by: Jacob Hord @HordRaceWatcher
Sprint Car season is right around the corner here in the Buckeye State, with action slated to kick off on March 18th at Attica Raceway Park and March 19th at Atomic Speedway. 2021 was an excellent year on the track, with a whopping 48 drivers finding victory lane over the course of the 93 race season. DJ Foos had himself a year, leading the state in wins, top five finishes, and top ten finishes, also capturing the AFCS, and Fremont Speedway Championships. But, that is all in the past, and 2022 is shaping up to be another whale of a year.
The Big Shows: Eldora continues to make waves, not only hosting the $175k to win Kings Royal on July 16th, but Tony Stewart, Roger Slack, and co. have brought back the “Historical Big One,” which will pay $100k to win on Thursday, July 14th. That’s a potential $275k payday for a couple nights work– not bad. The Jokers Wild will accompany the Historical Big One on July 13th, and the Knight Before will be with the 39th Kings Royal on July 15th. Expect another huge turnout of cars, fans, and toilet waters at the Big E for another classic Kings Royal weekend.
Another big Speedweek: The 40th Ohio Sprint Speedweek hits the ground running with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions in its normal June slot, kicking off at Attica Raceway Park for the Bert and Bridgette Emick Classic on June 10th. The first weekend of Speedweek finishes off at Fremont Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, and then they go to Wayne County Speedway on Monday, and Sharon Speedway on Tuesday. Wednesday sees Atomic Speedway return to the Speedweek schedule, then the teams travel back north to Waynesfield on Thursday, and Limaland (fingers crossed) on Friday before traveling back to the southernmost track in Ohio; Portsmouth Raceway Park for the 5th Annual Dean Knittel Memorial, which pays a nice $20,554 to win to wrap up the brutal nine races in nine nights stretch. Ohio Speedweek is something that every sprint car fan needs to experience. With the All Stars best, facing off against Ohio’s best, and those pesky invaders, there is no shortage of good racing all week long.
More Can’t-Miss Races: For the most part, this section will go in chronological order.
- The outlier, however, will be the Brad Doty Classic. This year’s installment of “The Doty” will be held on Tuesday, July 12 at Attica Raceway Park. You can ask most any driver, and this race has a circle around it as a “must win” race. Simply put, there are very, very few reasons why you should miss this race.
- The Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions kickoff their points season April 8-9 at Attica Raceway Park for the Core and Main Spring Nationals with the following weekend being a rain date if both events are lost due to Mother Nature. Justin Peck won the Saturday portion of 2021’s Spring Nationals after Mother Nature took Friday night.
- For the non-wing fans, you have had to visit Eldora for the last however many years if you have wanted to see USAC here in Ohio. That changes in 2022 thanks to Atomic Speedway. The 3/8th mile oval welcomes the USAC Sprint Car series to Southern Ohio on April 16th for a $6k to win show.
- If you’ve been longing for a 360 show at Attica, you get your wish, as the “Salute to Gene Frankart” features an all Sprint Car show with the AFCS 410’s, NRA 360’s and AFCS 305’s.
- The All Stars return to the Buckeye State for a doubleheader weekend at Sharon Speedway on Saturday, April 30th and then travel to Waynesfield on Sunday, May 1st. There’s an impressive seven 410 races this weekend between Attica, Atomic, Fremont, Muskingum, Sharon, Wayne County, and Waynesfield.
- The World of Outlaws and USAC Sprint Cars invade Eldora Speedway for the popular #LetsRaceTwo weekend May 6-7. It’s the only time that both the World of Outlaws and USAC Sprint Cars are at the same track, on the same night all year. Each feature will pay $10k to the winner. Don’t put it past Tyler Courtney to sweep the weekend.
- Two weeks later, the World of Outlaws return to Ohio for the weekend with the Kistler Engines Classic on Friday, May 20th at Attica Raceway Park, and then travel to the eastern border to race at Sharon Speedway, where Dave Blaney will look to defend his popular win in 2021.
- The Outlaws stay close-by the following weekend, making their return to Atomic Speedway for the first time since 2009 on May 28th. Atomic is also featuring the FAST 410 series on a rare Friday night show the night before with the $10k to win KC Classic. The FAST and BOSS non-wing series will also take on Fremont Speedway that Saturday.
- For the open-wheel fan, Waynesfield has a fantastic show for you on Sunday, May 29th The BOSS non-wing series takes on the tricky bullring, and will be accompanied by 410’s, the NRA 360’s and the USAC D2 midgets. All four classes put on excellent racing at “The Field.”
- Before Speedweek kicks off, the All Stars will spend an extra weekend in Ohio as a precursor and they’ll take on Attica Raceway Park on Friday, June 4th, and then head down Route 23 to Atomic Speedway the following night.
- After an absolutely jam-packed May, June, and July, things calm down with lots of “local” shows. Labor Day weekend is always a big weekend for sprint cars in Ohio, and 2022 won’t be any different. The All Stars have shifted away from the Attica Ambush, and the Sharon Nationals/Lou Blaney Memorial will return on September 2-3 with the winner of the Lou Blaney Memorial taking home a cool $12k. Attica is still running both Friday and Saturday as well, with the AFCS sprints taking center stage for a $5k and $7k to win show Friday, and Saturday respectively. For the grand finale, Wayne County has the Pete Jacobs Memorial on Sunday, September 4th, which will pay $15k to the winner. Once again, Labor Day weekend is loaded here in Ohio.
