CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper Speedway will be hosting its first sanctioned American Sprint Car Series race in over a decade on Friday, June 10.
The sprint cars have a wing on top and feature engines that can run up to 800 horsepower. Casper Speedway Track President Chris McAuley has been behind the wheel of a sprint car and said Tuesday the experience is intense.
“It is right on the verge of destruction the whole time you are in the car because there is so much power behind you,” McAuley said.
The cars can get up to 120 mph on a straight dirt track and the ASCS races are some of the fastest dirt races spectators can experience, according to McAuley.
Drivers will be coming in from around the region from states like Montana, Colorado and South Dakota. There will also be some Wyoming drivers as well as some from Casper, McAuley added.
The sprint cars will pull out onto the front stretch during the intermission of the event to allow kids and other fans to come check them out.
The race will happen two days before the start of the June 12–18 College National Finals Rodeo. McAuley said the Casper Speedway tends to see an uptick in the number of spectators when something is going on at the nearby Ford Wyoming Center.
Getting a sanctioned ASCS race back at the Casper Speedway was a challenge with the organization seeking high fees from the track, according to McAuley.
“It has been a work in progress for about a year and a half,” he said.
With the fees for the Frontier Region at over $10,000 per show, the Casper Speedway negotiated with ASCS to form a new High Plains Region to be able to offer sanctioned races at a rate the speedway can afford, McAuley said.
Preparing the track for the race began on Sunday and requires extensive blading work. McAuley added that the speedway has lately been using Pepsi product mixed with its water as a dust deterrent.
There will be another sprint car race on July 29. That will come after the speedway hosts a late models event on July 4.
Gates for Friday’s sprint car race open at 5 p.m. with races set to begin at 7 p.m. The Casper Speedway is located at 1277 Amoco Road.
Correction, June 7, 2022: A previous version of this story said the new ASCS Region the Casper Speedway is a part of was the Frontier Region. However, it is the High Plains Region that is new. The story has been updated accordingly.
