It is the epicenter of speed, the home of the most famous racing event in the world, a city whose heritage is consumed by racing history. This Saturday a new tradition begins in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Speedway, pairing the breathtaking speed of both TruFuel Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series and the Engine Pro Must See Racing Supermodifieds. The first time in the tracks 54 year history the two elite short track divisions have competed on the same night.

Both the sprints and supermodifieds have a long history on the track. Much of prominence of pavement sprint car racing can be traced back to the 1988 season when USAC added several pavement dates to their national sprint series. In an experiment the then fledgling cable network ESPN decided to broadcast several events to take place on Thursday evenings , heralding the beginning of the hugely popular Thursday night Thunder television program. In the inaugural season, three of the broadcasted events took place at Lucas Oil Speedway then known as Indianapolis Raceway Park including the first on July 7 1988. The July 7th event took place in front of a standing room only crowd and attracted many big names in racing. The Thursday night thunder program became such a success that pavement sprint racing sprang up everywhere and began a wildly popular form of auto racing. At its high point the pavement sprint series became a talent pool for Indy Car and NASCAR with many greats like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon , and Ryan Newman cutting their teeth in front of the world on Thursday Night Thunder. However when ESPN pulled the plug on the show, gradually the interest in the form of racing waned, car counts becoming increasing low and races being cancelled. As the non-wing pavement scene floundered, new winged pavement groups began to come to the forefront of the pavement racing scene. And as the pavement portion of the USAC sprint series evaporated in 2011, Must See Racing picked up the torch becoming the prominent series in pavement sprint car racing, now carrying on the tradition of pavement sprints at Lucas Oil Speedway

The supermodifeds too have been an integral part of Lucas Oil speedway’s history, regularly appearing at the speedway since the 1960’s. However the track has seen 18 years pass since the last supermodifed event and Saturday’s race will mark first ever visit for Engine Pro Must See Racing Supermodifieds, Ushering in a new chapter for fabled machines at the speedway.

For event information check mustseeracing.com

By Pete Smith
Staff Writer luvracin.com
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