAC Pavement Midget champ.

The top 2 drivers on the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship circuit this year will be hitting the pavement this Thursday night. That includes point leader Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, California) and Justin Grant (Ione, California). Kofoid, the defending USAC National Midget champ, scored a sixth-place result in May. Grant ran fifth in the midget at IRP in May 2021.

They both will be making their Homecoming debuts, as will a slew of others who competed last month during the Carb Night Classic. 

On that evening, Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, Indiana) led the first 11 laps and finished third. Chuck Gurney Jr. (Livermore, California) posted back-to-back USAC Midget wins at IRP in 2008-2009 and enters Thursday coming off a fourth-place result in May.

Davey Hamilton Jr. (Boise, Idaho) was an eighth-place finisher in May, finishing ahead of 2016 USAC Western HPD Midget champ, Morgan Hill, California's Blake Brannon (11th), 2017 Bay Cities Racing Association Midget titlist Maria Cofer of Macdoel, California (12th), Suffield, Connecticut's Todd Bertrand (13th) and Mendon, Massachusetts' Johnny Zych (19th).

Also aiming for their first Homecoming starts are Chad Nichols (Danville, California), who captured three consecutive USAC Western States Pavement Midget titles (2012, 2013, 2014), as well as POWRi WAR Sprint Car champion Mario Clouser (Auburn, Illinois), Ryan Shilkuski (Spring Valley, Illinois) and Brandon Maurer (Sherman, Illinois)

USAC's Hall of Fame ceremony is slated to take place during opening ceremonies prior to the three feature events and begin at 7:50 p.m. Eastern, honoring a new class of inductees.

The ceremony will be followed by a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win 500 Sprint Car Tour feature, and a 25-lap, 10-car, $2,500-to-win race for the Silver Crown cars. The night will finish with the midgets going for $5,000 in a 35-lap A-Main.

The United States Auto Club has previously announced its eight inductees for the latest class of hall of famers. 

The list includes car owner/mechanic Doug Caruthers, driver Jay Drake, car owner/mechanic Galen Fox, driver Jeff Gordon, driver/car owner/builder/innovator Dan Gurney, car owner/mechanic Ray Nichels, car owner/official/promoter Johnny Vance and track owner/promoter Joe Shaheen.

Jeff Gordon and representatives for the late Dan Gurney received their hall of fame awards during separate ceremonies in 2021.

Spectator gates will open and practice set to begin for the three series at 4 p.m. Eastern. Qualifying will start at 6:25 p.m. and be followed by the opening ceremony and each of the three feature events.

General admission tickets are $25, while tickets for children age 12 and under are free.

The entire event from IRP will be shown live on FloRacing. Watch here.