- The Four Crown Nationals weekend at Eldora kicks off with full World of Outlaws and USAC Midget shows, and USAC Silver Crown qualifying on Friday, September 23rd. The prestigious Four Crown Nationals will, once again, feature the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions, along with the USAC Sprint Cars, Midgets, and Silver Crown series. All of these races will pay $10k to win. Will this be the year that someone joins Jack Hewitt and sweep the Four Crown?
- The All Star season will wrap up in Fremont with the Jim and Joanne Ford Classic on October 7-8, with the Saturday night winner coming home $10k richer. Last year, it was Cole Macedo nabbing his first All Star win. This isn’t the only racing going on that weekend, though. The World of Outlaws Xtreme Non-Wing series will invade Atomic Speedway this weekend as well. There is something for everyone this weekend as the season winds down.
- If you want one last 410 race of the year, you can visit Atomic Speedway on Saturday, October 22nd. This is the last scheduled 410 race of the 2022 season in Ohio.
Top Dogs:
- DJ Foos was Ohio’s best driver in 2021 and I’d expect him to stay at the top in 2022. Food and the Burmeister Racing team are headed into year four together, and there hasn’t been much, if any, change in the offseason for Foos and Co. Don’t be surprised if Foos can get 10+ wins this season, one of which could be his first career Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions win, and pick up the Attica, Fremont, and AFCS Triple Crown.
- California transplant Cole Macedo and the newly formed Ray Brooks Racing had an excellent season in 2021, with Cole picking up six wins in Ohio, which included the Jim and Joanne Ford Classic with the All Stars at Fremont. The team and young hotshoe had some growing pains and bad luck streaks, but all in all, 2021 was a great season. I don’t know how local the team will be staying in 2022, but they’ll be contenders wherever and whenever they show up.
- You can’t not mention Cole Duncan when talking about the top Ohio Drivers. Cole has 35 wins in Ohio since the 2017 season, which include a handful of All Star triumphs. He’s also won at about every Ohio track minus Attica, and Eldora. Duncan is a shoe-in 9/10 times at his hometrack of Atomic Speedway, and I’m going to take him against the Outlaws when they visit Atomic on Memorial Day weekend. Expect another big year from Duncan.
- Trey Jacobs had his best year to date in 2021. He nabbed four wins enroute to the Attica title and had excellent showings against the All Stars and Outlaws. Jacobs has said that running the All Star circuit is one of his goals in the coming years, so he may branch out a little in 2022 to get experience at some more tracks. Trey is certainly a threat at Attica and Wayne County, and even led quite a few laps at Fremont in the Morrison #0 car. Trey will be another driver that could get his first All Star win in 2022.
Names to Watch:
- I feel like it’s about time that we start watching Ricky Peterson more. He’s not afraid to head south or north and race with the 360’s, or afraid to begin his season against the All Stars or Posse. Peterson nailed down six top 5’s and 14 top 10’s in Ohio in 2021, and already has a handful of races under his belt in 2022. As we all know, laps are oh so important and Peterson has made plenty the last few years. At the very least, he could be a contender night in and night out for top fives wherever he shows up, and he could be poised for some wins sooner or later.
- Tyler Street was listed as one of 2021’s “Drivers to Watch” and backed it up, coming home with the OVSCA championship, finding victory lane in Kentucky, and he also looked really good in the Chris Wilson #14 he ran a handful of races near the end of the year. An ankle injury sidelined Street for part of the season, but coming into his third 410 season, Street should be like Peterson, contending for top fives wherever he shows up, and some wins along the way.
- Jordan Ryan and MAR Motorsports had a quietly solid year in 2021. They didn’t run a completely full schedule, but they had moments that showed plenty of potential. The former Wayne County champion scored three top ten finishes during Ohio Speedweek, which is an impressive feat. Ryan knows how to win, and it seems like he’s getting into a good groove with MAR.
305’s: What can I say? I think we know who we can expect to see up front in 2022. Paul Weaver and Jamie Miller accounted for 19 wins in 2021, with Miller taking the Attica title, and Weaver picking up the AFCS title. There was a good amount of parity, though. Dustin Stroup had a stellar year, picking up six wins between Attica and Fremont on a partial schedule. If he runs a full schedule, he could be an outside threat for the 305 Triple Crown title. Matt Foos also made a splash in his full-time return to racing, taking two wins each at Attica and Fremont, enroute to the Fremont championship. Mike Keegan, Zeth Sabo, Bryce Lucius, and Larry Kingseed Jr. all got their first career 305 wins in 2021 as well, proving that the next generation is going to be putting more pressure on the seasoned veterans of the 305 division. We should be in for a stellar 305 season.
2021 Stats:
Wins:
- DJ Foos- 8
- Cole Duncan- 7
- Broc Martin, Cole Macedo- 6
Top Fives:
- DJ Foos, Cole Macedo- 22
- Cole Duncan, Dean Jacobs, Trey Jacobs- 13
- Nate Dussel, Craig Mintz- 11
Top Tens:
- DJ Foos- 30
- Cole Macedo- 26
- Cap Henry, Travis Philo- 19
2021 Champions:
AFCS 410: DJ Foos
AFCS 305: Paul Weaver
Atomic 410: Cole Duncan
Attica 410: Trey Jacobs
Attica 305: Jamie Miller
BOSS Series: Matt Westfall
FAST Series: Cale Conley
Fremont 410: DJ Foos
Fremont 305: Matt Foos
OVSCA Series: Tyler Street
Wayne County 410: Dean Jacobs
Stats courtesy of OhioDirtTrackStats.com