USA Sprints 2005 Southern Thunder Tour Gearing Up!
By RC Roper
South Florida's one and only Dirt Sprintcar Racing Organization will again make waves in the Sunshine State in 2005 with a very interesting twist in the schedule.
This special twist along with heads-up match racing will enter a new era for Florida Sprintcar Racing. The South Florida based Sprintcar group will compete on both Dirt and Pavement with Purpose built Dirt cars only.
The USA Sprints concept is to keep costs low for the drivers and Teams as well as providing an affordable purse for the Florida area Race Tracks. Each car must maintain the "built for dirt" purpose.
This is to insure that all cars are for dirt racing only. The rules have been written to keep the costs low for making the transition from dirt to pavement a minimum expense, thus the amount of time needed for the transition will be limited as well.
The USA Sprint Car teams are very excited about this opportunity. USA Sprints will be the one of few or possibly the only Sprint Car group who will race both dirt and pavement with the same purpose built dirt cars.
In addition, there are plans now in the works for the USA Sprints which are 355 powered "Winged" Dirt Cars to compete heads up against another well known 360 Non-Wing pavement group.
The testing will happen in the next week and hopes are high that a level playing field can be created. This concept has been discussed for a few years and several Florida area promoters are hard at work to make this happen.
Many USA Racers like Sean "Zippy" Namor, are pleased that USA has taken a non traditional approach to creating new and interesting racing for Florida fans. Sean comments "sign me up this will be wild". Other drivers like Andy Kelly who is the reigning USA Champ have stated " Well it sure is different and could get very crazy out there that's for sure....count me in".
There will be 20 to 25 events planned at seven Florida Area Race Tracks in 2005 and possibly a couple Non Points USA Races this year as well. In addition, a North /South Challenge Series is in the works for the Summer of 2005 with the FSCA Sprints from Jacksonville.
This year will mark the return of the very popular Florida Challenge Series Triple Crown. This year an overall points Champion will be crowned who has amassed the most points over the 3 race Series along with the top 5 in points receiving additional cash bonuses and awards as well.
Putnam County Speedway and Volusia County Speedpark are signed up thus far thanks to the efforts of FSCA Promoter Otto Scrape. Hopes are high that Sand Mountain Speedway and possibly Hendry County Speedway will join the Tour at some point during the season too.
Putnam County's Promoter Mike Partin is now planning a big Championship caliber show on October 15. The USA Sprints are looking forward to another great year of Sprintcar Racing and expect a new crop of top drivers to immerge from other classes as well as rookie hopefuls to compete for the very prestigious 2005 Championship.
This season will certainly put a high caliber Driver on the map because he or she will have shown to to be the best on both dirt and pavement. Stay tuned the the new 2005 schedule will soon be released.For more information and the latest news visit the web site at www.usasprints.com.
