By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
This very cold, snowy winter has nearly run its course, which means it is time for one thing: Sprint Car Racing in Ohio. With 100+ 410 races scheduled between Attica’s Season Opener on Friday, March 14th, to the Season Finale at Atomic Speedway on Saturday, October 25th spread around 15 tracks and many sanctions, it’s bound to be another action-packed year in the Buckeye State. Time to go through some of the drivers, events, and tracks to watch in 2025, and whatever else I feel like talking about.
Let’s start off with 2024’s OhioDirtTrackStats.com top ten 410 Drivers:
1) Cap Henry: Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Cap Henry will be the driver to beat in Ohio in 2025. He got off to a slow start in 2024, but still managed to win eight races, and finish on the podium 23 times, to go along with the Ohio Speedweek, Attica, and AFCS Championships. Some thought he may sign on with the new All Star Circuit of Champions, but Cap told me in an interview that he and the Jeff Ward Motorsports 33W team plan on running for the Attica, Fremont, and AFCS Championships, and will travel whenever they’re able. I believe it’ll be another year of Cap being the top Ohio driver.
2) Cale Thomas: Cale and the Jay Kiser 23 team were the only team that could go toe-to-toe with Cap Henry in 2024, as they also picked up eight wins and 17 podium finishes. Cale recently announced that he has paired with Demyan-Rudzik Racing to tackle the All Star Circuit of Champions schedule in 2025, and will fill in his schedule around that. So we won’t get to see Thomas on a weekly basis, but when he is racing in Ohio, he’s going to be one of the drivers to beat, and is my pick for the All Star Championship.
3) Kalib Henry: Kalib might’ve been the most impressive driver in 2024. In his first season in Ohio, he piloted the Running Boxer 101 car to six wins, 14 podiums, and the Fremont Speedway Championship, along with top ten runs against both the World of Outlaws and High Limit. Kalib is another driver that has signed on to run the All Star series in 2025, and will do so with a new crew chief, Andy Potter. If the Californian can gel with Potter like he did with former crew chief Kevin Osmolski, then he will be a contender night in and night out. He takes to tracks very quickly, and Potter has plenty of experience turning the wrenches.
4) Zeth Sabo: Zeth keeps quietly becoming one of Ohio’s best drivers. Every season he gets a little better, a little more consistent. He already has a race under his belt in 2025, as he traveled to Lincoln Speedway to take on the Posse. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think the sky’s the limit for Sabo. If he can pick off a win early on in the season, it could open the floodgates and Sabo could have himself a career year in the Rich Farmer Racing 29 car.
5) Cole Duncan: Perennial favorite Cole Duncan had another Cole Duncan-type year in 2024. He won at Atomic, and had a stranglehold on the southern Ohio races enroute to another Atomic Championship. He also had two fourth place finishes against the World of Outlaws to boot. As long as the sun rises and there’s a sprint car race, Cole Duncan can’t be ruled out to win it, and 2025 shouldn’t be any different. Except this is the year Duncan gets his first Outlaw win at Atomic. I’m going to will it into existence.
6) Trey Jacobs: Jacobs keeps clicking off solid seasons and has developed into one of Ohio’s nightly contenders. It doesn’t matter if it’s Attica, Fremont, or Wayne County. Jacobs got the Fremont monkey off his back in 2024, and if he can avoid the bad luck and get some better feature starting spots, we could see Jacobs in victory lane in that five-to-seven range very easily. We probably won’t see Jacobs in the McClure #9 that he has raced the last few seasons as much in 2025, as that team has scaled back.
7) Zane DeVault: The always energetic Zane DeVault came oh-so-close to a FAST championship in 2024 with Lane Racing, and it was recently announced that he and that Lane Racing 4 team will run with the All Stars in 2025. This team with crew chief Hunter Jackson, worked well together in their first year together as they traveled around the region. When they aren’t racing with the All Stars, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them hit some local, FAST, and national shows around the State. They are fast wherever they end up.
