By Richie Murray
PARAGON, Ind. (May 10, 2021) – Save the date! The USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship will return to Indiana’s Paragon Speedway on Sunday night, August 22.
The date is a makeup for the originally planned event on April 18, which was rained out prior to hot laps and delayed the series’ return for their first appearance at Paragon’s 3/8-mile dirt oval since 1998. Thirty-seven sprint cars were signed in for the April event before the rain came.
Tickets purchased through the track for the April USAC event at Paragon can be used for the Aug. 22 event, as well as at Paragon, Bloomington Speedway and Lincoln Park Speedway at any race during the 2021 season.
Paragon has hosted 19 previous USAC National Sprint Car appearances by the series dating back to 1981. Steve Butler has the most USAC Sprint wins at the track with three while Derek Davidson won the most recent, in 1998, which was his first career series victory.
The first two USAC Sprint races held at Paragon resulted in two first-time series winners in Rick Hood (1981) and Chuck Amati (1982) while the last three did so as well, with Kevin Briscoe (1997), Bill Rose (1997) and Davidson (1998) all notching their firsts. Seven of the 19 races have produced first-time USAC winners with those five, plus Brad Doty (1988) and Joe Gaerte (1988) also doing the same. The August 22 race will undoubtedly produce a first-time Paragon winner under USAC sanction.
Paragon’s race will bookend an exciting weekend of USAC action, ranging from the miles to the bullrings. The USAC Silver Crown National Championship takes on the Illinois State Fairgrounds and the Bettenhausen 100 on Saturday afternoon, August 21, with Paragon to follow on Sunday night, August 22 for the return of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing.
At Paragon, pits will open at 2:30pm Eastern, grandstands at 3:30pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and hot laps at 5pm.
At the gate on race day, general admission tickets are $25 while children aged 10 and under are free. USAC member pit passes are $25 apiece & $30 for non-members, with kids aged 10 and under $15.
Flag-to-flag coverage of the event from Paragon Speedway will be streamed LIVE on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.