SPEEDWAY, Ind. – USAC Silver Crown’s 51st season of competition features a schedule that consists of 12 events – six on the dirt, five on the pavement, and one event yet to be announced.
One-hundred-ninety-four previous USAC main events have been contested at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, but never before has the USAC Silver Crown Series graced the paved half-mile high banks, save for four short distance AAA Big Car events during the 1946 season.
However, the track will make its first appearance on the Silver Crown schedule next year, launching the new season on Sunday afternoon, May 9. Winchester last hosted a USAC race a decade earlier in 2011, a sprint car race won by Tracy Hines.
Once thought to be lost to history just a short while ago, the Hoosier Hundred will return once again in 2021 for its 66th edition on the one-mile dirt oval at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Thursday night, May 27, an event that’s origins date back to 1953.
The Hoosier Hundred begins a rare back-to-back weekend of dirt and pavement events on consecutive nights, with the following evening’s Dave Steele Carb Night Classic hitting the asphalt of Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Ind., just down the road from the Indy Mile on Friday, May 28.
A busy stretch in June with three events in an eight-day span begins at another one of America’s most famed dirt tracks, Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., for the first time in two years on Friday night, June 18. Next, it’s off to the pavement of Wisconsin’s Madison Int’l Speedway in Oregon, Wis., on Friday, June 25, followed up by a yet to be announced event at a yet to be determined venue.
An August trifecta of Silver Crown showdowns gets its start on Sunday night, Aug. 8, at Pennsylvania’s Selinsgrove Speedway, for the second installment of the Bill Holland Classic, one year after the series debuted on the half-mile dirt oval. It’s the first time that multiple Pennsylvania tracks are set to host Silver Crown events in the same season. It’s been since 1983, when Nazareth hosted a pair of events, that more than one Silver Crown race was held in Pennsylvania in a season.
From there, the series moves westbound to Lucas Oil Raceway for the inaugural Hoosier Classic on Saturday night, Aug. 14. The event also consists of sprint cars on Friday night while midgets will contest the .686-mile paved oval along with Silver Crown on Saturday night. Any driver and team that can win all three of the Hoosier Classic races that weekend will take home $100,000 as part of the Fatheadz $100K Challenge. If a driver and team can win two of the three events, they will collect $50,000.
Champ Car racing dates back to 1934 at the one-mile dirt oval at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, and the Bettenhausen 100 on the historic Springfield Mile will return to its traditional mid-August slot on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 21, for the only daytime dirt race of the 2021 season.
The series hits the scenic and racy Magic Mile of the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in southern Illinois for the Ted Horn 100 on Saturday night, Sept. 4, under the lights on the second of the two miles in Illinois.
The dirt is the word once again for the 39th running of the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, beginning with qualifying on Friday night, Sept. 24, and the 50-lap feature on Saturday night, Sept. 25.
Twice before has Ohio’s Toledo Speedway hosted the USAC Silver Crown series finale, 2010 and ’11. That’s once again on the docket next year with the paved half-mile and the Rollie Beale Classic serving as the championship decider.
2021 USAC Silver Crown Series Schedule
May 9 – Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Ind.
May 27 – Indiana State Fairgrounds – Indianapolis, Ind.
May 28 – Lucas Oil Raceway – Clermont, Ind.
June 18 – Williams Grove Speedway – Mechanicsburg, Pa.
June 25 – Madison Int’l Speedway – Oregon, Wis.
June 26 – TBA – TBA
Aug. 8 – Selinsgrove Speedway – Selinsgrove, Pa.
Aug. 14 – Lucas Oil Raceway – Clermont, Ind.
Aug. 21 – Illinois State Fairgrounds – Springfield, Ill.
Sept. 4 – DuQuoin State Fairgrounds – DuQuoin, Ill.
Sept. 24-25 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio
Oct. 10 – Toledo Speedway – Toledo, Ohio