IRWINDALE, Calif. — The second annual Open Wheel Showdown will be run Nov. 22-24 at Irwindale Speedway.
While winged sprint cars will be the headlining event, with a $50,000 winner’s purse on track, national midgets will return to the iconic southern California venue where they were frequent visitors during the early and mid 2000s.
The national midget portion of the Open Wheel Showdown will run primarily on Nov. 24 and will pay $10,000 to win, with $1,500 paid to start the main event. The program is being run on Sunday to accommodate racers who want to compete in the USAC event at Merced (Calif.) Speedway on Nov. 23.
“Excited to see midgets back on track at Irwindale as it was always a race I had on my dream to do list one day,” said promoter Davey Hamilton Jr. “Hopefully as the year progresses I can get a ride myself.”
Irwindale Speedway, a state-of-the-art half-mile asphalt track well known for stock car racing, was the home of the famed Turkey Night Grand Prix for national midget competition from 1999 through 2011.
Jason Leffler won the event in 1999 and 2005, while Tony Stewart, Dave Steele (twice), Michael Lewis, Bobby East, Billy Wease, Dave Darland, Bobby Santos III, Bryan Clauson (twice) and Caleb Armstrong also won Turkey Night at Irwindale.
Lewis, East and Tracy Hines are among the winners in other national midget events at Irwindale.
The best in pavement and midget racing are expected to come together for the Open Wheel Showdown, which will be one of the final midget races of the 2024 campaign.
Among those already entered in the Open Wheel Showdown are Michael Daniels, Kody Swanson, Todd Bertrand, Nathan Byrd, Cody Gerhardt, Michael Fanelli, Keith Davidson, Avery Stoehr, Tony Seidelman, Travis Mahoney, Billy Wease, Rob Lindsey, Garrett Mclees, Ryan Shilkuski, Tony Berry, Jesse Love and Mario Clouser.
For more information log on to www.openwheelshowdown.com.