T.J.’s Notebook: Storylines Leading Into the 2025 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic

_Top Stories, Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, Premier Speedway
Cole Macedo (Serena Dalhamer photo)

By T.J. Buffenbarger

(January 20, 2024) — With the Chili Bowl Nationals in the rear view mirror the focus shifts to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is upon us Friday through Sunday at Premier Speedway Sungold Stadium in Warrnambool, Victoria. For those that have not heard of the event, the Classic is the Australian equivalent of the Knoxville Nationals. For three nights sprint car drivers will compete for the $40,000 top prize (AUS), which is approximately $25,024.86 in American funds.

In this incredible modern era where we can see motorsports from all over the globe with streaming, the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is now accessible from across the globe. This was an event I’d wait for the results for after waking up first thing on Sunday morning in the early days of this website. Now a 4:00 a.m. wakeup call (or earlier) this weekend is not uncommon with little or no hesitation to check out what is arguably Australia’s biggest sprint car event.

Every year the Classic has plenty of storylines that interest Australian and American sprint car fans alike. Here are some of the things to follow throughout the week

  • Cole Macedo coming into Classic week the driver on the hottest winning streak. Filling it for his brother Carson in the Dyson family owned #99 entry, Macedo pulled off a weekend hat trick winning a pair of $10,000 to win features in Sydney before picking off a feature victory Sunday at Premier Speedway in a tune up event for the Classic.Macedo has shown speed during his entire trip down under, but this will be his best opportunity to win a major sprint car event to date.
James McFadden. (T.J. Buffenbarger Photo)
James McFadden will be one of the favored Australian drivers going into the 2025 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic. (T.J. Buffenbarger Photo)
  • Macedo’s main challenger coming into the Classic will be James McFadden. McFadden driving for the newly formed Team Brady Racing with Kim Buswell spinning the wrenches has been fast out of the box and has a pair of feature wins this calendar year. James McFadden the leading contender to win for the Australian contingent. McFadden is a two-time Classic winner and is at the top of his game coming into the weekend.
  • Another American driver that has found victory lane in Australia recently is Chase Randall. With a pair of victories at Simpson Speedway including the $10,000-to-win 360 sprint car event last weekend, Randall has shown speed coming into the Classic. Randall has been very competitive during his Australian tour and would expect for him to be in contention for a Classic title.
  • Kerry Madsen has a pair of feature victories in 2025 in Western Australia at Bunbury Speedway and Perth Motorplex and now gets the opportunity to see if that performance translates to speedways in Victoria.Sunday Madsen driving the Diamond Bay Motorsports entry was the fastest qualifier at Premier Speedway during the International Sprint Car Carnival and finished second to Macedo on a rubber down racing surface.
  • Michael Stewart is not as common of a name to American racing fans but has been one of the winningest drivers in Australia sprint car racing this year. Known for his “speedcar” (midget car racing in the USA) prowess, Stewart has been a regular visitor to victory lane at Sydney Speedway this year, recently picking up a $10,000 to win feature there on January 14th. Stewart also has wins at Sydney in October, November, and December. It will be interesting to see if the Bungendore, New South Wales driver’s speed translates during the trip to Warrnambool.
  • Other American drivers participating in the Grand Annual Classic this weekend include Garet Williamson, Riley Goodno, Kraig Kinser, Kalb Henry, Kyle Hirst and Cory Eliason.Some of the Australian drivers that American fans would be familiar seeing during our summer include Lachlan McHugh, Jordyn Brazier, Jamie Veal, Callum Williamson, Marcus Dumesny, Domain Ramsey, and Ian Madsen.
Kerry Madsen has shown speed recently in Australian Sprint Car action. (Serena Dalhamer photo)

  • While the defending Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic champion Aaron Reutzel is not on the entry list for the 2025 edition, several former winners are on the entry list that mentioned above joined by Brock Hallet (2023), McHugh (2022), Veal (2016), and Hirst (2015).

  • If you have the time to spare this week, the fun doesn’t just happen at Premier Speedway all week. Australia has multiple events taking place leading into the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic including the President’s Cup at Avalon Raceway in Lara, Victoria on January 22nd, and the Kings Challenge at Borderline Speedway in Mt Gambier, South Australia on January 23rd.
  • For the first time in several years the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic will not air on Floracing or Dirtvision. If you are still interested in catching the action it is available for purchase on ClayPerView, which streams many speedway events for Australia. If you don’t want to get up in the early morning to catch the races live as they happen, ClayPerView has a nice on demand package to watch the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and a plethora of other races from down under.

Important links to know for this week include: