From Shawn Miller
Somerton, AZ — (January 10, 2015) — The Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown will return in 2016.
Cocopah Speedway Director of Operations Greg Burgess announced on Saturday in front of a packed grandstand and to the teams that participated in this year’s inaugural event that the 2nd annual Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown will be held the first two weeks of 2016 and will feature the same purse of approximately $250,000.
The 410ci sprint car races on Jan. 1-2 and on Jan. 8-9 will each pay $12,000 to win and $1,000 to start with the midweek race on Jan. 5 giving $5,000 to the winner.
“We had high expectations for the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown this year and it has been a great event,” Burgess said. “We all look forward to building on this momentum throughout the year to bring in more teams, fans and sponsors in 2016.”
NASCAR stars Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson – who both raced during the event – as well as Tony Stewart voiced excitement about the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown and stated that they will return to the event in 2016 at some capacity.
“I really like the event,” Kahne said. “The weather is great. The track is great. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed being here and I look forward to hopefully doing it again as time goes on.”
Additionally, Tommie Estes Jr. will return as the competition director.
“I believe in this event,” he said. “We’ve laid a great foundation and will continue to work on next year’s Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown throughout the 2015 season.”
More than 35 sprint car drivers from coast to coast competed in the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown with Paul McMahan, Larson and sprint car legends Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski winning features entering the event’s $12,000-to-win finale on Saturday.