By T.J. Buffenbarger
(June 20, 2026)
• Brock Hallett’s most recent trip to the United States ended on a high note in victory lane at Butler Motor Speedway but ended up leaving many of us wanting to see a larger body of work in the United States from the former Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner from Brisbane, Australia.
Hallett, who’s American effort is based out of Eric Slade’s shop near Findlay, Ohio, seems to be adjusting to the American side of the sport and showed a lot of speed closing out this most recent visit to the United States.
Granted winning at Butler twice is made easier when Slade, who has seen and turned enough laps around the track to traverse it blindfolded, but showed the same kind of aggression and skill I’ve grown accustomed to seeing out of Hallett over breakfast in the winter while watching races from Australia on Clay Per View.
The GW Racing effort here in the United States is starting to get some footing, and with the team now having their own trailer there is discussion of doing a longer tour or two shorter trips in 2027. I feel with more time Hallett could become a contender at other venues in the United States
Unfortunately for now, like most of our readers, Hallett must return home to go back to work, leaving us pondering what kind of results a longer trip to the United States would yield for him.
• When the 2026 season is over for the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Car Series the two race swing through Michigan will prove to be one of the most pivotal, if not the most influential weekend of the season.
After issues with a borrowed engine erased nearly all of Will Armitage’s point lead Friday night at I-96 Speedway, Armitage and his family-owned team scrambled and were able to obtain another borrowed engine that was shipped over the S.S. Badger car ferry that travels across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, Wisconsin over to Ludington, Michigan.
Armitage’s team trucked directly from I-96 Speedway up to Ludington, Michigan to greet the engine on the morning ferry, which is a two-hour ride in a car that likely takes longer in a race car hauler.
After getting the engine off the boat Armitage and his team trucked over three hours back down to Butler Motor Speedway where the team swapped the engines and parlayed their hard work into a seventh-place finish.
While Armitage did drop back to third in the IRA point standings behind Logan Julian and Travis Arenz, they are only two points out of the lead as the top four drivers are only separated by 12 points.
The Michigan trip was also significant as several teams did not make the trip around Lake Michigan and through Chicago for the weekend, narrowing down the list of teams chasing the entire IRA tour for this season.
• Having IRA back in Michigan for a two-night weekend produced great racing and some competitive fields of cars. The trip also is beneficial with both shows essentially taking place in their title sponsors’ back yard.
While crowds were solid at both facilities, I felt the Michigan sprint car fan community would show more support to both shows.
IRA drew a high level 410 sprint car field to both I-96 and Butler with a mix of series regulars and wondering outsiders to create compelling fields of cars both nights. Both Butler IRA programs have produced entertaining feature events in the past two seasons.
For a series that has produced some great young talent in recent years and the effort it takes to for their teams to make the trip around Chicago to compete in Michigan I felt they deserved better fan support than they received the past two seasons. In turn it would be nice to see more of the Wisconsin fans make the trip over to experience the other side of Lake Michigan, as both venues have multiple options to make the visit a tremendous racing vacation.
Some of that support might come with more brand recognition. Hopefully this mid-June position becomes a staple on the IRA calendar to build the Michigan trip into something both fans and teams anticipate every year on the calendar.