By Andrew Kunas
COUER d’ALENE, Idaho – Stagg Motor Sports and the Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series has released the tentative 2024 schedule for the regional winged 360 sprint car tour, which includes 15 races at all three dirt tracks located in Montana, along with additional events Stagg Motor Sports is involved in.
The schedule is the result of months of work between series coordinator and promoter Josh Stagg and neighboring areas and tours, including the ASCS Northern Plains Region. There are no overlapping points events between the two ASCS regional tours. Outside of ASCS Frontier action, Stagg Motor Sports is also co-promoting a Northern Speedweek in Washington and Oregon in late July.
As it did in 2023, the ASCS Frontier Region will start its 2024 tour with a two-night event at Big Sky Speedway on Friday and Saturday, May 17th and 18th. The 3/8-mile clay oval, located just north of Billings, will host a series high seven ASCS Frontier Region sprint car races in 2024.
Gallatin Speedway, a 3/10-mile clay oval located in the Bozeman suburb of Belgrade and central Montana’s home for Friday night dirt track racing, will host four total events in 2024, all on Fridays, the first being the annual Spring Clash at Belgrade on June 7th. Big Sky Speedway hosts another show on Saturday, June 8th.
After being absent from Big Sky Country the prior two seasons, the American Sprint Car Series National Tour makes its return to Montana in mid-July. Gallatin Speedway, which has hosted several ASCS National Tour races over the years, will host on Friday, July 12th. Electric City Speedway in Great Falls hosts its first ASCS National Tour race since 2015 on Saturday, July 13th. The two events will be the first time the Frontier Region and the National Tour have raced together since 2021.
Things pick back up in August with the Summer Clash at Belgrade, August 2nd at Gallatin Speedway. Big Sky Speedway hosts again on Saturday, August 3rd. After last year’s highly successful show, Big Sky Speedway will again host the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial on Friday and Saturday, August 23rd and 24th and will again pay $12,012 to win Saturday’s finale in honor of the Montana sprint car pioneer. The track has also announced that it will increase total payout for the 2024 event.
Electric City Speedway, a 3/10-mile clay oval that is Montana’s oldest operating dirt track, will host its traditional Montana Roundup on Labor Day weekend with races Friday through Sunday, August 30th through September 1st. Things wrap up with another Gallatin / Big Sky pairing the following weekend with Gallatin Speedway hosting Friday, September 6th as part of its annual Big Sky Supernationals festivities, and Big Sky Speedway closing things out on September 7th.
Outside of special events and those with the ASCS National Tour, ASCS Frontier Region events will usually pay $1,500 to win and $300 to start.
The 15-race schedule is set up to not heavily task most of the racers in the region, with there being only one instance of consecutive weekends of racing scheduled – those being the three straight that are currently set to close out the season. It is also set up to allow travel for those able and willing, as for one it does not conflict at all with the ASCS Northern Plains Region, which primarily races in eastern Wyoming and far western South Dakota. For those able and wanting, they can make the drive down I-90 to race with them without missing out on action back home.
After taking over the reins part of the way through the COVID-affected 2020 season, Josh Stagg enters his fourth full season at the helm of the Montana-based 360 sprint car tour. Announcer Andrew Kunas returns for another year as the voice of Montana 360 sprint car racing. Race director John Youngquist, social media specialist Lisa Dietz and videographer Jeff Quinn also all return as part of the Stagg Motor Sports team on the ASCS Frontier Region tour. Having started in 2013, the Frontier Region of ASCS is the latest in a long line of regional sprint car tours based in Montana going back several decades. Previous banners have included the Montana Open Wheel Racing Association, Montana Sprint Tour, Big Sky Sprint Tour and Big Sky Sprints.
Kelly Miller of Lethbridge, Alberta won a season high six races en route to his first ASCS Frontier Region series championship in 2023. Those six wins were enough to place him second on the all-time ASCS Frontier win list with 17 victories, going back to the beginning of the series in 2013. Boise, Idaho’s Logan Forler, the 2021 series champion, is the all-time winningest driver in ASCS Frontier Region action with 19 wins.
In an effort to advance relations with its Pacific Northwest neighbors, Stagg Motor Sports has joined Peter Murphy Promotions in a joint venture co-promoting a new Northern Speedweek in late July. While these are not ASCS Frontier Region events, teams from Montana and vicinity are encouraged to go if they want to. Things kick off with the Elma Hall of Fame Tribute at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington on Saturday and Sunday, July 20th and 21st, with the Sunday finale paying $5,000 to win. After a day of travel on Monday, action resumes Tuesday, July 23rd with a race at Southern Oregon Speedway, located outside Medford. Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon hosts on Wednesday, July 24th. Both Oregon shows are $3,000 to win. After another travel day on Thursday, things wrap up with the annual Bob’s Burgers & Brew Summer Nationals at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Washington on Friday and Saturday, July 26th and 27th, the finale paying over $10,000 to win.
While the Northern Speedweek happens, the three ASCS Northern Plains races in Wyoming on the last weekend of July (Friday at Casper Speedway, Saturday at Gillette Thunder Speedway and Sunday at Sheridan Speedway) are another option for ASCS Frontier Region teams. Again, there are no conflicting points races between the Frontier and Northern Plains Regions in 2024.
More details on the 2024 ASCS Frontier Region season, including streaming services, will be shared when available.
More information on the Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series, along with the ASCS National Tour and other ASCS regional series, can be found online at www.ascsracing.com and other social media platforms including Facebook. Stagg Motor Sports, the promoting company of the ASCS Frontier Region tour, can be found at www.staggmotorsports.com.
American Sprint Car Series – Frontier Region
2024 schedule
May 17 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Season Opening Weekend)
May 18 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Season Opening Weekend)
June 7 – Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, MT (Spring Clash at Belgrade)
June 8 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Montana Spring Shootout)
July 12 – Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, MT (Grizzly Nationals, Part 1 w/ ASCS National)
July 13 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, MT (Grizzly Nationals, Part 2 w/ ASCS National)
August 2 – Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, MT (Summer Clash at Belgrade)
August 3 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Montana Summer Shootout)
August 23 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Harvey Ostermiller Memorial opener)
August 24 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Harvey Ostermiller Memorial finale)
August 30 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, MT (28th Montana Roundup, Night 1)
August 31 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, MT (28th Montana Roundup, Night 2)
September 1 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, MT (28th Montana Roundup, finale)
September 6 – Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, MT (Big Sky Supernationals)
September 7 – Big Sky Speedway – Billings, MT (Season Finale)
Non-points, ASCS Frontier supported Northern Speedweek
presented by Stagg Motor Sports and Peter Murphy Promotions
July 20 & 21 – Grays Harbor Raceway – Elma, WA (Elma Hall of Fame Tribute)
July 23 – Southern Oregon Speedway – Medford, OR
July 24 – Willamette Speedway – Lebanon, OR
July 26 & 27 – Skagit Speedway – Burlington, WA (Bob’s Burgers & Brew Summer Nationals)
ASCS Frontier Region champions
2013 – Phil Dietz
2014 – Joe Ramaker
2015 – Phil Dietz
2016 – Skylar Gee
2017 – David Hoiness
2018 – David Hoiness
2019 – Jeremy McCune
2020 – Jeremy McCune
2021 – Logan Forler
2022 – Trever Kirkland
2023 – Kelly Miller
American Sprint Car Series
www.ascsracing.com
Stagg Motor Sports, ASCS Frontier Region
www.staggmotorsports.com
ASCS Frontier Region on Facebook
www.facebook.com/ascsfrontier