Are we ready for spring?It’s been a busy off-season, with a key announcement coming on Nov. 1 that will bring renewed activity for traditional sprint cars on pavement in the Midwest.
Are we ready for spring?
It‘s been a busy off-season, with a key announcement coming on Nov. 1 that will bring renewed activity for traditional sprint cars on pavement in the Midwest.
Anderson Speedway officials have partnered with the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper series to launch the 500 Sprint Car Tour, featuring wingless sprint cars on pavement at 10 events in Indiana and Michigan this season.
The tour includes the 74th annual Little 500 at Anderson Speedway on May 28. In fact, the 500 Sprint Car Tour is meant to build on the legacy of the Little 500, promoting traditional sprint car racing on pavement.
“The idea of starting a sprint car tour has been something we have considered for many years,” said Jared Owen, vice president of operations at Anderson Speedway.
“Finally, everything aligned and we felt the series would be a great accompaniment to Anderson Speedway and the Little 500.”
When they began putting the series together last year, Owen said the goal was to schedule 10 events (plus the Little 500) this first season. They also had a goal of attracting 10 drivers and teams to run the full series; thus far they have commitments from 15 teams and drivers.
“We‘ve been blown away by how many racers and teams want to follow the tour,” said Owen. “Obviously, you‘ll always have teams kind of coming and going when you start something like this, but the enthusiasm from the racers and fans so far has been really good.”
Pavement sprint car racing in the Midwest has experienced numerous of ebb-and-flow periods through the years. In recent years USAC turned their sprint car focus exclusively toward dirt racing and a number of area tracks that were once reliable hosts of sprint cars — namely Winchester Speedway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park — disappeared from the sprint car racing landscape.
That left Anderson Speedway in a difficult spot. The Little 500 is recognized as one of the most iconic and successful events in American short-track racing, but standing alone on an island isn‘t a secure position for any event. So over the past few seasons Anderson Speedway owner Rick Dawson, along with Owen, began promoting a few standalone sprint car races at Anderson‘s quarter-mile track.
These programs — 125-lap features with no heat races — have hit upon a good formula. The racing has been competitive and entertaining and the car count continues to be solid and stable.
It was only natural to try and expand the concept, and that was the genesis of the 500 Sprint Car Tour.
Any time a new series is launched, the question is inevitably asked: Is a tour for traditional sprint cars on pavement needed?
“Yes, absolutely it is needed,” says Tyler Roahrig, winner of the 2021 Little 500. “It‘s been needed for a while. The guys at Anderson (Speedway) expanded their sprint car races a few years ago and they‘ve grown it every year.
“They‘ve got a nice following right now and it has the feeling that it could be something bigger and could last a long time.”
Roahrig is one of 15 drivers who have committed to running the full slate of 500 Sprint Tour races.
“I don‘t necessarily run off of a set schedule,” he admitted. “I‘m usually more about running kind of an open schedule. That being said, my plan is to run all the (Tour) races this year. I‘ve always liked racing where it‘s fun and we want to represent our sponsor CB Fabricating the best we can. So we‘ll plan on going to all of them.”
The series opens at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on March 26, with the Little 500 up next on May 28. The series travels to the newly paved Plymouth Motor Speedway on June 10 and then moves to historic Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich., the following day.
On June 30 the tour returns to IRP for the Thursday Night Thunder Reunion. On Saturday, July 9 it‘s back to Anderson for the 22nd Glen Niebel Classic, and they return to the track on July 30 for the Gene Nolan Classic.
Saturday, Aug. 13, sees the tour head north for another program at Berlin, and next up is the Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson on Oct. 6. The inaugural season concludes on Oct. 22 at IRP for the Open Wheel Championship.
The 500 Sprint Tour is an exciting idea and has already generated lots of interest and enthusiasm.
Are we ready for spring? You bet 
we are.