Jac Haudenschild earned $200,000 for his win in the Mopar Million in 2003. (Paul Arch Photo)
Jac Haudenschild earned $200,000 for his win in the Mopar Million in 2003. (Paul Arch Photo)

KERCHNER: There Is Big Money In Short-Track Racing

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Purse money.

It’s one of the biggest topics in motorsports, particularly in short-track, dirt racing.

Throughout history, racers haven’t so much talked about purses as they’ve complained about purses.

This season, traveling dirt-track racers have had the opportunity to race for the largest payoffs in the history of the sport.

Naturally, the lion’s share of the money was paid out in the winged sprint car and dirt late model arenas.

Holding twin versions (six races in all) of its three crown jewel events Ohio’s Eldora Speedway paid out $710,000 in winners’ checks alone, including a pair of $175,000 Kings Royal payouts that went home with Tyler Courtney and Kyle Larson.

Larson earned the largest winner’s purse of the season when the added money for laps led pushed his Knoxville Nationals earnings to $176,000. It was the largest winner’s share in Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway history — and in winged sprint car racing history.

Larson’s cash came from a purse that exceeded $1 million.

The two Kings Royals and the Knoxville Nationals accounted for the three highest paying winged sprint car races of the season.

Carson Macedo banked $75,000 for winning the National Open at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway. All four of these races were part of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Fifth on the list is the Tuscarora 50 at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway. Sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions, the 54th annual event paid $54,000 to local ace Logan Wagner.

Logan Schuchart banked $50,000 for winning the Jackson Nationals at Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex. It was the only other race that paid $50,000 or more to a sprint car winner this season.

With more traveling late model series and more races overall, there was big money to be earned around every corner in the dirt late model division.

Despite not being on the schedule of one of the touring series, the Dirt Late Model Dreams at Eldora (both won by Brandon Overton) paid $127,000 and $126,000 to win, respectively, whereas the track’s twin World 100s rewarded winners Overton and Jonathan Davenport with $54,000 and $53,000.

There have been at least eight late model races paying $50,000 or more to win this season, with four of those sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Next year’s Lucas LM schedule includes 17 races worth more than $20,000 to win and 11 paying more than $50,000 to the victor.

The World of Outlaws Morton Building Late Model Series offered up two races in that category and events at The Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway also reached the $50,000-to-win plateau.

Non-sanctioned races paying more than $50,000 to win were scheduled for mid-November at Georgia’s Senoia Raceway and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas.

Modified racers also had multiple opportunities to earn big money, especially late in the season.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular Stewart Friesen, who had won 32 features at this writing, earned $53,000 for winning the Fonda 200 at New York’s Fonda Speedway and another $50,000 for topping the Speed Showcase at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway. Mat Williamson earned $50,000 for his second consecutive victory in the Billy Whittaker 200 during Super DIRT Week at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway.

Grassroots racers have even had the chance to ring the register, with Benji LaCrosse claiming $50,000 for winning the World IMCA Stock Car Championship at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway.

– Brad Sweet clinched his third consecutive World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship during the World Finals the first week in November. 

Consistency was the key this year, as Sweet won 16 features and amassed 46 top-five finishes and 59 top-10 efforts through the first 72 events. Interestingly, Sweet’s biggest winner’s check was $25,000 for the Don Martin Memorial at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway.

– From the history books, the highest-paying winner’s purse for late models was the Eldora Million, which paid Donnie Moran $1 million in 2001. The best winner’s take in sprint car racing was the $200,000 that Jac Haudenschild earned in the 2003 Mopar Million for non-winged sprint cars. Both races were run at Eldora Speedway.