(July 8, 2020), Sacramento, CA … With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to play havoc on spectator sports in America, the NARC King of the West Fujitsu 410 Sprint Car Series has announced that it will not crown a champion or rookie of the year this season. To date, 13-events have been cancelled due to California’s mandated restrictions which do not allow fans to attend. Without the front gate revenue, it’s financially impossible for dirt track promoters to stage a profitable racing event.
“All of the past champions in our 60-year history have had to work hard and fight their way through an extensive campaign of racing to earn their championships,” said series GM Jim Allen. “It wouldn’t be fair to drivers such as LeRoy Van Conett, Brent Kaeding, Kyle Hirst and Johnny Anderson to crown a champion after only a handful of races; and that’s assuming we get an opportunity to have a handful of races this season.”
The organization made an announcement at the June 20th Hanford event that the series would need to run a minimum of 10-events to qualify for “championship status.” With the recent cancellations of the July 25th Santa Maria Speedway show and the Louie Vermeil Classic in Calistoga (Sept. 5-6), that is no longer a possibility.
More races are expected to be cancelled as positive cases of the novel COVID-19 continue to climb and stricter mandates get implemented in California.
As of this publication, the NARC King of the West series has only one more event which is scheduled to actually take place. That is the 10th Annual Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway on Saturday, July 18th. This event will be held without fans in the grandstands, but will feature a full race purse due to terrific sponsorship support from the racing community. If you would like to contribute to the event, please contact Bud Kaeding at 408-371-3031.
The organization may still attempt to stage additional King of the West sanctioned non-points show if there is an opportunity. A point fund will not be paid out this year.
Indiana’s Spencer Bayston won the only race of the year on June 20th at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford.
The Northern Auto Racing Club sincerely thanks all of our fans, race teams, sponsors and promoters for their continued support throughout these trying times. Please stay safe and stay healthy!