By T.J. Buffenbarger
2015 is shaping up to be a season of change for sprint car racing with new series and divisions springing up around the country. While a lot of the discussion has centered on the All Star/Renegade turf war, the new National Sprint League, and the emergence of various RaceSaver and crate sprint car divisions the most influential event in sprint car racing might be the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown in January at Cocopah Speedway.
The idea was hatched from a conversation between Cocopah’s Director of Operations Greg Burgess, Tony Stewart, and Jimmy Carr to have a winter series for winged 410 sprint car racing. Inspired by Cocopah’s state of the art facility located on land of the Cocopah Indian Tribe between Yuma and Somerton Arizona made it the ideal location for such a series to take place. After a couple of years to get all of the details ironed out the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown debuts on with two Friday/Saturday double headers January 2nd and 3rd and 9th and 10th along with a mid-week special on January 6th.
The series already has a huge impact because virtually all eyes in the sprint car world will be on Cocopah Speedway starting on January 2nd. With nothing but Australia and New Zealand racing taking place look for most of the best American teams to be at Cocopah. Only the Chili Bowl rivals this level of exclusive attention.
Without a wheel turning the series already has an international impact on the sport of sprint car racing. Several American drivers are cutting back on or not going to Australia at all this off season to compete because of the opportunity to races domestically in January. Traditionally several top American drivers would head to Australia during the holidays, which is hard on drivers that have families with children. The Winter Heat series has opened up an opportunity for those drivers to earn a welcome payday without having to travel overseas for an extended period of time. For new driver/team combinations the Winter Heat series gives them an opportunity to work out bugs
The timing the series allows moonlighting drivers such as Kyle Larson and Kasey Kahne to participate in their favorite form of auto racing along with keeping their skills sharp during the off season. Having drivers such as Larson and Kahne participating as drivers helps raise the visibility of sprint car racing.
Another aspect of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown that is rare is the series is being run without a sanctioning body. While a lot of teams would normally look at such an event with skepticism having four $12,000 to win / $1,000 to start events along with a $5,000 to win event during the Wednesday program is an attention grabber to the top sprint car teams. Having former driver and highly respected official Tommy Estes, Jr. will be the competition director for the mini-series also lends some credibility to the new event.
For those that cannot make it to Cocopah Speedway Winter Heat is also going to launch National Speed Sport News new streaming video service as they will stream all five races from Cocopah. It will be interesting to see how NSSN’s product stacks up compared to Turn 2 Media, Racin’ Boys, DirtVision, and others as the streaming video world becomes more prominent every season with more players getting into the game. Using the Winter Heat series as their first streaming promotion is a gutsy move by Speed Sport in a medium where technical issues can make or break your service. Because of the undivided attention it will be given by sprint car fans the margin of error will be very slim.
If all goes well the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown could become a destination event for sprint car racing. Being a fan of people that think outside of the box kudos for Burgess and everyone involved for taking a risk on this promotion. If all goes well the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown could become a great annual kick-off event for each racing season.