TORRANCE, Calif. — A 21-race schedule is ahead for the California Lightning Sprint Car Series’ 29th season of racing.
The campaign will commence with a pair of races at the Imperial Valley Raceway on March 10-11 and will conclude with the annual Hangtown 100 at the Placerville Speedway on November 16-18.
The season, which will last a little over eight months, will see the series compete on seven different tracks. Eight of those tracks are in California and one is in Arizona.
The series will have co-home tracks in 2023 with the Ventura Raceway and the Bakersfield Speedway hosting six races each.
The CLS will combine with Northern California’s BCRA for the popular Civil War Series. For 2023 the CWS will be a four-race affair with two races on CLS tracks and two others in BCRA territory. Bakersfield will host the two CLS races in the mini-series on June 3 and September 9.
The pair of races in BCRA country will be August 19 at the Johnny Key Classic at Ocean Speedway and October 7 at the annual Wayne Albright Memorial at racy Merced Speedway.
“Greg (BCRA President Greg Dennett) was able to talk to the promoters from Ocean at the Promoter’s Workshop and he got them to lean with us,” second year CLS President Jon Robertson said. “We will be a part of one of their prime shows, the Johnny Key Classic. That is not a first-base hit, it is a home run. It is a good facility. I had been there back in the SCRA Sprint Car Series days. I would like to race there more but let’s crawl before we fly. It is also a special deal for us to be part of the Wayne Albright Memorial once again at Merced. Everybody loves racing there.”
In addition to the BCRA, the CLS is joining forces with the POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Cars for the first Best of the West Series. Comprised of six races, the first two for the joint effort will be the season-opening March doubleheader at Imperial.
Mohave Valley will host rounds on April 1 and October 14. Sandwiched in between will be two more series races at Bakersfield on May 20 and Ventura’s beachside one-fifth mile oval on July 22.
The Best of the West Series will have a $3,000 point fund that will pay the top 10 drivers after the final race.
“We have two separate mini-series going on in addition to our regular full-season series,” Robertson stated. “We are going with BCRA for our annual Civil War Series. That is four races. Talking with Brent Sexton (POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Car Series President), we put together a really good “Best of the West” six-race series, too. Each club has put up $1,500.00 and we will pay the top 10 in points.
“The series’ with BCRA and SWLS are good deals as it helps keep everybody’s car count up,” Robertson continued. “Many of the guys in the SWLS will get to race some new tracks and we will be heading (back) to Imperial. We have not been there in several years That is a neat place. They have redone the track configuration and the surface. All of those are going to be good shows. All of our stand-alone shows are real good as well.”
The busiest week of the campaign will be in mid-November when the CLS teams and drivers will race four times in five nights. On November 14, the CLS and the USAC National Midgets will be at the Bakersfield Speedway. After one night off, the CLS and National Midgets will head north to Placerville for three straight nights of action at the Hangtown 100.
Seventeen of the 21 CLS races will be contested with wings on. The only exceptions are the Albright Memorial and the three nights of the Hangtown 100.
2023 California Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule
March 10 Imperial Raceway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #1
March 11 Imperial Raceway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #2
March 18 Bakersfield Speedway CLS With USAC Western Midgets
April 1 Mohave Valley Raceway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #3 With USAC/CRA Sprint Cars
April 8 Bakersfield Speedway CLS With USAC 360 Sprint Cars
May 13 Ventura Raceway CLS With USAC 360 Sprint Cars
May 20 Bakersfield Speedway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #4
June 3 Bakersfield Speedway CLS/BCRA “Civil War Series Round” #1 With USAC 360 Sprint Cars
June 17 Ventura Raceway CLS With USAC 360 Sprint Cars Wagsdash
July 8 Ventura Raceway CLS
July 22 Ventura Raceway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #5
August 19 Ocean Speedway CLS/BCRA “Civil War Series” Round #2, Johnny Key Classic
September 9 Bakersfield Speedway CLS/BCRA “Civil War Series” Round #3
September 23 Ventura Raceway CLS
October 7 Merced Speedway CLS/BCRA “Civil War Series” Round #4, Wayne Albright Memorial Non Wing
October 14 Mohave Valley Speedway CLS/SWLS “Best of the West” Round #4 With USAC/CRA Sprint Cars
October 28 Ventura Raceway CLS
November 14 Bakersfield Speedway CLS With USAC National Midgets
November 16 Placerville Speedway “Hangtown 100” No Points Non Wing
November 17 Placerville Speedway “Hangtown 100” No Points Non Wing
November 18 Placerville Speedway “Hangtown 100” No Points Non Wing