Overdrive

CUSTOM RIGS March 2017 | Overdrive | 39 A new racing series featur- ing Class 8 trucks in oval track competition starts its fi rst full season this month in North Carolina. The Bandit Big Rig Series, which off ers a total purse of $50,000 at each event, will host 13 races, culminating in late October in Cordele, Georgia. The bulk of the inaugural Bandit season's action will take place in the Southeast, including the March 25 opener at the Hickory Mo- tor Speedway in Newton, North Carolina. Other stops are slated in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. Races also are scheduled for Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa. All races except for July 28 are on Saturdays. Admission costs $15-$20, depend- ing on the track. Kids get in for $5. Each race day includes three eight- lap heats featuring a third of the day's racers. Two more "challenge" races will be held after the heats, and a points system will determine the starting lineup for a fi nal 30-lap feature race. The feature race will be the day's main event and will award season points to drivers and teams, and it also will decide the winner of the weekend's purse. The feature race winner will receive $10,000, and $40,000 more will be awarded to the remainder of the fi eld. Every competitor is guaranteed $500, but each racer's take-home will be based on where he or she fi nishes in the weekend's featured race. One driver and one team will win season points championships. Series director Brian Madsen described the format for the races as "Saturday night short-tracking," a de- parture from the ChampTruck series. While ChampTruck raced on longer road-course tracks that have left and right turns, the Bandit Series will run exclusively on shorter oval tracks. The longest track will be fi ve- eighths of a mile. Most events will be held on even shorter tracks, such as the quarter-mile Highland Rim Speedway outside of Nashville. The ChampTruck series shut down last year in the middle of its second season. Minimizer, which raced two trucks in the ChampTruck series, worked to assemble the new Bandit Series. Nearly all of the teams that com- peted in the ChampTruck series are committed to racing in this year's Bandit season, says Madsen. At press time, 18 trucks and their teams planned to race, and a few more teams could join later, he says. Full th rottle Bandit Big Rig Series 2017 schedule March 25: Hickory Motor Speedway Newton, North Carolina April 15: Greenville Pickens Speedway Easley, South Carolina May 13: Montgomery Motor Speedway Montgomery, Alabama May 20: Florence Motor Speedway Timmonsville, South Carolina June 10: Greenville Pickens Speedway Easley, South Carolina July 1: Highland Rim Speedway Greenbriar, Tennessee July 15: Hawkeye Downs Speedway Cedar Rapids, Iowa July 28: Madison International Speedway Madison, Wisconsin Aug. 5: Lebanon I-44 Speedway Lebanon, Missouri Sept. 2: Florence Motor Speedway Timmonsville, South Carolina Sept. 23: Highland Rim Speedway Greenbriar, Tennessee Oct. 14: Hickory Motor Speedway Newton, North Carolina Oct. 28: Crisp Motorsports Park Cordele, Georgia Class 8 truck racing series returns this month, dropping the green fl ag on a 13-race season at oval tracks dotting the Southeast and Midwest. BY JAMES JAILLET The Bandit Big Rig Series' inaugural season will pit 18 trucks in short oval track races. More than $50,000 will be awarded at each race event.

• Cover
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• Pulse: FMCSA backpedals on safety proposal.
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