SPEEDWAY, Ind. — USAC drivers will have an even bigger to monetary prize to chase throughout the season.
The Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship will pay $10,000 to the driver tallying the most combined points throughout the USAC national racing season, encompassing the Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing divisions.
Curb’s reward of $10,000 is double the previous $5,000 that had been provided to the most recent champions of the award, which had been known as the Super License in the majority of years over the past quarter century.
Curb, co-owner of Curb Agajanian Performance Group and staunch supporter of open wheel racing, has offered the reward annually since the 1999 USAC season, and now in its 24th year, he had the ambition to make the prize bigger and better than ever.
“I am very proud to be part of preserving the history of USAC and building the future for the great drivers who have helped build USAC over the years,” Curb stated.
The title has been rechristened to the National Drivers Championship to more properly represent the accomplishment of achieving the feat. Curb’s prize had previously been known as the USAC National Drivers Championship for a span of three years between 2010-2012. The criteria remains the same for each driver; gain as many points night-in and night-out.
Previous winners of the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship include many of the greatest names of the sport over the past generation. The two-time and defending champion is Justin Grant (2017 & 2021) while Dave Darland captured the inaugural in 1999 and once more in 2015. Tracy Hines has won the award more times than anybody else, on four occasions in 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2014.
J.J. Yeley (2001-2003) and Bryan Clauson (2010-2012) have each won it three times and are the only two to win it in three consecutive years. Meanwhile, Josh Wise (2005-2006) and Tyler Courtney (2018-2019) are two-time recipients. Jay Drake (2004), Jerry Coons Jr. (2007), Cole Whitt (2009) and Brady Bacon (2016) have each earned the reward once.
The new Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion will be honored at USAC’s Night of Champions in December 2022.
The USAC National Drivers Championship goes along with previous announced rewards for any driver who can capture all three USAC National driving championships. Any driver who can accomplish the feat will earn a staggering $300,000. For any driver who can score two of the three titles, they put $150,000 in their pocket at season’s end.
Furthermore, the overall point fund for USAC’s National divisions now totals $320,000, an increase of 60 percent since the 2019 season.
The pay for USAC’s AMSOIL Sprint Car National champion has risen to $50,000 to win as part of a total point fund of $200,000. By comparison, the series’ point fund was $125,000 just two seasons ago.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National champion will now collect a $25,000 reward as part of a point fund overhaul for the series, which has seen a three-year increase from $50,000 to $80,000.
USAC Silver Crown’s champion in the coming year will take home $20,000 as part of an overall $40,000 point fund.