PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Matt Wood, Elk Grove Ford and the United States Auto Club are uniting to bring the richest two-day purse in NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series history to Placerville Speedway in November.
Wood announced Wednesday, ahead of the third night of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, that the inaugural Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 will feature a total purse of more than $100,000, with $20,000 going to the winner of the 100-lap feature on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the quarter-mile clay oval.
Racing at Placerville will kick off on Tuesday, Nov. 19 with a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win feature for the USAC National midgets and the USAC Western States midgets, before culminating on Wednesday with the first 100-lap feature for the series since 2012.
The idea for the event was born out of Wood’s pure, unbridled passion for midget racing.
“I’ve always wanted to promote a midget race. I love midget racing,” Wood told SPEED SPORT. “I have winged sprint car teams, but I love midgets and I’ve talked for two years about promoting a race. I must have too much time on my hands, because I called Scott Russell from Placerville and told him we should put on a race and what I thought the purse should be. He raised it from there and we were in business.”
Wood was emphatic that Placerville’s bullring was the perfect fit for his vision.
“Placerville Speedway is probably the perfect track in the entire United States for a midget race,” he noted. “We’ll have a top, we’ll have a bottom, it’ll be fast … and with a $100,000 purse, I don’t know why anyone would miss it.”
The event will feature a modified version of the popular Trophy Cup format, used for the crown-jewel sprint car race of the same name run annually at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, which uses heavy inversions and forces the fastest drivers in the field to come from deep in the field every time they hit the race track.
The Hangtown 100 will utilize a pill draw and a draft, similar to the Junior Knepper 55 in DuQuoin, Ill., which allowed drivers to choose their own starting spots for the heat races.
Drivers will group qualify based on where they will line up in their heat race.
Due to the unique format, the Hangtown 100 will only award appearance points toward the USAC National Midget Series championship.
However points will still be critical, as a $20,000 prize will be up for grabs for the driver who scores the most points during the two days of Hangtown 100 competition, making for an intense 48 hours.
“How do you put your finger on it or give it an accurate descriptor? This is huge, just like the overall NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series schedule is right now,” said USAC series coordinator Levi Jones. “Fans want to see this action, people want to participate in it, car owners want to be involved … there’s a buzz right now that I don’t think we’ve seen in midget racing in quite some time.
“As a fan, it’s great and as a series, it’s incredible,” Jones continued. “The growth we’ve built over the past couple of years is so exciting to see and we’re hoping to help this race become a destination event for everyone involved.”
The Hangtown 100 will mark the first USAC national midget event at Placerville, though the Western Midgets have competed at the quarter-mile four different times.
“Matt called me with a really good business plan for this thing,” said Placerville Speedway promoter Scott Russell. “I feel that this two-day show gives us the perfect bookend to our racing season. We open in March with the World of Outlaws and now we’re looking forward to closing in November with USAC and the Hangtown 100.
“I think our facility is set up perfectly for this type of race and we can’t wait to see it play out.”
Placerville Speedway was originally known as Hangtown Speedway when it first opened in 1965, taking on its current name in the early 1980s.
The Hangtown 100 comes eight days before the season-ending Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway.
