$500 to Enter “Have to Win to Get In” Legends Car Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway
By Jason “Stix” Buckley
LegendsNation.com Editor

The attention of everyone in the Legends Car nation has been focused on the million dollar event.  Over the last few weeks, details on the event have been slowly releasing, but on Wednesday, January 27th, SMI and Charlotte Motor Speedway (NC) opened registration and put out schedule and payout information that clarifies many things surrounding the largest single event in Legends Car history.

 
Last week it was announced that a million-dollar Legends Car race would take place at CMS in July, from the 15th – 17th.  While there was speculation as to whether it would be a million-to-win event or million-dollar purse, it was clarified that it was a total payout, not just a winner’s share.

On Wednesday, January 17th, registration and more details have emerged.  First, registration has officially opened via the Charlotte Motor Speedway website with a $500 registration fee.  The event is open to all valid INEX-licensed drivers, 12 years of age and up.  This means that the event will be open to all drivers from all four divisions of Legends Car competition (Young Lions, Semi-Pro, Pro and Masters) as a combined-division event, rather than separate races per division. 

Pit passes, for crew members and others with race teams, will be available for purchase at the gate for the event.  The cost is $75 for a three-day pass, or $35 per day.  General admission grandstand tickets are also available for the event, either by phone or at the gate.  It will be $50 for a three-day pass, or $15 for Friday, $20 for Saturday and $25 for Sunday (there are reduced prices for children).

The speedway has also released the format and the purse breakdown in a “have to win to get in” format.  Based on an 800-car entry, all competitors will first time trial, and based on their speeds, will be split into two groups of 400, the slowest 400 and the fastest 400.  The slowest 400 will then be broken up into 20 heat races (20 laps per heat race) where the winner of each heat race advancing to the fastest 400.

The fastest 400 will then be split into 20 heats of 21 cars each (20 laps per heat race) with the winners of those races going into the A Main.  Second to 11th in the fastest 400 heats will advance to the B Mains (10 total B Main races) with 12th – 21st advancing to the C Mains (10 total C Main races).
 
The C Mains, which will be 10 races total (25 laps per race), will take the winner of each and move them to the B Mains.  The B Mains, which are also 10 races and 25 laps per race, will extract the winner of each race to fill the field for the A Main to 30 cars.

The A Main will be a 100-lap race to determine the overall winner of the event.  There will be a break at 50 laps for fuel and adjustments.

The million-dollar payout goes beyond the A Main, but the bulk of the cash is in the top feature of the night.  $808,000 will be the total payout for the A Main with the winner taking home $250,000.  Second will take home $100,000, third $50,000, fourth $40,000 and fifth $30,000.  The money decreases all the way down to 30th position (last place) getting $10,000.

The balance of the million-dollar purse will be distributed throughout the 10 B Main and 10 C Main finishers, with $1000 going to the second-place racers in the B Main, all the way down to $250 going to the last place in every C Main event.

Specific details on which events will take place on what days haven’t been announced at this time.  Entry forms (online only), payout and the race format structure can be found on the CMS website.

LegendsNation.com and Speed51.com will have more information on this big event as they emerge.  If you have an opinion on the event, head into the Legends Nation discussion forum and discuss the million-dollar Legends Car event at CMS now via the link below.