8) DJ Foos: Poor DJ is the first driver on this list that didn’t score a win in 2024. Ok, 410 win. He did win the 305 Fair Race at Fremont and got to kiss the cow for his efforts. DJ got stronger as the year went on, and I’m hoping that he and the Burmeister team can carry that momentum into the 2025 season. As consistent as DJ is, if they can keep the gremlins at bay, we should see him back in victory lane in 2025 and be a nightly contender for wins and podiums.
9) Jordan Ryan: 2024 was highlighted by his first career Speedweek score at Wayne County Speedway, but it was an up and down season for Ryan and the MAR Motorsports team. Obviously, a good enough season to claim ninth in the standings, but I think there’s a lot of potential on the table with this team. I hope they can tap into that potential more, because when this team is clicking, they are up front come nights end.
10) Greg Wilson: Like Jordan Ryan before him, it was an up and down season for Wilson. He’d be on the podium one week and miss the show the next. Really weird. But, you can’t not like Greg Wilson and his family operation. You don’t win All Star championships and World of Outlaw races by accident. Wilson had four bridesmaid finishes in 2024 in Ohio and scored an IRA win.
Drivers To Watch:
Chris Andrews: I think this is the year Andrews gets back to normal form. There’s no doubt that the first two years of fielding his own team have been a struggle. After a crew change up, including bringing experienced crew chief AJ Havens on board part-way through 2024, Andrews heated up and got into a good groove. If Havens is staying on board, I like their chances to be a top five team.
TJ Michael: in his first season in the Prosser Racing 19, Michael looked good, it’s just that they had some run-ins with Murphy’s Law. What could go wrong did. They were staring at a potential podium run with the World of Outlaws, but a part failure derailed that. I know that has eaten at team owner Ryan Prosser, and probably TJ too. I think they can take that and use it as motivation and get Prosser that elusive first 410 win and get TJ back in victory lane for the first time since 2022.
Kasey Jedrzejek: I hope social media admins and journalists know how to spell his name, because it’s going to come up a lot in 2025. Jedrzejek scored his first career 410 win on Attica’s final night of 2024 in the Ed Neumiester 11N machine, in addition to a handful of 360 wins throughout the year. This youngster got the first win monkey off his back, and I think he keeps getting better and better as the experience piles up in 2025.
Bryan Sebetto: Sebetto had a smattering of 410 starts at the end of 2024, and ended up in the top ten a few times in those limited starts. Sebetto indicated to me at the end of last season that his plan was to go 410 racing this year, and he has plenty of experience doing that in years past. If those plans come to fruition, Sebetto will be fun to watch.
Notable Driver Changes (sorry if I missed you or your favorite driver)
Tyler Street -> Kingan Motorsports
Ricky Peterson -> Chiappelli Motorsports
Dave Blaney ->Retirement
Cale Thomas -> Demyan Rudzik Racing
Jay Kiser Racing -> ?
Trey Jacobs -> ?
Brandon Moore -> JRA Motorsports (305)
Luke Griffith -> Family owned 11G (360)
Phil Capodice #12 -> ?
Brandon Spithaler -> Barris 32 and his own 22
Dale Blaney -> ?
Justin Clark -> Seeling 97
Devon Borden -> Bryan Grove 45 (full-time)
Tim Shaffer -> ?
Weekly Tracks:
Atomic Speedway: 11 410 races including the World of Outlaws, FAST, ASCoC and BOSS.
Notable Dates: April 19 (FAST), May 26 (WoO), June 21 (ASCoC Speedweek Finale/Dean Knittel Memorial), August 16 (FAST, BOSS), October 4 (FAST/BOSS Championship night), October 11 (Championship Night), October 24-25 (Night The Stars Come Out, $15k to win on October 25).
Attica Raceway Park: 23 410 Races including the World of Outlaws, AFCS, and ASCoC.
Notable Dates: April 11-12 (ASCoC Core and Main Spring Nationals), May 23 (World Of Outlaws Kistler Engines Classic), June 13 (ASCoC Ohio Speedweek), July 15 (World of Outlaws Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic Presented by Dac Pet Products), August 29-30 (ASCoC Attica Ambush), September 5 (Season Championship Night).
