SPEEDWAY, Ind. The time has come to exit hibernation and enter excitation with anticipation of USAC Winter Dirt Games XVI, the opening of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season.

New rides, car combinations, an increased car count and the excitement of a new season fill the air with six consecutive nights of racing action on the docket in the state of Florida.

The 16th annual edition of Winter Dirt Games presents practice night at the three-eighths-mile Ocala Speedway on Feb. 9, followed by the first two rounds of racing at Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 10-11, while Ocala Speedway finishes out the week with four-straight evenings of racing Feb. 12-15.

Setting The Tone

With six races in six nights, Winter Dirt Games is, for all intents and purposes, a Florida Sprint Week. Its a fairly significant chunk of the schedule that greets competitors right off the bat.

Setting the tone is imperative, and the 2024 edition produced in that department. Logan Seavey, in his new sprint car ride with Abacus Racing, took over the point lead during Winter Dirt Games at Volusia and never relinquished it.

He was just the latest in a long succession of drivers whove won in Florida to start off the year, then go on to capture that seasons USAC National Sprint Car title: Bryan Clauson (2013), Brady Bacon (2014), Robert Ballou (2015), Tyler Courtney (2018), C.J. Leary (2019), Brady Bacon (2020), Justin Grant (2022) and Logan Seavey (2024).

Seaveys Defense

Logan Seavey begins his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car championship defense at the very same track where he and his Abacus Racing team began its journey to becoming the juggernaut last season.

Last February at Volusia, Seavey became the first driver in 23 years to win multiple USAC National Sprint Car features on the same day (Bud Kaeding at the Terre Haute Action Track in 2001). It was a doubly incredible feat considering the fact it was the first week of the teams existence as a sprint car operation.

Seavey and Abacus went on to score 14 USAC National Sprint Car wins in 2024, equaling the all-time record set by Tom Bigelow in 1977.

Record Chasing

Brady Bacon could set a USAC record if he were to capture the Feb. 10 round at Volusia.

Bacon currently owns three career USAC National Sprint Car season-opening victories, which is tied for the best all-time mark alongside Don Branson, Larry Dickson, Rich Vogler and Damion Gardner. Bacon accomplished the feat in 2014, 2020 and 2023, all at Ocala.

Other drivers in this years Winter Dirt Games field whove won season opening USAC Sprint Car features at Ocala include Robert Ballou (2015), Chase Stockon (2018), Kevin Thomas Jr. (2021) and Justin Grant (2017 & 2024).

Another opening night win for Grant this year would tie him for the all-time record. Furthermore, only five drivers have won back-to-back season openers: Don Branson (1959-60), Jud Larson (1965-66), Sammy Sessions (1971-72), Rich Vogler (1986-87) and Damion Gardner (2010-11-12).

First In Florida

This years Florida field includes eight Winter Dirt Games winners.

Justin Grant is the all-time Winter Dirt Games winner with seven career victories, three of which came a year ago in Ocala. Brady Bacon has won five, Robert Ballou three, C.J. Leary two, Logan Seavey two and Kevin Thomas Jr. two while Kyle Cummins and Chase Stockon have each garnered one.

USAC racing and the Sunshine State have a history that dates back to the decade of the 1950s. In fact, the first three USAC Sprint Car races ever held took place in Florida in February of 1956. Bob Sweikert won the first such event at Southland Speedway in West Palm Beach, followed by Chuck Weyant at Jacksonville Speedway and Pat OConnor at Medley Speedway in Miami.

Fifty-two USAC National Sprint Car races have taken place in the state of Florida while 43 of them have been under the Winter Dirt Games banner dating back to its inaugural edition in 2010.

New Combos

In addition to the previously mentioned teams who are taking on the full USAC National Sprint Car tour in 2025, among them are several new combinations to keep an eye on throughout Winter Dirt Games.

Among the full-timers, 2019 USAC National Sprint Car champion C.J. Leary has taken over the wheel of the Team AZ /Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 21az, which won a non-points special event at Volusia in 2023 with driver Jake Swanson. Swanson, meanwhile, has transferred over to the new Daming Swanson Motorsports No. 5t, which appeared in a handful of USAC events a year ago.

Jadon Rogers appeared in several late season USAC Sprint Car events in 2024 with Amati Racing, with whom he returns to drive for throughout this season. Amatis No. 66 scored a Winter Dirt Games victory in 2016 with Thomas Meseraull.

Kale Drake is in a similar boat, picking up a ride with 2B Racings No. 2b last summer and will man the ride for the 2025 USAC season.

Gunnar Setser is the new wheelman of the KO Motorsports No. 5g, which was formerly the No. 5s driven by Chase Stockon. Stockon will now strap into Tom & Laurie Sertichs Moose Racing No. 92 for the 2025 season.

Brady Bacon, a five-time Winter Dirt Games winner and four-time USAC National Sprint Car champion, will run a scaled back USAC schedule this year aboard Chris Dyson Racings No. 20.

Furthermore, Hayden Reinbold made his first seven USAC National Sprint Car starts in the latter half of the 2024 campaign, but will now be competing for series rookie of the year in 2025 at the controls of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports No. 19 as a teammate to Mitchel Moles.