Initially, believed that the Auto Value Super Sprints joined forces with Anderson Speedway officials to create the new series. However, that is not the case, though, AVSS owner Tom Hartsell was hired as an adviser because of his many years of experience operating a traveling racing series.
The foundation of the series was already in place, thanks to a joint effort between officials from Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Anderson Speedway that started in 2020.
Anderson Speedway officials have organized, officiated and ran tech utilizing Little 500 rules for all non-winged sprint car events run at Raceway Park during the past two seasons.
Between the two tracks, there have been no less than five non-winged sprint car events annually at the two tracks, which are located approximately 50 miles apart.
Creating a series was simply adding four more events to the existing dates that teams had become accustomed to having on their schedules. Being selective and only inviting tracks onto the schedule that officials believe will thrive, may be the key to the success of the tour.There is currently no title sponsor for the series.
“Tom Hartsell is going to be an adviser to the series and our announcer,” Owen said. “He has a long-standing relationship with Auto Value Parts stores in Michigan. We have started working with him, so they could potentially be a sponsor to the series. Currently, Rick Dawson is the sole owner of the series.”
Dawson also owns Anderson Speedway.
Car owner Dick Fieler, who won the 2020 Little 500 with driver Bobby Santos III, was one of the first owners to confirm he will support the series.
“All of the events that were announced I plan to attend with Bobby (Santos),” Fieler told Sprint Car & Midget. “I think the announcement of the series is good. This is a real positive thing. It shows that non-winged pavement sprint car racing is continuing to show growth and stability.”
While a points fund has yet to be secured, officials will crown a series champion.
“We will have a points system that crowns a series champion,” Owen said. “A points fund is still something we‘re working on at this time. We started on this project at the very end of August. We don‘t want to promise anything that we can‘t commit to. Eventually, we‘d like to do some kind of point fund to reward the drivers and make it worthwhile to compete in all 10 races.”
Owen doesn‘t believe adding additional races will hurt the existing pool of cars that currently compete in the Little 500, which will run for the 74th time on May 28.
“Last year we ran five races. This year we‘re going to run 10, so we‘re doubling that number,” Owen said. “I think a lot of times over the years we saw that the car people had on the shelves was the car they brought to the Little 500. With us running more, the level of racing has gone up. The level of competition has gone up. Getting parts is always an issue if you crash.
“But (car builder) Bob East tells me he‘s built more cars this year than he has the last 10,” Owen added. “Fifteen races may be too many. I think 10 is a manageable number for this core group. We want it to be beneficial for everybody and don‘t want to burn guys out. At the same time, we‘re trying to run a race track, but I don‘t ever see more than 14 of 15 races. Ten might be the magic number and we‘re going to stick with that for the foreseeable future.”
The season kicks off March 26 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and concludes back at IRP with the Open Wheel Championship on Oct. 22.
“For this season we will be in Indiana and Michigan. We‘re still working on one final race,” Owen said. “One of the big things we did when we named the tour was, we wanted to keep it open ended. We didn‘t want call it the Midwest Sprint Car Series or anything like that. Our hope is to continue to develop pavement sprint car racing in many parts of the country. We think this can work in other areas and that only helps to continue to grow the sport and the Little 500.”