Fremont Speedway: 17 410 races including High Limit Racing, AFCS, ASCoC and USAC.
Notable Dates: April 26 (ASCoC), May 14 (High Limit Racing), June 18 (ASCoC Ohio Speedweek), June 28 (USAC Sprint Cars), September 6 (AFCS Championship Night), September 12-13 (ASCoC Jim Ford Classic), September 20 (Championship Night).
Sharon Speedway: 11 410 Races including the World of Outlaws and ASCoC.
Notable Dates: May 24 (World of Outlaws), May 31 (Western PA Speedweek), June 14 (ASCoC Ohio Speedweek), August 2 (Lou Blaney Memorial), September 27 (World of Outlaws).
Wayne County Speedway: 17 (as of March 1) 410 races including FAST, BOSS, and ASCoC.
Notable Dates: April 12 (BOSS), June 16 (ASCoC Ohio Speedweek), July 5 (FAST), July 26 (FAST), August 12 (ASCoC), August 23 (Season Championship Night), August 31 (ASCoC Pete Jacobs Memorial), September 26 (It’s TBD on both Wayne County and the World of Outlaws schedules, I’m connecting some dots that may or may not exist).
AFCS Dates:
Friday, April 18th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, April 19th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, May 9th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, May 10th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, May 16th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, May 17th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, May 30th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, May 31th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, June 6th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, June 7th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, July 4th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, July 5th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, July 25 at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, July 26th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, September 5th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, September 6th at Fremont Speedway
All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Dates:
Friday, April 11th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, April 12th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, April 26th at Fremont Speedway
Friday, June 13th at Attica Raceway Park– Ohio Speedweek
Saturday, June 14th at Sharon Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Sunday, June 15th at Millstream Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Monday, June 16th at Wayne County Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Tuesday, June 17th at Eldora Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Wednesday, June 18th at Fremont Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Thursday, June 19th at Waynesfield Raceway Park– Ohio Speedweek
Friday, June 20th at Moler Raceway Park– Ohio Speedweek
Saturday, June 21 at Atomic Speedway– Ohio Speedweek
Tuesday, August 12th at Wayne County Speedway
Saturday, August 23rd at Waynesfield Raceway Park
Friday, August 29th at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, August 30th at Attica Raceway Park
Sunday, August 31st at Wayne County Speedway
Friday, September 12th at Fremont Speedway
Saturday, September 13th at Fremont Speedway
FAST on Dirt Ohio Dates:
Sunday, April 13th at Millstream Speedway
Saturday, April 19th at Atomic Speedway
Saturday, April 26th at Muskingum County Speedway
Saturday, May 10th at Millstream Speedway
Thursday, July 3rd at Skyline Speedway
Saturday, July 5th at Wayne County Speedway
Saturday, July 26th at Wayne County Speedway
Saturday, August 2nd at Muskingum County Speedway
Saturday, August 16th at Atomic Speedway
Saturday, August 23rd at Wayne County Speedway
Sunday, August 24th at Millstream Speedway
Saturday, October 4th at Atomic Speedway
High Limit Racing Ohio Dates:
Wednesday, May 14th at Fremont Speedway
Wednesday, July 17th at Eldora Speedway
Thursday, July 18th at Eldora Speedway
Friday, September 19th at Eldora Speedway
Saturday, September 20th at Eldora Speedway
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Ohio Dates:
Friday, May 2nd at Eldora Speedway
Saturday, May 3rd at Eldora Speedway
Friday, May 23rd at Attica Raceway Park
Saturday, May 24th at Sharon Speedway
Monday, May 26th at Atomic Speedway
Tuesday, July 15th at Attica Raceway Park
Friday, July 18th at Eldora Speedway
Saturday, July 19th at Eldora Speedway– Kings Royal
Friday, September 26th at TBD
Saturday, September 27th at Sharon Speedway
Looking at schedules, there’s 14 opportunities in Ohio for teams to take on the National Series and race for $10,000-$12,000 to win minimums.
