By: Richie Murray – USAC Media (David Campbell Photo)
Indianapolis, Indiana (April 18, 2023)………The Circle City Salute brings a major addition to the Week of Indy schedule during a busy of month of May for USAC racing in the state of Indiana.
The USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship will hit Circle City Raceway’s 1/4-mile dirt oval for two consecutive nights of racing on Wednesday, May 24 and Thursday, May 25.
Wednesday’s Circle City Salute opener will commence with a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win main event for the USAC National Sprint Cars and culminate on Thursday with a 40-lap feature paying $10,000-to-win. Each night of the event will consist of full programs for the series with qualifying, preliminary heats and semi-features which will lead into the feature events.
Mufflers are required to participate in the Circle City events.
Circle City Raceway, which opened its gates in 2021, has hosted three previous USAC National Sprint Car events with Tanner Thorson scoring the debut victory in 2021 while C.J. Leary and Kevin Thomas Jr. won each of the two rounds in 2022.
It’s all part of a busy stretch of USAC racing in the state of Indiana leading up to Memorial Day weekend, starting with the $10,000-to-win 53rd annual Tony Hulman Classic for the USAC National Sprint Cars at the Terre Haute Action Track on Tuesday night, May 23, followed by two-straight evenings of USAC National Sprint Car action at Circle City on the southeast side of Indianapolis on May 24-25.
One night after Circle City, USAC travels to the west side of Indy to Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night, May 26, for the Hoosier Hundred, part of the Carb Night Classic presented by Protective Insurance festivities for the USAC Silver Crown National Championship, paying $25,000-to-win. The jam-packed event schedule also consists of IRP’s pavement midgets, plus USAC’s Road to Indy series, the USF Pro Championships and USF Pro 2000 Pro Series presented by Cooper Tires.
On both nights of the Circle City Salute, the pits open at 4pm Eastern with the front gates opening at 5pm and cars on track at 6:30pm, followed immediately by qualifying and racing. Modifieds will join the event on Wednesday, May 24 while the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets will race on Thursday, May 25.
Each night of the Circle City Salute will have tickets on sale at the front gate. General admission tickets are $30 for ages 13-64. Children 12 and under are free. Military, first responders, veterans, seniors and teachers are $20. Pit passes for ages 13 and older are $40 for members and $45 for non-members. Pit passes for children age 12 and under are $20.
Discounted two-day passes are also on sale for both nights of Circle City Salute with general admission tickets for ages 13-64 priced at $50 and pit passes for ages 13 and older set at $80 – a saving of $10 each.
