Cars wheel packing at Kokomo Speedway. (Bob Buffenbarger Photo)
Cars wheel packing at Kokomo Speedway. (Bob Buffenbarger Photo)By T.J. Buffenbarger
Indiana Sprint Week commences tonight at Gas City I-69 Speedway, kicking off what we feel is the biggest event in non-wing sprint car racing. While several major non-wing events have come and gone over the past 29 years, but Sprintweek has persevered. Fans from all over the world will converge on Indiana Bull Rings to see what I feel is still the most under rated show in all of sprint car racing. Fans will be greeted by parody in the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series with 11 different winners in 22 races so far this season. The first six races had six different winners including 9 of the first 12.
Hype going into this year’s edition of Sprint Week is an all-time high with Richie Murray from USAC and others on the staff hustling to get drivers on three local sportscasts earlier in the week. Throw in the midget car promotion on the dirt track saying farewell to Tony Stewart at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday to kick off speedweek with a lot of excitement. Add in the fact that the series starts at three of the best tracks in the country, Gas City I-96 Speedway, Kokomo Speedway, and Lawrenceburg Speedway, and you have the makings of another spectacular edition of Sprint week.
Kudos to Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles on constructing a temporary dirt track inside of turn three at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a tribute to Tony Stewart’s final NASCAR start at the facility in two weeks. Boles, who is comfortable in motorsports situations from Monza to Montpelier, had as big of a smile as Stewart did following the exhibition on the small oval that also featured Indy 500 starters Sarah Fisher and Bryan Clauson along with midget car drivers Gage Walker, Carson Macedo, Spencer Bayston, and Davey Ray.
While a short track event on a temporary oval has been tossed around for years this particular idea could come to fruition. Boles, USAC officials, and drivers were already tossing around ideas following the exhibition to make something happen. Our guess is whatever it is at this point would feature a temporary layout rather than something permanent, but will be worth watching to see what happens going into the off season.
I love unique short track promotions. This week Glenn Styres, Clinton Geoffrey, and the staff at Ohsweken Speedway have delivered. This week Pinty’s Foods has partnered with Ohsweken to giveaway a year of free chicken wings to every feature winner and one lucky fan. This giveaway is just one of the remarkable things happening at Ohsweken this season as massive improvements to the grandstand side such as a new concession stand, walkways, bathrooms, ticket office, and other projects to help improve the fan experience at the Speedway.
While most of the non-wing sprint car attention is focused on Indiana Sprint Week the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series is hosting a two day weekend in Ohio at Attica Raceway Park and Waynesfield Raceway Park on Friday and Saturday. For Attica the BOSS race is the first non-wing event in over a decade at the 1/3-mile oval. This race nearly happened last year, but scheduling conflicts did not allow it to happen. This year BOSS and Attica officials were able to find a suitable date and pair it up with Ohio’s only weekly non-wing sprint car venue.
Another interesting event on the calendar this week is the double header on the schedule for Saturday is at St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, Missouri featuring the Midwest Open Wheel Association sprint cars and the Wingless Auto Racing Series.
