Adams County Speedway sets date for opening night of racing

QUINCY — The countdown to the start of the 2023 dirt-track racing season is officially underway.

Adams County Speedway operators Jim and Tammy Lieurance have announced opening night is scheduled for Sunday, April 2, which is now less than three months away.

“We learned a lot last year and are anxious for year two,” Jim Lieurance said. “We’ve made a lot of improvements, with more to come.”

The Lieurance family took over operations of the track at 8000 Broadway after it sat idle for two years following the 2019 season. 

“The response we received from fans, drivers and sponsors alike was amazing,” Lieurance said. “We also heard a lot of good words from other tracks across the region.”

The first dates for local race fans to remember are:

• Jan. 21: That’s the night of the 2022 season banquet, scheduled for the Paloma Shelter House. For more details on that event, contact 217-617-7367 or jtracingllc@gmail.com.

• March 25-26: The annual mall show at the Quincy Town Center will allow fans to see about 40 of this year’s new cars, talk with drivers and owners and pick up information about the coming season.

“Everything is moving right along,” Lieurance said.

Among the improvements fans will notice first are a new backstretch wall, a new parking area on the east end of the facility and new stop lights on the track. Lieurance said he is still working on acquiring a new scoreboard.

“A new scoreboard is a top priority,” he said. “I’m hoping we’ll have one by the start of the season.”

The season itself will feature a return of the DIRTCar Summer Nationals Hell Tour, the MARS, MLRA, HART and Sprint Invaders series, plus a wealth of weekly specials. For a complete list of these and other scheduled events, go to the speedway’s Facebook page.

The track’s regular weekly classes will feature crate late models, modifieds, sport mods, stocks and 4-cylinders. Defending champs in those series are: Denny Woodworth (crate lates), Austen Becerra (modifieds), Adam Birck (sport mods), Rudy Zaragoza (stocks) and Jeffrey DeLonjay (4-cylinders).

The regular weekly payouts this season will be $800 for modifieds, $700 for crate lates, $600 for sport mods, $400 for stocks and $350 for 4-Cylinders.

Blake Dotson will be back for a second year as race director, and is especially excited about the continued growth of the late models. Dotson said he’s expecting a weekly car count in the crate lates of between 12 and 16 entries, and Lieurance agrees. 

“It’s definitely a growing class,” Lieurance said.

Steve Grotz and Kevin Rees will be back as track prep personnel.