Last year’s sprint car race at the Missouri State Fair filled the stands and brought in 35 drivers.
The Missouri State Fair Speedway will once again host an ASCS Warrior Region event for the final Sunday of the State Fair, but it has also added six more dates for the 2016 schedule.
“They just wanted to start with one and see how that progressed and move from there,” said race organizer Gerry Olson. “It went off without a hitch, so we just put a schedule together and everybody was happy with it.”
The speedway will host one event each month from April to October.
“We just want to bring the track back to the forefront,” Olson said. “I think one race a month is very doable.”
The Warrior Region will start its 2016 season April 17 at Missouri State Fair Speedway and the season finale will also be in Sedalia on October 1.
Other tracks the Warrior Region will race at next season are Double X Speedway, Lucas Oil Speedway, Callaway Raceway, Lakeside Speedway, Randolph County Speedway, US 36 Raceway and Valley Speedway.
“We want to make this Warrior Region more attractive and give the racers more races,” Olson said.
Missouri State Fair Speedway has the most dates scheduled for next season. Lucas Oil Speedway has the second most with five.
“I think it’s an exciting thing for the community, the fairgrounds itself and for race fans,” Olson said.
The April 17 and July 7 dates will also have MLRA late models as a secondary class. WAR non-wing sprint cars will be a secondary class May 20, June 17 and Sept. 17.
The State Fair event will add WAR non wing and ULMA late models. The top 16 drivers from each of those classes will race in a feature. One class will race after the sprint car heats and the other will have its feature after the sprint car dash.
The feature for the State Fair event will pay $15,000 to the winner, which is up from $12,000 in 2015.
The October 1 event will have a secondary class of cars that is yet to be determined.
Tickets for all of the races will be general admission.