The Dirt & Paved Road to a Championship! 13 USAC Silver Crown Races Set for 2025
Speedway, Indiana (December 11, 2024)………A docket featuring 13 events is on the agenda in 2025 for the 55th season of the most diverse oval racing series on the planet – the USAC Silver Crown National Championship!
Seven dirt and six pavement events await at venues ranging from half-miles to 1.25 miles and on tracks varying from semi-banked to high-banked across the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
BACK TO SALEM IN ‘25
The high banks of Indiana’s super-fast Salem Speedway welcome the USAC Silver Crown series back to the .555-mile paved oval on Saturday, August 9.
Salem has previously hosted the series on six occasions, first in 1988 won by Bob Frey, and again each year from 2016 through 2020, all of which were won by Kody Swanson.
The southern Indiana speed plant is one of USAC’s most tradition-rich tracks, hosting a total of 135 USAC national events dating back to 1956.
GETTING DIRTY EARLY
Dirt tracks open and close the 2025 USAC Silver Crown schedule with seven dates spread between the months and April and September. Indiana’s lone half-mile dirt oval, the Terre Haute Action Track, opens it up on Sunday, April 13, with the 21st installment of the Sumar Classic.
Mid-May brings the series to the thrill-a-second 1/2-mile Belleville (Kan.) High Banks on Friday, May 16, for practice and Saturday, May 17, for race day in a USAC doubleheader alongside the NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, who’ll compete both nights on Belleville’s short track during the Huncovsky Classic.
Speaking of USAC doubleheaders, Eastern Storm delivers a mammoth one on Saturday, June 15, at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway for a smorgasbord full of star-studded action featuring both the USAC Silver Crown and AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship divisions at one venue on one night on the 1/2-mile.
It’s back to the Sunflower State on Friday, July 18, and Saturday, July 19, for the second running of the Salt City 100 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds’ Salt City Speedway in Hutchinson. Friday presents practice for all teams leading into Saturday’s 100-lapper on the 1/2-mile.
PAVED INTENTIONS
Six pavement events dot the 2025 USAC Silver Crown slate with the season launching on the asphalt with the annual Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic on Saturday, April 19, at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway.
A trip to the hallowed banks of Indiana’s Winchester Speedway follows with the running of the 34th Rich Vogler Classic on Sunday, May 4. The Hoosier Hundred brings the series once again to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, May 23, for the 68th edition of the Hoosier Hundred.
Meanwhile, the largest and fastest track on the circuit, the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, moves to a new, earlier date on Saturday, June 14, during NTT IndyCar Series weekend. For the first time since 2017, a July date awaits the USAC Silver Crown division on Wednesday night, July 23. Salem closes out the pavement portion of the schedule on Sunday, August 9.
3 ON DIRT TO DECIDE A CHAMP
The championship race will come down to a trio of the most tradition rich USAC Silver Crown events, all of which will serve as the final three races of the season in August and September.
The 62nd running of the Bettenhausen 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield provides the first of two dirt-mile adventures this season on Saturday, August 16. Fair season in the Land of Lincoln continues two weeks later with the 71st running of the Ted Horn 100 at the Magic Mile of the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in southern Illinois.
The final dirt run of the new year is set for Friday-Saturday, September 19-20, as, for the 43rd time, the champ cars will compete in the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. The event provides the only opportunity of the year to witness all three USAC national divisions in one night, plus the High Limit winged sprint cars.
2025 USAC SILVER CROWN SCHEDULE
Apr 13 | Terre Haute Action Track | Terre Haute, IN | Sumar Classic | 1/2 Mile Dirt
Apr 19 | Toledo Speedway | Toledo, OH | Rollie Beale Classic | 1/2 Mile Pavement
May 4 | Winchester Speedway | Winchester, IN | Rich Vogler Classic | 1/2 Mile Pavement
May 16-17 | Belleville High Banks | Belleville, KS | Huncovsky Classic | 1/2 Mile Dirt
May 23 | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park | Brownsburg, IN | Hoosier Hundred | .686 Mile Pavement
Jun 14 | World Wide Technology Raceway | Madison, IL | 1.25 Mile Pavement
Jun 21 | Port Royal Speedway | Port Royal, PA | 1/2 Mile Dirt
Jul 18-19 | Salt City Speedway | Hutchinson, KS | Salt City 100 | 1/2 Mile Dirt
Jul 23 | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park | Brownsburg, IN | .686 Mile Pavement
Aug 9 | Salem Speedway | Salem, IN | .555 Mile Pavement
Aug 16 | Illinois State Fairgrounds | Springfield, IL | Bettenhausen 100 | 1 Mile Dirt
Aug 30 | Du Quoin State Fairgrounds | Du Quoin, IL | Ted Horn 100 | 1 Mile Dirt
Sep 19-20 | Eldora Speedway | Rossburg, OH | 4-Crown Nationals | 1/2 Mile Dirt
Sources: Richie Murray – USAC Media
(Josh James Artwork Photo)