The addition of more high-paying events, an increased Florida slate, a number of debuts and return visits, plus a plethora of multi-race weekends are among the facets of the 2024 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule.

A total of 55 dates are on the board for the upcoming season between the months of February and October 2024, making it among the largest calendars in the series’ 69-year history dating back to 1956.

Several events in 2024 will showcase a winner’s payout of at least $10,000 or more on the series schedule. However, Sprint Car Smackdown XIII will be the most lucrative of them all in the new year, featuring a $30,000 top prize for the finale of the annual three-race weekend on August 22, 23 and 24.

Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt will host the annual Haubstadt Hustler, paying $20,000-to-win on Sept. 14, while an expanded two-night Fall Nationals will pay out $20,000 to the victor on the second night at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway on the weekend of Oct. 11 and 12.

Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway has kicked the top prize up another notch from $10,000-to-win in 2023 to $15,000-to-win in 2024 for all three of USAC’s national divisions: Sprint Cars, NOS Energy Drink National Midgets and Silver Crown.

Shows paying $10,000-to-win are all over the map, starting with Florida’s expanded seven-race Winter Dirt Games schedule in February. Five dates have been announced at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park for February 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17 with the final night of the bunch paying $10,000.

Barberville, Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park is in the same boat, hosting a pair of events for the USAC National Sprint Cars on Feb. 12 and 13, the last night offering another $10,000 reward.

For the first time since 1998, USAC National Sprint Cars will make their return to Sumner, Illinois’ Red Hill Raceway for the $10,000-to-win Salute to Levi Jones, where the seven-time USAC national champion made his first career series start more than a quarter century ago.

#LetsRaceTwo brings the series into town for back-to-back nights of $10,000-to-win dates at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on May 3 and 4. Another $10,000 check will be awaiting the winner of the longest annually running USAC Sprint Car event of all, the 54th running of the Tony Hulman Classic at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track on May 21.

May brings two nights of USAC Sprint Car racing to Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis during the Week of Indy on May 22 and 23, the latter of which will again pay $10,000. What proved to be one of the most fascinating shows of last season returns to Macon Speedway in Illinois for Top Gun Weekend on June 28 and 29 with a $10,000 prize awaiting the victor of Night 2.

An early July staple of the schedule has long been the Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway, which once again provides two nights of USAC Sprint Car activity on July 5 and 6 and boasts another $10,000 jackpot to the winner on the back half of the weekend.

One year after debuting at Arkansas’ Texarkana 67 Speedway for the Wingless Short Track Nationals, the event is back in 2024 for a two-night tilt on Sept. 6 and 7 with a $10,000 pot on the docket for the winner during the second leg of the weekend in the Natural State.

Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway once again is scheduled to serve as host of the USAC National Sprint Car season finales in 2024 on Oct. 25 and 26 with yet another $10,000 award that drivers will be vying for on the second of two nights.

Eastern Storm, a fixture on the USAC Sprint Car schedule since 2007, celebrates its 17th year of competition in 2024 with six dates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, starting at Grandview Speedway on June 11, Bridgeport Motorsports Park on June 12, Big Diamond Speedway on June 13, Williams Grove Speedway on June 14, Port Royal Speedway on June 15 and Action Track USA to cap off the busy weekend on June 16.

The 37th annual edition of USAC Indiana Sprint Week takes on a bit of a new look across eight events in late July and early August.

A rearranged schedule sees Lincoln Park Speedway hosting the opener of the series for the first time since 2001 on July 25. From there, the schedule travels to Gas City I-69 Speedway on July 26, Kokomo Speedway on July 27, Lawrenceburg Speedway on July 28, Circle City Raceway on July 31, Terre Haute Action Track on Aug. 1, Bloomington Speedway on Aug. 2 and Tri-State Speedway on Aug. 3.

Additional familiar stops on the tour bring the series to Terre Haute on April 5 for the 23rd edition of the Jim Hurtubise Classic. Annual springtime visits take the series back to Lawrenceburg on April 13, Bloomington on May 10 and Tri-State on May 11.

The series hits the road en route to Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway on May 31 and June 1 for the Corn Belt Clash at the Sprint Car Capital of the World. GPS says head north to Wisconsin for a pair of dates on June 22 at Wilmot Raceway and June 23 at Sun Prairie’s Angell Park Speedway.

A new venue for USAC takes precedence on Sept. 5 when the series debuts at RPM Speedway in Crandall, Texas. Late-season activity brings action to Circle City on Sept. 13 and to Gas City on Sept. 19 for the next installment of the James Dean Classic, featuring a doubleheader with the USAC National Midgets.

Thomas new driver for local team

Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Alabama, has teamed up with the similarly esteemed Rock Steady Racing outfit as they plan an assault on the USAC National Sprint Car season in 2024.

Thomas, the owner of 39 career USAC National Sprint Car feature victories, ranks 11th all-time in that regard, while Rock Steady, led by car owner Hank Byram of North Vernon, has raked in 25 series wins throughout the team’s span, most notably over the past decade with driver Kyle Cummins.

Cummins recently departed the Rock Steady team at the conclusion of the 2023 season, and for many of those years that Cummins and Rock Steady were a force, Thomas was among their primary nemesis.

“You always have apprehension whether he’s going to like the car like Kyle (Cummins) did or is he going to think it’s terrible,” Byram said. “He was just tickled to death with how the car performed, how it handled and how it drove. Any time you put a driver of his caliber in your car and they get out and they’re happy, it just makes you feel that as an owner and as a team, we’ve done our jobs. You can always think you have a good car, but sometimes, it takes more than one opinion. Now, we’ve got more than one opinion.”

Crew Chief Tim Spindler of Columbus echoed those sentiments and even ran down the checklist of the team’s hit list on the circuit each year and feels they’ll have no issue hitting the ground running starting in February 2024.

“For our team, chasing Indiana Sprint Week, Smackdown at Kokomo and the Haubstadt Hustler, those are the events we circle on the calendar, and KTJ has had a lot of success at all those events,” Spindler said of Thomas, who owns two Indiana Sprint Week titles, a single Smackdown final night score and a record four Haubstadt Hustler triumphs. “He’s always been the guy we had to beat at those type of races, so when we had the opportunity to get hooked up with him, we went for it, and I believe he’ll fit our program very nicely.”

The Rock Steady group, with a crew consisting of Byram, former racers Tim Spindler and Brian Karraker, plus longtime Indiana Pacers equipment manager Josh “Country” Conder, jelled with KTJ in their first go-around at Gas City. For these past 15 years or so, the two have faced off many times as direct competitors, yet still maintained a mutual respect.

“I got to tell them what I felt, and I got to go get a hot dog while Tim made sure the thing went fast,” Thomas quipped of his partnership with the team at Gas City this year. “That makes the job super easy for a racecar driver. I’ve owned cars, and I’ve set my own cars up. I’ve worked with crew chiefs, and I’ve worked without crew chiefs. I’ve kind of been all over the board, and it’s nice being able to put your trust into people who have the same goals as you. I feel like I’m a bit more intense than most people, especially verbally, but other than that, they give me a calming effect because I just get to worry about driving the racecar.”