By Morgan Broeg
Des Moines, IA (July 13, 2018) – The Sage Fruit Ultimate ASCS Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company is returning from a five-year hiatus and is doing so in a big way with the help of the Lucas Oil WAR Wildcard Sprint League! When the WAR non-wing and ASCS National Series sprint cars take to the track on Tuesday, August 7th, the POWRi TV crew will be on-hand filming for a tape-delayed broadcast on MAVTV.
Promoter Terry McCarl and WAR Race Director, Casey Shuman, are excited to bring non-wing racing back to the biggest 10 days in sprint car racing. “Terry and I started discussing the idea of resurrecting the Ultimate Challenge and it took off from there,” said Shuman. “TMAC has always done an awesome job with the Front Row Challenge and the Ultimate before it went away there for a while, and we’re excited to work together to bring it back and in a big way with it being filmed for broadcast on MAVTV!”
“I really love what MAVTV is doing with how they’re building their coverage of sprint car racing,” said McCarl. “It will be great exposure for Sage Fruit, Searsboro Telephone, and Musco Lighting, as well as all of the sponsors of the drivers participating in the event!”
The deal that POWRi has with MAVTV has proven to be beneficial for all involved. “With the WAR series now being under the POWRi umbrella, it has been great being part of the POWRi TV deal,” said Shuman. “It’s very cool to see all of the different series on national television and as soon as the Ultimate Challenge was scheduled, we knew it had to be included on the broadcast schedule!”
This year’s reboot of the Ultimate Challenge has McCarl excited and knows that the fans feel the same way. “Bill McCroskey and I first wanted to bring the non-wing cars to Osky because of the reaction of my wife Lori seeing them race for the first time at Terre Haute,” said TMAC. “It made me realize that a lot of the people around Iowa see winged sprints all the time, but the non-wing cars are different and exciting. Over the past couple of years, I had a lot of fans asking when we were going to bring them back, so here they are.”
There are a lot of great memories from past Ultimate Challenge finishes and TMAC & Shuman are looking to have more of the same. “Maybe the best night of sprint car racing I’ve ever witnessed was when Jesse Hockett won by a nose over Dave Darland here in 2009 while splitting a lapped car,” said Terry. “I love non-wing cars and I want to support WAR, because Casey has done an awesome job.”
“With everything that TMAC does for the drivers at the Challenges, we knew it was something we wanted to be a part of,” said Casey. “To have MAVTV onboard is absolutely the cherry on top. It provides great exposure for dirt racing and all of the sponsors involved, which will hopefully lead to more big events like this in our future!”
With the event being newly added to the broadcast schedule, Shuman noted that there is still room for companies to join the broadcast as a sponsor. “New episodes come out every Tuesday and there is still space for people to advertise on the broadcast of the Ultimate Challenge,” said Casey. “Actually, it doesn’t just end with the initial broadcast; our episodes are shown over 30 times throughout the year, so it’s a great way to get your company name out there.”
Front Row Challenge & Ultimate Challenge Tickets!
There is just over 3 weeks left until the Sage Fruit Front Row Challenge presented by Musco Lighting, and the Sage Fruit Ultimate ASCS Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company at the Southern Iowa Speedway!
You can purchase your tickets now by calling (515) 957-0020 between 10:00am-4:00pm; Adult tickets for Monday are $30, Tuesday for $25, or both nights for $50 if purchased before July 30th, with Children’s tickets $15 each night. You can also buy tickets at the TMAC Motorsports merchandise trailer or at the race hauler after the races!
You can save $5 on your Infield Party Passes by purchasing them at the Oskaloosa True Value Hardware at 202 1st Ave. East on the square in Oskaloosa!