CLERMONT, Ind. — Lucas Oil Raceway officials announced Monday that the upcoming revival of the Night Before The 500 at the .686-mile paved oval has received a major boost.
Thanks to the support of teams, drivers and fans, the event’s 30-lap pavement midget feature — a companion event to the $10,000-to-win non-winged sprint car feature set for Aug. 22 — will pay $5,000 to the winner.
That amount is five times the original winner’s share announced on April 1, with the feature distance also increasing by 10 laps.
Second place for the event will pay $2,500, with third, fourth and fifth receiving $1,500, $1,000 and $800, respectively.
Track general manager Kasey Coler told SPEED SPORT by phone Monday afternoon that LOR has been “overwhelmed” with the amount of support the revamped Night Before The 500 has received, particularly when it comes to the pavement midget portion of the event.
“When we announced we were going to bring back the Night Before The 500, we certainly knew there was a pretty strong contingent of pavement sprint cars that we were confident in pulling, and obviously working with the folks at Anderson (Speedway) and the Little 500 we felt pretty confident on that side of things, but we’re kind of dipping our toes back into the water on the pavement midget side,” Coler noted. “I think, probably when we went into this, we were thinking if we get anywhere from 12 to 16 cars … that’s a solid first step of getting folks back out there, and over the course of the next few years we might have something to hang our hat on with pavement midgets.
“But we were beyond surprised and pleasantly surprised by the amount of support nationwide from pavement midget teams, drivers and fans that reached out,” Coler added. “We had sponsors reach out that said, ‘How do we make this bigger?’ because they wanted to be part of it. Obviously, it’s a longstanding tradition; we’re close to 75 years of history with the Night Before The 500 … but this event means a ton to midget racing. So as we put it all together and started penciling out the amount of entries, we recognize that Aug. 22 is quite some time down the road and things can change, but we feel in a really solid position right now with the support that we have behind us.”
Coler tipped that the midget portion of the Night Before The 500 already has “28 solid entries” and that roughly 10 more cars are “working on things.”
“This level of early support has allowed us to be able to move the needle a little bit when it came to the purse piece of it, and it’s something we’re proud of and excited about,” Coler noted. “The talk about expectations started with us thinking 12 to 16 (cars), and then they just kind of kept flooding in. Even today with announcements coming out of drivers and people that are looking for cars and rides, the interest is extremely strong.”
While Coler declined to tip any specific driver names just yet, he did offer a shout-out to a well-known individual in the Midwest racing scene that has helped with the early coordination of midget entries for the event.
“One person that has been instrumental in all this has been Kevin Studley,” Coler explained. “Kevin is a local guy here that I think, when we first announced it, kind of raised his hand and was all in. He’s a big proponent of pavement midget racing and he’s done a ton of the leg work of just outreach and trying to track down cars … (finding out) where cars went over the past six years and things like that. So he’s been kind of an internal, almost clearing house of vetting out where things stand and where cars are.
“My hat is off to Kevin, because he’s done a ton of work on this in a short period of time.”
While Coler reiterated that this summer’s Night Before The 500 is still a one-time revival of the historic event, he didn’t rule out the possibility of another event at LOR involving pavement midgets beyond 2020.
“First off, we know this is that one off where we get to have the Night Before The 500. We’re not looking at bringing that piece of it back in the future, just because of the Little 500 going on and the fact that they’ve been great supporters of this event. So that part won’t change. But I do think for us, if it’s Carb Night or somewhere down the road … working with our partners at Track Enterprises, we certainly recognize the importance of this and I would be shocked if this were the only time that we have pavement midget racing back at our facility.
“Over the next 12 months, I think we will start to look at what 2021 looks like, and what makes the most sense with schedules and everything else. For now, though, that’s down the road,” Coler continued. “But I do think the interest (in pavement midgets) is there, not only here from our facility, but that it may be at a few other facilities as well, which is a positive for our sport.”