Between the All Stars and FAST, there are 31 opportunities to take on those regional series and race for increased purses as well. Add in 16 AFCS races and their purse and bonuses and you have 61 sanctioned races that offer an increased purse for the local racer. Granted, there are two ASCoC/FAST overlaps, four AFCS/FAST overlaps, but none of these series race in Ohio when either High Limit or the World of Outlaws are in town. There will be some overlap between local tracks and the ASCoC and FAST, but there always has been, and always will be. Heck, there have been nights where five different tracks are running 410’s in Ohio, and there were over 100 sprint cars in the state. There have been nights where both the World of Outlaws and All Stars have raced in Ohio on the same night. The oversaturation talk is not as big of a deal as some make it out to be. Ohio tracks and series alike are working together to help out the racers and the fans. It’s not going to be perfect, but it never was perfect to start.
Bold Predictions:
DJ Foos, Chris Andrews, TJ Michael, and Kasey Jedrzejek combine for 10+ wins in 410 competition.
Donny Schatz wins his seventh Kings Royal and banks $200,000 in the process.
Sean Rayhall finally breaks through and gets his first 410 win.
The All Star championship will be decided on the final night with Cale Thomas, Kalib Henry, Brandon Spithaler, and Zane DeVault all having a shot.
Cole Duncan defeats the Outlaws at Atomic and nary a couch lives to see the next day.
Another Ohio local takes down either the Outlaws or High Limit at Attica, Fremont, or Sharon.
One of the Ohio locals takes the wing off with USAC and scores a top five at either Fremont or Millstream.
Attica will actually race on their scheduled opening night (March 14)
#QuickHits:
Matt and Beth Cogely are going into year two of their ownership of Millstream Speedway, and they’ve tripled their schedule and have nine nights on the docket with FAST, the ASCoC, USAC Sprint Cars, GLSS 360s’, BOSS, AFCS 305’s and more spread between both the big track and the little track. That’s right. When the FAST Series visits to open the season on April 13, they’ll be on the big track, but on May 10, the FAST Series will tackle the quarter-mile track. I’m not sure how many tracks in the nation have something like this on their schedule, and if the tracks are prepped correctly, it could be very compelling.
Other than the ASCoC coming back to life, it’s been a relatively quiet off-season. There really hasn’t been any earth-shattering news or wild driver changes in the region. Alas, it is good seeing that the Seeling 97 car will be back in a bigger way in 2025 with Justin Clark signing up for the All Stars. Tyler Street stepping into a Kingan Motorsports ride will also be interesting to watch. Street was only able to make limited starts in his family-owned 4* last year.
The final two 410 races in Ohio are ones that have my attention. The Night the Stars Come Out is back at Atomic Speedway on October 24th and 25th. To go along with the 410’s the Valvoline American Late Model Ironman Series will also be competing. Both divisions pay $5,000 to win on the 24th, and boast a $15,000 winners share on the 25th. I really hope the weather pans out for this event. The one NTSCO event I went to in 2023 with the All Stars and Lucas Oil Late Models was incredible.
It never ceases to amaze me how many tracks host a 410 race in Ohio. In 2025 you can catch 410 sprint cars at Attica, Atomic, Fremont, 35 Raceway, Eldora, Millstream, Muskingum County, Moler, Sharon, Skyline, Wayne County, Waynesfield, and Jackson County. That’s 13 different tracks from every corner of the state.
As of March 8th, Jay Kiser Racing still doesn’t have a driver. We’re less than a week away from Attica’s opener and one of Ohio’s best cars potentially could be sitting in the shop. Last I spoke to Jay, he was looking for some more marketing partners because racing is expensive.
I honestly believe this is going to be a very compelling year of Sprint Car racing in Ohio. Who can step up to take on Cap Henry week in and week out? Who can make the leap and take down the Outlaws for the first time since 2016? Who is our next rising star? I’m eager to see how everything shakes out and how this season ebbs and flows. (Zeb Wise if you’re reading this for some reason, please come race in Ohio).