By Richie Murray
Brandon, South Dakota (August 30, 2021)………The payout for the inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals has continued to grow by leaps and bounds with a final purse totaling $236,000 announced for the event featuring three-straight nights of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget and USAC AMSOIL National 410 c.i. Sprint Car doubleheaders on September 10-11-12 in Brandon, South Dakota.
The $236,000 figure makes the Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals the highest combined purse for a USAC points-paying National Sprint Car and Midget doubleheader.
Nights one and two, on Friday, Sept. 10 and Saturday, Sept. 11, will showcase a unique format that begins with each driver drawing and placing themselves into a group to qualify, followed by heat races, last chance qualifiers and feature events for both the Midget and Sprint Car divisions.
Night one and two preliminary features for both sprint cars and midgets will pay $5,000 to win and $500 to start each night. Prelim night sprint car features will be 25 laps each night with midgets racing for 30 laps.
During the final night, Championship Night on Sunday, September 12, no qualifying will be held. All lineups will be based off the accumulation of points earned throughout the first two nights. Two new champions will be crowned with a 40-lap feature for the Sprint Cars and a 100-lap main event for the Midgets with each being rewarded a $20,000 payday for their efforts. Both A-mains on Championship Night will also reward starters with a minimum of $1,000 to start.
The event is the highest paying event of the 2021 USAC National season. Tickets and driver/team registration for all three nights of the event are on sale now at www.USACnationals.com.
Only twice in USAC’s history have series events been held at the 3/8-mile dirt oval of Huset’s Speedway. Kenny Irwin Jr. won the midget debut there in 1996 while Chad Boespflug swept both nights of a 410 sprint car meet at the track in 2016.
Seeing an uncertain future in recent years, Huset’s Speedway was rescued and purchased by longtime sprint car owner and, more recently, track owner Tod Quiring, and is under the management of Doug Johnson, who also manages Quiring’s other track acquisition, the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota.
Matt Wood, a long time sprint car and midget team owner, who recently joined forces with USAC and entered the promotion side of things with the inaugural running of the Hangtown 100 in Placerville, Calif. in 2019, is also the promoter of the USAC Nationals.
Pit gates open at Noon Central all three days. The front gates will open at 4pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and at 3pm on Sunday. Pit Passes are $40 per day or $120 for a three-day pass.
2021 HUSET’S SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONALS FORMAT:
(NIGHTS ONE & TWO)
Pill draw draft to determine order of heat race selection.
Heat race placement selection (driver picks which heat to participate in and the order to qualify.
Qualifying: All cars qualify – 6 groups determined by heat race. Cars will qualify in the order picked by drivers. 36 points will be given for fast time in each group, and minus three points per position thereafter.
Six 10 lap Heat Races: Top 8 cars inverted in heats by qualifying points/time. 36 points will be given for first place, and minus 3 points per position thereafter. Three cars – first place (regardless of point total), and the two highest in total points (total points include qualifying and heat points) in each heat – transfer to Night One & Two A-Main. All others to Night One & Two Last Chance Qualifiers.
Three 12 lap Last Chance Qualifiers: Total points from qualifying and heat race finishes will be used to line up LCQ’s. Lineups will be straight up based on points. The top 3 in total points will start on the pole in each respective LCQ. The next 3 in total points will start outside pole in each respective LCQ, and so on. The top 2 from each LCQ will transfer to the Night One & Two A-Main but will not earn LCQ points. 50 points awarded for 3rd place minus 2 points for each position thereafter.
A-Main: 30 laps for midgets, 25 laps for sprint cars. 24 Cars – 1st place and 2 highest in points from heat races plus 2 transfers from each LCQ. LCQ cars will line up by points behind direct transfers out of heats. Top 12 in total points will line up inverted. The next 6 in total points transferring directly out of the heats will line up 13 – 18 straight up. LCQ transfers will line up behind heat race transfers straight up based on points. 100 points awarded to the A-Main first place and minus 2 per position thereafter.
(CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT)
No Qualifying. Lineups based on total points from night one and night two (CUMULATIVE).
Six 10 lap Heat Races: Top 8 cars inverted in heats by total points from night one. 36 points will be given for first place, and minus 3 points per position thereafter.
Total points will then be tallied to line up D, C, B, and A-Mains. Top 20 in points go to A-Main, positions 21-36 in points go to B-Main, positions 37-52 in points go to C-Main, and all others to D-Main.
D-Main: 10 Laps. Top 4 transfer to tail of C-Main. No points awarded.
C-Main: 15 Laps, 20 Cars. Top 4 transfer to tail of B-Main. No points awarded.
B-Main: 20 Laps, 20 Cars. Top 4 transfer to tail of A-Main. No points awarded.
A-Main: 100 Laps for midgets, 40 laps for sprint cars. 24 Cars. Top 12 inverted by points, followed by next 8 in points lined straight up, followed by B-Main transfers 1-4. 150 points awarded for first place and minus 3 points per position thereafter. Yellow laps counted for first 50 laps of midget feature.
**Ties in overall points will revert to qualifying times.
**Promoter reserves the right to add provisionals to the Championship Night A-Main.
**Possible mandatory fuel stop between laps 40-50 of Championship Night A-Main.