HOLLY, Mich. — The Must See Racing Sprint Car Series announced an expanded 2017 racing schedule on Monday.
The series calendar features 17 race dates and a chance for one driver to take home two divisional championships over the course of the season.
As announced in November, the sanctioning body will add a South division for the first time in 2017, with the first two Must See Racing dates at Anderson (S.C.) Motor Speedway and Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on April 21-22 serving as the season-opener for both the North and South divisions this spring.
The combined season kickoff weekend will include drivers from above and below the Mason-Dixon line competing against one another in a quest for winged asphalt sprint car glory. Two-time and defending MSR champion Jimmy McCune, 2016 American Sprint Cup mini-series titlist and two-time national champion Brian Gerster and southern 360ci sprint car star Johnny Bridges are among those expected to compete in the April doubleheader.
The Must See Racing North division will then contest its first standalone event at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. on May 13, before sprint cars from across the country convene at the quarter-mile Anderson (Ind.) Speedway during Memorial Week ahead of the MSR-sanctioned, non-points Pay Less Little 500, set for May 27 and featuring 33 of the best non-winged sprint car drivers in the world, including three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.
The standalone summer showcase of the Must See Racing South division will feature to-be-announced venues on both June 10 and Sept. 9.
Must See Racing North teams will make their first of two stops at Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Mich. on Independence Day weekend, with the July 1 show falling on the same weekend as last year’s thriller, won by McCune after a late-race battle with Jason Blonde.
That event will be followed up by the series inaugural appearance at Midvale Speedway in New Philidelphia, Ohio, with the ‘Thunder in the Valley’ seeing the MSR sprint cars take to the three-tenths-mile bullring for the first time on July 15.
A doubleheader weekend will close the mid-summer stretch, with Madison Int’l Speedway returning to the MSR calendar for the second-straight season on July 28 and a stop at Rockford (Ill.) Speedway on July 29 completing the twinbill and helping to reduce travel costs for teams over the two-day haul.
The month of August will see MSR teams return to Owosso on Aug. 5, the first race of three straight weekends of competition, with the series also making repeat stops in Anderson, Ind. on Aug. 12 and at Berlin on Aug. 19, featuring the annual Engine Pro Fast Car Slash event.
A return trip to South Carolina’s Anderson Motor Speedway on Oct. 6 will kick the South division championship chase into high gear, with a second date that weekend on Oct. 7 to be announced in the near future.
The MSR Bash at the Beach at historic Myrtle Beach Speedway will close the series season on Oct. 20-21, marking a joint, season-ending championship weekend for both North and South teams that will wrap up the points-paying portion of the year in the fall and crown both division champions in an action-packed two-day weekend event. The winner of the championship A-Feature will take home $3,000 in prize money.
Both the North and South divisions will be independent of each other, with both divisions offering separate points funds and championships, as well as multiple contingency and cash bonuses for competing drivers.
In addition, Must See Racing will offer heat race payouts to the top three positions in every heat race, for both North and South divisions, during the course of the season – becoming the first asphalt sprint car series in the country to offer heat race payouts at its events.
Both series will also offer a new fast time bonus of $100 for the top qualifier at every event.
“The enthusiasm of our passionate race fans and race teams ahead of the 2017 season has been defined by the new tracks we’ve added to our schedule, the new teams that have joined our roster and the entertaining shows our drivers have put on in the past year,” said Must See Racing Founder and President Jim Hanks. “All of us at Must See Racing are proud of the schedule we’ve assembled and we’re eagerly anticipating a year of wheel-to-wheel, record-breaking competition.”
“Our new payout structure, the addition of our Must See Racing South division and the backing our points fund has received from American Racer Tires has all of us excited that this year will be the strongest one yet for Must See Racing.”
Must See Racing is in the final stages of completing its new television package for next season as well, with specific details to be announced in the near future.
For more information on Must See Racing, including the latest team and driver news, schedule announcements and rules updates, visit www.mustseeracing.com.
View the full MSR calendar by clicking to the next page…
