Adams County Speedway operators announce track will ‘definitely be open’ for 2024 season

QUINCY — The biggest news Sunday night from Adams County Speedway actually occurred off the track.

Track operator Jim Lieurance said the facility would “definitely be open” for business in 2024. Lieurance said he felt it important to make that clear to fans, sponsors and drivers.

Lieurance and his wife, Tammy, have operated the .29-mile dirt track since it reopened in 2022 following a two-year closing triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“There will be some changes, but we’re beyond being excited about the future,” Lieurance told Muddy River Sports late Sunday night. “We’re going to be back in 2024, and we’ll be coming back strong.”

Lieurance said he was attempting to dispel some recent rumblings he heard about the track shutting down at the end of the current season. Attendance has fallen off in the past couple of months, something Lieurance said he blames on a combination of the overall economy and the extremely hot weather the region has endured this summer.

“We’ll be making some changes for next season, but we remain very optimistic,” he said.

The main change for 2024, according to Lieurance, will be a cutback in the number of overall racing dates. In July and August, when the weather is normally the hottest, the track will race every other Sunday night — roughly four dates over those two months instead of eight.

The season will run May through September (or early October).

“April will be used for practice instead of trying to get in a race date or two when the weather is normally cold and rainy anyway,” Lieurance said.

The number of weekly classes will again be five with the crate late models, modifieds, sport mods, stocks and 4-Cylinders. In addition, some form of sprint-car class will be added, probably on a once-a-month basis. Lieurance said the sprint class will be the smaller 305 division that is popular in southeast Iowa.

The main special attractions will also remain the same — the UMP Summer Nationals late model tour, plus the MARS late model, UMP Summit modified and the Sprint Invaders sprint car series. Lieurance said the MLRA late models are also a strong possibility.

“Stay tuned,” Lieurance said. “2024’s going to be exciting.”